Greetings, everyone! Thought I’d pass on some information for all of you about some great new learning opportunities.
Last fall, I mentioned the Webinars on Wednesday series hosted by NAGC (the National Association for Gifted Children). They are continuing the series this spring with a line-up of topics such as “RTI for Gifted Education” (a three-part series beginning tonight), “The Creative Underachiever,” “Resource Roundup,” “Talent Development within the DMGT Framework,” and “New Concepts of Creativity and Giftedness.” The presenters are all nationally-recognized within the field of gifted education. Each webinar takes place on a Wednesday evening and will be one-hour long. A relatively small registration fee is now required, but registering will also gain you access to an archive of the webinar a few days after it has aired. To learn more, and to register, click here.
Among the other great organizations also offering webinars this spring is SENG, Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted. Their webinars take place on Thursday evenings, last 90 minutes, also require a small registration fee, and are also presented by well-known people within the field of gifted education. Upcoming topics include “The Social and Emotional Benefits of Cluster Grouping for Gifted Students” and “The Gifted Child: Superachiever or Underachiever--Parents and Teachers Make the Difference.” You can also purchase past webinars, among them a great line-up of titles such as “Developing Creativity in Gifted Children and Youth,” “Asynchronous Development: A Paradigm for Parents and Professionals,” “Living in the Gifted Family,” “Common Misdiagnoses and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults: What Parents, Educators and Psychologists Need to Know,” and many others.
Additionally, the University of California @ Irvine’s Extension program is offering four free webinars on gifted education topics this spring. Topics include “Gifted and Talented Instruction on a Budget,” “Implications for Educators of Gifted Minority Students,” “Troubleshooting Today’s GATE Programming Obstacles,” and “Classroom Applications of 21st Century Skills.” Each of the free UC Irvine webinars lasts one hour. To sign up, visit this page.
This Saturday, the Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development is hosting a two-hour webinar on “21st Century Learning: Above-Level Assessment as a Tool for Understanding Gifted Learners.” A DVD of the webinar is also available for purchase.
Additionally, the Center for Talented Youth offers webinars that explain their program offerings, including their Talent Search program and their incredible summer and online classes for gifted students.
I also found a free webinar (available for any-time, online viewing with registration) about curriculum differentiation for gifted students. This last webinar, hosted by the Summer Institute for the Gifted, provides a great overview of important strategies, such as curriculum compacting, enrichment, and assessing prior mastery. To sign up, just click here. You can also sign up for the upcoming webinar on summer learning opportunities for gifted students.
Happy Learning! :o)