Educators Attend MEGS Dinner
with Guest Speaker, Joyce VanTassel-Baska
On Thursday, April 17, more than 60 educators and administrators from various Maryland counties, including Baltimore City, attended the first annual MEGS Dinner. After a delicious dinner at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Timonium, Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska, our guest speaker, gave a very interesting and informative talk about Gifted Programs and Services: What are the Nonnegotiables?
Dr. VanTassel-Baska, an expert in the field of gifted education, is a Professor of Education at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, where she has developed a graduate program and a research and development center in gifted education. She is a past president of The Association for the Gifted of the Council for Exceptional Children and a past member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Gifted Children and past President of the National Association for Gifted Children. In addition, Dr.VanTassel-Baska has published widely including 20 books and over 345 refereed journal articles, book chapters, and scholarly reports. |
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During her talk, Dr. VanTassel-Baska emphasized that Identification, Program Management, Program Service Provisions, and Personnel Preparation are the four nonnegotiable program components for gifted learners. Her top ten nonnegotiables include the following:
- Identification that uses multiple criteria, sensitivity to low income/minority learners, and a selection process that examines individual strengths and learning profiles
- Programs that provide accelerative opportunities K-12 (based on findings from A Nation Deceived)
- Curriculum that is differentiated in the content areas
- Instruction that employs inquiry-based techniques
- Assessment that is challenging and focuses on higher level thinking and problem-solving
- Grouping approaches that honor the need for intellectual peer interaction
- Counseling and guidance opportunities that provide social and emotional support and opportunities for future planning
- A system for monitoring classroom implementation of gifted services
- A professional development plan, based on gifted program needs, that employs the teacher education standards
- An evaluation system that collects data from multiple sources and uses it for program improvement
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Her entire PowerPoint presentation is available in the conferences section of this website.
As educators of gifted students in Maryland, we are very fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska’s expertise. MEGS looks forward to providing other professional development opportunities in the near future.
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Gifted Today, Leading Tomorrow:
Over 480 Educators Attend State Conference on Gifted Education
By Debbie Blum
On Friday, October 19, over 480 educators and administrators from 20 counties, including Baltimore City, attended the annual Maryland State Conference on Gifted Education. The conference featured over 35 sessions for preK- grade 12, highlighting this year’s conference theme “Gifted Today, Leading Tomorrow: Creating Real-World Connections for Gifted Students.”
State Superintendent, Dr. Nancy Grasmick, discussed the importance of prek-12 education to the future of the state in her opening remarks. “We in preK-12 are the pipeline. Without the pipeline, we will not reach these goals.” When speaking specifically of gifted education, she noted, “You are on the cutting edge, preparing our most able students.” Dr. Grasmick concluded her remarks by emphasizing the “need to send a message to the entire state that this work is essential” to the future of Maryland. Nancy Green, the Executive Director of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) welcomed us. |
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Keynote speaker, Dr. Sally Reis of the University of Connecticut, emphasized the need to return to the roots of gifted education, including creativity and talent development, in a time of increased testing, federal mandates, and standardization. Dr. Reis spoke of a reading classroom in Connecticut that she observed over the course of a year where the teacher acknowledged that he found it difficult to meet the needs of the advanced-level students in the class. The teacher stated, “I try to get to them once every 2 weeks.” Dr. Reis emphasized that gifted students cannot simply make it on their own. |
Dr. Reis focused on the need for gifted students to engage in creative production. “The best predictor for adult creative production is looking at what kids do. Students who had opportunities to be creative producers in school were more likely to do so outside of school.” Dr. Reis noted, “The Nobel Prize winners of tomorrow are in our classrooms today. We need to continue to provide them with the opportunities.”
Keynote speaker, Dr. Susannah Richards of East Connecticut University, built upon Dr. Reis’ message, as she discussed books as the vehicle to lifelong learning. “The book is part of the materials. It is not the destination.” Her presentation highlighted books from different genres, both fiction and non-fiction, that spark student interest in a particular area of study or motivate students to further investigations. Dr. Richards provided a list of 99 recently published titles from elementary to secondary to encourage these thought-provoking discussions and investigations. |
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In addition to the keynote presentations, over 35 sessions were offered by presenters from around the state. These sessions offered educators and administrators a variety of perspectives, strategies, and materials in each of the conference strands: research; special programs; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; underrepresented populations; and real-world connections to the voluntary state curriculum.
Please plan to join us for the 2008 Maryland State Conference on Gifted and Talented Education “Voices for Gifted Learners” on October 17th.
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