Unwrapping the Gifted
Tamara Fisher was a K-12 gifted education specialist for a school district located on an Indian reservation in northwestern Montana and past president of the Montana Association of Gifted and Talented Education. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: gifted education.
Education
Opinion
WoW! Webinars on Wednesdays
From now through the end of 2009, NAGC (the National Association for Gifted Children) will be offering free webinars on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month (plus a monthly "Parent Night.") It looks like they have a wide range of topics lined up (everything from perfectionism to advocacy to program evaluation and much more), along with some great presenters. I have never attended a webinar before, but I just signed up for my first one! Should be a good learning experience in more ways than one. Here are the titles and dates for the webinars announced thus far:
Education
Opinion
Who Are You? (via Edufest - Days 4, 5, and 6)
Well, the Edufest conference finished up swimmingly (and I did manage to get a smidge of "swimming" in via a float down the Boise River one day - squeezed in-between presenting and dinner). Here are a few highlights of what I learned the last three days of Edufest that might be of interest/use for any of you:
Education
Opinion
Edufest - Days 1, 2, and 3
Greetings, all! This week finds me at one of my favorite places, Edufest in Boise, Idaho. It's a Gifted Education conference that takes place the last week of July each year. It's intense, in-depth, inspiring, interesting, jam-packed, fun, eye-opening, and energizing. (Edufest is patterned after Confratute, which takes place in Storrs, Connecticut, each summer, so those of you who live in the East could consider it an option if Idaho is a bit of a stretch for you.)
Education
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National Parenting Gifted Children Week - Raising a Gifted Child
Timed in conjunction with the annual SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) conference, this week (July 19-25, 2009) is National Parenting Gifted Children Week, an awareness event sponsored by SENG and NAGC (the National Association for Gifted Children).
Education
Opinion
Twice Exceptional - An Interview
In Gifted Education, twice exceptional (also “2e”) is the term used for those individuals who have dual (or even multiple) exceptionalities. They are both gifted “and” – such as gifted and learning disabled, gifted and bipolar, gifted and physically disabled, gifted and ADHD, etc. This dichotomy of polar exceptionalities can be incredibly frustrating for the individual (and their families and teachers), somewhat akin to being the rope in a tug-of-war – being pulled in one direction by their gifts and talents and the intense desire to pursue them, while also being pulled in another direction by some sort of physical, intellectual, psychological, or emotional challenge that can complicate (or even get in the way of) their ability to develop and fulfill their giftedness.
Education
Opinion
Strange Advice for Bright Kids
Hey, kids :o) My name is Tamara and for my job I work with super smart kids like you all day long in every grade level (yup, from Kindergarten all the way through high school). It’s loads of fun and I get to learn a lot, too, right along with my students. They’re interesting people – just like you, I imagine – and they keep me on my toes because – probably like you as well – they’re intense, deeply curious, highly sensitive, sometimes perfectionistic, definitely creative, and often out-of-step learners.
Education
Opinion
Reflections on a Year Gone By (and Then Some)
Well, today was our last day of school for the year, and I am experiencing the screeching halt that comes after the whirlwind which is the end of a school year. I tend to get caught off-guard by the ends of school years, perhaps because I so easily get immersed into the day-to-day joys and challenges of teaching, perhaps because I love what I do so much that I don’t count down, perhaps because I know I can’t possibly “get it all done” in the dwindling number of days remaining and therefore succumb to denial about the year’s impending conclusion.
Education
Opinion
Bibliotherapy Revisited
A few weeks ago I talked about the use of bibliotherapy with gifted students and how I was implementing the strategy with my 5th and 6th graders. Not long after that post, the kids finished reading their selected books and we had discussions on them. The 6th graders also each did a project to answer their questions. (I have less time with my 5th graders, so we only held discussions.) Just for a little quick review, these were the questions I posed to the kids:
Education
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Gifted Laughs - The Big Bang Theory
Yes, I got hooked.
If you’re looking for a little summer humor and some fun, brainy entertainment (and aren’t already hooked as I am) check out this summer’s re-runs of CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory.” (I hope they re-run them!)
If you’re looking for a little summer humor and some fun, brainy entertainment (and aren’t already hooked as I am) check out this summer’s re-runs of CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory.” (I hope they re-run them!)
Education
Opinion
VHS isn't just for your VCR
(Although I might be the only person left in the world still using a VCR!)
Education
Opinion
Your State Gifted Association
Well, it's that time of year again! I'm chin-deep in conference-organizing, as our state gifted conference is coming up in a couple of weeks. It's a considerable undertaking, but it is always well worth the effort. Each state has its own process for coordinating their state conference and we here in Montana are in our second year of trying out a new method.
Education
Opinion
Using Bibliotherapy with Gifted Children
Hopefully we’ve all had that experience of reading a book that powerfully “spoke” to us, a book whose characters we could relate to, and whose struggles and triumphs we identified with. Taking this experience a step farther is the strategy of bibliotherapy, the process of helping the reader learn about and cope with any social or emotional struggles or developmental needs by identifying with a character in a book who shares a similar struggle or need. The reading is typically followed up by discussion with a trusted adult.
Education
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Great Expectations
A couple of weeks ago, I had some group discussions with my fourth graders about the “Gifted Children’s Bill of Rights.” We sat around the poster in a semi-circle and I asked them to say which items, if any, struck a chord with them and why. (For anyone who hasn’t previously read the insightful list created by Del Siegle, you can read it and learn more in my previous post on the topic.)