WATG Mission: To educate about and advocate for the needs of gifted in Wisconsin. |
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As you may have noticed, WATG’s activities and reach have been growing! To keep you more informed on a more timely basis, our Board of Directors voted to send out news TWICE each month. The first installment will always arrive at the beginning of the month, and the second installment will arrive in the middle of the month. With this change, we hope to keep you more curious, informed, motivated, and engaged. |
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Zoom link will be available in January. |
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WATG Welcomes Two More Partners |
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In November, WATG’s Membership Committee voted to welcome two new partners. WATG partnerships are designed for Wisconsin and national educational, extracurricular, and parental organizations, independent consultants, UW Schools, CESAs, and organizations and individuals reasonably aligned with WATG's mission to raise public awareness about the unique needs of gifted individuals. Partnerships allow us to:
- Offer a voice to parents, educators, and gifted students
- Advocate for gifted students at the local, state, and national levels with our legislators
- Provide high quality professional development for parents and educators, including webinars and workshops
- Provide coaching and consulting services for parents and educators
- Create and support research on gifted education issues
- Award scholarships to Wisconsin gifted students and educators
- Coordinate networking opportunities
- Publish a twice-monthly newsletter
- Host an annual conference
- Share updates on timely gifted issues
Our two new partnerships are with the Wisconsin Council on Medical Education and Workforce and the Greater Dane County Advanced Learner Network.
In their application, the Wisconsin Council on Medical Education and Workforce’s executive director described his organization’s mission with these words:
“The mission of the Wisconsin Council on Medical Education and Workforce (WCMEW) is to ensure a healthcare workforce that meets the needs of Wisconsin citizens by convening a wide breadth of stakeholders to:
- Work with Wisconsin’s education and training organizations to promote an appropriate supply of healthcare practitioners.•
- Monitor changes in care delivery and encourage incorporation of those changes into education and training, and expansion of best practices.
- Promote ongoing research, education, and communication on workforce issues”
His hope was that “both organizations could share virtual events, articles, educational research and data resources, and share information about healthcare workforce needs, and a linking of websites.”
The Greater Dane County Advanced Learner Network’s (GDCALN) President shared their mission, “to be a collaborative support group, a professional network, an advocate for gifted education/advanced learners, and a conduit for opportunities and services to school districts, advanced learners, and their families.” In a partnership, they hope to “share opportunities for parent education and/or parent support groups and to share experts to present at membership meetings.” They envision “a promotion of their events for parents, school Advanced Learning staff and classroom teachers/administrators.” Their hopes are “to share virtual events with hosts from both organizations, a commitment to have presenters for the WATG conference, collaborative professional development events to support counselors, coaches and advanced learner staff.” They envision “providing support and advertisement for WATG’s virtual town hall events.”
WATG welcomes our two newest partnerships. We have so much to offer each other. If you or your organization is interested in pursuing a partnership with WATG, please contact WATG’s Executive Director, Roxane Hagedorn at rhagedorn@watg.org.
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Welcome to our Newest Board Member! |
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WATG extends a warm welcome to another new director to the WATG board. Jennifer Neuman is an educator who has taught in both high school and middle school settings. She has experience teaching both AP Government and Politics and AP Microeconomics, along with various other Social Studies classes. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Arts in Social Relations and Policy, a Masters in Human Resources/Labor Relations, and a Post Baccalaureate Certification in Secondary Social Studies Education. |
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(WATG desea extender un enorme agradecimiento a la Dra. Martha Aracely Lopez de las Escuelas Públicas de Milwaukee por traducir este artículo al español para nuestras familias y educadores hispanohablantes. La traducción también se puede encontrar en los blogs de nuestro sitio web) |
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Gifted in Perspective: The Importance of Looking Up and Around
Jackie Drummer, WATG Advisory Board Member and Past President
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It is easy to be myopic, seeing distinctly at a short distance. In our busy world, it is possible to be so wrapped up in our small worlds that we forget to look up and around and to see how our work connects to the work of others. When this happens, we can lose sight of the “big picture,” and those working to create and sustain it. This is as true in gifted education as it is in other professions.
Coming off of our annual fall conference of The Wisconsin Association for Talented and Gifted, many of us were made increasingly aware of how our work locally and as a state is part of gifted education nationally and globally.
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Dr. Wanda Routier
Former WATG Board Member
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Ask the Doctor: The Influence of Music |
The holiday season is here again with holiday music heard only this time of year. Recently, some parents of gifted students were asking about music and its influence on their children who are gifted. For some of the students, their area of giftedness is in music. For the others, their areas of giftedness varied, but they all experienced asynchronous development. Because of this, their students each had stressors that impacted their life. The parents described students with sleeplessness, times of great activity with little down time, and emotional intensity. The parents asked about whether music could help their students relieve some stress and calm their ever-moving mind. Hence, the discussion about music and its influence on people commenced. The parents’ discussion helped support each other; this, in turn, helped their students. |
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Annette was a 6th grader. She was skinny, shy around other kids, blondish, with too-much-makeup around-her-eyes, and fighting acne when I first met her as she entered my art classroom.The first thing I noticed about her was her speed of talking. It seemed that she couldn’t get the words out fast enough to convey what she wanted me to know (or anyone else for that matter). The second thing I noticed was that when she was doing artwork the talking stopped… entirely...because she was concentrating so hard. The third thing was that she could often paint and draw better than I, her art teacher, could. And the fourth thing was that Annette often put unusual twists or ideas into her artwork. Though she met the assignment’s criteria, she always did it her way. |
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Dal Drummer
WATG Advisory Board Member
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Gifted Meandering: Parents & Students
Ruth Robinson, Past WATG President
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The effort to collect, summarize, and publish a history of advocacy and progress of gifted education in Wisconsin continues. In October I had the great pleasure of having lunch with Ellie Schatz, Welda Simousek, and Virginia Pickerell. Schatz and Simousek were the first two consultants for Gifted & Talented in Wisconsin; Pickerell is an author and presenter of strategies and approaches for teaching gifted children. |
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Parenting gifted children can be an exciting, yet challenging journey, and WATG is committed to providing information, resources, and networking opportunities for parents and caregivers of gifted children.
As a service to gifted children and their families, WATG is offering FREE memberships to all parents/caregivers beginning now and extending through September of 2022. Benefits of WATG membership include:
- Support for educational outreach
- Support for parents/caregivers and advocates
- Voting privileges
- Consultation and coaching
- And so much more!
So far, over 150 parents/caregivers have taken advantage of this outstanding opportunity! We encourage more of you to join us by filling out this Free WATG Parent Membership Form, and look forward to meeting you and growing with you.
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Don't miss the recent podcast with Cory and Dr. Donna Ford! |
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Any organization mentioned in this newsletter does not constitute an endorsement by or partnership with WATG. No recommendation regarding the services of these organizations is being made by WATG. Families and educators are urged to perform due diligence in researching all organizations. |
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