California Association for the Gifted 58th Annual Conference

Many gifted students experience intense emotions and are able to be resilient in the face of these feelings. However, many students have had traumatic events happen in their lives, and we as educators need to be able to differentiate between intense emotions or the effect of traumatic experiences. We will discuss how to support traumatized students academically, socially, and emotionally.

Research has shown that gifted students may be susceptible to developing a fixed mindset. In this presentation, I will share how a grading system that included retakes, along with the relationships I built with the students, impacted how students viewed themselves as learners and members of a learning community. And how relationships and retakes led to an increase in Growth Mindset, especially for my advanced learners.

For society to be more accepting of women in leadership positions, we must inspire and develop leadership in girls today. Female leadership potential often goes unnoticed or under-supported impacting choices girls make regarding classes, activities, college, and career. By identifying and supporting girls with leadership qualities, educators can change the look of corporate administration, legislative bodies, and Board tables. Leadership is a gift and talent and girls need support to be tomorrow’s leaders.

In his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation,” Abraham Maslow introduced the idea that human beings have a hierarchy of needs: physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. In this talk, Scott Barry Kaufman picks up where Maslow left off, expanding upon the unfinished theory and integrating new scientific findings, including Kaufman’s own research on creativity, love, personality, and well-being. Through his unique work on the subject, Kaufman reinvigorates the profound insights of humanistic psychology with the latest scientific findings from a wide range of fields, introducing them to a generation that consistently feels unsatisfied in their work, creative pursuits, and educational path. Students can be high achievers and yet still yearn for self-realization. The philosopher Erich Fromm said that there is “an art of being.” But as Kaufman persuasively shows, there is also a science of being, and this talk will help educators set students on the path to a life of optimal health, growth, wholeness, and real fulfillment.

Positive Discipline addresses the needs of many gifts students who have a desire to learn in an environment that is just, empowering, respectful and emotionally engaging. Positive Discipline is an approach and curriculum that builds respectful and effective communication skills, prosocial behavior, problem solving and collaboration within the daily learning environment. Students are empowered to use these skills in all aspects of their learning, leading to positive connections with their peers and applying these skills to their academic learning.

In this session we will explore how we can individualize teaching strategies to directly target individual cognitive profiles. This allows us to bypass deficits, create space for developmental differences, and allow for a truly strength-based learning environment

Learn how to support social and emotional learning (SEL) for gifted students by intentionally incorporating the Four Domains of Global Competence into daily lessons and overall school culture. Review the California Global Education Project’s indicators and benchmarks of global competence; learn about the CDE’s 2016 California Global Education Summit, the 2018 Global Education Exemplary Awards Competition, and new SEL resources; and hear about how an award recipient’s model program sets them apart.

Gifted students often struggle with the executive function aspects of being a successful student. Their parents often compensate either by trying to micromanage or by focusing on supporting academic skills. This session shall focus on how to explain the diverse needs occasioned by differences in the gifted brain. Practical interventions you can provide to both parents and students in order to clearly communicate and support lasting strategies for success will be discussed.

Research has shown that gifted individuals have higher emotional sensitivity, coupled with a heightened level of analytical thinking. The combination of increased sensitivity and analysis can result in greater anxiety. This presentation will describe the conditions that can predispose a gifted individual to intense anxiety. As well as methods for reducing and managing anxiety for a more serene life.

Building resilient habits and encouraging optimism are difficult to achieve. Imagine a world where we encourage each other to be resilient and keep going even when it is tough. Join this fun and hands-on experience of helping children identify times when they are already being resilient through storytelling. Find out how the Daruma doll can help children learn to build resilience and set goals for themselves.

Continuing our research into how trauma affects the brain, and its impact on our children, we are realizing that many gifted children, especially highly gifted children, suffer their own kind of trauma as they cope with being different and trying to fit into society and expectations placed on them. Having society, parents, teachers, a school system not understand them and how they think and learn, can have a profound impact on a child. These children are also just as likely to suffer from other traumas as any other child; however, their unique sensitivities and pressures they are already under put them at a unique risk. This presentation will open your eyes to what our children are going through, and also provide you with some strategies to help support them as we continue to learn more and more about this topic.