In this installment, I write about the themes I discovered in my story of working as a gifted education resource teacher. Essentially, I experienced much frustration until I learned to first collaborate with classroom teachers, until I gained their trust and respect, only then could I begin to share my expertise. Interspersed in the writing are journal reflections and e-mails, which convey my thoughts and emotions at the time of the experience.

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Note: This article first appeared in The Qualitative Report. This is the first installment of a series on working as a resource teacher of gifted education. I am sharing a modified-version of this article in pieces because I think it sheds might light on the challenges that teachers face collaborating together—when one “has” their own classroom and the other visits the classroom to work with students. Both resource teachers and classroom teachers can learn from each other, for the benefit...

Years ago, a mentor gave a very useful suggestion. He told me to visualize what my ideal classroom would look like. Not just the decorations on the wall and the seating arrangement, but all the aspects of my “ultimate classroom,” including how the students behaved, what the learning looked like, how I was teaching each day, my interactions with parents, and the kind of academic (and social/emotional) results I would achieve. It was a powerful exercise.

I was recently reminded of the...