Maine Motif Issue 1, Vol. II (Fall, 2017) | Page 23

•School - The state of Maine will pay for part of your salary, given that you are
teaching GT students and/or a GT course.
•Teacher - (1) As a teacher, I can rest easy knowing that my students are receiving
the best GT music education possible because I know that someone who is not
comfortable in teaching music and “fudging” it, is not giving them a mediocre education
in music. I also feel good knowing that I am not teaching a content area that I am not
comfortable with and knowing that I am letting down my students due to the fact that I
am not an expert in any other field. One example that comes to mind is when teachers
are shuffled around to new grade levels as well as new subject areas.  Imagine how you
would feel if your administration would ask you to teach a new grade level as well as a
new content area.  How do you think you would feel?  (2) Another positive for you as a
teacher is that everyone needs to get re-certified every five years, so why not take the
four gifted and talented classes necessary to become certified and that way you will be
all set when it comes to recertification.
• Students - As I said before, the students are benefitting from having a certified
educator (both in their subject area and GT) which in turn is giving them the best
education possible.
• Scheduling - one of the biggest issues that all teachers face is, “where do I find the
time to schedule a GT class? My schedule is so full already, how can I possibly fit
another class into my schedule?” My best answer is to try your best in coming up with
a creative way of getting your students some form of service. One example that I have
is in my previous school, I had a full schedule doing Pre-K-12 music. With such a full
schedule, I came up with an idea to have middle school students attend high school
band rehearsals in order to service their needs of improving on their instruments.
Whatever you need to do to insure that your students are being serviced, try your best
to be able to accommodate your schedule so it fits their needs, to the best of your
ability...of course!
• Time - another issue that one may face is time.  There is no doubt that it will take time
for a teacher to become GT certified, especially if you can only take 2 classes per year,
which means it may take you up to 2 years to get certified in GT.
• Finances - The last issue that one may face is cost of the courses, the cost of the
PRAXIS study guide and exam, and the fee for getting certified through the state of
Maine.  I don’t believe that the cost for the courses are a “real issue”  because most (if
not all) schools already offer teachers at least 2 paid courses throughout the school