“The Gifted Child: From the Inside Out”—a conference for parents

Friday, February 28, 2014—Wine & Cheese evening, Key-note address; cash bar, registration begins at 6:00pm.

Saturday, March 1, 2014—Daytime conference with plenary sessions; includes coffee/muffins, lunch, and conference book on gifted parenting (TBA); registration begins at 8:00am.

Westmount Charter School 2215 Uxbridge Drive NW

Registration information: No pre-registration; first-come, first-served/registered.

Fees: $60.00 (CASH only, payable at door). Registration fee covers both Friday eve and Saturday daytime events–there is no ‘single-day’ registration. 

Reduced fee available for multiple, immediate family members attending: 1st member pays full price of $60 and will receive conference book; second (and subsequent family members) pay $40 each and do not receive conference book.

 

KEY NOTE:

Dr. Sal Mendaglio: “Fear, Anxiety and Stress: What’s the Difference?”

Dr Mendaglio’s Second Session: “Academic Underachievement: A Predictable Crisis for Gifted Students”

Break-Out Sessions

1. Gifted but Denied: The EAL Perspective (Dr. Hetty Roessingh & Patti Gillespie Noble)

For many English Language Learners, a challenge for shifting from conversational to academic language use is a lifelong project. How can home and school work together to develop academic language? In this session we will illustrate language samples to highlight the growing gap over time that will impact the long-term effect on academic outcomes.

2. Gifted and Learning Disabled: When Being Gifted is a Handicap (Dr. Nicole Sheldon)

This session will discuss the strengths and challenges of twice exceptional students, what their school experiences look like, and how to help them reach their potential without excessive frustration and distress.

3. Relationship between Parenting Stress and Children’s Attribution (Maisha M. Syeda)

This session will present how various factors could make identified gifted children more vulnerable to developing and/or maintaining anxiety. Examples of such factors will include: parenting stress, children’s attribution style, their age and their own perceptions of their parents’ stress. This discussion will help to highlight more effective strategies for anxiety prevention and intervention programs in schools and community centers.

4. Who are you, really? (David Head, Alan Crooks)

This session will explore the pedagogical reasoning that underpins the use of alternative media for gifted students’ engagement and illustration of certain principles such as exemplars and heroes, why we need them, and how we identify with them. This is especially important for the gifted because they will note specific behavior patterns and try on “different hats” through observation. If students receive exposure throughout this process in a controlled, fun, engaging atmosphere and environment, the growth process is less uncomfortable. Students are aware why they identify with the heroes they do and the values these heroes represent. Learning outcomes in this course include a focus on areas such as philosophy, writing techniques and how comics are constructed. The intrinsic outcome of this course offering is to help kids become comfortable with who they are becoming, and to learn to accept this is an ongoing lifelong process.

5. Creativity Process for Gifted (Murphy McMaster)

What does it mean to be creative? Is there a place for creativity beyond art and music? How do we encourage creative process in all classes? Using the 7 steps of creativity theory, this interactive session will explore promoting trial and error, collaboration, idea generation and production from the stand point of creative process and how it expands the mind and character of the gifted child.

6. I know what I know – why do I have to write it down? (Dr. Brent McDonald)

Many gifted students (and, in the presenter’s experiences, predominantly boys) are highly reluctant to produce work, feeling that knowing/understanding is enough, minimizing the need to actually produce. This session will provide some observations of gifted boys, their learning challenges, and how best to help.

7. Families of the Gifted Child: Intensity at Home, School and Play (Mary-Jo Pow and Gaye Harden)

Parents need sources of information and support in order to navigate what is often acomplex choreography of steps and actions to meet their child’s needs at home, at play and at school. This session is structured to bring together interested parents to discuss modifications in parenting, what we need to know and who we need to be in order to experience the best possible journey as a family with a child who is gifted.

Preliminary schedule (subject to change):

DATE	TIME	LOCATION	ACTIVITY	TOPIC	SPEAKER(S)
FEB. 28	6:00	Westmount Charter School Mid-High (Van Horne) Campus	REGISTRATION
	7:00-7:10	Gym	OPENING REMARKS		DR. JANNEKE FRANK (Westmount Charter School)
	7:10-8:10	Gym	EVENING KEYNOTE	GETTING OUT OF THE WAY: ADVENTURE EDUCATION AND ITS VALUE FOR GIFTED KIDS	CAYLEY WEBBER DAVID MANNING MURPHY MCMASTER
MAR.1	8:00-9:00	TBA	REGISTRATION COFFEE
	9:00-9:10	Gym	OPENING REMARKS		JOE FRANK (Westmount Charter School)
	9:10-10:00	Gym	MORNING KEYNOTE	FEAR, ANXIETY AND STRESS: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE	DR. SALVATORE MENDAGLIO
	10:15-11:00	TBA	S 1	THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTING STRESS AND CHILDREN’S ATTRIBUTION	MYESHA S. SYEDA
		TBA	S 2	ACADEMIC UNDERACHIEVEMENT: A PREDICTABLE CRISIS FOR GIFTED STUDENTS	DR. SALVATORE MENDAGLIO
		TBA	S 3	I KNOW WHAT I KNOW – WHY DO I HAVE TO WRITE IT DOWN???	DR. BRENT MCDONALD
	11:15-12:00	TBA	S 4	FAMILIES OF THE GIFTED CHILD. INTENSITY AT HOME, SCHOOL AND PLAY	MARY-JO POW GAYE HARDEN
		TBA	S 5	CREATIVITY PROCESS FOR GIFTED	MURPHY MCMASTER
		TBA	S 6	GIFTED AND LEARNING DISABLED: WHEN BEING GIFTED IS A HANDICAP	DR. NICOLE SHELDON
	12:00 -12:30	CAFETERIA		LUNCH
	12:30-1:30	TBA	S 7	GIFTED, BUT DENIED: THE ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE (EAL) PERSPECTIVE	PATTI GILLESPIE-NOBLE AND DR. HETTIE ROESSINGH
		TBA	S-8	TBA	KRYSTAL ABRAHAMOWICZ
		TBA	S-9	WHO ARE YOU REALLY?	DAVID HEAD AND ALAN CROOKS
	1:45-2:45	TBA	QUESTION AND ANSWER PANEL	QUESTIONS FROM ATTENDEES	SPEAKERS
	2:55-3:00	TBA	CLOSING REMARKS		HAL CURTIES