The Educators’ Guide to Gifted Children is a new brochure from Gifted Homeschoolers Forum. Our guests for this chat included Corin Goodwin, Executive Director of GHF; Mika Gustavson, MFT, Director of GHF Professionals; and Marlow Schmauder, on behalf of GHF. When asked why GHF decided to write about this topic, they explained that they wanted a tool to help parents begin a conversation about their gifted kid with other adults. They added that many good teachers are still confused by the social and emotional needs and the difference between gifted & high achieving students. The brochure is free and can be downloaded here. A full transcript of the chat can be found here.
There will be no #gtchat next week. Our next chat will be Friday, May 10th @7PM EDT/6PM CDT and our topic will be “The Misdiagnosis Initiative” from @SENG_Gifted. Follow @gtchatmod on Twitter for all the latest information on #gtchat. Our Facebook Page can be found here.
Global #gtchat Powered by the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented extends its thanks toPAGE(Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education) for hosting #gtchat at theirAnnual Conferencein Pittsburgh.
Throughout the conference, all sessions were visited by the moderator and then tweeted for the benefit of conference attendees to enhance their experience, and for those who were unable to attend this year. Tweets included not only information from the presentations, but also background on each of the presenters as well as other presentations and projects in which they were involved.
PAGE provided the moderator with a central location at the conference to serve as a resource for anyone wanting to sign-up for and learn more about Twitter, prior to #gtchat on Friday. All of the information tweeted ~ including the keynote ~ can be searched on Twitter at #PAGE13 and clicking ‘All” at the top of the search results page.
A highlight of the conference was the keynote by Lisa Van Gemert, Youth Specialist with American Mensa. As a former teacher, administrator and parent of three gifted sons, her presentation, “The Five-Headed Dragon: Threats to Giftedness”, combined her wit and extraordinary life-experiences to connect with the audience in a deep, personal way. Twitter provided a unique record of Lisa’s keynote. If you ever have the opportunity to be at a conference with Lisa, make sure to attend her session. You’ll be glad you did!
Lisa Van Gemert at PAGE Conference
Another popular presenter, East Carolina University Assistant Professor Dr. Brian Housand, spoke at two packed sessions about “Technology with Purpose: The Gifted Learner Connection”. Providing educators with practical tips on using technology in their classrooms, Brian reviewed a myriad of tools to enhance the quality of education necessary for today’s tech-savvy gifted student. As a member of Global #gtchat’s Advisory Board, he referred to the benefits of our Twitter chat in his presentation, noting the global collaboration which goes on each week.
Friend of #gtchat, Erik Schwinger of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, presented, “Get Out of the Classroom! The Value of Service Learning and Social Entrepreneurship.” Erik explained that it is important to provide gifted students with avenues to make a positive impact in their communities. These experiences can become a venue for teaching executive skills such as leadership, task commitment, organization, civic responsibility and communication.
Behind the scenes with Lisa Van Gemert, Dr. Brian Housand and Erik Schwinger waiting for #gtchat to start.
Global #gtchat would like to especially thank Mrs. Cynde Frederick for her role in bringing #gtchat to the PAGE Conference. Her forward-thinking involvement in conference planning included providing each attendee with a (sponsored) flash-drive loaded with materials from all the conference presentations including the new #gtchat flyer from TAGT. Cynde was also instrumental in holding the conference at Robert Morris University which provided free Wi-Fi to all attendees and technical support to presenters. This made connecting people to Twitter a simple process.
Utilizing Twitter at conferences is a great way to extend the experience for conference attendees. With multiple sessions being offered, it is impossible to attend all of them; but easy to follow updates on Twitter. Saved hashtag searches can create a permanent record of tweets and the links they contain. Background information about presenters further enhances the value of tweeting your conference. So, consider Twitter when you’re planning your next conference!
One of the most recognizable educators on Twitter today is Jerry Blumengarten, aka @cybraryman1, and #gtchat was privileged to have him as our guest at our live chat from the Annual Conference of the Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education in Pittsburgh, PA. Jerry has been a mentor and friend to thousands of teachers on Twitter. He is well known for his expansive website ~ Cybrary Man’s Educational Web Sites where he has curated over 20,000 links for parents, students and educators.
Although Jerry was with us virtually, it was a bit of a homecoming for him as he is a proud graduate of the University of Pittsburgh. After Pitt, Jerry taught in New York City for 32 years before retiring to Florida with his lovely wife, Gail. He is the father and grandfather of gifted children.
When Deborah Mersino began #gtchat in 2010, Jerry helped her with logistics & promotion of the chat. He now co-moderates #edchat and contributes to numerous other chats. In a very perceptive post entitled, “Beyond Curating and Sharing – How Cybraryman Teaches on Twitter“, one reviewer described Jerry this way ~ “… if you’re reading this and you know anything about Cybraryman, what makes the difference is Jerry. The teacher makes the difference. You see, Jerry doesn’t just blindly promote the Cybrary at any old time, linking folks to the front page and telling them good luck from there. No, Jerry does what great teachers do – he listens. … and he responds with resources. He shares his own experiences and then provides external sources so that we can further explore based on our need and desire to learn.”
Jerry shared some great insights about Twitter with us during the chat. “[The] Beauty of Twitter [is that] it is a level playing field. [You] can tweet with educators, parents, policy makers, politicians, experts in all fields. The key to Twitter are the hashtags. I firmly believe that not only hashtags are important but the chats associated with them are what makes Twitter so valuable. Just look today at the wonderful participants from all over the world. It trends & has a global reach that is amazing! Chats enable the sharing of all points of view and many you were not aware of. Also extends your learning.” A full transcript can be found here.
For the second week in a row, #gtchat became a Trending Topic on Twitter from the U.S. and Canada to Australia! Our discussion centered on the why and how of disorganized gifted learners. Participants from 16 states and 6 countries (1st time for China!) chatted about whether being organized was all that important, where to find resources online and the best organizational tips. A full transcript can be found here.
Next week on Friday, April 19th, #gtchat will be LIVE from the Annual Conference of the Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education in Pittsburgh, PA at a special time ~ 3PM EDT/2PM CDT/Noon PDT/8PM UK/ 5AM (Sat) Melbourne, AU. Our guest will be Mr. Jerry Blumengarten, aka @cybraryman1 on Twitter. He will be talking to us about his involvement with #gchat and the transformative power of Twitter in the lives of educators and parents of gifted children. Jerry is a retired teacher who taught in the New York City school system for 32 years. Jerry received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and Master’s from Hunter College. With over 25,000 followers, he is one of the best known teachers on Twitter. His website, Cybraryman.com, has curated over 20,000 educational links with an extensive page for Gifted & Talented.
This past week, #gtchat partnered with SENG Gifted when it conducted an interview with Dr. James Webb, founder of SENG and president of Great Potential Press, about the Misdiagnosis Initiative. This silent crisis which affects millions of children who are misdiagnosed with mental disorders, but whose gifted characteristics are too often ignored or overlooked by healthcare professionals. Please take time to read the interview (link below) and share with your friends and organizations in (and outside) the gifted community.
Global #gtchat 