Educational Options Newsletter
September, 2007

Greetings: We hope you had a wonderful summer and have returned to school or work feeling refreshed and reinvigorated.

We do want to thank everyone for your expressions of concern after the bridge collapse last month. Fortunately, no one we knew was involved in anything worse than a close call. While we are very sad about the loss of life, we are also thankful it was not worse.

But now fall is in the air, and we are looking forward to the start of this new school year.

Sincerely, Kathy Hara, Editor
 

In this issue:

1. NAGC Convention, Minneapolis
2. Educational Column in Washington Post
3. Online Conference on Perfectionism
4. Competitions
5. Midwest Academic Talent Search (MATS)
6. A Personal Note
7. Keeping up with Dr. Ruf

NAGC Convention, Minneapolis

The National Association for Gifted Children’s 54th Annual Convention, which will be in Minneapolis November 7 to 11, is fast approaching. We encourage parents to attend the entire conference, but especially hope you will plan to attend Parent Day on Saturday.

The convention will open Thursday afternoon, November 8, with a keynote address by Dean Keith Simonton and will close Sunday morning, November 11, with an appearance by Minnesota’s own Garrison Keillor. In between, there will be 350 sessions focusing on the educational, social and emotional needs of high-ability learners. On Parent Day, Dr. Robert Sternberg will discuss “A New Approach to Gifted Identification” in his keynote address.

Anyone wishing to attend should sign up as soon as possible; but if you are planning to bring children to the classes on Parent Day, you should register immediately – the classes are filling up fast and spaces are limited. Click here for more information, a list of children’s classes, and a registration form. The maximum number of student spaces for classes ranges from 12 to 18. Registrations will be accepted until the classes are full, or until October 26 at the latest.

Educational Column in Washington Post

Jay Mathews writes a very influential column on education, Class Struggle, that appears in the Washington Post newspaper. We have just become aware of a letter-writing campaign to Mr. Mathews in response to a recent column in which he stated the following: “Many parents around the country complain of difficulties in getting accelerated courses and enriched lessons for their gifted children. . . But, I have yet to find any adults who were designated gifted as children and did not think they were able to find at least some of the intellectual stimulation they craved at school or on their own. I also don’t find much correlation, either in the research or in my interviews, between success in life and gifted education during childhood.”

In further correspondence with a reader in the gifted community, Mr. Mathews stated: “I am all for acceleration, as I think I have made clear many times in all my writing about AP and IB, but I find it odd that I cannot, despite many requests to gifted child advocates, find any cases of families willing to tell me stories of failure [of schools] to accelerate their gifted kids in this area.”

Dr. Ruf is a regular reader of Mr. Mathews’ column and has corresponded with him over the past several years. While she knows that he understands what gifted children are like and that they have special educational needs, she also knows he believes schools are serving those needs.

Can we help to change Mr. Mathews’ mind? He has invited parents to write to him directly at mathewsj@washpost.com with their verifiable stories about “failure to accelerate.” Be aware that he wants the following: a concise email of the facts, the names of the schools and school officials who failed to serve your educational needs, and permission to use your names.

Since this letter-writing campaign began, Mr. Mathews has received good emails. “We know there is great dissatisfaction,” he said. “The only to way put these stories on a new level is to investigate them in detail, and see what the officials involved are saying to justify their actions.”

Online Conference on Perfectionism

Dr. Thomas Greenspon will be leading an online conference Monday through Wednesday, September 17 to 19, called “Perfectionism: The Road to Recovery.” Sponsored by Gifted Online Conferences, this three-day seminar is free and open to the public. Just go to its website and sign on.

In addition, Dr. Greenspon will also lead a one-day Online Gifted Conference on perfectionism for kids and teens (KAT) on Sunday, September 16. People need to pre-register for this, and at least 20 need to sign up for this to happen.

Dr. Greenspon is a Licensed Psychologist and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who has a private practice in Minneapolis. He lectures and writes on a variety of topics, including couples' and family relationships, as well as the emotional needs of gifted children and adults. His book, Freeing Our Families From Perfectionism, has won the National Parenting Publications Gold Award and a Parents' Choice Award.

Competitions

Johns Hopkins University sponsors the Center for Talented Youth, which in turn publishes the online magazine Imagine. Imagine is an award-winning publication written for gifted students in grades 7-12 and combines the work of student writers and professionals.

Imagine posts a select list of competitions that range from A (arts) to at least Q (quiz bowls). The magazine also sponsors contests of its own, including photography and poetry contests.

JHU’s Center for Talented Youth seeks students of the highest academic ability through its talent search and offers them challenging educational opportunities that develop the intellect, encourage achievement, and nurture social development. Pay the site a visit for more information.

Midwest Academic Talent Search (MATS)

Registration is now underway for MATS, which is sponsored by the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University in Chicago. The program offers above-grade-level testing (EXPLORE, ACT, and SAT) for academically talented students in grades 3 through 9. Visit the MATS website for more information at .

A Personal Note

Dr. Ruf wants to share her happiness at the recent marriage of her middle son, Charlie Korsmo, to Adrienne Jones. The wedding was in Toronto, Ontario, over Labor Day weekend. Following the honeymoon, the couple will live in New York.

Keeping Up With Dr. Ruf...

“We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” e. e. cummings

Deborah Ruf’s book, “Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind,”
is available through Great Potential Press or Amazon.com.

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