{"id":7155,"date":"2017-11-15T09:16:39","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T14:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=7155"},"modified":"2017-11-21T18:29:01","modified_gmt":"2017-11-21T23:29:01","slug":"conference-gifted-parents-students-focuses-social-emotional-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/conference-gifted-parents-students-focuses-social-emotional-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"Conference for gifted parents and students focuses on social-emotional needs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to it to be something that was just a dissemination of information. The intent was really to be conversational in nature,\u201d said Robin Schumaker, a gifted education coordinator for Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS).<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why, when planning the event \u201cGifted: A Parent Conference on Social and Emotional Needs,\u201d the VBCPS Office of Gifted Programs brought together a variety of gifted resource teachers (GRTs), gifted cluster classroom teachers, special education coordinators, parents, students and central office administrators to serve as conference presenters and volunteers.<\/p>\n

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Kellam High students welcome conference attendees<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis gives us an opportunity to purposefully partner with parents,\u201d continued Schumaker, \u201cto have them join us as partners in advocacy. It\u2019s for them to network and forge relationships with other parents and to provide a platform for them to put names and faces together with our office.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Schumaker (right) talks to a parent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Following an opening session with remarks by Dr. Veleka Gatling, executive director of the Office of Programs for Exceptional Children, and comments from high school gifted students about their educational experiences and social-emotional needs, conference participants attended their choice of breakout sessions and book talks, including: Adolescence Amplified; The Highly Sensitive Child; Harmony at Home; Nurturing Self-understanding and Relationships; The Power of Introverts; Supporting Twice Exceptional Students; The Benefits of Choice and Responsibility; Find Balance and Success Using Growth Mindset; and Understanding our Gifted Children and Advocating with Them.<\/p>\n

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Student panelists answer questions in opening session<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meeting the academic needs of students has always been a focus of gifted programs; however, \u201ctheir social-emotional needs are equally critical to the work,\u201d said Schumaker of the conference\u2019s focus.<\/p>\n

Becky Winslow, Brookwood Elementary\u2019s GRT, presented a session that was open to both parents and their children entitled, \u201cAnxious, Curious and Gifted: How to Calm Anxieties, Build Curiosity and Make Sense of Your Superpower.\u201d Anxiety was the topic of a session she attended at a gifted conference, and she wanted to share what she learned.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt not only tremendously helped myself but then I started using it with students at school and I\u2019ve seen the biggest difference,\u201d she said. \u201cI thought, this is something that seems so simple but I didn\u2019t feel like I knew about it before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winslow\u2019s session explained how anxiety affects children and adults emotionally, physically and educationally, and she offered tips and resources to help individuals calm anxieties, stressing that it is a process.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s something we have practice and work on to keep calming those anxieties,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s mindfulness and actually breathing and letting your mind relax and stop the noise \u2013 I call it noise \u2013 in your head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of her session, Winslow said, \u201cI want them to take away that in our crazy, busy world and lives they can find time \u2013 it can be the drive to work or the bus ride to school or while I\u2019m at my locker – to take a few minutes and take a couple of deep breaths and I can get through the next part of my day. It\u2019s three minutes of still and relax.\u201d<\/p>\n

Relaxing is what parents and students could do in the conference\u2019s \u201cCenter of Solitude,\u201d which included aromatherapy, music and art. It was part of the Activity Resource Center, known as the ARC, where Salem Elementary GRT Melissa Ross, Luxford Elementary GRT Sharon Babbs and 10 high school student volunteers set up games and helped facilitate different learning stations.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents have choices of activities,\u201d explained Ross. \u201cThere are games that are truly games, for joy and fun, and there are some centers where they will be learning about cognitive visualization \u2013 the optical illusion station\u2013 or cultural frame of reference. We have gifted pedagogy built into those stations.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ross (left) and Babbs (right) in the ARC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ross talks regularly with parents and students at her school about giftedness, but she was pleased that several Salem parents and students attended the Saturday conference to learn even more about social and emotional needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really hope, especially for the elementary school students, that they come away knowing a little bit more about what giftedness means and in the context of me,\u201d said Ross. \u201cWe want to know our students and we want to know what their particular challenges are but even more we want them to know themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learning more about oneself was part of what Winslow covered in the \u201cMake Sense of Your Superpower\u201d portion of her session.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe superpower part is really getting to know who you are inside. Besides being a student, an athlete, a son \u2013 who are you really?\u201d<\/p>\n

Winslow had each participant put the short answers to various questions in sections of a paper shield. How would you describe yourself? How do you want other people to see you? What are you passionate about? How do you spend your time?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just to get them to identify what they look like as a big picture and then to reflect on that: If there\u2019s a part of your shield you\u2019re not happy with, what can you do to change it?\u201d said Winslow. \u201cWe won\u2019t be able to answer all of that in one session. It will give them something to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflection and understanding were some of the takeaways Shumaker hoped attendees would experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that parents have a greater understanding of our work and our commitment to not only academics, but in particular, the social and emotional needs. We hope that they will better understand the resources and different things that we can offer them in terms of support. And most importantly, to provide them with some tools that they can use immediately either conversationally or otherwise with their gifted children.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to it to be something that was just a dissemination of information. The intent was really to be conversational in nature,\u201d said Robin Schumaker, a gifted education […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":7156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[149,116],"class_list":["post-7155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gifted-education","tag-kellam-high"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7162,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7155\/revisions\/7162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}