Kate Simkowiak

Events

Special events

NWGCA Connections Conference this Saturday in Puyallup

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This will be our largest conference ever and you don’t want to miss out! We have a GREAT day planned with a fabulous speaker line up AND celebrating Washington State’s oldest gifted advocacy group: 50 years old!

With cake and presents. $65 on site registration and only $5 for additional family members.

When:
February 9, 2013
8:30 AM – 2:00 PM

Where:
Aylen Junior High
101 15th Street SW
Puyallup, WA 98371

Try to carpool and have a chance to discuss what you hear and bond with other gifted families.

For more information on this conference click here.

Upcoming Gifted Education Webinars

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Are you looking for an easily-accessible and free or reasonably priced way to gather research-based information about gifted learners? These webinars in the coming weeks, many of them presented by widely-recognized experts in the field, are a fabulous option. Additionally, if you can’t watch one “live,” in most cases registration allows you to access it after-the-fact at a later time.

February 12, 7:30 PM Eastern – Addressing the Unique Challenges of Culturally Diverse Gifted Learners Presented by Joy Lawson Davis (University of Louisiana, Lafayette), this webinar, brought to you by SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) will focus on issues faced by underrepresented gifted children and solutions teachers can employ to address the needs of exceptional learners from minority populations.

February 12, 7:00 PM Pacific – Meeting the Needs of the Gifted Learner in the Common Core Classroom Via UC-Irvine, this FREE webinar presented by Rhonda Cameron (Orange County Dept. of Ed., CA) will show teachers ways to fully differentiate the Common Core so as to better meet the learning needs of gifted learners (and all learners).

February 13, 7:00 PM Eastern – Adapting the Writing Common Core for Gifted Learners This NAGC webinar, presented by Claire Hughes of the College of Coastal Georgia and Debra Troxclair of Lamar University (TX), covers information for teachers about how the Common Core English Language Arts standards can be adapted and differentiated for advanced learners in the area of writing. Both presenters are among the authors of NAGC’s new book, “Using the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts With Gifted and Advanced Learners.”

February 19, 7:00 PM Pacific – Making GATE Work Without Funding This FREE UC-Irvine webinar presented by Gina Danley (Santa Maria-Bonita Schools, CA) will provide insights and ideas for how schools and districts can maintain and offer gifted programming in times of lean or disappearing budgets.

February 20, 7:00 PM Eastern – Un”Common” Creativity: Infusing Creative Thinking Across The Common Core Susan Dulong Langley returns for this NAGC webinar full of ideas and strategies for infusing creative thinking skills together with the Common Core.

February 21, 7:30 PM Eastern – Grappling with Giftedness: A Lifelong Challenge A SENG webinar, Ellen Fiedler (Northeastern Illinois University) will share insights about possible unresolved affective issues related to their giftedness that may still be impacting gifted adults. Characteristics of gifted adults and their impact on “giftedness across the lifespan” will also be covered.

February 26, 7:00 PM Pacific – Tech Tools to Differentiate and Engage Gifted Learners This final FREE UC-Irvine webinar, presented by Sean Williams (University of La Verne), highlights various Web 2.0 tools that teachers can use to engage and differentiate their gifted and advanced learners.

[A credit option is also available for the UC-Irvine webinars. Contact Lisa Kadowaki in the UC-Irvine Extension Office for more information. Her email is at the bottom of the 5th Annual GATE Webinar Series Flyer.pdf.]

February 26, 7:30 PM Eastern – Understanding Intensity: Practical Applications for Parents, Teachers, and Counselors This SENGinar, presented by Michele Kane (Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago), is designed to provide insights about the heightened sensitivities and intensities of gifted youth and how the adults in their lives can help them understand and develop their social and emotional aspects.

February 27, 7:00 PM Eastern – Implementing the Common Core State Standards with Various Program Models in Gifted Education Another of NAGC’s spring webinars, join up on this night to learn from Alicia Cotabish (University of Central Arkansas) and Bronwyn MacFarlane (University of Arkansas at Little Rock) about the relationships between gifted program models and the Common Core State Standards. Also included will be examples of how to implement the CCSS in mathematics for gifted learners.

March 13, 7:00 PM Eastern – Creativity and Complexity in Math and Science Presented by Cheryll Adams (Ball State University, IN), this NAGC webinar will offer characteristics of students who are gifted in mathematics and science, along with modifications “to provide more creativity, complexity, depth, and abstractness for students gifted in mathematics and science.”

March 26, 7:30 PM Eastern – Still Gifted After All These Years–Lifespan Intensity and Gifted Adults This final spring SENGinar, presented by Patricia Gatto Walden (Institute of Educational Advancement), will cover innate social and emotional traits of giftedness, misunderstandings that parents and teachers often have regarding them, and ways parents and teachers can nurture gifted children’s health and well-being.

[Many SENGinars offer APA credit for psychologists. Visit this page for more information.]

[SENG is also offering free webinars to 30 U.S. schools this spring. Visit this page for information on how to apply.]

March 27, 7:00 PM Eastern – Educating Primary Gifted Students: Analyzing Nonfiction Books with a Focus on Higher-Level Skill Development This NAGC webinar, presented by Kimberley Chandler (College of William & Mary, VA), examines the use of non-fiction text with primary grade learners and provides strategies for how to assist young learners in analyzing, inferring, and summarizing the information in non-fiction. Extensions for research projects, writing activities, and questioning strategies will also be highlighted.

[Site licenses are available for all NAGC WOW webinars. Visit this page for more information.]

Message from The Washington Coalition For Gifted Education – Jan. 27th

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At last, the most anticipated publishing event of the year is here – the GEDay handbook is finally ready!

It is attached in 3 parts: Basics, Spotlights, Myths & Facts. If you were looking for something and don’t find it included, please contact us for more information.

For those bringing student groups, and who wish to make a curriculum connection with the trip to Olympia, there is a lot of information on the state web sites. The legislature website has lots of materials on curriculum that might be used by you.  Try civic education, bill information; http://www.des.wa.gov/services/facilities/CapitolCampus/teacher/Pages/default.aspx; and http://www.leg.wa.gov/BackToSchool/Pages/default.aspx#lesson_plans

It may not be too late to schedule a guided tour of the capitol building.

Online Opportunities for your Gifted 6th through 8th Graders

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Center for Talent Development’s Gifted LearningLinks (GLL) online program provides gifted students around the world with courses that are rigorous, furnish individualized attention, and allow for an independent pace.
Academically talented students in grades 6 through 8 can be challenged, inspired and energized by taking a credit-bearing 18-week Honors Electives (HE) course or 9-month Honors (H) course.

Courses include:

  • Playwriting 101 (HE)
  • Medical Microbiology (HE)
  • 3D Graphic Modeling for Games, Illustrations & Animated Short Features (HE)
  • Psychology Honors (H)
  • Neuroscience Honors (H)
  • Latin I Honors Wheelock or Ecce Romani (H)

Honors and Honors Electives courses enroll on a monthly basis. Register by February 1 to start on February 15.

Don’t see a class among the 60+ we offer that interests your child? Our Independent Study pairs students with an online mentor for 9 weeks. Together they create a tailored course based on a student proposal. Extracurricular Clubs such as Robotics and Architecture are formed and organized by students under the direction of a faculty advisor and run 18 weeks, starting February 15.

Visit the website for all of the current Gifted LearningLinks courses.

Questions? Don’t hesitate to contact us at gll@northwestern.edu.

Challenging Online Classes for Gifted High School Students

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Center for Talent Development’s Gifted LearningLinks allows students to study online any time, any place, any pace.

Academically talented students in grades nine through twelve have the opportunity to enroll in credit-bearing Honors Electives courses, Honors courses and Advanced Placement® courses. Students work at their own pace, guided by a master teacher who provides personal and individualized feedback as they work through rigorous curriculum.

Our single-credit Honors Elective courses are 18 weeks long and are special interest courses that may not be available in students’ schools, such as Effective Essay Writing: Writing for Test Preparation, College Applications & Beyond, The Influence of Art & Architecture, Introduction to Epidemiology and more.

Our Honors courses are one and two semesters for credit and designed for motivated students seeking challenge and rigor. We offer courses in English & Writing, Humanities & Social Sciences, Science, Technology and World Languages.

AP® courses are one and two semesters and prepare students for the AP® exams.  We offer over twenty AP® courses, including AP® World History, AP® Economics Micro & Macro, AP® Calculus AB and more.

All of these courses can begin any month; register by February 1 and begin class on the 15th.

Looking for other options?  Independent Study pairs students with an online mentor for 9 weeks. Together they create a tailored course based on a student proposal. Extracurricular Clubs such as Robotics and Architecture are formed and organized by students under the direction of a faculty advisor and run 18 weeks, starting February 15.

Please visit our website for more information about our many opportunities for your talented high schooler.

NWGCA – Connections Conference February 9th, 2013

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Keynote Speakers

Keynote 1 — 8:30 – 9:30 AM

Chris McCurry, PhD
On Resilience, Emotional Intelligence, and Marshmallows – This address will describe ideas about what makes for success in academics and in life. Dr. McCurry will present research findings as well as clinical and parent experience that explores what are being called “non-cognitive” skills (emotional intelligence, attention, curiosity, and self-regulation, among others) and the important role these skills play in our children’s success and in our own work as parents.
Jane Hesslein
What Your Kids Want You to Know – This presentation is for teachers and parents who have wondered what the gifted kids in their lives might wish they knew. These unique and valuable insights are the result of two requests made to fifth-grade gifted students at the end of their school year. The responses were articulate, often heartening, and sometimes surprising. What these students had to say is something that every parent and teacher can use.
Breakout Sessions:

The Anxious Gifted Student: From Procrastination to Perfectionism

-Chris McCurry, PhD

Gifted 101

-Austina De Bonte

Supporting the Social/Emotional Growth of Gifted Adolescents

-Sandi Wollum

The Absent Minded Professor: Raising Gifted Kids Who Can’t Find Their Jackets

-Sandi Wollum

Gifted 101 (repeat session)

-Austina De Bonte

Tips for Building Successful Parent/Teacher Relationships

-Jane Hesslein

Brown-Bag Lunch Discussions
12:45 – 2:00 PM

Bring your brown-bag lunch, select a table topic, and participate in a facilitated discussion with other attendees.

Location: Aylen Junior High

101 15th Street SW
Puyallup, WA 98371

Presented by

and
Academic Booster Club of Puyallup
Register Onlineor

Mail check to NWGCA:  PO Box 30134, Seattle, WA 98113
Register by January 31, 2013:  $60.00
Register at the door:  $65.00
Additional family members:  $5
Partial scholarships available.  For more information, contact Tawna at 360-739-7901

Complete presentation descriptions and speaker bios available at http://www.nwgca.org/connections-conference.html

SENG Webinar Event, Dec. 20th – Talking with Teens

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Presented by Jean Peterson

When adults are serious about attending to social and emotional needs of gifted kids, their own self-awareness and skills can help them avoid inadvertently squelching, patronizing, judging, viewing them narrowly, or even being unhelpfully “in awe.” Paying attention to their own biases can also help adults avoid inhibiting kids’ willingness to engage and show appropriate vulnerability.

Learn how to engage gifted adolescents so that conversation is meaningful and satisfying to both teens and adults, is focused on more than just performance or non-performance, is “real,” builds mutual trust, and is “generative.” Parents, relatives, teachers, coaches, directors, and other invested adults can all benefit from stepping back and, if needed, purposefully altering patterns of interaction in the interest of supporting them effectively.

Opportunities for Profoundly Gifted Children

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Here are some family gathering opportunities for profoundly gifted (PG) children and their families. Membership in the organizations is required, so if you are interested in these possibilities for summer family vacations, you should start looking into membership soon.

PG Retreat is a community of families with profoundly gifted children and teens.
Two Summer Retreats 2013!
Colorado Springs, Colorado: July 4th – July 8th, 2013
Breckenridge, Colorado: July 10th – 14th, 2013
Visit http://pgr.shuttlepod.org/ for more information.

Davidson Summit
Young Scholars are invited to attend a summertime get-together called the Summit, where relationships are fostered between Young Scholars, their parents and the Davidson Family Consultant team.
http://www.davidsongifted.org/youngscholars/Article/Davidson_Young_Scholars___Summit_376.aspx

Mensa Annual Gathering
“Culture in Cowtown”: July 3rd to July 7th, 2013 in Fort Worth, Texas
Mensa of Western Washington (MWW) is a local group of American Mensa, which in turn is a national member of International Mensa, a society that is apolitical and free from all racial or religious distinctions. We welcome people from every walk of life whose IQs are in the top 2% of the population. Our primary objective is to enjoy a wide range of social and cultural activities. MWW currently has more than 1200 members and is the ninth largest group in American Mensa.
http://www.mensaww.org/gatherings-2/national-2/