As a sponsor I was given two tickets to the Celebration of Teaching & Learning for March 16 & 17th.  I'm very pregnant, due on March 20th, and won't be able to walk around Manhattan, so I won't be attending.  I'm running a contest on my website, open to educators, administrators & parents who homeschool.  The tickets are worth $750.  Details about the Celebration can be found here:  http://thirteencelebration.org/  & here's the contest info:

In recognition of all you do as educators, we're giving away a pair of tickets to the Celebration of Teaching & Learning! Come share your knowledge and be inspired! The Celebration—presented by THIRTEEN, WLIW21 & NJTV—is a premier professional development conference that brings together the world’s best thinkers, practitioners, and more than 10,000 educators to share their passion for teaching and learning. This two-day experience will take place on March 16-17, 2012 at the Hilton Hotel in New York City.  Take your favorite colleague, administrator, or a friend.  This prize is valued at $750 ($375 each ticket), and includes lunch for each day.

All you have to do for your chance to win is tell us how you differentiate instruction to meet the needs of your high-ability/gifted learners in 50 words or less in the comment section below.  Be creative, we've heard it all (or have we?).  The contest is open to all educators - teachers, administrators & parents who homeschool. Don't forget to include your name and email address!  The contest ends on March 9th and the winner will be notified by March 11th.   Good luck!  To fill out the entry form, visit: http://www.enrichment4kids.com/contest.php

Cyn Dwyer,

Enrichment 4 Kids

Cindy Dwyer, the Gifted Education Specialist at Enrichment 4 Kids, will be moderating a webinar for the National Association for Gifted Children. 

http://www.nagc.org/wow.aspx

February 8, 7:00 pm
Common Core State Standards: What Gifted Leaders Need to Know
Joyce VanTassel-Baska, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA

The "Common Core" State Standards (CCSS) are here to stay and implementation is moving quickly.  Just what are the implications for gifted education?  Although the CCSS are considered to be more rigorous than most current state standards, they fall short in meeting the specific needs of gifted learners.  How can the gifted education community get involved?  How do we align the CCSS to gifted education programming standards?  Learn how gifted education content, instruction and program delivery will be shaped differently in this new world, and what resources are available to help you continue to advocate for specialized services for academically advanced students.

Joyce's bio is from http://www.openc.k12.or.us/reaching/tag/vantasselbaska.html

Joyce VanTassel-Baska is the Jody and Layton Smith Professor of Education at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, where she has developed a graduate program and a research and development center in gifted education. Formerly she initiated and directed the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University. She also served as the state director of gifted programs for Illinois, as a regional director of a gifted service center in the Chicago area, as coordinator of gifted programs for the Toledo, Ohio public school system, and as a teacher of gifted high school students in English and Latin. She has worked as a consultant on gifted education in more than 40 states and for key national groups, including the U.S. Department of Education, National Association of Secondary School Principals, and American Association of School Administrators. She is past president of The Association for the Gifted of the Council for Exceptional Children and a past member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Gifted Children.

Dr. VanTassel-Baska has published widely, including five recent books: Content-Based Curriculum for High-Ability Learners (2002) (with Catherine A. Little); Excellence in Educating the Gifted (1998); Developing Verbal Talent (1996) (with Dana Johnson and Linda Boyce); Comprehensive Curriculum for Gifted Learners (1995); and Planning Effective Curriculum for the Gifted (1992). She also has published over 150 monographs, book chapters, and articles in refereed journals, and serves as the editor of Gifted and Talented International. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award in 1993, the Phi Beta Kappa faculty award in 1995, and the National Association of Gifted Children Distinguished Scholar Award in 1997. Her major research interests are on the talent development process and effective curricular interventions with the gifted. She holds B.A., M.A., M.Ed. and Ed.D. degrees from the University of Toledo.

As an educator I have twice had the pleasure of attending the "Celebration of Teaching & Learning" in NYC.  The Celebration, like the name implies, is a celebration & genuine appreciation of educators.  This convention offers numerous professional development workshops, book signings & FREEBIES from the many sponsors & exhibitors.  But, for me, the highlight of the celebration are the guest speakers.  I've had the pleasure of hearing U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan commend teachers while simultaneously lamenting the state of education today (due to factors such as the poor economy) & Sir Ken Robinson inspire the jam packed Hilton ballroom with his humorous presentation about the need for more creativity in our lives. In addition to the information below, you can click the image to be directed to the Celebration of Teaching & Learning homepage or print out the flyer attached to this blog post.    

Join the 2012 Celebration of Teaching & Learning, hosted by WNET New York Public Media – parent company of New York’s flagship public television stations THIRTEEN & WLIW21 and operating company of NJTV – on March 16-17, 2012, in New York City!  The seventh annual Celebration will once again bring together global experts, advocates, practitioners, and academics with more than 10,000 educators to create a unique professional development experience where knowledge meets inspiration.  The 2012 Celebration will honor teachers as global professionals and provide the opportunity for knowledge sharing across classrooms and cultures. Speakers this year include, Barnett Berry, Charlotte Danielson, Dr. Keith Devlin, Dr. Christopher Emdin, Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr., Sal Khan, Yul Kwon, Wes Moore, Pedro Antonio Noguera, Ph.D., Michael J. Sandel, Steve Spangler, Susan Szachowicz, and many more who will address the Arts, English Language Arts, Financial Literacy, Global Awareness, Health & Wellness, Instructional Technology, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), Social Studies, Special Education and Whole School Issues.   Register now, sign-up for e-mail updates, access resources and find the latest information and speaker lineup at thirteencelebration.org. 

Also be sure to connect with the online communities on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.THIRTEEN, WLIW21 and NJTV gratefully acknowledge sponsorship support from Lead Sponsor: NEA; Premier Sponsors: American Federation of Teachers, CSA-ELI, Deloitte, NYSUT; Major Sponsors: Fordham University Graduate School of Education, NJEA, Simons Foundation; Event Sponsors: Barnes & Noble, CEA, Disneynature, NYSSAC; Media Sponsor: Education Week.

Last night I attended an educator event through Discovery Education Expo in Times Square, NY.  I love this exhibit space as they are constantly hosting new & exciting exhibits.  They often provide teacher's guides with additional materials to extend the exhibit pre- or post- field trip.  I've enjoyed their exhibits so much that I've attended King Tut, Lucy, Pompeii, DaVinci, Titanic & now CSI: The Experience.  If you live, or will be visiting the NYC area, I highly recommend that you check their website for their exhibit schedule. 

Since I've taught forensics before, you can imagine how excited I was to hear that the CSI: The Experience exhibit was coming to my favorite exhibit space in NYC & that I was invited to attend the exhibit preview for free.  The exhibit has 3 different crime scenes set up.  Visitors get to take on the role of a new agent to examine one of the crime scenes, and later the evidence in the labs.  The "labs" have computers were visitors learn about forensic science topics and then examine evidence specific to the crime scene.  I loved everything about the exhibit except, and this is a big one, they tell you the correct answers along the way.  I'd rather that they tell you the answers at the very end of the exhibit.   

I teach enrichment courses in & out of public schools.  There is no set curriculum, so I create my own units around topics.  A few years ago I designed an "Introduction to Forensics" unit.  The unit, which is available as a teacher's guide or as a kit, has students working in groups to solve crimes.  There are 5 cases, and groups work on 1 case a week.  The cases rotate through the groups until each group has had a chance to solve each of the 5 case.  The cases focus on a different area of forensics (hair & fiber anaylsis, fingerprinting, handwriting analysis, bones, & DNA) & include evidence & tools for examining the evidence to solve the case.  When creating the unit & accompanying kit, my research led me to Rice University's CSI:The Experience Web Adventures website. To anyone who teaches, or plans on teaching forensics, I highly recommend using this website.  On that website, in addition to the amazing interactives about forensics, you can view the touring schedule for CSI:The Experience.

If you are interested in forensics & able to see the CSI: The Experience experience, whether in NYC or in another city, I recommend it. 

*Posted around the exhibit are signs that children under 13 must be accompanied by an adult at all times.