PRESIDENT PROFILE
Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented
Retirement is a ‘new season’ for President Priscilla Lurz by Leila Kalmbach
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At a Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented conference, President Priscilla Lurz spends time with Lynette Breedlove, past president; D’lana Barbay, treasurer; Brenda Davis, board member; and Mary Christopher, immediate past president.
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rowing up in Corpus Christi, Priscilla Lurz’ public schoolteacher mother would always tell her, “People can take away everything you own. But no one can take away the education that enlightens a mind and a heart.”
Lurz’ involvement with TAGT began in 1989 when, after 10 years of general classroom teaching, she accepted a position in Alamo Heights ISD, teaching a K-5 class exclusively composed of gifted and talented students.
At the time, Lurz didn’t realize what an impression the comment made on her. Sure, she enjoyed helping her mom set up her classroom each year and playing teacher at home with her make-believe students. But in high school, her true passion was drama. She dreamed of moving to New York to work on Broadway or become an actor in some capacity.
“I was very comfortable having a few identified gifted students in my general classroom, but having a classroom of only identified GT students presented a challenge,” she says.
Eventually she realized: Teachers are actors. If they don’t feel well, they still get pumped up to teach their students. If things aren’t going well at home, it doesn’t matter during the workday. And her mother’s quote stuck with her. Fresh out of college, Lurz became a fourth grade teacher. “I wanted to help my students realize that life at school can be fun, exciting and ever so joyful, no matter what you left behind at home or what you’re going to go home to,” Lurz says. “I wanted to entertain them, and I wanted to have fun. Sometimes, it took music and acting and bringing in the arts to make things fun.” Today, Lurz is an education consultant in the San Antonio/Boerne area. In December, she completes her first year on a two-year term as president of the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented (TAGT).
The whole class learned at an accelerated pace. They were extremely opinionated and passionate. They weren’t satisfied with textbook answers and hungered for in-depth learning. She also discovered that the GT students were more comfortable with their academic or cognitive peers than with their chronological peers. Very early on, she reached out to TAGT for resources and support. Gifted and talented education and the state organization that supports it have been close to Lurz’ heart ever since. “For so long, our accountability system has almost forced us as educators to focus on our struggling students, which is important because every student, no matter where they are on the spectrum as a learner, needs excellent teachers,” Lurz says. “But it’s really easy for the high-ability gifted student to go under a teacher’s radar.” > See TGAT President Profile, page 28 Texas School Business NOVEMBER/DECEMBER
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