#WCGTC #IYGC DR. LINDA SILVERMAN Phd, Keynote speaker, will Fly several Kites for Giftedness in Kentucky, she shares a bit about her Keynote, and many Symposiums

Lego Kite
Rewi, Nathan and friends, One Day School, New Zealand

#WCGTC13 #IYGC  Linda Silverman Phd Raises her Kite for Giftedness  in Kentucky and shares some information on her Keynote and other presentations

Jazzed about the World Congress

Linda Kreger Silverman, Ph.D.

Dr. Linda Silverman Phd
Gifted Development Centre, Colorado

I’m delighted to be presenting at the 20^th World Council for Gifted & Talented Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, August 10^th – 14^th.  So many wonderful people gather from all over the globe to celebrate gifted children. I can’t wait to reconnect with old friends, like Leslie Graves from Ireland, President-Elect of WCGTC, and my delightful new friends from Gifted Children Denmark.

 My keynote will be on “Breakthroughs in Assessment of the Gifted,” in which I will discuss individually administered IQ tests. Do you know about the General Ability Index? Extended norms? How important it is to document when a child does not reach the discontinue criteria? How to interpret IQ test profiles? How to tell if a child is twice exceptional? If this interests you, please join me Monday, Aug. 12^th, from 9 – 10 in Grand Ballroom A.

 The symposia at this Congress are, in a word, fantastic! They all sounded so enticing that I ended up participating in five of them! Have you ever wondered who is in the mysterious Columbus Group—the secret society who, 22 years ago, birthed the definition of giftedness as asynchronous development? The coming out party, “Asynchronous Development Revealed,” is on Sunday, Aug. 11^th, from 1 – 3 in the Combs Chandler Room. Sunday is a big day at the Congress. I’ll be skating between this presentation and “Identifying Twice Exceptional Students in America’s Schools,” also scheduled from 1 – 3 in the Wilkinson Room. And tribute will be paid to “Annemarie Roeper: Reflections on a Global Visionary” from 10:15 – 12, in the Combs Chandler Room.

 Monday is also exciting. From 10:15 – 12, I will be participating in a discussion of “Dabrowski’s Theory of Positive Disintegration: A Process of Development” in the Combs Chandler Room. And from 1 -3, “What Works? A Dialogue on Effective Advocacy for the Gifted,” in the Wilkinson Room, provides an opportunity for you to share strategies that have garnered support for gifted children in your area of the world.

 I’m looking forward to seeing you in Louisville.  Please come celebrate with us!

Fondly,
Linda Silverman
☺

Zach, One Day School, New Zealand, 2013

Come Fly with Us!

#WCGTC13 #IYGC DONNA FORD Phd, will Fly a Kite for Giftedness, Creativity and Talent in Kentucky, for culturally different students and those in underserved communities

Jofrei and family
Australia

The World Council for Gifted and Talented Children invites you to enjoy the Conference and join Donna Ford Phd, as she Flies a Kite for Giftedness, Talent and Creativity, especially for those in underserved communities such as hispanics, blacks and those with multicultural backgrounds.

Donna Ford Phd

Donna Ford Phd

Dept. of Special Education &
Dept. of Teaching and Learning (secondary appt.)
Peabody College of Education
One Magnolia Circle Bldg.
230 Appleton Place
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN 37203

“No Gifts Denied: Recruiting and Retaining Black and Hispanic Students in Gifted Education”

 I have been working in the field of gifted education for a little over 20 years! Time flies when, you’re having fun and compassionate about your work! And I am!   My work focuses on gifted Black students with the greatest attention to addressing their under-repesentation in our gifted and advanced classes, particularly AP.  Progress on the national level (U.S) is slow, and I understand that under-representation is a problem and concern in many countries.  With this said, I have written my newest book entitled “Recruiting and Retaining Culturally Different Students in Gifted Education”. In it, I focus on the twin goal of recruiting AND retaining Black and Hispanic students in gifted education.  

The session focuses on the contents of the book and a recent court case where one school district was found to be discriminatory against Hispanic and Black students. I served as the Plaintiff’s expert witness on behalf of these under-represented gifted students. On July 11, 2013, Illinois Federal District Court Judge Robert Gettleman issued a decision holding that District U-46 discriminated against Hispanic and Black students in the district’s gifted program until at least 2009. Despite the over 40% of Hispanic students in the school district, in most years, they were only 2% of the gifted programs. Specifically, the Court found the district discriminated against Hispanic students who had exited from the district’s bilingual program by segregating them into a separate gifted program, not allowing them to be in classes with gifted White students. Judge Gettlemen’s decision renewed the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) principle that ‘separate is inherently unequal’.

 The Court also found that the policies, procedures and instruments used by the district to screen and identify gifted students resulted in a “serious disparate impact” on Hispanic and Black students. I urge all school districts to learn from the case and eliminate barriers to gifted education, which is the focus on the session and book.  In both I share barriers along with specific solutions.  Click here for a copy of the opinion and order.

Donna Ford
2013

I will be presenting two other sessions with Stanford O. Amos, Founder and CEO of S.O.S. Consulting for Black Male. That one is called “Saving Our Sons: Supporting Gifted Black Males”

 My other session is “Multicultural Gifted Education: Developing Rigorous and Culturally Responsive Curriculum” based another book.

 I look forward to seeing you at the conference regarding no gifts denied!

 

jofrei and family
Australia

Come Fly with Us!

#WCGTC #IYGC Prodipta Hore, India – WCGTC Scholarship recipient and Math Educator, Flies a Kite for Giftedness in Kentucky

CAMERON, Age 8
GO Graphic, New Zealand

Prodipta Hore, India, is a WCGTC Scholarship recipient who we are delighted to have with us.  He is presenting and shares some of his experience and insights from his work in his own country.

Prodidpta Hore

Prodipta  Hore, India

Head of Faculty, Dept. of Mathematics
Aditya Birla World Academy, Mumbai- India

A Mathematics teacher for over two decades, who loves to work on Creativity in Math Education, and believes in making the subject interesting and understandable to all categories of students. Besides teaching students in the classroom he mentors and prepares them for different mathematical contests. He also guides and encourages his mathematically talented students to write research papers to be presented at national and international conferences.

The most effective way of giving equal opportunity and getting rid of differences among us, the Indians, is to get educated. In a democratic country like India, it is considered a fundamental right for citizens to get an education. Primary education has a lot of importance in our country; it is essential for children to get education at least through primary school.

For teachers like us, completion of syllabus on or before time and getting the best result from the students to avoid criticism from the management, is something that we are always panicked about. Though in a classroom situation we come across number of gifted students over the years, we lack extra time to give extra attention to this young lad. Our attention is mainly focused on teaching the average child with some care for the weaker students. The brighter kids, on the other hand, receive the least attention due to his own ability to excel. Neither their imaginations nor their talents are stretched to avoid the boredom of their school work. These kids spend most of their time in ordinary classrooms, get bored and finally find the school work to be dull and uninteresting. They start dwelling in the world of day dreams and become complacent, since success in school work, for them, becomes very easy. This creates a problem in later life when they face more challenging tasks. I have also noticed that these kids are generally versatile, with interests in various curricular and co-curricular activities. But lack of space, facilities and opportunities damages their spirits and dampens their talent. These kids fail to cope with the unsympathetic school and home environment, resulting in adjustment problems.

I feel gifted children should be counseled with regard to their strengths and abilities, and various areas of interest, so as to enable them to choose an appropriate field of study to be pursued as a career later on. There are many psychological tests on aptitude, personality, interests and careers, which could be of help when counseling gifted students. Career guidance at an early age can help us channelize their abilities more constructively and effectively. Along with my fellow faculty members, I would love to discover and nurture talents in the children and make them realize their potential. Parents should be made aware of their child’s true abilities, since they play the most vital role in their upbringing. Any kind of stress that gifted children undergo due to high expectations from parents, teachers and peers could be reduced with support from the same, making things a little easier at home or school. Thus a good parent teacher bonding can be instrumental in identifying more gifted children in our country.

I believe the following are the main tasks for a school community engaged in gifted education.

• To identify their gifted and talented students.
• To foster collaborative home-school partnerships to support gifted and talented students.
• To provide a wide range of opportunities to their gifted and talented students.
• To monitor and evaluate programmes selected for gifted students.
• To select and implement a variety of teaching strategies to cater to the needs of gifted and talented students.

So it is important for me to know about coordinated programmes based on scientific research, demonstration projects, innovative strategies and similar activities designed to build and enhance the ability of elementary and secondary schools to meet the special educational needs of gifted and talented students. I also wish to get an insight into a programme that gives emphasis to serving students who are traditionally underrepresented in gifted and talented programmes, particularly economically disadvantaged, limited English proficient (LEP), and disabled students.

Unfortunately, in the present scenario, most of our schools and educators are not equipped to carry out suitable programmes to help to reduce the serious gap in achievement among certain groups of students at the highest levels of achievement. By attending this conference I expect to gain lot of knowledge and ideas about such programmes, and to get support and assistance to implement such a programme in my community, region and country.

By attending the World Conference on Gifted and Talented Students, and learning about gifted education, I believe I will be able to realize these expectations and be able to contribute to the gifted children of my community.

Prodipta Hore.

Hamish, age 10
GO Graphic New Zealand

Come fly your Kite for Giftedness with us!

#WCGTC #IYGC – Lisa Conrad of Global #gtchat – live global gifted chat on Twitter- Flies a kite for Giftedness…

Art by Gemma L, in New Zealand

A guest post from Ms. Lisa Conrad, Parent, Paraeducator and Gifted Advocate. Moderator of weekly live Twitter chat, Global #gtchat Powered by TAGT, a live chat attended by contributors and participants worldwide. Lisa shares some views and Raises a Kite for Giftedness, Talent  and Creativity at the #WCGTC13!

Lisa Conrad
Moderator #gtchat

 Lisa Conrad

Moderator, Global #gtchat Powered by the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented

“I’m excited to be a part of the 20^th Biennial World Conference as a first-time attendee and participant.  This conference will be a unique opportunity for many in the American gifted community to learn about the World Council. I am looking forward to renewing friendships and meeting new friends!”

 The World Council Conference has traditionally been a gathering for gifted education leaders worldwide. I am honored and proud to be on the panel for the ‘Passion, Profession and Parents who Inspire’ Symposium co-chaired by President-Elect, Leslie Graves and Dorothy Sisk, founding member of the WCGTC, who has made this symposium possible. Panelists include author Jen Merrill, teacher Mary St. George and founder of Hoagies’ Gifted, Carolyn Kottmeyer.

Global #gtchat is a weekly meeting place, Fridays, on Twitter at 7 p.m. E.T. for both educators and parents. Timely topics in gifted education are discussed in a question and answer format. We also have special guest experts on chat to discuss their work and publications. Each chat is accompanied by a transcript and post on our blog which summarizes the chat and provides a list of links mentioned during the chat. Our chat is powered by the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented which provides space on their website for information about #gtchat. We are especially grateful for their support.

As moderator of Global #gtchat on Twitter, it has been my pleasure to meet many people online who are involved with the WCGTC. Many of the presenters and two of the keynoters have participated in our chats. I often refer to them as the best friends I’ve never met. Well, thanks to this conference … I will be meeting them!

I encourage you to Fly a Kite for Giftedness!

Twitter birds building kites for giftedness, by Jofrei and family in Australia

Come fly a kite for Giftedness with us!

#WCGTC #IYGC Dr. Dorothy Sisk, Lamar University, Flies a Kite for Giftedness, in memory of Edna McMillan with a Scholarship aimed at Parents with Passion

Contributed by GO Graphic – New Zealand

The Edna McMillian Scholarships – ‘Passion, Profession and Parents who Inspire…’

Dr. Dorothy Anne Sisk (Conn Chair of Gifted Education Studies, Lamar University, Texas, USA)

Dr. Dorothy Ann Sisk, founding member of the WCGTC, and long time supporter and contributor to the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children on many different levels, including working the WCGTC journal ‘Gifted & Talented International’ or GTI, having also served as Executive Administrator, on the EC and as a Past President, generously offered to donate two Special scholarships, to the value of $1000.00 Dollars each – to help two individuals, who otherwise would not be able to attend, with their travel costs to the 20^th World Conference, in the name of her dear friend and colleague Edna McMillan, former WCGTC EC member also having served as Secretary and Vice President, and who passed away last year.

Dr. Edna McMillan
(1937-2012)

A second individual, inspired by Dorothy’s generosity, and also a past friend and colleague of Edna’s has further added to the scholarship by anonymously pledging to contribute towards the accommodation for the recipients also in her memory.

The two recipients of this scholarship are:

Ms Jen Merrill

• Ms. Jen Torbeck-Merrill has a Masters in flute music. She is the professional passionate parent of two 2E children. Jen is the Author of the popular online Blog Laughing at Chaos, where she writes hilarious and uplifting snippets about her life as a 2E Mom and gifted adult. This blog has given great comic relief to innumerable other parents, and the advent of her recent adventure into homeschooling lead to a book offer. Jen’s passion for writing, and her homeschooling efforts, have lead her on a journey that has taken her from parent, to mentor, to author. Her first book is called ‘If this is a Gift, Can I Send it Back?’, published by the Gifted Homeschool Forum (GHF), and has been very well received. Her second book is now in progress. Jen’s Presentation is called: ‘Writer & Homeschooling Parent’.
  

Ms. Mary St. George

• Ms. Mary St. George works as the Lead Teacher for ‘Gifted Online’ or ‘GO’, part of a charitable trust in New Zealand. Mary reaches out to students who need enrichment, homeschooled students, those in rural and indigenous communities, as well as supporting the parents through same, a labour of love. She also contributes to and supports other gifted initiatives in her country and abroad, hosting the New Zealand Gifted Awareness Blogtour (#NZGAW) every year. Mary is a parent with three children, one of whom is 2E, and maintains a low income for the charitable work that she does. Mary’s presentation is called: ‘Building a Culture of Meaningful Reflection Among Self Directed Learners Who are Gifted.’
  

 Both recipients will: 1) Give a presentation on an aspect of the work that they do which might add value to the learning and sharing of knowledge at the conference, 2) Form part of a panel, along with Carolyn Kottmeyer of Hoagies’ Gifted Education Page, and Lisa Conrad of #GTChat on Twitter (Powered by TAGT), and possible mystery guests over Skype on a symposium called “Passion, Profession and Parents who Inspire… their stories…” and, 3) Help support the conference, through their networks, encouraging others to attend or possibly present at the conference. Please come listen to these parents Fly their Kites for Giftedness as they share their experience.

By Sue Graves- Grandmother and Great Grandmother

Dr. Edna McMillan, who just stepped down from the EC less than two years ago, was a lifelong, esteemed colleague, supporter and member of the WCGTC, giving her life and soul to the organisation. She had served for over 30 years in various capacities, as member, conference organiser, chair, delegate, EC member and Vice President. But mostly it was her humour, sensible and experienced advice and motivational skills that she was known for. Edna will be sorely missed by many, and the WCGTC is very grateful to Dr. Dorothy Sisk for this opportunity to mark her memory in such a wonderful way. Supporting these individuals, we know would make her happy.

The two recipients of the Edna McMillian Scholarships will add a richness to the 20^th WCGTC conference. They are ordinary people who are doing extraordinary work within their communities, persistently over an extended period of time, but have not gained/sought any real or great financial or recognition rewards for their efforts and without assistance would not normally have been able to attend. They have good technological, communication, advocacy and motivational skills. They are People who have expressed positive, supportive and generous attitudes towards organisations such as the WCGTC and their work. We are honoured to have them attend.

These people are not only parents, but can also be seen as passionate professionals at what they do, through their backgrounds and hard work. In keeping with the purpose of the Edna McMillan Scholarship: ‘To Acknowledge, not only educators/researchers, but also the very real hard work, sacrifice and ability/strength of Parents to do amazing things for their communities when needed’. This award will celebrate parents creativity, advocacy, motivation and above all courage. Hopefully, hearing their stories, will inspire and encourage others to continue in their work, and maybe even follow in their footsteps, creating inspiring spaces of their own.

The Edna McMillan Scholarships will honour these ‘Parents who Inspire’ (who may also be considered passionate at their professions), by assisting them to attend the WCGTC Conference. By giving them a place at the table, allowing them to share/show case what they are doing/have done and with this encourage all our populations (ie academics, educators, researchers, interested parties, students and families,) to not only see the value of their work but also what is possible with determination and persistence, (even without a lot of money), to give inspiration, momentum, and new hope to others, and for others out there to feel valued and proud of their passionate colleagues.

Again, The World Council for Gifted and Talented Children is grateful and very honoured by Dr. Dorothy Sisk’s wonderful gesture to mark and share the memory of our colleague Edna, who surely would have approved of an initiative such as this. We would like to think that if others are inspired too, that perhaps they may think about contributing towards assisting other ‘Parents who inspire’ attending the next conference in Denmark, or to the WC Scholarship fund.

Leslie S. Graves, S&A Chair/President Elect & the S&A Committee Ken McCluskey & Umit Davasligi

Dr. Dorothy Sisk & Dr. Edna McMillan- Prague August, 2011- WCGTC Conference

 “Come Fly your Kite for Giftedness with Us!

#WCGTC #IYGC- Dr. Laurie Croft PhD from Iowa, speaking at the 20th World Conference– – Raises her Kite for Giftedness

Dr. Laurie Croft
Belin-Blank Centre- University of Iowa

Laurie Croft , PHD, is the Administrator of Professional Development   at the Belin Blank International Center for Gifted Education at the University of Iowa  celebrates  the International Year of Giftedness & Creativity  #IYGC  she  shares a story touching on her interests, and a brief insight into the two presentations she will be giving at the 20^th World Conference in Kentucky,  including one of their new on-line programs and /or opportunities for teachers to take part in  Gifted specific Professional Development- and Talent Development.  These programs  welcome international participants with open arms. These presentations should be of great interest to Educators.

A 2011 report asking if “high flyers” maintained their “altitude” instead found that many students who should soar to the greatest heights were struggling in schools today.  They evidently were not interacting with the catalysts that could help them develop their talents.  Efforts to close the achievement gap were ensuring that some underperforming students had opportunities unavailable to them in the past—but do we really want to narrow or close the achievement gap by limiting the growth of our gifted students?  I know I’ll be inspired and energized by the presentations at the WCGTC—and I’m looking forward to sharing two different presentations this year.  The first will look at the ways gifted adolescents talk about their most influential teachers and about the traits and behaviors that serve as effective catalysts in their talent development process; gifted student descriptions of effective teachers can help us learn more about supporting the professional development of those who want to promote talent development.  That brings me to the second presentation in August!  The Belin-Blank Center is launching a global professional development program called the Recognition of Excellence in Talent Development—an online program of courses that can help educators to learn more about the nature and needs of gifted learners, as well as the strategies to become effective catalysts in the talent development process.  I’ll share research that suggests that teacher behaviors do change as they develop their own understandings about both excellent and talent development, as well as ways this online program can develop global cohorts of colleagues.  I look forward to seeing you in Louisville!

by ‘Live’ age 14- Norway

‘Come fly your Kite for Giftedness with us!!

#WCGTC13 #IYCG Peter Csermely Keynote- Flys his Kite creatively through science for Giftedness & Talent!

.Our second guest blogpost from one of our #WCGTC13 20th Anniversary Conference presentors, Flying a Kite for Giftedness and Creativity…

Peter Csermely

President, The European Council for High Ability (ECHA),

Semmelweis University, Hungary

 

Photographer: Péter Kollányi (http://peterkollanyi.com/).

One of our exciting Keynotes, Peter C a shares a little information on his presentations and sends the following message:

’Many thanks to the organisers for your extraordinarly well organized actions to make this conference- the 20th World Conference a truly nice memory!  I hope to see many friends there…!

 

‘A DinoMax Kite’
Designed and decorated by Max (age 2.8) Ireland

 The network concept of creativity and talent support

 Talent may seem to be a strictly personal property, but – in fact – a talent is never alone. We are all influenced by our social neighborhood, by the social network around us. Talents occupy and require a very special network position. A talent often belongs to everyone, but in real terms she/he does not belong to anyone. This position is called as “creative node” in network terms. If you want to know more on proper networking strategies driving you or your talented young people to be a “creative node”: come to my lecture!

 Learning and adaptation are often conceived as a straight line: at the beginning I know nothing, then I know more, and at the end I know all. On the contrary to this generally perceived view an efficient learning process has alternating  phases. Exploration of the possible solutions and options requires an increased flexibility (increased learning potential) of the complex system. However, after the exploration phase an optimization phase comes, where an increase in system rigidity (increased memory) can be observed. High level creativity (called as Creativity with capital C by Csíkszentmihályi) can be achieved by alternating flexible and rigid states. In other words: to fulfill your creative potential you need to behave as a young person in each even days and as an old person in each odd days. If you want to know more on optimal strategy to be more creative, and to induce creativity in others, come to my lecture, where I will also share the experiences of the 200,000 people participating in our talent support network in Hungary  and the experience of the growing European Talent Support Network.

Mona Chicks 2011 – under CC Licence and is part of the
Gifted Education PhotoQuotes Flickr Group

 Come fly your kite with us!

#WCGTC13 #IYGC – Megan Foley Nicpon PhD – Speaking on Twice Exceptional Children, Raises a Kite for Giftedness and Creativity

…Welcome to the WCGTC KITE SITE!- Raising Awareness on Giftedness, Talent and Creativity Worldwide, we hope you enjoy reading the first of  a number of guest blog posts by individuals who will be presenting and or attending the 20th World Conference in Kentucky- Celebrating Giftedness and Creativity and Flying their kites for awareness..

Dr. Megan Foley Nipcon

Megan Foley Nicpon, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Counseling Psychology Program Licensed Psychologist and Research Consultant,

Belin-Blank Center- University of Iowa, USA

Department of Psychological and Quantitative Foundations

 N361 Lindquist Center -Iowa City, IA 52242

This August, I am honored to be presenting at the WCGTC 20TH Biennial World Conference.  being held in Louisville, Kentucky. This conference provides an opportunity for gifted education leaders worldwide to join in discussing best practice, promoting new ideas, and sharing cutting-edge research. It is also the main event for the International Year of Giftedness and Creativity. This is an exciting time to be a gifted educator and advocate, and Louisville is the place to be!

 The focus of my Keynote Presentation is on Twice-exceptional students, or Gifted students with co-existing disabilities.

Researchers have shown that gifted educators in the US are becoming more familiar with the concept of twice-exceptionality, but understanding outside the field is scant. Additionally, we know less about how familiar people are with twice-exceptionality worldwide. It is my goal to share insights from my extensive research and clinical experience with identification of and intervention with twice-exceptional individuals. Through this sharing and open dialogue, it is my hope that attendees will gain deeper knowledge about the challenges twice-exceptional students face, learn practical strategies about how to optimize talent domains, and discover accommodations that work to facilitate positive educational and personal experiences for this exceptional group of learners.

 My presentation is only one of several diverse options for attendees. For example, worldwide leaders will be discussing topics such as social capital and leadership skills for gifted students, developing creativity and creative minds, and identifying giftedness in light of various cultural definitions and political contexts. The options are countless for the eager learner and inquisitive mind.

 I am thrilled to be speaking at the WCGTC World Conference this August, 2013. I hope you join me at this exciting conference, during this exciting time for gifted education worldwide.  Come fly your kite with us!

Paint on tile kites- by members of the Thomas Family

#IYGC- The International Year of Giftedness and Creativity- World Council for Gifted and Talented Children’s President, Dr. Taisir Yamin, sends an invitation…

Dr. Taisir Yamin Phd
President
World Council for Gifted and Talented Children

Taisir Subhi Yamin– President of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children– is a professor of gifted education. He has a B.Sc. in Physics, an M.A. in Special Education, and a Ph.D. in Gifted Education and Computer Assisted Learning from Lancaster University in England. He is the recipient of academic prizes and fellowships from Jordan, England, and the U.S.A. including a Fulbright Award (1996), and the British Council scholarship.  He is the Scientific Director
International Centre for Innovation in Education (ICIE-Paris)
Université Paris Descartes

 

Welcome to the IYGC Gifted Awareness Kite Site! A World Council for Gifted and Talented Children initiative.

Contributed and designed by members of the Thomas Family- N.C. USA

The Kite Site was initially developed in 2012.  It was used for the first time to run what became a very successful blog tour during the first inaugural International Week of the Gifted, lead by the WCGTC, during August of that year. Please feel free to explore some of these contributions by clicking on the links under ‘Recent Posts’ at the right. 

During this year – The International Year of Giftedness and Creativity – the Kite Site will be used to facilitate the sharing of information, and to showcase some of the activities taking place this year. A selection of this material may also be shared at the 20^th World Conference, August 10^th-14^th, in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.  Please feel free to click on the pages in the main menu to see if you would like to contribute.  The purpose is to invite participation from the worldwide gifted, talented and creative communities, to share in the celebration.  

In our run up to the 20^th World Conference we will be giving some of our outstanding conference presenters and contributors a voice, through a number of guest blog posts on this site, as well as some conference participants. During and after the conference, we also hope to share reflections from participants and contributors. These reflections may also form part of our Stories and Story Sharing Project, after the conference.   

If you know children or young people who would like to let their creativity soar and take part, why not explore Fly a Kite for Giftedness page and find out how they can participate by sending one in. We would like to share a number of these both on this site and in Kentucky.

Contributed and Designed by Susanne Thomas, N.C. USA

To join in your celebrations, we are hoping to collect any news and information about any Celebrations or Gifted Advocacy and Awareness Events during 2013. We will share a selection of these with the participants during the conference.  These events could include Gifted/Talent/Creativity Awareness Days/Weeks/Months, or they could be an advocacy event, a conference, planned celebrations such as a school gathering or celebration, an organised children’s event, or an organised family picnic.  What kind of kite did you fly?

If you would like to tell us, please use the contact details on the Celebrations and Advocacy Exchange page.

Produced for the WCGTC by Leslie Graves

We would like to begin by wishing you all a wonderful year,  and to thank all worldwide advocates,  wherever you live, for all that you do for our children. What are you or your organisation doing to Celebrate Giftedness and Creativity this year? Have you flown your Awareness Kite yet?  Come fly it with us at the 20^th Anniversary WCGTC Conference in Kentucky, USA!

#IWG12- The International Week of the Gifted- World Council for Gifted and Talented Children’s President, Dr. Taisir Yamin, shares his thoughts…

Dr. Taisir Yamin Phd
President
World Council for Gifted and Talented Children

Taisir Subhi Yamin— President of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children— is a professor of gifted education. He has a B.Sc. in Physics, an M.A. in Special Education, and a Ph.D. in Gifted Education and Computer Assisted Learning from Lancaster University in England. He is the recipient of academic prizes and fellowships from Jordan, England, and the U.S.A. including a Fulbright Award (1996), and the British Council scholarship.  He is the Scientific Director
International Centre for Innovation in Education (ICIE-Paris)
Université Paris Descartes

International Week of the Gifted 2012

 The first “International Day of the Gifted” was successfully celebrated in (August 10, 2011) during the 19th biennial conference in Prague. Building on the sense of community that was formed by celebrating gifted children, and honoring gifted and talented efforts worldwide, it was decided to expand the day to a week this year during the second week of August 2013.

The “International Week of the Gifted” was a wonderful opportunity to cooperate and collaborate with international networks of individuals and organizations committed to promoting this field of knowledge and raising the public awareness concerning the importance of nurturing the gifted, creative, and talented children and adults through the exchange of ideas and experiences. A considerable amount of interest was generated by the contributors

You are no doubt aware of the huge work the organization of an event such as this represents, from an intellectual just as much as from a logistical point of view. I value teamwork, dialogue, honesty, integrity, cooperation, and collaboration as a part of our continuous improvement efforts. I honor the trust placed in our team, as founders, contributors, and administrators of this blogtour. My warmest thanks and gratitude go to Mary St George, and Leslie Graves (EC and Coordinator) for their splendid commitment and professionalism in the different stages of this exceptional event. Thanks as well to the many people who helped distribute the blogs over the various networks.  Many thanks also go to the World Council Executive Administrator Tracy Harkins.

We are truly fortunate in being assisted by a competent and generous team. Many thanks also go to Western Kentucky University for: Hosting the headquarters of the WCGTC, providing financial support, and offering both intellectual and logistical facilities.

In the name of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children (WCGTC) and in my capacity as the President of the WCGTC, I would like to express my gratitude to those who contributed for this event in particular and gifted education in general in different parts of the world. Thanks to each one of you for your continuous support.

Finally, in closing, I am honored to lead this international organization. I am looking forward to a busy “International Year of Giftedness and Creativity”. We are really proud of the faith, trust, and confidence you have placed in the members of the Executive Committee. We look forward to seeing many of you at the 20th World Conference in New Zealand!

 Taisir Subhi Yamin

President, WCGTC