Professionally Speaking

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1 Professionally Speaking NEWSLETTER OF THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DIVISION OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR GIFTED CHILDREN Biographies 1 Message and Proposal Changes 4 Conference Sessions 5 Historical Perspective 2 Inside this issue: conference proposals. Further, PDD Chair Kim Chandler will share informa- tion regarding PDD activities. The re- mainder of the newsletter is devoted to a listing of conference sessions for your convenience.

Biographies of Officers-Elect Chair Kimberley Chandler is the Curriculum and Instruction Coordinator at the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary. She is also a doctoral candidate there, where her concentration is gifted education administration. She is active in several NAGC divisions and edits the newsletter for the Virginia As- sociation for the Gifted.

Her areas of interest are curriculum for gifted stu- dents and professional development for teachers and administrators. Vice-Chair Wendy Miner is an assistant professor of education at Truman State University. She teaches middle school endorsement courses to graduate students.

Her re- search interests include examining pre- service teachers and their use of curricu- lum, instruction, and assessment with gifted learners and working with court- adjudicated inner-city youth and high- level curriculum. For two years, Wendy has served as editor of the PDD ... more. less.

newslet- ter. Professional Development Division Mission Statement The primary purpose of the Professional Develop- ment Division (PDD) is to improve the quality of personnel preparation programs in gifted education, and to further the development of leadership within the field of education for the gifted. Current division interests include: (1) inservice and staff develop- ment, (2) leadership and administration, and (3) higher education . Division Goals 1. To synthesize and disseminate the information that expands the knowledge base in personnel preparation in gifted education. 2. To encourage emerging leadership and admini- stration skills in the field of gifted education. 3. To advocate for higher quality undergraduate and advanced degree programs in preparing in- dividuals to work with gifted and talented per- sons. Letter From the Editor Letter From the Editor Hello. We hope to see you this fall in Indianapolis at the National Association for Gifted Children An- nual Convention. In this issue, you will meet several PDD officers (elected for 2003-2004), read a his- torical perspective regarding the PDD written by Jeanette Parker, and discover new requirements for Fall 2003 2 Membership Kym LeBlanc-Monacelli is currently the principal of Hulstrom Options School, a mag- net school for gifted and talented elementary students, and Director of Gifted and Talented Education for the Adams 12 Five Star School District in Northglenn, Colorado. She is also a doctoral candidate at University of North- ern Colorado. Kym has been involved in gifted education for 15 years. She has worked as a classroom teacher, Curriculum Enrichment Specialist, Assistant Principal, District Coordinator of Advanced Academic Services, Director of Gifted and Talented Education and principal of a magnet school for gifted and talented students. Secretary/Newsletter Editor Linda currently serves as the Secondary Gifted Support Coordinator for Quaker Val- ley School District, a suburban school system in the suburbs of Pittsburgh which has been named one of Pennsylvania's first Digital Schools. She has a MA in Gifted Education from the University of Connecticut and a BS in Elementary Education from Indiana Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. Linda has taught preschool through eighth grade and has been a gifted education teacher and coordinator for the past 15 years. Much of her work has been with teachers in helping them recognize, sup- port and enhance opportunities for gifted learners. She has presented numerous times at NAGC and served as a consultant to other districts interested in differentiated instruc- tion, program improvement and/or changing the role of the gifted support professional in their schools. FORMER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DIVISION CHAIRS Peggy Dettmer - 1989-1991 Jeanette Parker - 1991-1993 Beverly Shaklee - 1993-1995 Carolyn Cooper - 1995-1996 Mary Landrum - 1996-1999 Susan Hansford - 1999-2001 Gloria Cox - 2001-2003 Professional Development at NAGC: A Historical Perspective By Dr. Jeanette Parker The development of competent profes- sionals to work with gifted, talented, and creative students has been a concern of NAGC for many years. Active efforts to achieve this goal began in Summer 1980, when approximately 60 gifted education professionals from around the nation were invited to Clearwater, Florida, for the First National Institute on Professional Training in Gifted Education. The Professional Training Institute (PTI, as it came to be known) was conceptualized, organized, and led by Dr. John Feldhusen of Purdue Uni- versity. From its earliest years, PTI partici- pants grappled with a variety of topics re- lated to professional training in gifted edu- cation 4graduate course contents, master 9s 3 and doctoral programs, certification and competencies, professional standards, and the like. Interest was keen and widespread, and PTI quickly became a regular annual feature of NAGC. Subsequent meetings were held in Albuquerque, NM (1981), Lit- tle Rock, AR (1982), Tempe, AZ (1983), and Lafayette, LA (1984). Its popularity spread throughout the organization, and in 1985 NAGC held the first of three Mid- Winter Institutes at which a newly- organized Professional Development Com- mittee (as well as other standing commit- tees) met. In 1987, NAGC amended its constitution and bylaws to establish divisions through which the primary work of the association would be conducted. The Professional De- velopment Division (PDD), one of the first to be created, established three initial com- mittees within which to organize its work: Inservice/Staff Development, Leadership Development Network, and College and University Programs. In 1990, the PDD be- gan a tradition of hosting at each NAGC convention an Administrators 9 Leadership Institute--an event that continues to attract school administrators who are eager to learn more effective ways of serving the unique needs of their gifted, creative, and talented students. In 1993, PDD 9s Professional Stan- dards Committee invited 50 well-known professionals to Lafayette, Louisiana, for a Professional Development Symposium. At this meeting, work was begun on the devel- opment of national guidelines for graduate degree programs in gifted education. These efforts continued over a three-year period of refinement (with follow-up meetings held at annual conventions and feedback sought intermittently from the field in the interims), and in 1996 the final document was ap- proved by the NAGC Board as an official position paper of the Association. With a current membership of nearly 300, PDD is proud to be one of NAGC 9s most active and productive divisions. 4 Message from the Chair-Elect It is with great pleasure that I assume the role of Chair of the Professional Development Division (PDD) of NAGC! I look forward to the opportunity to serve in this capacity in a division that supports the training of those individuals who work with gifted students. Thanks I would like to thank Gloria Cox, who served as chair of the Professional Development Division dur- ing 2001 3 2003. During her tenure as chair, she devoted countless hours to ensuring that PDD would have interesting and informative Administrators 9 Leadership Institutes and convention sessions. Thanks to Gloria for her commitment to PDD! Indianapolis Convention One of the annual division highlights is the Ad- ministrators 9 Leadership Institute that is held on Wednesday during the NAGC convention week. We are fortunate this year to have Dr. Mary Landrum from the University of Virginia discussing the topic cChange is a Journey: Guiding the Development of Classrooms That Meet the Needs of Gifted Learn- ers. d During the convention, our division also hosts numerous sessions that address the concerns of staff development, preservice and inservice preparation, as well as development of leadership and the role of administrators in gifted education. Please refer to the chart in this newsletter for a complete listing of session topics, locations, and times. An Opportunity to Become Involved If you are attending the convention in Indianapo- lis, please take the opportunity to become involved in the Professional Development Division. Check the convention brochure for the division 9s business meeting time and location. Plan to join us to help plan future projects for the Professional Develop- ment Division. We look forward to the next 50 years! PDD PILOTS NEW SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS FOR CONFERENCE PROPOSALS In order to determine whether the quality of submissions for presentations to the NAGC convention could be enhanced through the provision of more detailed in- formation for reviewers, the Professional Development Division is piloting a change in its submission requirements for the 2004 convention. In addition to providing the required 100-word description, proposals submitted to the Professional Development Division must include the following details (not to exceed two double-spaced typed pages): " the purpose of the presentation as it re- lates to the intended audience, " evidence of innovation of the topic and/or the approach, " significance of the topic to the field of gifted education, and " demonstration of research-based best practices in administration and personnel preparation. A rubric will be utilized to evaluate the proposals during the review process. At the 2004 convention in Salt Lake City, individual evaluation forms for each session will be collected and analyzed to determine if this method enhances presentations. 5 6 7 8

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