As an art teacher, one student loved to show me page after page of detailed art on the back of her classwork, I began to question why she often had as much as 45 minutes to doodle and draw in class.

I realized there was no plan for students like her. The focus was on struggling learners while other students were expected to wait and stay quiet. Our district had no gifted program, no plan, and no urgency to change that. That's when I need something had to change.

With the support of district leaders, I built our district's gifted program from scratch. With zero resources and zero programming structure, I extended the basic program to include a locally-normed identification process to reach students who'd been overlooked for years.

This new program was immediately a great success. I knew the work was making a difference in our small district. However, as much as I loved working with my gifted students, I began to feel overwhelmed and isolated.

My turning point was creating a county-wide collaborative. That really turned my burnout into a blueprint.

Now, I help other gifted educators do the same.

If you're trying to do everything and feel a bit overwhelmed or isolated, you're not alone. It doesn't have to feel this way.