There are some resources and links on the C.C.S. Unified Arts web site. The site is a little difficult to navigate, and some of the items are targeted to educators, but if you look here , you can find the goodies. (The main page for Unified Arts is http://www.columbus.k12.oh.us/art/index.htm .)

Recently I was rooting around the web, looking for a few good sites with listings for Books for Gifted & Talented. I found these to be good resources.

Does anyone else have some more to contribute?

Just For Kids - Gifted Children - Recommended Reading List
http://www.just-for-kids.com/gifted.html
Selecting Books for Gifted Readers
Gifted children tend to begin reading at a younger age, read at a higher reading level that their age peers and go through books more rapidly. This creates a number of problems for parents. It becomes a challenge to find materials that are psychologically and developmentally appropriate.

GT-World Reading Lists
http://vcbconsulting.com/gtworld/gtbook.htm
Parents of gifted and talented children are faced with many unusual challenges. With many of our children very early readers, the question is often asked “What books are good for my 4 or 5 year old who’s already reading chapter books?” or “My fourth grader would rather read adults books, but I’m not comfortable with the topics. Help?” These lists are a summary of the reading recommendations from members of our GT-Families mailing list - parents and children - to answer these tricky reading list questions for our gifted children.

Hoagies’ Gifted Education Page:
Books for Children, Featuring Gifted Children
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/featuring_gifted.htm
and …
Reading Lists
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/reading_lists.htm

Did you know that you can use RSS to read the “headlines” of posts in this or any other Blog?

If you are using the Firefox web browser, look for the icon . You can usually find it in the address bar above, as well as in the side bar under Subscribe. (It may be a different color, but the design is usually the same.)
Click on the icon, and it will give you the option to “Add Live Bookmark!”

I like to add my “live bookmarks” to the a folder in the main “Bookmarks Toolbar Folder.” Then I can just click on that folder and slide my pointer down over the desired feed (”live bookmark”). The feed will then expand to show all the lastest posts on that blog or RSS-enabled site. I can click on any “headline” and go right to the posting!

There are other special programs that can collect your RSS feeds, but I like the convenience of reading them right from my Firefox browser.

from http://osapostle.com/wordpress/2006/10/20/using-rss-to-read-posts/

I’ve set up a new category called “Help and Tech Info.”
Here I will put information to help people get the most out of this site, including such things as updates on how you might contribute, how to better navigate, links to other helpful info - and whatever else I think of that comes under the “tech” rubric.

I attended the O.A.G.C. Conference this past Monday and Tuesday. While some of the presentations obviously target teachers and educators more than parents, there was no lack of items of interest. In fact for some of the time periods I was forced to make tough decisions between several desirable options. Sometimes I even chose a teacher-targeted option: after all, it’s good to look through someone else’s eyes on occasion.

I did not attend the Sunday Parent Fair. Perhaps we can get someone else to report their experience there. From my experience at the larger conference, I would assume that the Parent Conference might be a “best buy” for many of you next year. It does not require the commitment in dollars or time - just a Sunday afternoon; and it features program items targeted to parents.

The Monday keynote by Del Siegle (”Getting to the Heart of the Matter: What I’ve Learned from Gifted Students”) was a good key note, as it echoed in other presentations! Dr. Siegle drew on his experience as a teacher as well as his academic studies, with observations and suggestions that rang true to me. He spoke at length about the diversity of gifted kids, their learning styles, interests, and motivations. He noted that kids don’t always love learning everything(!), and can be motivated to seek mastery and/or to seek intellectual stimulation. He encouraged those working with our kids to “service the strength.”

Perhaps one of the best things Siegle said was that students need to know about their giftedness, but then also take responsibility for it. In accord with what I experienced in another workshop about perfectionism, this knowing about giftedness should be more about learning to develop gifts into talents. The problem here is that a kid who believes giftedness is “set” will get caught up into performing just to perform, and lose the joy. Every challenge then becomes a “test” which challenges his/her identity. (Think of testing mania!) Conversely, a kid who believes that abilities are malleable will approach learning and mastery for the challenge and joy of it, and will want to tackle new things. (Hence giftedness does not mean “everything must come easy, or I’ve failed.” It means that if I’m willing to invest the effort, amazing things are possible!)

Another notable presenter was Nathan Levy. Now a vendor of materials for GT ed., Levy spent many years in the trenches in some of the most challenging New York City schools. His “Stories with Holes” (sort of like riddles) were shown as a tool to develop a culture of learning, where kids learn to speak up, take chances, know that it’s good to think “outside the school day,” and get “caught being good.” On the perfectionism trap, Levy observed: “Excellence is not equal to perfection.” Levy tried his methodology on the audience, with his Socratic challenging that reminded me of a professor I once had: you don’t dare quit paying attention in his class, but if you don’t get the answer right away, you try and try again.

There were also presentations by teachers of how they had approached certain projects for “differentiated” learning with groups of children with diverse gifts. For example, one team used the process of planning construction of a youth center to teach a diverse group of students many math skills. Project learning can be so much better than drill and fill! There was also a presentation by the developer of the Model United Nations. In all these things we find the students actively engaged in their learning, learning not just facts, but processes - including how to figure out other things in the future.

If you would like to rummage through O.A.G.C. 2006 Fall Conference Documents including Exhibitor Keynote Speaker and Small Session Information, you may find them on the O.A.G.C. website:
http://www.oagc.com
The information has been taken down, as promised, as of December 2006. if there is something that you particularly want to see, ask. Some of us have some of the information.

Welcome to the new P.A.C.E. web site, based upon WordPress blogging system.

This system is not merely “pretty,” but it also provides a lot of functional flexibility. With our WordPress-based system, we will be able to allow people such as P.A.C.E. officers and steering committee members to post their significant thoughts and items of interest in “posts.” (More traditional web site info will be in the “pages.” The Yahoo Group complements posts by providing yet another avenue for timely communication of a more ephemeral nature.)

While your webmaster will keep fairly tight control over authoring privileges to keep the spammers out, I will be more than glad to have people other than officers and steering committee people become contributors and authors. Let me know if you are interested!

Scott

Did anyone see the Letter to editor by Northland High student Ann Shanda 2/11/2006, “Cutting teachers, school day will hurt many students?”

It was well spoken — a fine example of how thoughtful and insightful our students can be.

One striking comment:

High school has changed my life, not because I’m gaining an education but because I am gaining myself. Even a year before I graduate, I can tell that I have grown up significantly during my high-school years. There are specific moments that I can pinpoint and say: “I changed when …” There are teachers to whom I am forever indebted because they were instrumental in the transformation of an insecure teenager to the self-assured, happy young adult I have become.

Thanks Ann! I hope the Board is listening.

Scott