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| Winter 2000 | Page 1 | Volume V, Number1 |
| President's Message By Laura K. Rose Greetings to everyone as we begin a brand new millennium. This is my first message to you in my new role as AAGC President. Let me first say that I am very excited about the opportunity you have given me to lead this organization into the 21st century. I thank Lusia MacPherson for the years of hard work she has dedicated to chartering and leading AAGC during its formative years. I will strive to provide the same level of professionalism and leadership that you have enjoyed during Lusia's tenure. So much has already been accomplished in the five years that AAGC has been in existence, and so much more is just on the horizon. We are anxious to expand our efforts to reach out to members through our regional networks. We will need your help to do this. During the annual conference, many of you expressed a desire to see your network become more active. There are still some networks that need a volunteer chairperson. Please read the information about networks in this newsletter, and contact me if you are willing to help. Through our educational grants, we want to continue to encourage innovative programs that touch the lives of gifted students in Alabama. We also want to encourage student participation in our organization through contests and student input into AAGC activities. Increasing membership and doing a better job of distributing information is also an important goal as we move into the year 2000. We are working hard on this goal with the creation of our first AAGC web site. In addition to the pursuit of the above goals, let us begin this new year with a renewed emphasis on advocacy. With the use of a Multiple Criteria Identification System for identifying gifted students, gifted education is undergoing some changes in Alabama. AAGC members need to be on the forefront of ensuring that those changes positively affect the education of gifted students. Stay informed, get involved and do your part to see that the needs of the gifted are being met and that ideas are being shared which increase the quality of education for all students. Membership in the Year 2000 AAGC has 251 members! What a great way to start the year. However, there are a lot of people in Alabama who do not yet know about AAGC. We need your help to spread the word about our organization. Somewhere in this newsletter you will find a membership form. Make copies and pass them out to fellow teachers, administrators and parents of your gifted students. The more members we have, the louder our voice is in supporting gifted education in our state. We can make a difference! | AAGC Annual Conference 1999 AAGC started the new century early with an exciting conference on Tuesday, August 3,1999. The theme for the day was Diversifying for the Millennium. The location, Jefferson County's Shades Valley High School, in Irondale, on the edge of Birmingham, got rave reviews. With a spacious auditorium available, the seating and acoustics made it easier to sit comfortably and listen to the keynote speaker and other presenters. Keynote speaker, Dr. Debra Troxclair opened the conference as well as presenting a breakout session. With a theme of diversification, other breakout sessions ranged from technology to Talents Unlimited, multiple intelligences, and Shakespeare. Linda Grill from the State Department of Education presented the new guidelines for gifted placement and stayed late to answer multitudes of questions. Lunch included time to meet and eat by network regions and to see new vendors. New state officers were installed for a two-year term. Two $250.00 mini-grants were awarded to Leigh Ann Akey and Kay Simpson. A $100 mini-grant was awarded to JoEllen Mattingly. Three students; James Pearson, Lacey Ruff, and Marshall Underwood, were awarded $50.00 savings bonds in the "Design a Logo" contest. AAGC ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2000 Plans are already underway for our next annual conference and you will see some changes made based on evaluations from last year. The conference has been scheduled for July 18, 2000. We hope this date will be better for those of you who start school so early in August. We are also very excited about having the conference at the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham, Alabama. Please take note of the Call for Proposals included in this newsletter and consider submitting a proposal for presentation. Remember, our annual conference is made much better by the active participation of our members. | NAGC ANNUAL CONVENTION by Nina Pearson The National Association for Gifted Children's 46th Annual Convention took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico and was an intellectually invigorating experience. With the theme Pathways to the Millennium, there was a veritable smorgasbord of five hundred sessions to choose from, and over one hundred exhibitors. There was a downside of so many options: first, the excruciatingly difficult decision-making that goes into deciding which sessions to attend; secondly, the knowledge of so many wonderful sessions that had to be missed. If you were lucky enough (as I was) to have several buddies who were also there, you could coordinate your efforts with everyone going in different directions, and then have data-dump sessions at night over dinner. The debriefing of the sessions and then the stimulating discussions that followed was icing on the cake! Now for some details. in the Conceptual Foundations Strand, the gurus were still debating the issue of "Giftedness." In a very impassioned session, James Delisle pleaded his case for not forgetting the highly gifted, while Francoys Gagne defended his view of the talented top 10%. In the Curriculum Studies Strand, experts like Carol Ann Tomlinson, Joyce Van Tassel-Baska, and Sandra Kaplan debated the concept of differentiation and exactly what it means in gifted education. In the Counseling and Guidance Strand, the likes of Maureen Neihart, Judy Galbraith, Linda Silverman, and Michael Piechowski went toe-to-toe on issues of perfectionism good or bad, overexcitabilities-gifted traits or not, and the gifted individual's susceptibility to adjustment problems-fact or fiction? In the Creativity Strand, Donald Treffinger, Jon Pearson, and Bertie Kingore presented new techniques in CPS, integrating creativity training into the regular curriculum, and using children's literature to teach creative problem solving. Other important topics at the Convention were brain-based learning, education for the 21st century, identification of minority and disadvantaged gifted students, curriculum - rigor without rigor mortis, alternative and authentic assessment, and constructivism and gifted education. Some interesting titles were Developing Middle School Academies of Inquiry and Talent, From Snoring to Soaring-Making Social Studies Work, Carpe Diem Curriculum: Facilitating Flexible Design, Reflections of the Baroque Ideals and Values Through Art, Music and Math, Fractals: A Metaphor for Intelligence, and The Dark Side: Gifted and Conduct Disordered. Being asked to do a short summary of the NAGC Conference is a little like trying to give a synopsis of the French Revolution. I hope that I have given you a flavor of the depth and breadth that was offered this year and have wet your appetite for the upcoming 47th National Convention which will be November 1-5, 2000 in Atlanta, Georgia. I hope many of you will take advantage of the close proximity of next year's Convention. For more information about the Convention call (202) 785-4268 or visit the NAGC web site [www.nagc.com]. |
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