Disney's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" Giftedkids.ie Competition

Disney's new movie "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" Cert PG www.disney.ie/sorcerersapprentice is released nationwide in cinemas on August 11th and to celebrate Disney have donated 3 goodie bags to Giftedkids.ie users. To be in with a chance to win, send the answer to the following question along with your name, age and address to: info@giftedkids.ie. Closing date for receipt of entries is August 27th. The three winners will be contacted by Disney Ireland directly. Good luck everyone! For more details see our Kids page.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice is based on which classic Disney animated movie?
A - Snow White
B - Fantasia
C - Seven Dwarfs 

Daynuv/Giftedkids Press Release: Award Winning Author Bob Burke visits our Carlow Gaelscoil Project

A group of 5th class children in Gaelscoil Eoghain uí Thuairisc had a visit from Bob Burke, the Clare based author of “The Third Pig Detective Agency.” Mr. Burke won the much-coveted Eilís Dillon Award at the 20th Bisto Children’s Book of the Year Awards for this, his first book.

What makes this visit by an author unusual was that it took place in a virtual world, the creation of the five children as part of the Daynuv/Giftedkids.ie project that has been running as a pilot project in the Gaelscoil over the last few months. The author logged in by special permission to the island from his Co. Clare base and chatted to the Carlow children in their own school.

“The virtual world demonstrated what can be achieved with creativity and imagination”, said Burke. “The kids have designed their own buildings which are both impressive and colourful and have dotted the landscape with Celtic crosses. I was particularly impressed with the auditorium where the virtual Q&A took place.”

The Gaelscoil children designed a special presentation podium where the meeting took place in their virtual world and gave Mr. Burke a guided tour of the island to explain their work, which features everything from a high-cross to a games arena and mansion with its own private swimming pool. Ódhran, Síobhra, Connor, Lauren and Niamh, themselves showing great promise in the area of creative writing, got the chance to question Bob on the trials and joys of becoming a published author.

“The Q&A was fast, frenetic and it was all I could do just to keep on top of the barrage of great questions I was asked”, added Burke. “The session was all the more impressive when you realise that in the real world the kids were asking the questions from different classrooms and I was answering them from 90 miles away yet we were together in a single location in the virtual world.”

Daynuv, the company behind this education and collaboration platform, based on 3D simulated environments, has partnered with Giftedkids.ie to develop a pilot for the support of exceptionally able children in the classroom. The Gaelscoil was delighted to have been chosen to explore the new project.

Daynuv specialises in the development of virtual worlds for immersive education and has received seed funding from Social Entrepreneurs Ireland to develop applications for children with special needs. “From our experience we’ve discovered that 3D learning software allows exceptionally able children to unlock the abilities which can go unnoticed in a traditional learning environment”, said James Corbett of Daynuv. “Partnering with GiftedKids.ie was the ideal way for us to bring this enabling technology to those who need it most”.

June 23rd 2010 Daynvu.com Co. Limerick

Latest Recorded Webinar on Motivation Available!

The latest webinar in the Giftedkids.ie pilot webinar series entitled “Supporting Exceptionally Able Children's Motivation for Learning” presented by Dr. Sarah McElwee, which was broadcast on Wednesday, May 19th in now available to watch via Learncentral.

Dr. McElwee’s presentation focuses on the following topics:

• The link between motivation and challenge
• Orientations to learning, specifically "performance" approaches versus "mastery" approaches
• How beliefs about the nature of intelligence can impact upon motivation
• Socio-emotional aspects of underachievement and motivation
• Ideas for parents and teachers on building motivation

Presenter Bio:
Dr. Sarah McElwee is a Post-doctoral Research Associate in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, where she conducts research on identifying able children who underachieve, and the effect of mentorship on raising aspirations in able children. Sarah did a PhD in psychology at Queen’s University Belfast, exploring thinking and problem-solving in gifted children aged 8-9 years. She taught summer programmes, Saturday classes and correspondence courses in psychology for children aged 6-17 at the Irish Centre for Talented Youth from 2002 to 2006. Sarah has been part of a number of projects aimed at raising the profile of able children in Ireland. She was a member of the writing team involved in the development of draft guidelines for teachers of exceptionally able children issued jointly in Rep. of Ireland and Northern Ireland by the NCCA & CCEA in 2007. She has also worked as a tutor and editor with the Institute of Child Education & Psychology (ICEPE) on their CPD courses about highly able children.

The Giftedkids.ie team would like to thank Sarah for her support.

Calling All Sligo Parents & Teachers!

CTYI are currently looking into the possiblity of running a Saturday programme in Sligo.To this end a public meeting with take place for parents and teachers on September 16th, 7:30pm to 9pm at the Sligo Education Centre. Testing for the Sligo based Saturday prorgramme will take place on October 30th with a view to starting classes in February 2011. If you are interested in having your child assessed for a Sligo based programme please contact Colm O'Reilly, Director of CTYI. We would appreciate it if any Sligo based teachers passed on this information to interested parents.

Giftedkids.ie Pilot Series of Webinars

Giftedkids launched our pilot webinar series on January 28th this year with "Characteristics of the Exceptionally Able – Faster, Earlier, Differently”, presented by Margaret Keane and Anna Giblin. The feedback from both parent and teacher participants to this series has been overwhelmingly positive. If you wish to participate in these live events or would like to submit a question for the presenter in advance please send your email address or questions to webinars@giftedkids.ie. Places are limited so early registration is advisable.

You can now view the recorded webinars online. Please feel free to forward these links to colleagues or interested parents.To view the Characteristics webinar click here. The accompanying presentation handout, suggested reading list and the online resources list can also be downloaded.

You can now view our second recorded webinar in the Giftedkids.ie pilot series - "How to be Your Gifted Child's Best Advocate - Supporting Your Child at Home and at School." You can also download the presentation and the accompanying online resources document.

The webinar "Dual Exceptionality" is scheduled for September (date to be announced). If you wish to participate in this series or would like more information please send your email address to webinars@giftedkids.ie and we will forward you an invitation. Spaces are limited so early booking is advisable. Participants will need a broadband connection and a set of speakers or a headset.

There are 6 free webinars in this series aimed at both parents and teachers. The running time for each webinar is approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes and will provide participants with a bite sized introduction to each of the following topics with a Q&A session:

• Characteristics of the Exceptionally Able
  
• How to be your Child’s Best Advocate – Supporting your Child at home and at School
• Dual Exceptionality – Aspergers, Adhd, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Behavioural Issues
• Educational Assessment
  
• Classroom Strategies – Curriculum Differentiation, Enrichment, Acceleration, Online ICT Resources for Teachers
• Social & Emotional Sensitivities

This series of webinars is free to all participants and is supported by Social Entrepreneurs Ireland. The National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE) is also kindly supporting this series. Giftedkids.ie has liaised with Fred Boss (CPD Project Officer) and Anne White (National Coordinator) to put in place a small team of teachers to evaluate the webinar content, presentation style and technology.

Giftedkids would also like to thank Steve Hardagon of Learn Central, the new Elluminate sponsored social learning network for education, who is allowing us to run these pubic webinars on the Learn Central Elluminate platform. We would also like to thank Colm O'Reilly, Director of CTYI for his continued support and Kim Caise of Classroom 2.0.

CTYI Annual Conference: "Gifted Children Going Forward: Creating a True Smart Economy", Saturday, March 13th

The Irish Centre for Talented Youth held their annual Conference which took place in DCU on Saturday, March 13th. This year the focus was on gifted children going forward and their place in a true smart economy. The speakers involved were:

Keynote Address:
Prof. Franz Mönks, Radboud University Nijmegen
“Meeting the learning and developmental needs of
individuals with high potential”

Workshops:
Dr. Pichak Siripoonsap, Deputy Director of Thailand’s Gifted & Talented Foundation
Dr. Sarah McElwee, Oxford University (Psychologist)
Leo Lopez MD, Montefiore Children's Hospital, NY (Pediatrician)
Dr. Arlene Egan, UCD (“Motivating Gifted Children to Succeed”)
Margaret Keane & Anna Giblin of Giftedkids.ie (Online Resources for the Support of Exceptionally Able & Twice Exceptional Children)

The event was a great success and thanks to all of the delegates who came along to the Giftedkids.ie workshop. It was fantastic to meet such dedicated parents and pioneering teachers. Our slide presentation can be viewed below.

ICEP Europe Gifted Education CPD courses for Parents and Teachers

ICEP Europe is currently enrolling for the Spring term of their Teaching Gifted and Talented Students: Rising to the Challenge of Highly Able Learners. While this excellent 20 hour online course is primarily aimed at teachers, it is also helpful to parents wishing to learn about the most appropriate educational provision for their children. The fee for this comprehensive course is €330 but ICEPE have very kindly agreed to offer Giftedkids.ie parent users a very generous 20 percent discount. To avail of this reduced rate please use the promotional code Giftedkids on the online application form, the discounted price will be automatically calculated. Enrolment is now open until April 9th, the course itself finishes on April 16th. Remember this course is subsidised for teachers by the Department for Education & Science at the significantly reduced rate of €150.

ICEPE offers a wide variety of online CPD (continous professional development) courses for teachers and parents focusing on special educational needs. They can be contacted on (01) 6510618 or through their website. If you would like more information and advice on their range of courses you can also contact Ciara Hayden at ICEPE on her direct number (01) 6510919.

Giftedkids.ie honoured at the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland 2009 Awards, October 19th

On October 19th at a ceremony in Dublin attended by President Mary McAleese, thirty-one social entrepreneurs from all over Ireland were honoured for their work in tackling social issues. Amongst the awardees was Margaret Keane who received the Level 1 award as a result of her work with Giftedkids.ie, the web site she founded in February 2008 as a support and advocacy site for Irish exceptionally able children, their parents and teachers. From small beginnings the site has now grown with a small voluntary team of parents and teachers who help to run the site. These are the unsung heroes who selflessly give their time and expertise in order to ensure that the cause of gifted children is kept alive.

When asked what impact this award will have on gifted children in Ireland, Margaret responded: “Social Entrepreneurs Ireland has been incredibly supportive of our work. The level of mentoring and guidance that awardees receive is phenomenal and the opportunity to network with other awardees has proved invaluable. It has allowed the Giftedkids site to grow and develop new and much needed resources for our target groups.”

The funding provided by the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Award is being used to produce a pilot series of six free online webinars aimed at parents, teachers and other professionals working with gifted children. These will be launched in January 2010.

To read more about the inspiring stories behind the SEI awardees visit the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland web site.

TV3 "The Morning Show" features Gifted Children

On June 23rd 2009 TV3's "The Morning Show" broadcast a programme devoted to gifted children and some of the issues that they and their families faced. We worked with both CTYI and the ICEPE to provide background material for the production team involved. All participants including parents, Colm O'Reilly from CTYI and Dr. Moya O'Brien of the ICEPE did a great job explaining the reality of parenting or teaching gifted children in Ireland. It was fantastic to see a balanced and well thought out programme on this subject. Thank you to the production team behind the programme and the parents who agreed to be interviewed. To view the programme in full click here.

Upcoming Lucena Clinic Talks

The Lucena Clinic regularly runs information evenings for parents and carers. These are excellent free events which are usually oversubscribed, so early booking is advisable. For up to date details please consult the Lucena Clinic website. To register for any of the events please contact the clinic by email or phone 01 4923596/4999349. All talks take place at the Lucena Clinic, 59 Orwell Road, Rathgar, Dublin 6.