IN THIS ISSUE
● Giving Tuesday
●2023 SENG Annual Conference
-Call for Proposals
-Early Bird Registration
-Keynote Speakers
●SENG Board News: SENG at NAGC22
● Director's Corner
-Mark Hess
● Voices from the Villages: Teachers and Teaching
-Deborah Genarelli
●SENGJ: Exploring the Psychology of Giftedness
-Issue 2 now available!
●University of North Texas Research Study
● Amazon Smile
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#GivingTuesday
Your Donation Can Help SENG Change Lives
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GIVING TUESDAY IS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29TH.
Donate to SENG by November 29th and
help us improve the social and
emotional well-being of our gifted, talented and
twice-exceptional community, and provide resources for families, professionals, and educators.
Your donation to SENG can change lives and futures.
All contributions made between now and tomorrow completely tax deductible and will count towards SENG's #GivingTuesday goal.
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2023 SENG Annual Conference
Authentic Voices: Community & Belonging
Early Bird Registration, Call for Proposals Now Open!
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SENG is thrilled to announce that we have begun preparing for our 2023 Annual Conference to be held July 21-23, 2023 at Villanova University! Keynoting our 2023 Conference are Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman and Dr. Richard Cash
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We invite educators, parents, clinicians, advocates, entrepreneurs, researchers and other practitioners interested in presenting to our SENG community to submit their proposal for consideration on or before Sunday, January 15th, 2023 |
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EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!
Register by January 15, 2023 to secure a special discounted price of $399.
The early bird price for SENG Members is $349 .
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About our Keynote Speakers |
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Scott Barry Kaufman is a cognitive scientist and humanistic psychologist exploring the mind, creativity, and the depths of human potential. He is a professor at Columbia University and founder and director of the Center for Human Potential. Dr. Kaufman has taught at Columbia University, Yale, NYU, the University of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. Dr. Kaufman received a B.S. in psychology and human computer interaction from Carnegie Mellon, an M. Phil in experimental psychology from the University of Cambridge under a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, and a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Yale University. He is also an Honorary Principal Fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Wellbeing Science.
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Dr. Richard Cash received a bachelor of arts degree in theater from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. After a brief retail career, Dr. Cash attended the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis, where he received a post-baccalaureate degree in elementary education. His first teaching position in a magnet school for gifted children, grades 1–6, in St. Paul, Minnesota, allowed him to use my talents as an actor and director. He created learning spaces that were rich in artistry, music, theater, and dance.
Richard later obtained a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He became a curriculum specialist and developed training modules, curriculum formats, and differentiated learning archetypes that assisted teachers in creating higher-level experiences to meet the needs of all children. Later, he returned to St. Thomas and received a doctoral degree in educational leadership.
Dr. Cash has served as the Administrator of Gifted Programs in Rochester, Minnesota, and the Director of Gifted Programs for the Bloomington Public Schools in Minnesota. In Bloomington, he realigned the gifted programs to service more students during a budget deficit and incorporated differentiated instruction into the total school curriculum. During his tenure with the Bloomington Public Schools, he created a school-within-a-school program for highly/profoundly gifted students, grades 2 – 10.
Dr. Richard Cash has given hundreds of workshops, presentations, and staff-development sessions throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The research-based strategies and techniques he offers are proven to increase student achievement. Others have commended his talent for working with teachers to develop engaging and enriching learning environments that can improve student learning. At the end of the day, his greatest passion is helping teachers recognize the various talents all children possess and create learning experiences to allow those talents to flourish. He is considered by many to be an exceptionally engaging, motivating, and enlightening presenter.
He is also a member of several professional organizations including the National Association for Gifted Children, the Council for Exceptional Children, and ASCD. Cash has authored numerous articles on quality instructional practices and written three popular teacher resource guides:
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Advancing Differentiation: Thinking and Learning for the 21st Century
- Differentiation for Gifted Leaners: Going Beyond the Basics (with Dr. Diane Heacox), and
- Self-Regulation in the Classroom: Helping Students Learn How to Learn
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Questions?
Contact Brian Shea
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SENG Board News
SENG Board Members, Professional Advisory Committee Members Attend NAGC22
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Members of the SENG Board of Directors and Professional Advisory Committee (PAC) attended and/or presented at the National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC) 69th Annual Convention in Indianapolis, IN last week! Pictured above are SENG Board President Dr. Lin Lim, Vice-President Adam Laningham, and board member Mark Hess with PAC Chair Dr. Ed Amend and SENGJ Editor Dr. Tracy Cross. Board of Director Dr. Karen Arnstein and PAC member Dr. Joy Lawson Davis (missing from this photo) also presented at NAGC.
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Director's Corner
Slow Down, Gifted Kid!
By Mark Hess
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Welcome to my third-grade gifted group, meeting in my portable next to the upper playground. Today is our introduction to a unit about air. As I begin to describe air pressure, Bailey’s eyebrows lift up under her bangs and seem to pull her out of her desk in the front of the room. “Well . . . actually,” she begins.
She stands and turns to face the rest of her classmates, effectively taking my place as instructor. “Actually . . . air presses on us all the time… 14 pounds per square inch, even under water where the deeper you go, the more air pressure increases! Imagine holding a quarter in your hand,” she says, holding her palm open and tracing an imaginary coin with a finger, “That’s about the size of a square inch.” In turn, her classmates’ eyebrows rise and reply, “Wow!” They are delighted.
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I don’t know how many times a similar scenario has played out in my classroom—usually without a student standing and replacing me as the teacher, but oh so many times taking the lead with their own insights. A gifted learner will interject a point I was going to make, or light up with a conclusion I’d hoped the class could arrive at, ten or twenty minutes later in the lesson. “Hold that thought!” I might say, intercepting their momentum, literally taking their breath away as they were about to expound on their inspiration—the student shrinking back into their seat in resigned deflation like I had just poked a hole in their mylar birthday balloon. Once upon a time, trying to sort out what seemed like constant interruptions, I made a brilliant management move: if you raise one hand, you have a question; if you raise two hands, you want to add a comment. Sometimes, my classroom looked like it was doing the wave in a football stadium. Sorry, kids . . . sometimes you just have to wait. I see you . . . They know I get it, so I receive their grace and their reluctant patience. They know that I know that they know that I will let them have their say in due time. This classroom is a safe place for them.
Certainly, they can be frustrating as a teacher--these fast kids whose brains bounce connections to ideas to thoughts to conclusions to inferences with lightning speed. Let’s admit it. They can be frustrating for parents, too. Shouldn’t we be asking Bailey to stop? Shouldn’t we be asking her to turn around, have a seat, and wait for everyone else to catch up?
“Slow down, gifted kid. You might forget to dot an “i” or cross a “t.” You might make a careless mistake—forget to carry the 4 or misplace a decimal.”
“Stop worrying about everything in the world.”
“And can’t you decide? Just find something and stick with it.”
“Quit being so sensitive!”
“You are so dramatic!”
“Why are you so demanding?”
“Can you never be satisfied?”1
“Can’t you ever slow down?”
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Voices From The Village: Teachers and Teaching
Twice Exceptional Boys: A Roadmap to Getting It Right
By Deborah Genarelli
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Engaging, passionate, and strong minded described my young son before he started kindergarten. As a parent, I observed many things that let me know he was very bright. My son’s verbal skills were exceptional. He was more comfortable speaking with adults rather than same age peers. My son also enjoyed constant stimuli in his environment. Taking one family vacation a year was not enough to quench my boy’s appetite for exploration and learning new things. As the parent of a very smart boy, I realized early that I had to be constantly on my toes to make sure my son was happy. I kept asking myself, “What is going to happen when formal schooling begins? Would teachers think my son is as bright as I do? Will he be given the same attention as he had received at home to satisfy his thirst for learning? Will my son like school and enjoy going every day?” Little did I know that I was in for “the great awakening” when my boy began school.
Almost every twice-exceptional boy and family I have worked with in my gifted education career, and there have been many, describes their early years as happy ones (Twice-exceptional Boys: A Roadmap to Getting it Right). The parents see their son(s) as very bright, happy, and ready to learn as much as possible. Most importantly, the parent AND child assume that when school begins everything will go as smoothly as a well-planned road trip. There will be abundant in-depth and interesting lessons to explore, exciting peer interactions, and daily opportunities to build upon the child’s strengths. The family always has optimism that their child’s teacher will be open minded to ALL the children in the classroom.
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However, when boys begin to exhibit gifted characteristics and/or learning difficulties in school that the adults in charge don’t understand, rarely do the stories remain happy for very long. As reported in the 2019 Digest of Education Statistics by the National Center for Education, boys:
Were more likely to receive an out of school suspension.
Were expelled 2 ½ times more than girls.
Were more likely to use illicit drugs.
Were twice as likely to be in a fight at school.
These inequalities also cross racial boundaries and appear to be even more dramatic for minority boys. The same center reported in 2019 that:
Black boys were threatened or injured with a weapon at school more often than white boys.
Twice as many Black boys were expelled from school as compared to white boys.
Twice exceptional boys have a special mixture of needs that are often overlooked in schools today. First, as young boys entering preschool or kindergarten, they find the classroom environments are often antithetical to the way they learn. There is more “sit and listen” compared to learn by doing and allowing for abundant free play. Young boys generally have high energy and poor impulse control. Their natural behavior is to move around and explore. If they cannot conform to the rules of the classroom, they are often punished. The child’s mood changes quickly from cheerful because school is enjoyable to melancholy because he questions if his classroom is where he wants to go every day.
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Have you checked out our Open Access SENG Journal yet?
SENGJ: Exploring the Psychology of Giftedness - Issue 2 Now Available!
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The SENG Journal: Exploring the Psychology of Giftedness (SENGJ) was created to offer opportunities for diverse voices and points of view on topics important to society as they pertain to the psychology of individuals with the ability or potential to perform or produce at exceptional levels. The aim of SENGJ is to promote the social, emotional, and psychological well-being of these individuals. As the official scholarly publication of the SENG organization, the online open-access journal publishes peer-reviewed, rigorous research, including original studies, reviews of research, meta-analyses, and theoretical explorations. Substantive interviews with leaders and experts in the psychology of individuals in this exceptional population are within the scope of SENGJ. The journal places a priority on diversity, equity, inclusion, and rigor.
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University of North Texas Research Study
Exploration of Parent Perceptions of Gifted Formal Support Groups
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The UNT Department of Educational Psychology is conducting a research study “Exploration of Parent Perceptions of Gifted Formal Support Groups.”
If you are a facilitator of or participant in a Gifted Parent Formal Support Group and are above the age of 18; you may qualify to participate in an online research study examining the functions these groups serve for participants and their families.
Eligible subjects will undergo a one hour virtual audio-recorded interview discussing their perceptions of the functions the Support Groups has served for them, with potential follow-up interviews for clarification or confirmation.
You will not receive compensation for participation.
For more information, please click here
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Amazon Smile
Consider supporting SENG through Amazon Smile
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Please be sure to add SENG as your AmazonSmile charitable organization while you do your holiday shopping.
Search for and select "Supporting Emotional Needs Of The Gifted" as your organization of choice, and Amazon will donate a portion of your purchases SENG. It’s easy to set up and a great way to make an impact on the lives of those we serve.
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ADVERTISE WITH SENG!
Do you provide gifted services and products that benefit our membership? Visit the SENG Store for more information on how to get your message to over 21,000 in our monthly SENGVine.
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