#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

Last Links for #IWG12

We have been delighted with the variety of blog posts contributed over the past week. Posts have come from parents of gifted children, teachers, researchers and advocates. We have heard from WCGTC delegates, from members, and from people who simply share our goals and are happy to join their messages with ours. Writers have joined us from Hungary, Norway, Mexico, Denmark, Vietnam, Israel, Ireland, the UK, the US, Australia, and of course from New Zealand where the 2013 World Conference will be held.

Here are the last few posts from our blog tour for the International Week of the Gifted, 2012:

• International Week of the Gifted/International YEAR of Giftedness and Creativity by Susanne.
• Creativity and Giftedness Year, and an Entrepreneurship Challenge by Or-Tal.
• Advocating for the gifted adult by Fidget Jones.
• Celebrating Global Connections during the #IWG12 by Elvira Deyamport.
• Are we doing enough for our newly identified gifted child’s parent? by Angie French.
• Great Ideas from Kiwi Kids by Mary St George and her students.
• Watch them Soar by Krissy Venosdale.
• Giftedness and: Krissy Venosdale and her Venspired Posters for Gifted Classrooms by Leslie Graves.
• The Ineffective Gifted Label by Sue Breen.
• Rarely on Sundays by Justin Schwamm.
  
• Opera by Hilde.
• On the Outside looking in- Making a place for ALL gifted in Gifted Education by Dr. Joy Lawson
• Giftedness and the Gathering- our Kite is flying….  by Leslie S. Graves
• #IWG12 – The International Week of the Gifted – World Council for Gifted and  Talented Children’s President, Dr. Taisir Yamin – Shares his thoughts..…   Taisir Yamin Phd

This time next year, we’ll be saying our goodbyes at our conference, after meeting many of the people who have been part of this blog tour in the last few days. It’s time to save up and to count down. We hope to see you there.

Back to the Future

Associate Professor Tracy Riley of Massey University tells the story behind New Zealand’s revised handbook on gifted and talented education, launched during the International Week of the Gifted.

I often begin my lectures on gifted and talented education in New Zealand by explaining a conversation I had with the Ministry of Education back in 1997 when I arrived here from the United States. It went something like this:

Tracy: May I please speak with the person responsible for gifted and talented education? 

Operator: Silence

Tracy: (laugh) It must be my accent! (repeat question)

Operator: (throat clearing) Um, we don’t have anyone …. 

Tracy: Well would you please send me any publications on gifted and talented education?

Operator: (Stunned) Silence

It seems that the last Ministry of Education publication had been produced in 1972! How things have changed here in New Zealand since 1997 – and for the better.

So What Guides Gifted and Talented Education?

In 2000 the Ministry published its first handbook for schools, Gifted and Talented Students: Meeting their Needs in New Zealand Schools. As one of the original authors, I was in the privileged position of working alongside Don MacAlpine and Roger Moltzen to create what would become a highly influential guide for schools – far moreso, I feel, than the three of us ever imagined. The development of the ‘blue book’ involved consultation with focus groups of teachers, review by schools throughout New Zealand, and lots of editing. While we could have just written what we thought was needed, we aimed to actively engage teachers in its development.

Last week, the second edition of the handbook was released. The process for revision was facilitated by Learning Media who engaged an educational writer, Kate Dreaver, to work with Roger and myself (as Don has now fully retired).  Feedback for the initial draft was sought from the Ministry of Education’s Policy Advisory Group on Gifted and Talented, as well as some key stakeholders like the members of giftEDnz’s Maori Special Interest Group, He Kahui Pumanawa. And, as with the previous edition, there was lots of editing, but this time with more input from editorial advisers and the Ministry of Education.

What’s the Difference?

The blue book is now the green PDF, and available online, so rather than hard copies to all schools in New Zealand this one is being shared with the world! The structure of the handbook remains the same, as it has guided research and other Ministry of Education initiatives and is a strong framework showing the interrelationships between defining, identifying, and providing for gifted learners within a cycle of self-review. But within the walls of the newly revised handbook, we find a number of striking differences, as explained on the tki website:

The revised handbook outlines a set of underlying principles for gifted and talented education that are aligned to the NZ curriculum and provides greater guidance for defining gifted and talented from a NZ perspective, including Māori and Pasifika concepts and based on NZ research. The updated handbook also includes a range of locally-developed self-review tools for determining effectiveness and links to a range of NZ-based resources.

Basically, what the new handbook does is provide an answer for my call from 1997! It shows that there is local cultural and educational knowledge that develops, shapes and influences Ministry policy. The revised handbook also more strongly features New Zealand based practices and research, demonstrating a strong link between research-led practice and practice-led research.

Many would say I still have an accent (unless they are from Mississippi!) and the Ministry of Education has many people responsible for gifted and talented, so depending on who answers the phone, my first question might get the silent treatment!

I’m not sure that really matters, because ultimately everyone involved in education – whether we are researchers or teachers or parents or Ministry personnel – must take some responsibility for gifted and talented learners. New Zealand’s vision, as stated in the handbook, is one we should all pursue together.

Gifted and talented learners are recognised, valued, and empowered to develop their exceptional abilities and qualities through equitable access to differentiated and culturally responsive provisions.

To download the handbook, visit gifted.tki.org.nz/For-schools-and-teachers. It is in the resources box called Key Documents.

Global #gtchat Salutes the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children

As the International Week of the Gifted 2012 draws to a close, it is with great satisfaction that Global #gtchat Powered by the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented on Twitter joins in this global venture with the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children to bring together the gifted community. It has been shown that support for gifted children and adults everywhere knows no boundaries. In the spirit of mutual respect, an incredible cacophony of voices and artistic expressions can be heard and seen far and near embracing the need for a renewed effort at raising awareness of the needs of the gifted.

Our topic this week on Global #gtchat was “Collaboration, Not Confrontation … Parents and Teachers Working Together”. A transcript of the chat can be found at http://goo.gl/7RYyX . In addition, a webinar was presented on how to join in Global #gtchat which can be found at http://goo.gl/PPf6J .This same theme played out on a much larger scale through the incredible participation of bloggers in the world blog tour. Parents, teachers, and academics worked together to produce an incredible volume of work which will stand as a remembrance of this celebration of gifted children and to honor all gifted and talented efforts.

As we move toward 2013 and the International Year of Giftedness and Creativity, may we continue to strive to understand the ‘Soul of Giftedness’ as embodied in the WCGTC’s 20^th World Conference in New Zealand one year from now.

No Bullying

Dr. Linda Kreger Silverman, is head of the Gifted Development Center, in Denver Colorado.  A well known Psychologist, researcher, author, advocate and parent, she will also be a Keynote speaker at the World Conference 2013.  Dr. L. Silverman has asked that we share the following article with our Blog tour readers. Although it has been published once before, she felt it was a topic of importance and would be well received. (re-used with permission)

 

Dr. Linda Kruger Silverman Phd

 No Bullying

Linda Kreger Silverman

We have greater awareness today of the harmful effects of teasing and bullying, but there is one area of our lives where it remains unchecked: within ourselves. Even the most sensitive and compassionate among us, who would never intentionally hurt another, do not think twice about mercilessly berating themselves. I would like us to examine this accepted practice. What we have labeled “perfectionism,” and have tried to cure in gifted children, may actually be this self-denigration exposed, which is uncomfortable for us to view.

As Peace Pilgrim and Virginia Satir have affirmed, peace in the world can only be attained when we have achieved peace within. If our children could read our minds (when they are little, some of them can…), would they hear words of self-comfort that they could emulate? How often are we our own Greek Chorus, our own cheering team? Have we ever asked ourselves if it is OK to treat ourselves the way we do?

I wrote this in the last chapter of Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner:

We expend an inordinate amount of psychic energy defending ourselves from blame and ridicule, and the vast majority of time the judgments we are defending against are from ourselves!  Can you imagine what it would be like to totally accept yourself, and not have to justify your thoughts, your actions, your reasoning?  Not have to defend yourself?  Not have to answer, “Why did you do that?”  “Why didn’t you…?”  No “you should haves”?  We are so used to living in an internal court of law that we assume it is “natural” and appropriate to continually prosecute ourselves.  But it’s only our left hemispheres running amok. (Silverman, 2002, pp. 348-349)

Jill Bolte Taylor (2006), author of My Stroke of Insight, offers wonderful suggestions for keeping that part of our brain in check. I urge you to listen to her Ted Talk on YouTube. If these ideas resonate with you, I promise that you will find those 18 minutes enlightening and her book even more so. Jill is a brain researcher who experienced a massive left-hemispheric stroke and documented the different realities of our left and right hemispheres. She says that there is tiny portion of our left hemisphere, no bigger than a peanut, which gives us all these negative messages. We are so used to this brain circuitry that we do not even question its appropriateness. But we have choices about listening to it and we can teach our children that they have choices as well.  In Chapter 18 of her book, Jill gives practical, concrete advice for dealing effectively with these persistent cognitive loops of negativity.

At the end of an exhausting day, when my own “Peanut Gallery” reminds me of all the things I didn’t get done, and starts to make me feel guilty, I now hear another voice in my head with competing messages. This appreciative voice says to me, “Look what you accomplished today! Good job! You’ve done enough. Now it’s time to rest and rejuvenate. Everything else will wait until tomorrow.”

Consciously create your own positive messages and discuss them with your children. Before they go to sleep at night, ask them to share a positive message about themselves with you and to think about it as they fall asleep. Let me know if it makes a difference in the happiness quotient in your family. I would love to hear your stories. Write to me at gifted@gifteddevelopment.com.

More Inspiring Blog Posts for #IWG12

We are truly delighted to read so many wonderful blog posts during the International Week of the Gifted. Many thanks to all who are supporting this event. Here are the most recent posts:

• The Solution Finders: Thanking the Creative Educator by Stacia Taylor.
• Essence of Giftedness: A Struggle for Survival by Sue Luus.
• International Week of the Gifted by Nicholas Colangelo.
• Giftedness and Professional Development by Laurie Croft.
• Pondering the Olympics Yet Again… by Stephanie Tolan.
• What is at the Heart of Giftedness? by Rebecca Howell.
• Why Gifted Teens should be Sponges not Spongers by Sonia White.
• The International Week of the Gifted 2012 by @Kariekol.
• Who do you think you are? Re-thinking the Impostor Syndrome by Lisa Rivero.
• International Week of the Gifted 2012 #IWG12 by Ingrid.
• A Story of Giftedness by Edith Johnston.
• International Week of the Gifted 2012 by Eva Palacios.
• What could YOU do? by Jen Merrill.
• Giftedness, Creativity, and Storytelling – and Imposter Syndrome by Kate Arms-Roberts.
• Creativity – in the footsteps of giants by Ingi Mc.

Some points to ponder:
Who can you share a favourite blog post with?
How can you tell at least one of our contributing bloggers what their post has meant to you?
Which idea from the posts you read will equip you to do something new in your own gifted advocacy, as we move towards the International Year of Giftedness and Creativity?

New Zealand’s Blogging Politicians and Gifted Awareness Week

Mary St George sends greetings to members of the gifted education and advocacy community all around the world. She hopes that you will find some exciting ideas that you can apply to your own settings during this inaugural International Week of the Gifted.

The gifted education movement in New Zealand has been lobbying politicians for a long time. We used to stick to the traditions and conventions that I assume are part of lobbying in other parts of the world. When my eldest child was attending One Day School, more than a decade ago, newsletters came home about bringing gifted education to the attention of our government. Parliamentarians were encouraged to attend public meetings with parents and teachers to discuss their education policies, with a view to establishing where gifted education fitted in. Parents were encouraged to write to their MP’s about gifted education, particularly in election years. Purveyors of tea, coffee and postage stamps probably did fairly well out of this lobbying based on letters and meetings. I have no doubt that progress was made, but it was difficult to gauge from the distance of the small rural town where I lived at the time.

Moving forward a few years, New Zealand’s efforts at raising awareness of the needs of gifted children took on a new flavour when The Gifted Education Centre launched our first Gifted Awareness Week. Gifted Awareness Week is a crazy, busy, fun-filled time, now celebrated by all our major providers and associations serving gifted children and their families. Before Gifted Awareness Week, we brainstorm about how to spread the gifted awareness message to teachers, parents and the wider community. The open nature of brainstorming has also brought about some new ways of interacting with our elected leaders; it was on one of these brainstorming lists, among suggestions about gifted awareness sausage sizzles and talking to the media, that I first read something like this:

Ask your Member of Parliament to write about gifted education on his or her blog.

Now, I am a vigorous and optimistic supporter of things that I think will work. The rest of the time I am a cynic. I did not ask my MP to blog at the time, because I did not think it would ever happen. Fortunately, I was wrong, and in 2009, Heather Roy became the first New Zealand MP to blog about gifted children and their educational needs.

The world turns, and we find ourselves doing what we least expected. Teaching online has led me to a broad exploration of how online communities work, and through my involvement in Twitter’s #gtchat community, I discovered blog tours. Christine Fonseca was using blog tours to promote her books on giftedness, and through following these I realised that a blog tour could be a useful addition to New Zealand’s Gifted Awareness Week.

I now convene the #NZGAW Blog Tour, so I have become one of the people who encourages our Members of Parliament to blog about giftedness, and who works to ensure that their blog posts are widely read. I also host blog posts from politicians who do not maintain a blog of their own, as my unmet goal is to have a post from every elected political party each Gifted Awareness Week.

Quote from Hon. Nanaia Mahuta.

This year, our New Zealand blog tour included posts on giftedness from Members of Parliament within four of our political parties. One of our bloggers wrote in his role as Associate Minister of Education, possibly incorporating the views of a further two parties who did not write posts themselves. We currently have eight political parties with seats in Parliament, so it was pleasing to read blog posts representing at least four parties’ views this year.

Quote from Hon. John Banks.

Blog posts from our Members of Parliament give us an insight into their current understandings (and sometimes misunderstandings) about giftedness. I very much value their willingness to share their ideas in this manner. We learn more about the Members’ thinking on giftedness than is usually evident in their party manifestos, and in most cases we have the opportunity to comment right there on the blog. Readers willing to make informed comments can be part of the process of creating political awareness and positive change, even from most rural locations, without the inconvenience of getting to a meeting in a larger centre.

Quote from Hon. Catherine Delahunty.

We still don’t have the level of understanding and support for gifted education that we would like. Many of our specialist teachers of gifted children still work for charitable trusts outside the mainstream, funded by parents or other benefactors rather than the Ministry of Education. However, our blogging politicians are showing up and being part of the conversation, online where it is widely accessible. I believe that this has to be a step in the right direction.

Quote from the Hon. Pita Sharples.

 After the blog tour, many will sit down and snail mail their MP’s about the quality and speed of rural internet connections, but that is another story…

A note about the images

These images have been added to the Gifted Education PhotoQuotes project, a growing repository of Creative Commons licensed images that was initiated in support of the first International Day of the Gifted last year. There may be images that you could use, or you may like to contribute images of your own. We’d love you to visit this image collection.