WATG Mission: To educate about and advocate for the needs of gifted in Wisconsin. |
|
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. |
|
Calling All Exhibitors and Sponsors!
Are you interested in reaching a large number of gifted and talented advocates? Does your product or service apply to educators, administrators, coordinators, parents, or others in the gifted and talented community? Then you will want to be an Exhibitor/Sponsor at our annual fall conference in the Wisconsin Dells October 3-4. Information on our conference and how you can be a part of it can be found in our proposal packet at https://midd.me/t7rw.
|
|
Check out the following on the WATG News Page:
WATG welcomes a new partner, WATG Parent Conference, 2022 Scholarship recipients, online learning opportunity and much more!
|
|
News From the Board - WATG Board Enjoys Face to Face Meeting
Roxane Hagedorn, WATG Executive Director
|
The pandemic has gotten many of us familiar with virtual meetings. “Zoom” has become a part of our language. The virtual world has allowed many to keep their businesses going and helped others keep in touch with loved ones. The Wisconsin Association for Talented and Gifted’s (WATG) Board is well versed in virtual meetings too. Being a statewide organization, we’ve always had to find ways to connect that weren’t always in person. Before “zooming” on our devices, we actually all hopped onto a big conference call to hold our monthly meetings! So, “seeing” each other, even on a computer, was still a plus. However, it still doesn’t replace sitting in the same room with one another. |
|
(WATG would like to extend its deep appreciation to Dr. German Diaz from Milwaukee Public Schools for translating this article into Spanish for our Spanish-speaking families and educators. The translation can be found on our website blog.)
|
|
|
Dr. Uzeyir Ogurlu
WATG Board Member
|
|
Giftedness has been associated with some extraordinary skills and capabilities which stem from nature and nurture. We already know that there isn’t guaranteed genetic inheritance from parent to offspring. Even when we know everything about a parent's genes, we don’t know what combination of their genes would occur in their offspring. From a giftedness point of view, even though parents are gifted, there is unpredictability; for example, a child could look more like Mom, Dad or a combination of both, or could inherit intelligence from one parent or from both parents. |
|
|
Gifted in Perspective:
In Praise of Boredom
|
As the summer season begins, many families have registered their children for activities. Soccer, tennis, baseball, band, theater, running, music lessons, dance lessons, and many other activities are in full swing. Many parents and caregivers are beginning their days with hands in “the steering wheel position” as they ferry children to various supervised camps, clubs, and activities. For these children, their days are full of adult-directed activities. There is very little down time, very little child-driven activity, and very little time for creative boredom to set in. Is this a good thing, I wonder? |
|
Jackie Drummer
WATG Advisory Member and Former WATG President
|
|
WATG Conference
October 3-4, 2022
Parent and Teen Conferences - October 2, 2022
|
Ask the Doctor: STEAM and Gifted Children and Youth
Dr. Wanda Routier, Past WATG Board Member
Last month I wrote about gifted children and STEM activities which covered science, technology, engineering, math. This month I’d like to talk about STEAM - science, technology, engineering, arts, math. Why include the arts with the other disciplines? According to the Rhode Island School of Design, “The goal is to foster the true innovation that comes with combining the mind of a scientist or technologist with that of an artist or designer.”
|
GT Meanderings: A Child's Poem
Ruth Robinson, Past WATG Board President
The following poem graced the front page of the WCGT (Wisconsin Council for the Gifted & Talented) newsletter in November of 1985. It was shared by Dr. Sally Reis, of Torrington, Connecticut. It was taken from the G/T Digest, a publication of the Association for Gifted & Talented Students, New Orleans, Louisiana. Dr. Reis had been a consultant for the child’s school district, but no longer had contact information for the author. It would be interesting to see where this child, who is now 46 years old, has landed.
|
|
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. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
