Gifted and Talented is GATE. Cluster means that about 20% of the class is made up of students who were average academically. I wasn't given a choice, it was the only job offer in after two years of subbing and zero openings. I was trained and was a good teacher (that is what I was told by the admin, staff, students and parents). My students were tested as GATE ( the top 95%) as well as those who weren't officially 95% but had received very high grades in 5th and 4th grades. I was trained to teach Special Students. Special means students who are academically very high as well as very low, both extremes. It also covers students with special needs such as Asperger Syndrome who were also gifted. After this grade I went all the way down to First Grade, once again I had no choice. After I had taught both grades and levels of students for a few years I decided that good teaching is what produces the best results from most of the students whether or not "gifted" or "special". Also, about 8 years after my last 6th grade class a former student came back to visit me. He told me that I gave him more work than he got after he left my class and went to middle school. I asked him if he knew why that was. He didn't so I told him that several parents complained after the first month of school and wanted me to give them more work so I did. About 10% of the parents were the biggest problem that I experienced. They were never satisfied. You could rarely please them and they were very demanding and not very supportive. The other 90% let you do your job and respected teaching. I was always very, very grateful for them. This applied to both 6th and first grade for the almost 20 years that I taught.
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