Workshops for Educators
Carol Malueg and Joan Larson are experienced and passionate leaders in the field of gifted education. We offer live, interactive workshops with lots of resources. We provide solid research-based information alongside easy and quick strategies to help teachers reach and engage their gifted and high-achieving learners.
We offer workshops for educators on:
- social/emotional needs of gifted and 2e learners, including anxiety, perfectionism, underachievement, existential dread, and more
- managing gifted intensities in the classroom
- partnering with parents and caregivers
- differentiation for gifted and 2e learners
- Strategies to reach and engage gifted and 2e learners
Get to know us with our 60-minute Food for Thought workshop that focuses on critical thinking skills and student/family engagement in learning!
60-Minute Food for Thought for Educators
Spend an hour with us and leave with fun and immediate new strategies to support critical thinking and family engagement for your gifted, 2e, and high-achieving learners!
In this workshop, you'll find:
- Quick and easy activities to help gifted learners stay engaged with learning.
- Built-in sharing opportunities for students.
- Research-based techniques and strategies to use with gifted learners that can be used with all learners.
- No right or wrong answers (for you or your students!)
Examples:
- Table talk -- Help your students share their day with prompts like: "How is the first day of school like the parts of an insect? Or like a pizza, a safari ride, or a roller coaster?”
- Imagination inspiration -- Support your learners’ creativity with no-right-answer “What if?” and “I wonder?” explorations.
- Evaluate and elevate – Teach multi-level evaluative thinking skills with prompts like: “List qualities of what an ideal school year might look like for you. How is the day/week/month/semester measuring up? What might make it even better?”
This workshop is 60 minutes packed with "put to use immediately tools." Participants will receive access to a shared and growing online collection of resources and ideas.
Schedule a workshop for your team.
SEL Workshops for Educators and Staff
Reframing Challenging Characteristics of Gifted Students
In this workshop, we will look at some of the most challenging characteristics of gifted, talented, and twice-exceptional (2e) students and their social and emotional needs. Iconic examples from popular culture will be used to show how the “troubling ducklings” can turn into “wonderful swans.” One of many examples will explore how today’s class clown can become tomorrow’s CEO.
Participants will leave with new tools for nurturing relationships with gifted students and positive communication with their families.
Case Studies of Gifted, Talented, and 2e Students
Building on our work in Reframing Challenging Characteristics in Gifted Students, here we delve into several case studies of gifted or 2e students who are struggling with the job of school. We’ll collaborate to build a menu of options for these kinds of learners. Participants will leave with several strategies to implement immediately.
Supports MTSS Tier 1 programming with Tier 1 differentiation plan.
Social and Emotional Needs
The Social & Emotional Needs of Gifted and 2e Learners
At the heart of supporting the social and emotional needs of gifted learners is communicating understanding and acceptance. Asynchronous development and overexcitabilities create an internal struggle in gifted children that may be expressed in amazing insights one minute, and challenging behaviors the next. Anxiety, common in gifted and 2e youth, is at an all-time high. Communication is the key to creating and maintaining a nurturing and positive relationship with gifted learners, their families, and our colleagues. Participants will explore communication techniques to reach and support gifted learners and their families.
How to K-2
Equity in the Early Grades: K-2 Enrichments to Find the Hidden Gifted
How do you improve equitable identification in early elementary? Learn about open-ended, active lessons that ignite all students’ curiosity and facilitate critical and creative thinking in high potential, at-risk students. We will share 3 field-tested K-2 enrichment lessons that allow you to see your students in new ways and to identify student strengths that may not appear on formal assessments.
As part of a three-year Javits grant, a university and school district collaborative research team developed and implemented district-wide K-2 enrichment lessons to identify early elementary, high-potential students from historically underserved student groups in a mid-sized school district. These whole class enrichment activities were designed to identify students for Talent Development Services, including cluster classrooms and a Rising Scholars Program that serves high ability, underserved learners who are twice exceptional and/or come from linguistically diverse, culturally diverse, and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The benefits are clear: teachers’ perceptions of their students undergo a transformation when teachers are tasked with looking for divergent or surprising thinking. Students benefit from participating in these activities that facilitate higher order thinking skills and activities that do not rely on literacy or numeracy for engagement or success. These enrichments are strong additions to your planning toolkits for narrowing the Excellence Gap at the student, classroom, school, and district levels. We will share these field-tested enrichment lessons, discuss design processes, and offer strategies for using these enrichments to elevate equitable identification and to provide individual and systemic educational services for underserved gifted populations.
Real World Strategies for Increasing Motivation in Gifted Learners
When gifted learners feel their school work is not relevant to the real world or their future goals, they may begin to disengage from school. Motivate your students using practical strategies based on research. Participants will leave with big ideas and small steps.
Carol Malueg and Cori Paulet have worked or consulted on 5 Javits research projects between them. They have presented at numerous state and national conferences. They delight in sharing research-tested strategies for finding and supporting gifted children in early elementary.