2017 Chat Calendar
January
Oct. - National Bully Prevention Month
- Jan. 8: Summer Camps, Summer Activities Catherine Rogliano from SIG (@SIGifted) will be our guest. In this chat, we could to discuss what SIG as to offer as summer camps, why teachers should encourage parents to send their children to summer camps, and why it is important to for parents to invest money and time into gifted summer camps.
- Jan 22: Importance of field trips, internships, and opportunities for career exploration: Gifted children need to have the opportunity to be challenged. Sometimes that doesn't happen in the classroom. We will explore this topic as it relates to gifted education.
- Feb 5: Gifted Education and Minorities: In many gifted programs Minorities are under-represented. We will discuss the issues of why this is, and how as teachers and advocates we can help to rectify this important issue.
- Feb 19: Conference Theme From the OAGC Teacher Academy: We will be focusing this discussion on what kinds of Professional Development would be the most helpful to gifted intervention specialists, and regular education teachers. This will be your chance to discuss some of your favorite professional development sessions that have benefited you the most.
- Mar 5: ADHD: We will be discussing the issues that parents and teachers face when their gifted child is diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
- Mar 19: Misdiagnosis: We will be discussing the issues that parents and teachers face when their their gifted child is misdiagnosed. Our featured guest will be Marianne Kuzujanakis (@MarianneKuz). She is the co-Author of Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnosis of Gifted Children and Adults.
- April 9: Asperger’s Syndrome in the Gifted Population: We will be discussing the characteristics of gifted children who have Asperger's Syndrome. We will also discuss the the challenges parents, teachers, and advocates have with these children.
- April 23: Dyslexia: We will be discussing the characteristics of gifted children who have Dyslexia. We will also discuss the the challenges parents, teachers, and advocates have with these children.
- May 7: Things parents need to know about the college search/planning process With our featured guest Anne Flick (@annflick) we will be looking at aspects of things like scholarships and other financial aid, PSAT/SAT 1 & 2/AP exams, dual enrollment, early decision applications, what to do if wait-listed, honors programs, and finding a good fit.
- May 21: Gifted Advocacy with Ann Sheldon
With so much going on in gifted, it is difficult to keep up. From the gifted operating standards to the new gifted provisions in the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, the landscape for gifted education is ever-changing. Come learn the latest news on all state level gifted initiatives that will profoundly impact gifted children and educators in the future from Ann Sheldon (@anngift) from OAGC.
- July 16: National Parenting Gifted Children Week, July 16-22
- Aug 13: Classroom Prep--How do you start your school year? What are some of the aspects that you feel are most important when creating a classroom environment that encourages creativity and challenge for gifted children? Let's talk about classroom seating, climate, lesson planning and development, activities, and extensions that help stretch and challenge our gifted children.
- Sept. 3: Two sides of the same coin: Multi-potentiality of our Gifted (athletically gifted, intellectually gifted, creatively gifted, academically gifted). We will discuss the many sides of our gifted children. We will talk about how many are gifted in several different academic areas, along with be athletically gifted. We will talk about how gifted children who are gifted athletes are fitting in the classroom.
- Sept. 17: Fostering Creativity in Gifted Children: What are some of your favorite actives, lesson extensions, or enrichment activities that help foster creativity in gifted children? What aspects do feel are most important in fostering creativity? What resources would you share with others who may be struggling with this?
Oct. - National Bully Prevention Month
- Oct 8: Conference Theme From the OAGC Fall Conference...stay tuned more details on the way!
- Oct. 22: Parent Teacher Conferences and Beyond: With parent teacher conferences coming up, we thought we would talk about assessing the needs of gifted students. Our focus for this chat is help parents get the most from parent teacher conferences.
- Nov. 5: Building a Strong Gifted Parent Support Group with Angela Grimm (@angelagrimm):A chief cornerstone of any gifted program should be a strong gifted parent support group. If you aren't involved in one or would like to start one, then this is a great chat topic. If you are part of, or know of a strong support group in your area we invite you to join in and discuss what makes it strong.
- Nov. 19: OAGC Coordinators Winter Conference Theme: We will be discussing how to foster creativity in the gifted classroom. We will also be discussing why creativity is important, how it can be assessed, and why we need to allow gifted children time to be creative.
- Dec. 3: Building a Strong Gifted Program with Katrice Quitter (@katricequitter). We will be discussing what makes a strong and successful gifted program. We will be looking at aspects of program types, and how they are run. We will be looking at characteristics of projects and products these programs are doing with their gifted children.