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January 2015: Resources and Local Events

1/9/2015

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Plan ahead if you are looking for fun activities that take place between now and May!
  • Fermilab announcements: Spring Science Adventures for students grades K-8; Family Open House Feb. 8 from 1:00-5:00; Wonders of Science program March 15th, 1:00-2:00, tickets $4 each; High School STEM Career Fair, April 22 5:30-8:30 pm; Dr. Temple Grandin lecture: "Different Kinds of Minds Contribute to Society," May 14th and 15th (15th is sold out), tickets $7 each
  • IMSA Funshops in February and March for students in grades 3-6
  • NIU STEM Saturdays in Dekalb or Naperville for ages 8 and up
  • Waubonsee Community College Spring Break Camps for ages 4-14 

Have you seen ... ?
  • Researcher Kyung Hee Kim explores the question: "Underachievement and Creativity: Are Gifted Underachievers Highly Creative?" and suggests remedies to help reverse patterns of underachievement for students who are gifted, highly creative, or both.
  • Gail Post, PhD psychologist, in blog posts collected here provides some useful advice about helping gifted students with test anxiety, understanding procrastination, advocating for your G/T child, and planning ahead for college during the high school years.
  • This summary of a #gtchat about gifted education and middle school provides some insight from educators and experts about what makes these years so unique for your G/T child's emotional, social, and academic development.
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Back to School! 

8/5/2014

 
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We hope you had a fantastic summer!

All Batavia students and their families are welcome to attend CANDO's 3rd annual Back-to-School Picnic in the Park! It will take place on Saturday, August 16, from 11:30-1:30 at Big Woods Park in Batavia. See our home page for full details. Please join us!

 Have you seen ... ?

  • This Psychology Today blog that describes why gifted education matters is a response to a recent Washington Post column.

  • IAGC provided this PDF containing a collection of links to articles from SENG. The subjects covered are healthy development (psychosocial development, parenting, teasing); gifted teens; diverse learners (2e, racial discrimination); and grandparenting the gifted.

  • This map from the Davidson Institute shows how Illinois' gifted education policies stack up against those in other states.

Understanding Intensity

11/30/2012

 
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One of BPS101's 2012-2013 Gifted Committee meetings will be focused on addressing the social and emotional needs of gifted and talented students. In light of this aim, some of our blog posts, including this one, will examine different ideas of what those social and emotional needs might be.

Many gifted children seem to experience the world more intensely than other people. This intensity might manifest itself in various traits a child might exhibit, for example:
  • persistently abstract thinking    
  • constant desire to talk or fidget
  • heightened sensitivity to sensory input
  • extreme perfectionism
  • unusually strong sense of justice
  • exceptionally intense emotions
  • deep involvement with fictions and fantasies

These and other intensities were categorized by the Polish psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski (1902-1980) as five distinct “overexcitabilities,” familiar today to many educators, psychologists, and parents. In his understanding, gifted individuals may process information, sensory input, and emotions more deeply, “overexciting” the nervous system. He groups the five overexcitabilities as follows: intellectual, psychomotor, sensory, emotional, and imaginational. (Want to read more about examples of each type? See this page reproduced from the SENG ( Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) newsletter.)

These overexcitabilites often result in intense behaviors that can be hard for children and teachers to manage from a social as well as an emotional standpoint--in class, or at home. What should be done when a child cries because paper scraps were recycled instead of saved? Or when a child is inconsolable because eraser marks have “ruined” homework? Or when homework or a test does not get completed because a student is indignant that the question uses incorrect grammar or is phrased ambiguously? Ultimately,  parents and teachers can help to channel the energies that spawn such intense reactions into directions that may be more beneficial to the child.

Fortunately, overexcitabilities have many positive manifestations too. For instance, those who are emotionally intense often have a profound empathy and sympathy for other people and for animals. Those who are imaginationally intense are likely to produce powerful creative works. Those who are intellectually intense might be the ones to solve challenging problems that we face as a global community. We can help our children take their own great steps forward when they are ready if we can understand how to help them to manage the challenges the overexcitabilities can pose, as well as to see the rewards they can bring.

To read more about how each of the five overexcitabilities might appear, and some challenges and potential solutions for understanding and dealing with each category in the classroom, see this link to Byrdseed, a blog run by Ian Byrd, a teacher of gifted students in California. Although his blog is written with an audience of fellow educators in mind, this entry in particular speaks to parents and teachers alike. And after all, parents teach their children too! At the end, he helpfully provides links to other references and discussions of Dabrowski's work.




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