WATG is excited to welcome our Spring 2021 Interns!
Camryn Ballweg
and
Everett Harmelink
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From the Board - Excitement in the Air! |
Excitement is definitely in the air at the Wisconsin Association for Talented and Gifted. We are beginning this new year with much energy, enthusiasm, and commitment to our important work. We recently welcomed three new board members, Cory Jennerjohn, Dr. Sharon Alexander, and Christine Wyatt, who will bring new ideas and new perspectives to our work. We thank them for their commitment to gifted children, and their willingness to share their time and talents. As wise people know, “many hands make light work,” and as our board grows in numbers and expertise we are able to tackle more projects and make more progress in gifted education in Wisconsin. |
(WATG extiende un sentido de gratitud al Dr. German Diaz de las Escuelas Públicas de Milwaukee por ayudarnos con la traducción de este artículo en Español para nuestras familias de habla hispana y nuestros educadores. Esta traducción también se puede encontrar en nuestra página web). |
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(WATG extiende un sentido de gratitud al Dr. Martha Lopez de las Escuelas Públicas de Milwaukee por ayudarnos con la traducción de este artículo en Español para nuestras familias de habla hispana y nuestros educadores. Esta traducción también se puede encontrar en nuestra página web). |
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Gifted in Perspective, Jackie Drummer, WATG Advisory Board Member and Past President |
“Risk assessment cannot be taught at a desk while looking at a chalkboard. The essential components to learning this invaluable skill are time and space, two things that kids these days are often lacking. There is an innate drive in children to experiment with increasingly complex movements and in doing so they learn what their bodies can and cannot do. They learn about severity and probability of consequences. They learn the amazing, lifelong skill of risk assessment...” |
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Ask the Doctor - School Options for Gifted Students: Open Enrollment |
Dr. Wanda Routier, Past WATG Board Member
Last year at this time, we were starting to hear about the pandemic. Many people were hopeful that after a few months of closing down, we would be able to get back to “normal” and life would go on. Here it is a year later, and we are still in the midst of a global pandemic. One of the institutions that has been affected in a major way is our schools.
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GT Meanderings - Technology and WATG |
Ruth Robinson, WATG Past President
Technology has grown and changed exponentially over the past years -- this is quite an understatement! As WATG and other organizations approach fifty years of organized advocacy for gifted education, historical documents provide insights and appreciation for those who began the process.
Many of WATG’s early letters and memos from the 1970’s were crafted in longhand and then typed, presumably by a secretary (if the author had the good fortune to have access to one).
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10 Tips, Tricks and Ideas for
Teaching Gifted Kids
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Collected ideas over time
Beth Fairchild, WATG board member
- Pre-Assess Them: For the love of anything that is holy...this is a MUST! Research states that most gifted students do not learn new information until January. Don’t make a student who has already mastered a concept sit through the lesson again.
- Mind the Child Labor Laws: Gifted students who finish early should not automatically be the teacher’s helper. Gifted students can be some of the worst students to assist others because their brains often work very differently.
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(WATG desea extender un gran agradecimiento al Dr. German Díaz de las escuelas de Milwaukee por traducir este artículo al español para nuestras familias y educadores de habla hispana. La traducción también se puede encontrar en nuestros blogs de sitio web.) |
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Sarah Kasprowicz, WATG Past President
In 2020 the WATG Acceleration Committee published their report on the use of Academic Acceleration in Wisconsin: Moving Wisconsin Forward. Another goal of our committee is to improve professional development about academic acceleration for our schools.
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Now Accepting Scholarship Applications |
Jessica Schultz, Scholarships and Awards Chair
WATG Summer Scholarships
Wisconsin Students in Grades K-12
April 15, 2021 Deadline
Nicholas Green Distinguished Student Award Application
Wisconsin Students in Grades 3-6
June 15, 2021 Deadline
Questions? Contact watg@watg.org
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Stacy Novak, WATG Board
Kami is a Google Chrome extension that allows teachers to upload a PDF for students to annotate. Students are able to add text, highlight, draw, add shapes, etc. onto the document that was uploaded. Kami is free; however, you may upgrade to get more features.
Uses of Kami
There are a ton of different ways to use Kami. Here a few ideas I came up with/found:
- Students can look at two writings and compare them by highlighting and adding text onto both documents.
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WATG's Justice for All Task Force
At first glance, this question appears innocent. For example, if a person asks this question, “I need to paint my house; who did this for you?” you would answer without hesitation.
However, when the question challenges a person’s intellectual competence, the same question may take on nefarious qualities. For example, if a person asks this question, “Who did this for you?” it could imply that you couldn’t do it for yourself. It belittles your work.
In this thought-provoking presentation, WHO DID THIS FOR YOU?, (recorded at WATG’s 2020 Virtual Conference), Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings asks us to question our underlying assumptions about talent, identification, and resource allocation. Most importantly, she asks us to check ourselves, and ask ourselves, “Are we asking the right questions?”
Our words matter.
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From the Bookshelf: Thinking Like a Lawyer |
Maria Katsoras-Molzahn, WATG Board
In Thinking Like A Lawyer (Seale, 2020) the author builds a strong case for gifted education. Growing up in a world of stark inequalities, Colin, a young, Black boy, found solace and intellectual challenge in the gifted and talented classroom.
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