Gifted Jaguars and Eagles

Registration is open for the Supporting Gifted Children During Stress event on March 5th in Bloomington. We are excited to announce that the Bloomington Chapter will cover the registration fees for MCGT Bloomington Chapter Members (and Bloomington staff) to attend the Parent and Children Programs for FREE. Join MCGT online now and choose Bloomington as your chapter. Then, contact info@mct.net or bloomington@mcgt.net to receive an email with the code and instructions to register for FREE. Supporting Gifted Children During Stress Co-Sponsored by Bloomington Public Schools, Bloomington Chapter of the Minnesota Council for Gifted and Talented, Minnesota Council for Gifted and Talented March 5, 2022, 9-11am with Teresa Argo Boatman, Ph.D Virtual and In-Person Parent Presentation Gifted children and their parents have been experiencing the rise of stress and anxiety during the COVID 19 pandemic. Expand your knowledge of anxiety and gifted children, strategies to help, and how to ...

November 4, 2021 Dear Parents and Guardians of DA 10 cohort, We have noticed that this semester is significantly more difficult for some of our DAHS students than previous years. We appreciate that many of you answered the survey the GT department sent out. The data demonstrated what we are seeing in class - we have a wide range of experiences right now in the DA STEM program and some of our students are very stressed. What we are seeing in Bloomington is similar to the experiences of educators (including other AP teachers and gifted advocates) across the country. Many of our students are struggling in ways which hadn’t manifested in pre-pandemic times. We are now seeing many members of our cohort struggle with self-regulation, the ability to focus on their work, their ability to ask questions, their ability to work with peers on an academic task, and are struggling with issues of depression and anxiety. We want to be responsive and support our gifted learners. I have met wit...

The gifted department offers a vareity of ways that we support teachers. Below is what I shared with teachers at KHS and JHS today.

Join the GT Department and Erin Walsh, of Spark and Stitch Institute, for our second session in the "Parenting in a Pandemic" series. Wednesday, January 13 at 7:00p.m. Topic: The Many Faces of Stress Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84006576556?pwd=UjQ2ZElIYmlpWTlZbDdPeGhpM2hkUT09 Passcode is SPARK We hope to see you there!

The Bloomington Public Schools gifted/talented department is proud to sponsor Erin Walsh from the Spark & Stitch Institute. Erin will lead three virtual sessions that are guaranteed to be engaging, helpful and relevant. Each will last one hour. All sessions will be held via Zoom. No need to RSVP. Join for one session or, hopefully, attend them all! Wednesday, December 9 7PM “Staying Engaged in Learning: The Science of Motivation” Wednesday, January 13 7PM “Parenting in a Pandemic: The Many Faces of Stress” Wednesday, February 10 7PM “Parenting in a Pandemic: Setting Limits and Avoiding Power Struggles” Zoom link for all three webinars; passcode is SPARK: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84006576556?pwd=UjQ2ZElIYmlpWTlZbDdPeGhpM2hkUT09 Or Telephone: Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 646 558 8656 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 669 900 9128 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799 Webinar ID: 840 0657 6556 ...

  What Now?  Supporting your Gifted Child’s Education  during COVID-19 MCGT Virtual Mini Conference – September 12, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon Join us as Dr. Richard Cash and Dr. Diane Heacox help us navigate the challenging new world of changing educational experiences. Dr. Cash will be talking about Assisting your Child in Trying Times and Dr. Heacox will present on Tips on Supporting and Enhancing Distance Learning. MCGT Members $10  (MCGT Membership includes access to the presentations for 4 months) Non Members $20 More Information and Registration ONLINE CHAT NIGHTS FOR MCGT MEMBERS ONLY CHAT (Connect Help Advocate Talk) Zoom Discussions will be available to Members Only on a monthly (or more) basis. CHATs are informal discussions on specific topics facilitated by experts September 2: Dr Teresa Boatman,  Supporting Your Child's Mental Health September 29: Dr. Liz Adams,  Gifted Dyslexia from a Neuropsychologist's Perspective October 12: Dr. Mary Wa...

From MCGT:  Please join our Facebook Live CHAT with Shelly Harvey, MA, LSC, TONIGHT, Tuesday, March 24, from 7 to 7:30 PM. Subject: Managing anxiety for your family.   Watch, listen, ask questions, and connect! Open to all.    Find it on the Minnesota Council for Gifted and Talented (MCGT)  Facebook page This is the first in a series of online CHAT (Connect, Help,  Advocate, Talk) events we have scheduled in the coming weeks.

Social and Emotional Support for Gifted Learners during Covid-19  by Wendy Behrens, Gifted and Talented Education Specialist at MN Dept of Education March 20, 2020 Throughout the world, people are experiencing anxiety about the Covid-19 outbreak. Children are not immune to worry and many young students are concerned about missing school and friends and confused by changing schedules and responsibilities. Older students may also be concerned about testing, college applications, completion of courses, credits, missing final school events and more. Research indicates that many gifted children experience heightened sensitivity to environmental stimuli because of their rapid information-processing (Mendaglio, 2007). Many of these students are dismayed by the news and the apparent lack of a solution to the pandemic. Some are catastrophizing, imagining the worst possible outcome of the current or an imagined circumstance. Others may be feeling isolated or depressed. The National...

I'm excited to present and meet parents tonight at the Kennedy PTSA meeting.  Supporting our students with their social emotional needs is an issue close to my heart and I'm looking forward to tonight. Here is a link to my presentation.

A parent recently shared this article with me and I thought I'd post it here to share with other parents, teachers, etc. https://www.sengifted.org/post/g-squared-supporting-your-gifted-lgbt-student G-Squared. Supporting Your Gifted LGBT Student Updated:  Jan 29, 2019 By Alessa Keener. We live in unprecedented times, where many Americans can proudly and safely live as out lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. One measure of progress is in the number of states that have marriage equality –15 states as of today and the District of Columbia. Despite the many positive steps our country continues to take to overcome discrimination and crimes against LGBTQ people, concerns still exist about the safety of our young people and their coming out process. Substance abuse, self-injury, homelessness, and suicide affect a disproportionate number of youth who identify as LGBT. When children grow up both gifted and LGBT, they oftentimes experience a ...