Seeking to help gifted

CHICKAMAUGA, Ga. — First-graders at Cherokee Ridge Elementary School say they enjoy learning at the hands of older gifted students in the school’s Kaleidoscope program.

“We can see without the teachers and the big class all around,” Hunter Hayes said Wednesday as he and three other first-graders took in a display on South America and a presentation from fifth-grade Kaleidoscope student Natalie Taylor on the school’s sunny lawn.

With a smile for her audience, Natalie, one of 120 gifted students at Cherokee Ridge, said she liked sharing her knowledge about the continent with the younger students.

Deforrest Braly, another fifth-grader in the program, said he enjoys the added study challenge and the chance to teach.

Last year Deforrest played Albert Einstein in the program’s “wax museum” activity.

“I got to learn about him, and then I got to tell it to little kids who can look up to me and they can learn, too,” Deforrest said.

There are about 700 gifted students across the county. Walker officials want to expand services for those students and broaden the impact of advanced instruction for all students, sassistant principal Heather Culberson said.

Officials said 7 to 10 percent of Walker’s 9,000-plus students qualify for gifted services.

Culberson, who also is a teacher for the gifted program, said the county is launching a teaching endorsement program at LaFayette Middle School on Sept. 9. That will put training closer for teachers in Walker and nearby counties. In the past, the nearest training was in Rome, she said.

Cherokee Ridge gifted teacher Beverly Gamble said about 40 students in Walker County Schools are being tested to see if they qualify for services. She said the process begins with referrals from classroom teachers.

Evaluations include achievement and mental ability tests, creativity assessments and measures of a student’s motivation and leadership skills, she said. Parents must give written permission for testing and services.

Having more teachers with endorsements means students who perform well but don’t meet requirements for gifted services will gain from teachers who have had the training, she said.

“Our goal for these children is to stimulate them to become creative and to be able to critically think problems through and to become great citizens and leaders in their communities,” she said.