Goodbye to my youth...

I was doing some research for work and came across this article (from a couple months ago) entitled 'City shuts Brooklyn class for gifted.' The program they are eliminating -- CIG, or Center for the Intellectually Gifted, cheesy, I know -- is the one I was in from 4th-8th grades, and specifically at the elementary school I went to in 4th and 5th grades. (As far as I can tell the Junior High program will continue.)


I'm so thankful I had that opportunity and am sad other kids won't be able to anymore (without trekking to Manhattan.) I think there were two very unique aspects to CIG that made it different than just a 'program for smart kids.' First, when I was there our class was split between 2 grades -- meaning half 3rd graders and half 4th graders the first year, and then half 4th graders and 5th graders the next. I think this may have just been b/c the program was first starting out and they didnt have enough kids to fill 2 full classes, but i liked it and some of my best friends then were younger. It did kind of make it sad, though, when the 5th graders graduated and we had to leave our friends behind.

The other unique thing was that it was mostly independent study -- we would have a list of assignments from different areas (math, social studies, science, etc.) that we had to complete by the end of the week, but we could do them in any order we wanted and at our own pace. We had few formal 'lessons' except for discussions about the books we were reading. To think of it another way, we sort of had to teach ourselves. What an idea! I think kids need to learn early on how to be self-motivated and manage their time (though I'm still working on that one.)

I also remember that we were lucky enough to have the same teacher for both years (which was very unusual), who I loved, named Mrs. Levy. (I wonder if she's still around.) And yes, I was a teacher's pet -- sometimes I got to organize the art supply closets which, if you can believe it, was considered a priviledge. I am pretty sure that was in lieu of doing other work or free reading time, but if not, then I'm really twisted.