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NEWS:
Mark your calendar for the 2009
Annual WOGI Institute On June 8th and 9th at Marriott's World Golf
Village in St. Augustine, Florida.
Previous News:
The Florida Gifted State Advisory Committee
meets four times during the year. The Florida Department of Education, in
collaboration with the Working on Gifted Issues (WOGI) Project hosted these
meetings to address:
• Current practices in the field of gifted education,
•
Priorities for meeting the needs of gifted learners in Florida,
• Maximizing the
learning potential of students who are gifted,
• Examination of effective
programs, and
• Recommendations for policy to ensure effective differentiation
for learners who are gifted.
A brochure was
created by the committee outlining a mission statement and a set of beliefs
related to educating gifted learners in Florida. This may be used for any
non-commercial educational purpose.
Florida Gifted State Advisory
Committee Mission & Beliefs Brochure
Working on Gifted Issues (WOGI) Presents a Workshop
for Parents and Others Who Work With Children Who Are
Gifted
Understanding and Supporting the Complexity of Your
Child:
It Isn’t Always Easy Being Gifted
Patricia Gatto-Walden, Ph.D.
&
Denise Bishop, NCSP
Flyer for:
Understanding and Supporting the Complexity of Your Child: It Isn’t Always Easy
Being Gifted (PDF)
We often take for granted that we understand our children
who are gifted simply through observation. However, all children are personally
complex and being gifted adds unique dimensions to one’s inner experience. From
a holistic and developmental perspective, the presenters will discuss
descriptive characteristics of giftedness. Focus will be given to nurturing the
whole child and embracing her/his sensitivities, intensities, strengths and
vulnerabilities. We will address the “goodness
of fit” among the environment, demands and expectations, and the temperament
and characteristics of the individual child.
Everyday challenges at school, at home and in the community will be
addressed including peer relationships, perfectionism, family dynamics and
parental effectiveness. Please join us to learn ways to respond to your child’s
individual perspective, needs and concerns, and ways to support her/his growth
and well-being.
Presenters:
Dr.
Patricia Gatto-Walden is a nationally recognized
psychologist who has provided individual, group and family counseling to
thousands of gifted children, adolescents, and adults since 1977. In her adjunct educational consulting
practice, she has traveled the nation helping parents, educators and administrators
understand and accept the inner world, needs and concerns of gifted
children. She recently moved to Amelia
Island, Florida, where she is opening a counseling and consulting practice for
gifted and profoundly gifted individuals of all ages. She is also in the process of authoring a
book sharing the wisdom gained from three decades of work with individuals who
are gifted. She is a parent of four gifted children in early adulthood.
Denise Bishop is a doctoral candidate
at the University of South Florida and a Nationally Certified School
Psychologist who has worked as the State Consultant in School Psychology for
Florida and the Director of Standards and Professional Development for the
Office of Early Learning at the Florida Department of Education. She is a strong advocate for children and
families and has worked collaboratively with policy makers, district
administrators, primary practitioners and families to ensure that all children
have an opportunity to achieve their maximum potential. Denise has committed her time and expertise
to addressing the disproportional over and under-representation of culturally
and linguistically diverse children in Exceptional Education programs. She is also the parent of two young gifted
children who bring new joy (and challenges) to her each day.
Funded through a grant from the Florida Department of Education Bureau of
Instruction and Innovation
Nov. 3, 2007 Citrus/Hernando, Lecanto Middle
School-3800 W. Educational Path, Lecanto, FL Contact: Nancy Haynes-352-672-1931
Dec. 8, 2007 St. Lucie, St Lucie District
Office-4204 Okeechobee Road, Ft. Pierce, FL Contact: Gwen Morris-772-429-4586
Jan.
19, 2008 Volusia, DeLand High School-800 N. Hills
Avenue, DeLand, FL Contact: Suzanne
Rawlins-386-734-7190 ext. 20505
Feb. 23, 2008 PAEC, Panhandle Area Educational
Consortium Office, 753 West Blvd., Chipley, FL 32428 Contact: Donna Deal-850-468-0282
March 8, 2008 Gilchrist/Levy, Bell High School, 903 S. Main St., Bell, FL 32619 Contact: Lisa Rowland-352-463-4407
Initiatives
for the 2007-2008 WOGI Grant
The following initiatives have been identified and
approved by the Florida Department of Education for implementation for the
2007-2008 school year:
The issue of disproportionality and the role the
screening process plays will be examined.
Participating pilot districts will be asked to continue to work with the
Project to assess needs and discuss options.
Pilot opportunities will be expanded to include more districts.
Follow up Objective One: A series of Fall Regional
Meetings will provide a forum for discussion on screening procedures and
implementation plans established throughout the state and elsewhere. Focus will
be on topics of concern for districts, such as strategies for implementation of
the new Frameworks.
A series of Regional Meetings focused on parents of
the gifted will be held. The meetings
will be a forum for parents to learn more about parenting children who are
gifted to explore common areas of concern.
Completion and
distribution of a Resource document (Handbook) for Gifted Education for the
state.
A spring (June) Institute will be held with all
district coordinators invited. A major
focus will be to share pilot site considerations and options, and discuss
further expansion of the topic of disproportionality as well as continued
appropriate service for students who are gifted. Project products will be
disseminated appropriately.
Another focus of the Project will involve initiation
and development of additional materials to supplement the curriculum framework
for gifted educators.
An additional focus of the Project will involve
continuation as appropriate for of two on-line endorsement courses for teachers
of the gifted by Fall 2008. Plus continued progress toward completion of the
fifth gifted endorsement course module.
An additional focus of the Project will involve
development as appropriate of advanced descriptors for the Sunshine State Standards
in the content areas, with a Task Force for each subject.
An additional focus of the Project will be to
establish a state advisory committee for gifted issues to meet four times
through the Fall of 2007.
Several of the
initiatives are well underway and building towards
completion.
Screening Pilots
Annually WOGI provides financial support to districts
interested in exploring screening pilots to address this universal
problem. The support available from WOGI
is intended to supplement and not supplant efforts being made by the district. Since 2004 WOGI has provided support to
twelve districts. The table below lists
information about individual districts and the pilots that were
implemented. All questions can be
directed to the contacts listed for each district. If a district is interested in piloting a new
screening instrument or process please contact Karen Hairston, WOGI Project
Director, at kkarston@aol.com.
Summary of WOGI Screening Pilots
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