Gifted Child Today articles from September 2003

Gifted Child Today archives from September 2003

From the guest editors.(Editorial)
September 22, 2003... Most educators consider an effective administrator as a necessary and critical component in effective schools that provide an inviting learning community for its constituents. In today's school climate of accountability in which the public...

The seventh floor: http://www.learningwave.com/ abmath/hotel/index4.html.(On the Web)
September 22, 2003... "BEWARE! You are about to enter the 7th floor of the Hotel Unknown, Multistep problem-solving skills are required to obtain the items needed to solve the mystery. Logic and critical thinking skills are invaluable in solving the puzzle of the...

National Association of Elementary School Principals: http://www.naesp.org.(On the Web)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2003... The NAESP provides administrative and instructional leadership for elementary and middle schools throughout the United States. Canada, and overseas. Its mission is to lead in the advocacy and support for elementary and middle-level principals...

High school language arts instruction.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2003... Gamoran and Carbonaro describe a number of factors that comprise good English instruction: * a sufficient number of reading and writing experiences; * coherence among classwork, discussions, and out-of-class assignments; * student...

Talent development.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2003... Subotnik, Olszewski-Kubilius, and Arnold describe factors that enhance or impede talent development ("Beyond Bloom: Revisiting Environmental Factors that Enhance or Impede Talent Development," in J. Borland [2003], Rethinking Gifted Education...

Senioritis.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2003... After being admitted to college, high school seniors often ease up on their studies--increasing absences, skipping assignments, and exhibiting a general malaise (E. Hoover, "Fighting 'Senioritis,'" The Chronicle of Higher Education, 49[42],...

Affirmative action.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2003... By a vote of 5 to 4, the Supreme Court backed affirmative action policies at the University of Michigan law school this past June (Grutter v. Bollinger, No. 02-241). For admission, an applicant's race may be considered a "plus" factor when...

The Media Awareness Network: http://www.media-awareness.ca/ english/corporate/about_us/index.cfm.(On the Web)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2003... The Media Awareness Network (Mnet) is a Canadian nonprofit organization that promotes media and Internet education by producing online programs and resources. Mnet's work is based on the belief that, to be literate in today's world, young...

The American Association of School Administrators: http://www.aasa.org.(On the Web)
September 22, 2003... The American Association of School Administrators (AASA), founded in 1865, is the professional organization for more than 14,000 educational leaders across the U.S. The organization's mission is to support and develop effective public school...

Education World: http://www.educationworld.com.(On the Web)
September 22, 2003... This is an extensive reference site for teachers, parents, and administrators. Visitors can choose from a number of sections on lesson planning, professional development, articles, and reference materials. Each of these sections has an...

Risk taking vs. Risk Making.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2003... In helping gifted children accept new challenges, Jim Delisle identified the difference between risk taking and risk making. In risk taking, someone is pushing the child to accept a risk, whereas in risk making, the child is doing the pulling...

Performance standards.
September 22, 2003... The Texas Legislature directed the Texas Education Agency to develop statewide standards and an assessment system for gifted and talented students in 1999. Standards for assessing the quality of performance of gifted and talented high school...

Practical tips on how to create and maintain secure and effective school Web sites.(Notable)
September 22, 2003... A report by the National Center for Education Statistics offers practical tips on how to create and maintain secure and effective school Web sites. The report discusses some of the policy, purchasing, and legal issues involved in operating a...

Academic support and counseling.(Notable)
September 22, 2003... The Foundation for Excellent Schools has partnered with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation in offering the Century Program. The program will work with Colleges and school systems that serve primarily low-income and rural communities that are...

Perpetual-motion machines.(Notable)
September 22, 2003... An online museum explores the history of perpetual-motion machines. Donald Simanek offers detailed information on specific devices from weighted wheels designed in the 12th and 13th centuries, to current inventions. On his Web site, he has...

"Hispanic youths dropping out of U.S. schools.".(Notable)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2003... The Pew Hispanic Center recently published a report "Hispanic Youths Dropping Out of U.S. Schools," and found that 21% of Latino youths between the ages of 16 and 19 drop out of high school, which is considerably lower than the statistic from...

Influence on teacher effectiveness.(Notable)
September 22, 2003... A new report, "Creating Effective Teachers: Concise Answers for Hard Questions," analyzes a number of research studies to determine what education research says about various factors and their influence on teacher effectiveness. The report is...

Focused lesson plans.(Notable)
September 22, 2003... The North Central Regional Educational Library has a Web site that is intended to help teachers write focused lesson plans. The planner addresses essential questions that are often overlooked when planning curricular units. Teachers bring their...

Federally supported teaching and learning resources.(Notable)
September 22, 2003... More than 30 federal agencies formed a working group in 1997 and created a Web site (http://www.ed.gov/free) to make hundreds of federally supported teaching and learning resources easier to find.

Delacorte press contest.(Contests)
September 22, 2003... This contest is open to all U.S. and Canadian writers of young adult fiction who have not previously published a young adult novel. Authors are asked to submit a booklength manuscript (between 100 and 224 typewritten pages) with a contemporary...

Kids Philosophy Slam.(Contests)
September 22, 2003... The Kids Philosophy Slam is a contest that is designed to make philosophy fun and accessible for kids of all ages, to promote philosophical dialog between kids and adults, and to promote the awareness of philosophy and education in everyday...

Craftsman/NSTA Young Inventors.(Contests)
September 22, 2003... The Craftsman/NSTA Young Inventors Awards Program is designed to challenge students to use creativity and imagination along with science and technology to invent or modify a tool. The program is open to all students in grades 2-8 who live in...

National Playwriting Competition.(Contests)
September 22, 2003... Young Playwrights Inc. (YPI) is devoted entirely to introducing young people to writing for the professional theater. It was originally founded in 1981 by Stephen Sondheim and offers the National Playwriting Competition to individuals who are...

NASA Student Involvement Program. (Contests.
September 22, 2003... The NASA Student Involvement Program (NSIP) introduces students to NASA's diverse missions of research, exploration, and discovery. Participation in the program's various competitions includes designing space missions, investigating Earth from...

Rube Goldberg Machine Contest.(Contests)
September 22, 2003... The Rube Goldberg Machine Contest is named after the Pulitzer Prize-winning artist Rube Goldberg, who was famous for satirizing new technologies, and is devoted to bringing his cartoon "inventions" to life. The goal of the competition is to...

Math Tools.(Notable)
September 22, 2003... Math Tools (http://mathforum.org/mathtools) offers hundreds of online tools, lesson plans, and learning activities for teaching and learning math--currently for grades 2 and 7 and precalculus. Tools are offered for studying estimation,...

Hollingworth Award.(Grants/Awards)
September 22, 2003... The National Association for Gifted Children will sponsor the Hollingworth Award in 2004 with a cash grant of $2,500 to encourage educational and psychological research studies of potential benefit to gifted and talented children. This...

Goodrich Corporation gives priority to operating grants focused in the following areas.(Grants/Awards)
September 22, 2003... Goodrich Corporation gives priority to operating grants focused in the following areas: (a) Higher Education, (b) Elementary/Secondary Education (K-12), and (c) Adult Education. Within Elementary/ Secondary Education, the Foundation will...

Exchange positions with foreign educators.(Grants/Awards)
September 22, 2003... The Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program enables U.S. teachers and administrators from the elementary through the postsecondary levels to exchange positions with foreign educators for up to one academic year. Participants must obtain a paid leave...

Meetings.(Calendar)
September 22, 2003... NOVEMBER 20-22 Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented conference at the George Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX. For more information, visit http://www.txgifted.org. 20-23 University of Victoria conference,...

Did you know ...?(Brief Article)
September 22, 2003... ... 12 states and the District of Columbia administered computer-based assessments in 2002-2003. ... 79% of special education teachers' students use computers in their classrooms. ... 68% of general education teachers' students use...

An interdisciplinary creative problem solving conference for both teachers and their students.(Through Another's Eyes)
September 22, 2003... As teachers, we have all attended countless workshops which advocated new teaching methods, materials, or techniques in addressing special student populations. We politely listen as a series of presenters enthusiastically introduce their...

Collaborating and advocating with administrators: the Arkansas gifted education administrators' story.
September 22, 2003... Imagine this scene. During a stormy February, more than 800 gifted educators met in Hot Springs, AR, at the annual conference of the state gifted association. The attendees were primarily gifted and talented facilitators and classroom teachers,...

Implementing enrichment clusters in a multiage school: perspectives from a principal and consultant.
September 22, 2003... Does your school provide a full range of gifted education services? How frequently are your students able to explore areas of interest in addition to the basic curriculum expectations? How do you tap the talents of administrators, teachers, and...

Balancing a culture of distraction with guided attention for gifted exploration and reflection.(Parenting the Gifted)
September 22, 2003... "Grant me intention, purpose, and design--That's near enough for me to the Divine'--Robert Frost, from "Accidentally on Purpose" As I was looking for relevant material for the Adolescent Psychology course I teach, my attention was drawn to...

Planning positive experiences for teachers of the gifted and talented.(Purposeful Professional Development)
September 22, 2003... Maximum academic achievement for gifted and talented students can only be accomplished when teachers are given the tools, support, and training needed to strengthen instructional skills and develop knowledge of the social and emotional needs of...

Investigate the world with an exciting new children's atlas.(New Products)
September 22, 2003... The Reader's Digest Children's Atlas (ISBN 07944-0207-0) was created by an international team of cartographers, geographers, writers, editors, designers, and illustrators. The visually stimulating thematic pages explain important geographical...

Bring practical and creative thinking strategies to classroom experiences.(New Products)
September 22, 2003... The traditional education system typically focuses on developing a student's analytical thinking more than practical and creative thinking. Teaching students various ways to develop analysis, creativity, and practicality provides them with...

Board a plane that takes high-potential learners to even greater heights in learning.(New Products)
September 22, 2003... Come aboard Expanding Horizons Airlines for an around-the-world adventure! Passport to Learn: Projects to Challenge High Potential Learners (ISBN 1-56976-125-6), written by Jacque Melin, provides ready-to-go learning experiences that...

Critical issues in gifted education.(New Products)
September 22, 2003... Always diverse in the depth of his topics, but consistent in his philosophical outlook, Jim Delisle once again tackles such critical issues in gifted education as standardized testing, differentiation, the theory of Multiple Intelligences, the...

Share in Nelson Mandela's favorite folktales.(New Products)
September 22, 2003... Everyone has heard of Goldilocks the trespasser and Babe the ox with the cerulean coat. But, what of African legend? What about Kamiyo, the bride carved from a tree, or Mmadipetsane, the little girl who disobeyed her mother? Long before the...

Strategies designed to meet standards and motivate students.(New Products)
September 22, 2003... What can teachers do to help their students do their very best to meet the standards while also taking ownership of their learning? How to Meet Standards, Motivate Students, and Still Enjoy Teaching (ISBN 0-76197842-9) provides a clear...

The levels of service approach to talent development: parallels with existing programs.
September 22, 2003... In 1998, practitioners in the field of gifted and talented education received several important challenges. The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) published standards for gifted programming to guide educators in their practice. The...

Mentors on the net: extending learning through telementoring.(Technology)
September 22, 2003... "At its core, a mentorship reflects the way in which humans have always passed on their legacy, their artistry." (Tomlinson, 2001, p. 5) Parents, classroom teachers, and teachers of the gifted cannot be all things to the young people in...

A tale of two principals.
September 22, 2003... The role of the principal as it relates to the education of gifted and talented children in programs and schools has been discussed in a variety of articles related to desired skills, competencies, or characteristics (Booth & Brown, 1985; Dart,...