Gifted in France

GIFTED in FRANCE
June 16, 2008
"To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing."
Elbert Hubbard

EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION- FUTURE MINDS. JULY 1- 4th, BOULOGNE-PARIS
Link: www.icieconference.net/index.php
It seems that most of this conference/workshop will be in English. Experts from several countries including USA, Canada and UK will cover many areas including giftedness and creativity. This is a rare chance for us to hear and meet some of the most well known names in gifted research and education: Keynote speakers include: Educating for Creativity by Robert J. Sternberg School of Arts and Sciences, Tufts University-- Future Possibilities for Education and Learning by the Year 2030 Jerome Clayton Glenn Director, the Millennium Project -- Application of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model Joseph S. Renzulli, Director, The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented The University of Connecticut-- The Science of Creative Thinking Steve Smith Department of Psychology, Texas A & M University-- ACTIVE LEARNING AND PASSIVE STUDENTS Douglas A. Bernstein Education Advisor, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, UK-- Recognizing and Nurturing Creativity: Recognizing and Nurturing Creativity: Powerful Tools for Managing Change Donald J. Treffinger President, Center for Creative Learning, Inc., in Sarasota, Florida. Furthermore, one of the workshops will include ADHD: Disorder or Gift? Ken McCluskey & Phil Baker University of Winnipeg, Canada. Over 70 countries will be represented. Please pass this information to others who might be interested, including educators, psychologists, teachers, parents, etc. Note: the link takes you to the pre-conference workshops (July1), after looking those over, click on the left on Keynote Speakers (July 2-4) to get more information on the above mentioned guests and more workshops.

Ateliers in English at Musée d'Orsay: on Weds and Saturdays in July! 90 minutes, 4.70 euros. (Here are the details!)
http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/visits/individuals/guided-tours-for-children/presentation-generale-va/article/visites-pour-le-jeune-public-758.html?tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=426&cHash=b72f3e1a3f


2008 PARIS SPELLING BEE: 18 children made history on June 8th at the 2008 Paris Spelling Bee, organized by GiF and held at the American Library in Paris. There were two groups: Gazelles (7-9 year-olds) and Cheetahs (10-13 year-olds) The winner of each group was presented with a trophy.

All the children showed amazing courage and talent in this unforgiving sport, which eliminates participants after a single error. The children came from a cross-section of schools in Paris: public, bilingual and private. This will become an annual event, and eventually we hope to encourage different schools throughout Paris, as well as home schoolers, to hold qualifying bees and send their winners to a main GiF event at the end of each year. The spelling bee was open to any child who attended at least two practice sessions and met the age limits. The first requirement was aimed at encouraging like-minded children to find friendship and get a bit of training leading up to the final event. A majority of the participants came to all 5 preliminary meetings. We took our lead from the official site of the Scripps National Spelling Bee and contacted them about finding a sponsor so that perhaps one day our Paris winner can qualify for their annual competition in Washington. We are extremely grateful to the American Library in Paris for their support and for opening up the library on a Sunday for the finals of the bee and to our pronouncers, Director of ALP Charles Trueheart and his wife, journalist Anne Swardson.
If you would like to help organize a spelling bee at your school please contact me so that we can begin to build a list of potential participating schools and organizations.

GiF 2009 SCIENCE FAIR: GiF hopes to organize a Science Fair for kids (age 7-15?) in the next academic year. If you would like to help out with this project, if you have organized such events, are a scientist, inventor, teacher or know one please contact me. Also, if you know individuals and companies who can support us, financially (for a large room rental and logistics for the main event which we hope will be March '09) please come forward. The primary goal is to get children involved in the process of creating, thinking of solutions to existing global problems or existing barriers in their own day to day lives... invent a better back-pack, metro card system, recycling machine, sky is the limit. But, supervision and guidance is needed. Subject: GiF '09 Science Fair.

5. USEFUL LINKS: Here are some links for you and your kids to explore this summer. Please credit: "Building a Gifted Program: Identifying and Educating Gifted Students in Your School," by Monita R. Leavitt, M.S. Great Potential Press.

DESTINATION IMAGINATION
http://www.idodi.org/

FUTURE PROBLEM SOLVING
http://www.fpspi.org/

INVENTION CONVENTION
http://www.inventionconvention.com/

JANE GOODALL-ROOTS AND SHOOTS
http://www.janegoodall.org/

KIDS TO KIDS INTERNATIONAL
http://www.ktki.org/

MATH OLYMPIADS
http://www.moems.org/

NSEA SOLAR CARS
http://www.nesea.org/education/workshops/

ODYSSES OF THE MIND
http://www.odysseyofthemind.com/

RENZULLI LEARNING SYSTEM
http://renzullilearning.com/
---------------------------------------------------------------
(note: that Mr. Renzulli is going to be at the July conference in Boulogne, France.)
For math, also check out: http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/projectm3/
(just click on 'for students,' or 'for parents.' While you're here, feel free to explore http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/.

Coordinator,
GiF
giftedinfrance@gmail.com