About Me

Hi, I'm a Gifted Talented teacher.  I taught in the regular classroom for about 27 years before becoming a GT teacher.  I loved my days in the regular classroom(when I started this blog), but I have to say, teaching GT students is my favorite job ever!!  

This blog is more about what I teach than the products I create.  I love critical thinking and creativity, but most of all, I love Socratic Seminars (which actually includes both).  I love teaching kids how to think at higher levels, offering them challenge and offering them some amazing enrichment.  Sometimes I have time to put a product on TpT (I try to do freebies, but some of those products take HOURS!)  Most of the time, I write about how Socratic Seminar which has changed everything I do.   

I've been teaching for 31 years, and I've spent some years staying at home with my kids. I finished a masters program with a houseful of teenagers and a classroom full of third graders. Probably like many of you, I wear many hats.  I'm definitely an optimist; teachers almost have to be! I am adaptive...another common teacher trait.  I have three grown kids, one of them is in nursing school.  Busy, busy, but being past the "kids at home" phase of my life,  I have more time to reflect on my teaching and how I do things, and it's wonderful. I miss my kids being here, noisy and hungry, but we all have to grow up.  I've been married to my husband, Austin, for 37 years. Wow, I know.  We have two dogs, Lola and Abby, faithful and sweet.  Lola is a lab/pit mix and Abby, an Aussie/border collie is the queen of the world. 
  
I love to organize, but not as much as I love to buy organizational supplies. My classroom is a place where I can show a different side of my style.  All the colors you'd probably not use in your home, I use in my classroom. There is LOTS of turquoise.  In 2016 I became a GT lead teacher at a wonderful elementary school.  I work with K-6th and have about 12 preps a day. We read lots of literature and Socratic Seminars are our method for discussion on most any occasion.  I actually started using Socratic Seminar back in 2014.  I read about it and was instantly drawn to it as a valuable tool for students to learn so many things about their reading and about life. The only problem was that I couldn't find any info on Socratic Seminar for the elementary classroom.  So I created to meet that need.  It has become a professional passion of mine. 

I love God, family, teaching...and decorating my home and classroom are up there too. I like learning about new and better ways to do things, especially in the classroom.  I hope you find something encouraging and useful here!

Julie