Message from the Εditor Danae Deligeorge

CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS Network Newsletter Spring 2014 Message from the Εditor Danae Deligeorge

- Are you ready to play a beyond adolescence (HOP). game? NAGC convention themes are keeping us aligned with our generation teaching us about multisensory learning - Well… Nope. for the multisensory age and era we currently live in - Oh come on… it’s (HOP). spring! And don’t forget, NAGC travels us worldwide… from - Still no. the religiosity of intellectually gifted Korean American - Oh, don’t be a couch college students and the driving force of academic potato! achievement to any place a gifted student may be (HOP). - Tehe... still no. That is why we proudly carry the torch of our - But… it will help you lose fat and it will get you ready progenitors as our father’s gifts (HOP), for summer! and we honor their memory like we did for Dr. James J. - Ok fine, what are we supposed to do? Gallagher (HOP). - We will look back on our learnings as well as our It’s all about spreading out our philosophy of gifted future achievements and whenever we spot a highlight, education and simply taking it beyond a stereotypical we will HOP! That’s all! college essay (HOP) (HOP) … and done!

- ….? - Consider it as a gifted mind game… and… follow my - FUN?! 9 HOPS just for the introduction!

lead. Let’s take NAGC for example. Your turn now… Start reading the Conceptual Foundations Spring 2014 Newsletter and HOP! So, looking back to all the NAGC Convention Themes of - st NAGC Conceptual Foundations highlights? Oh my.. the 21 Century Conference Presentations (HOP), that will be a fat burning marathon. It will definitely we are getting the bases on how to pay meaningful help with my summer beach body. attention to the child as a whole (HOP). We also learn to not waste or overlook adulthood potential- you know, creativity and giftedness continue

My Philosophy of Gifted Message from Multisensory Learning The Whole Child: Are Education: Taking it We Paying Attention? the Chair Beyond the College Essay for a Multisensory Age Dan Peters Erin M. Miller Kimberly M. Berman Jolene Lawrence Baines, D. Reinhart Cynthia Rundquist Jean Peterson 2 6 13 16

For Dr. James J. Religiosity of Intellectually Wasted Adult Potential: NAGC Convention Gallagher- Erin M. Gifted Korean American How is Adult Creativity Themes: 21st Century 3 Overlooked? Creativity Miller College Students: Driving Conference Presentations Force of Academic and Giftedness Beyond Achievement? Adolescence My father’s gifts - Laurie J. Croft Shelagh Gallagher 4 Taekhil Jeong 10 Scott R. Furtwengler 18 15

Spring 2014 Message from the Chair Erin M. Miller

Although I have been involved with the Conceptual Foundations Network is honored to be able to Foundations Network for over ten years, this is the provide this opportunity for teachers, first time that I am addressing you in the newsletter administrators, and scholars to benefit from the as Chair. I began my term in the fall as did our new knowledge and experiences that Dr. VanTassel- Chair-Elect, Jennifer Riedl Cross. Jennifer and I are Baska will share. both excited about the work that the Conceptual Foundations members will be doing this year. This We are particularly excited about the Signature winter we have completed the review and selection Session our network is sponsoring. In this session of the sessions to be offered at the upcoming entitled, Conceptual Foundations of Gifted conference in Baltimore during November 13-16, Education in 2014: Competing Models for 2014. We are looking forward to presenting a Providing an Appropriate Gifted Education, a diverse and thought-provoking slate of session in panel of scholars in gifted education will discuss our strand. various conceptual and service models. Panelists include: Joseph Renzulli, George Betts, Paula A highlight of the conference will be the Legacy Olszewski-Kubilius, Scott Peters, and Catherine Series taping honoring the life and work of Dr. Brighton. The session will be moderated by James Joyce VanTassel-Baska, the Jody and Layton Smith Borland. We look forward to a spirited Professor Emerita of Education at The College of conversation. William and Mary in Virginia. She is the founding director of the Center for Gifted Education and also This session is particularly important as each initiated and directed the Center for Talent panelist represents a very different view of what Development at Northwestern University. She has gifted education should be. Although there are been a consultant regarding gifted education in all certain areas of agreement, there are also 50 states and internationally. She is an experienced substantial conceptual and practical differences that practitioner; having served as the state director of we hope will be made clear in this session. gifted programs for Illinois, as a regional director in Researchers often talk about jingle-jangle fallacies. the Chicago area, as coordinator of gifted programs The jingle fallacy is the assumption that two for the Toledo, Ohio public school system, and as a different things are the same because they have the teacher of gifted high school students in English and same name. For example, two different scales each Latin. She is past president of the National labeled as “measures of achievement.” The jangle Association for Gifted Children (NAGC). Dr. fallacy is the assumption that two things are VanTassel-Baska has received numerous awards for different just because they have a different name. her work with gifted education and has published 28 For example, a measure of emotional intelligence books and over 550 journal articles, book chapters, that overlaps almost completely with a measure of and scholarly reports. In 2011, she received the personality. Jingle-jangle fallacies often occur as Mensa Award for Lifetime Achievement in research we discuss gifted education and it is the hope of the and service to gifted education. The Conceptual CF network leadership that we can clarify some of these issues in this session.

Spring 2014 For Dr. James J. Gallagher Erin M. Miller In January the fields of gifted and special education lost our venerable gentleman scholar, Dr. James J. Gallagher. He was the senior scientist emeritus at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at UNC-Chapel-Hill and the hearts and minds of his colleagues worldwide. I had the benefit of working with Abbey Cash on the Legacy Series program featuring Dr. Gallagher. For younger researchers, such as myself, it is often daunting to contemplate the achievements of the scholars we honor. While I was a baby, James Gallagher was revolutionizing public education for physically and learning disabled students through the creation of the Individual Education Program or IEP. His advocacy for gifted students has been just as great. I often found myself wanting to drag NAGC conference goers into his presence and shout, “Don’t you see, this is James Gallagher, listen to him!!” This reminds me of one of my favorite stories shared by Dr. Gallagher during the taping of his Legacy Series interview. When he was a young professor he found out that Jean Piaget would be traveling though the US. Dr. Gallagher invited Piaget to give a talk and was delighted when he accepted. However, as the time drew near it became evident that the room would be embarrassing empty. Dr. Gallagher then shared how he had to go up and down the street convincing people to attend, including a young mother who just happened to walk by pushing a baby in a carriage. The point of the story is that you cannot assume what is important to you will be important to others. You have to make your case and work hard to communicate your ideals and convictions to others. My other favorite piece of advice from Dr. Gallagher is his often expressed observation that you cannot advocate for gifted students if you do not have a seat at the table where decisions are being made. This is true for both advocacy on a national level, but also for advocacy in our own backyards. How many scholars in gifted education teach at colleges and universities that do not have courses for preservice teachers in gifted education? How many NAGC members live in districts with weak services? How many trained PhD students choose to work outside the field of gifted education because there is no space at the table of academe for their specialty? Advocacy is difficult. In reaction to hearing of the passing of Dr. Gallagher, Ron Haskins, as senior fellow at the Brookings Institute quoted English poet Andrew Marvell, “So much can one man do who doth both know and act.” James Gallagher’s legacy is to inspire us to pursue knowledge and action with grace and stamina.

Spring 2014 My father’s gifts Shelagh Gallagher, Ph.D. Reprinted here, as written for the Fall 2009 Conceptual Foundations Newsletter Anyone meeting James Gallagher today would see, quite frankly, a middle class white guy in a suit. He really doesn’t look like a tireless advocate of children on education’s fringe—the handicapped, the poor, the gifted. Except for the streak of radicalism that comes with being Irish, there’s not much that explains his unceasing advocacy, his commitment to students who lack the needed resources to stretch their own horizons. At least, he doesn’t look like that from the outside. My vantage point is a bit different. As both daughter and colleague I see that my father’s career is not only natural, it’s practically inevitable. Understanding where the man came from clarifies both the source of his devotion and provides a broader sense of the gifts he has bestowed. A Brief History of Jim. James John Gallagher was born in 1926 into a family with strong Irish roots, just two generations away from the Old Sod. He carries many markers of his Irish heritage—a love of a good joke, a great tenor voice, a preternatural fondness for limericks and a sensitive spirit. From the age of three he was raised by his mother in a single parent household. His mother, however, was one of 13 children, 8 of whom lived to adulthood. So while nothing could quite make up for the absence of a father, Dad was supported by a clan of uncles and aunts, great uncles and great aunts. Especially important in this network was his grandfather, James Walsh, a prominent businessman who dad describes as an unparalleled example of moral and social responsibility. 1926 was also the eve of the Great Depression and the family went from riches to rags when Dad was still young. The most influential lessons of that time were not of losing, but of giving. He watched on as his grandfather sacrificed to pay his employees out of his own pocket rather than have them face unemployment. When his mother, looking for a way to support her son, got a degree in Special Education and his life was filled with stories about ways to help handicapped children learn. Dad was fortunate in his own education. After only two weeks in school Dad was skipped from first to third grade. This attracted some attention and he was referred for testing, and he qualified for a scholarship to go to the prestigious private Falk Academy, whose mission was to test innovative teaching methods. He took two buses to school and two buses home every day to take advantage of the opportunity. His experiences at the Falk Academy ignited his love of learning -- and taught him what it felt like to be the poor kid in a rich kid’s school. Like many of his generation, Dad enlisted when America engaged in WWII; he was 16 when he joined the Navy’s corps of engineers. When the war was over, he was lifted up by yet another support system. His family still had no money to send him to college, but thanks to the GI Bill he went to the University of Pittsburgh where he majored in Biology, and from there to Penn State where in 1951 he received a PhD. in Clinical and Child Psychology (although to my mind his greatest achievement of that era was persuading my mother to marry him in 1949). So while I can understand why some might see Dad as a ‘white guy in a suit’ what I see is a disadvantaged gifted child raised by a single parent; a perceptive boy who understood that he was able to achieve because there were systems in place to provide him with support, and an understanding that society as a whole would benefit if more children had similar systems of support. He had soaked in the realization that the opportunity to ask questions and ponder possibilities should be available to all children regardless of income. From this vantage point his passion and commitment make perfect sense, they are his response to his own experience. His Gifts. Just as it seems to me Dad’s career springs from his early experiences, so too I think his accomplishments are really the result of themes that grew early on and pervade both his professional and personal life. Through his words and actions he leaves these as his true gifts to me, to our field, 4

Spring 2014

or to anyone else who cares to embrace them. Bureau for Education of the Handicapped. He put the skill to good use working with a Put Family First. Dad’s belief in family has guided diverse and varied group whose common much of his work, especially while directing the interest was to establish a state supported Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, residential high school for gifted students: where Dad devoted much time and effort supporting the North Carolina School of Science and research like the Abecedarian project which Math. It has also made him capable of demonstrated the importance of early intervention in apologizing to his teenage daughter after a the education of low income students and the fight and admitting when he thought he was importance of providing technical assistance to the wrong—a rare quality. family so that they could support the child’s growth. Dad’s personal love of family is equally intense; to Do Good. Throughout his career Dad has this day nothing makes him happier than having us consistently selected projects that would gathered under one roof. create a demonstrably good outcome. He prides himself on being fair Provide Support. In one way and egalitarian, and the few or another, Dad’s career has Being a conceptual thinker, he times I’ve seen him wince been about providing sees that it often isn’t enough to were when people see him supports for children in need. have one-on-one personal support, otherwise, like the critics of Being a conceptual thinker, there also has to be an invisible the North Carolina State he sees that it often isn’t infrastructure for those in need Competency Test accused enough to have one-on-one and also to support people who do him of bigotry. While you personal support, there also the supporting. can’t make progress has to be an invisible without ruffling some infrastructure for those in feathers, I’ve never known need and also to support people who do the him to make decisions based on a desire to supporting. This has influenced his contributions to advance his own name or to play favorites influential legislation like the IDEA and the with others. In fact, the most valuable gifts regulations for IEPs in addition to his efforts to he has given me are the words of advice he support passage of first the Marland Report 1972, his gave as guideposts early in my career. While participation in the technical assistance offered I’ve failed time and again to keep true to his through the National/State Leadership Training wisdom, his wisdom has never failed me: 1) Institute, and his share of the efforts to pass new avoid letting ego dominate your actions, 2) be federal legislation that became the Jacob K. Javits honest and trustworthy, 3) always give credit Gifted and Talented Act in 1993. where credit is due, and 4) when someone else has a good idea, say so. Build Networks. Dad has always believed that it’s ever so much better to get along than to disagree; Don’t get me wrong, we don’t always agree. I’ve always credited this to the ‘sensitive Irish poet’ And he’s not perfect-- thank goodness! We aspect of his nature. This makes him a born all know how overrated perfection is. But consensus builder, always looking for the common he’s done great good. Partly this was the ground that will zeitgeist of his time, working in a new field lay with lots of jobs to do and few people to do Dad has always believed contentiousness to those jobs. But Jim Gallagher’s that it’s ever so much better rest and smooth achievements are due to more than being in to get along than to disagree the way to the right place at the right time, they are a […] This makes him a born productive direct outgrowth of the person he is and the consensus builder, always outcomes. It’s beliefs he’s held throughout his life. Who looking for the common how he gets so wouldn’t want someone like that for a father? ground that will lay much done. It’s a I sure am glad he’s mine. contentiousness to rest and skill he honed while working for smooth the way to the Department of productive outcomes. It’s Education as how he gets so much done. Director of the 5

Spring 2014 My Philosophy of Gifted Education: Taking it Beyond the College Essay

Kimberly M. Berman, Ph.D. Jolene D. Reinhart, M.S. Ed. Admin.

Ernest Hemingway is famously remembered for advising, “Write drunk, edit sober.” As colleagues, our work on the topic of My Philosophy of Gifted Education flowed as we enjoyed a cold beer on a warm, summer evening in May. It was then that we took the liberty to translate Hemingway’s quote to our own understanding. To “write drunk” means to write without inhibitions; to share the wild ideas freely and to say what comes from the heart. The sobering part comes when stepping back from our idealized visions and dreams and discussing the limitations we either need to work within or from which to break free. We realized that evening how our own philosophy of education had shaped our lives and evolved throughout our careers. Let us start at the beginning of this story. Teacher Leaders’ Academy was created as an initiative to build leadership capacity within the schools of principals who had completed a Principals’ Academy. In 2011, teacher leaders were invited to join this unique professional learning community to build their own self-awareness and leadership capacity through collaboration, connections, and creativity. These teachers came from all different classrooms and grade levels. Some taught gifted, while others taught special education. There were kindergarten teachers and high school senior English teachers. While diverse in their backgrounds and experiences, they were designated as holding the potential to be strong leaders in their respective positions and schools. They built their repertoire of knowledge and skills that were intended to motivate, inspire, and transform teaching and learning in their classrooms. Charged with creating a meaningful culminating experience for their final summer retreat, we ‘‘wrote drunk and edited sober.” What resulted was our framework for identifying one’s philosophical foundation. We coupled this with practical experience and charged teachers to verbalize and articulate a definitive idea of an updated reflection of their original college essay, ‘My Philosophy of Education.’ Forty eight professionals ultimately participated in this professional reflective growth experience and produced tangible philosophies and representations of their philosophies that impacted their thinking, practice, and self-efficacy.

Elevate Leadership

Our professional learning community completed this project while raising their level of professionalism. Many of those early college essays ended up in a keepsake notebook or portfolio. We wanted these new philosophies to have a more prominent and far-reaching impact. Teachers created a variety of ways to share their finished product with colleagues, parents, and students. The presentation formats included, live websites (livebinders.com), quick response (QR) codes, and pictorial representations. 6

Spring 2014

Creativity and innovation are born of education to uncover the reason why they the freedom to express ‘wild ideas’. It is from teach and solidify their philosophy of wild ideas that new and better ideas are gifted education. created. David Kelley, founder of IDEO Famously recorded in his TED global design firm, asserts that the key to unlocking creativity comes from combining individuals with diverse backgrounds and allowing for collaboration. He stresses that this collaboration allows individuals to get to a place they could not have reached with just one mind. This idea of combining diverse minds in education was the catalyst for helping teacher leaders in Summit County, talk, Simon Sinek stated, “People don’t Ohio, unlock creativity and foster innovation. buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” Once given freedom to share wild ideas, the Sinek urges that one must identify the teacher leaders embarked on inspiring purpose, cause, or belief that inspires you conversations that led them to impressive final to do what you do. We knew we wanted products – their personalized philosophies of teachers in our professional learning teaching and learning in the 21st century. community to start with “Why.” We The collaborative creativity that discovered that the synchronicity teachers resulted in designing these philosophies and uncovered throughout their careers started supporting representations infused each of us to help them formalize their “why.” As with a renewed enthusiasm and understanding they answered and posed questions and that we could now proudly claim as “My collaborated with colleagues, they were Philosophy of Learning”. This experience able to formalize what inspired them. helped to influence our paradigms and move This framework was designed to them from a ‘teaching-centric’ legacy to one connect historical perspectives and that is a ‘learning-centric’ culture. longitudinal outlooks. Consequently, it helped teachers identify appropriate Start with, ‘Why?’ curriculum and recognize the strengths of their students. What we also witnessed as a In order for the result of this framework was how it field of gifted established a foundation for gifted education to advance, education. As individual components of teachers must identify the philosophy were pieced together it the principles, values, formed a clearly articulated philosophy. and outcomes they hold for students. An introspective focus on the theory and Engage in the Process philosophical foundations of teacher pedagogy holds the key to advancement in the To assist teachers in ‘looking field of gifted education. Participants in our back,’ we asked them to bring a graduation professional learning community were photograph and their philosophy of provided a framework for identifying their education written in college. We asked Philosophy of Education. This framework participants to analyze who they were then may be used by those in the field of gifted compared to who they had become as a 7

Spring 2014

teacher. Teachers engaged in mock interviews learners to acquire, become? What will with one another, and all in good fun, they become as a result of their learning identified whether they would label experiences? What will my students themselves as; The Over-Achiever, The believe and value as a result of learning Clueless, The Naively Confident, The People within my philosophy? Pleaser, or the ‘How about subbing for a year?’ Person. This activity allowed the teachers to better understand how much they Create a Model to Support the had evolved since graduating from college Framework and early years in the classroom. An inquiry-based approach became A philosophy of education is built part of the ‘hook’ to get participants to reflect in theory and concept. It is solidified in and reach back. Teachers were asked to authentic classroom experience. A describe their perfect learning day in their professional learning community provides classroom, describe a the support to allow time when their colleagues to students were having The Teacher Leaders’ introspectively ‘aha’ moments, and Academy was designed for examine their teaching describe an awesome those teachers capable of and analyze how they idea they had ‘stolen’ promoting forward thinking are most effective. The from a colleague. This and progressivism for Teacher Leaders’ activity allowed Academy was teachers to share their public education. designed for those ideas with colleagues teachers capable of and begin to identify promoting forward what made those experiences so thinking and progressivism for public powerful. This analysis of superlative education. moments was their introduction to ‘writing Our colleagues in the private sector drunk.’ Every educational choice in their participate in such professional forums to classroom stemmed from a belief. We build their own capacity and to promote wanted participants to recognize their power personal and professional growth. It was in those decisions. our intent to create a similar model for We then had the teachers reflect on educational leaders, while also creating their current teaching practices and link those opportunities for the intersection of to historical foundations. This required some conversations between the public, private, research and discussion. Teachers were and non-profit sectors. The focus remained encouraged to discuss with one another their on effective teacher leadership. teaching styles to help identify their priorities We acknowledge the challenging in the classroom. role to be a change agent in public Finally, during the Longitudinal education, but it is crucial we foster Outlooks stage we asked the teachers to think effective change agents to move public forward - what were their desired outcomes education forward for our students. for their learners? Teachers answered the Internal expertise is often overlooked, questions, ‘What is it exactly we want our undervalued, and untapped. It was our learners to experience? What is it we want our intent with Teacher Leaders’ Academy to 8

Spring 2014

uncover and access the internal expertise our teachers possessed so as to become the most effective change agents possible to serve our districts and community. Teacher leaders rose to the challenge of mentoring, coaching, collaborating, and leading building and district initiatives. They advanced their pedagogy even further by creating a clearly articulated philosophy.

Bring Order to Complexity

Jony Ive, Senior Vice President of Design for Apple, suggests that true simplicity is about bringing order to complexity. This framework was designed to do just that- bring order and structure to the complex ideas and experiences of Teacher Leaders. The process of organizing the components of personal philosophy leads one to discover their true Philosophy of Education. This introspective look into one’s own practice allows the individual to identify guiding principles, solidify values, and increase the positive impact on student learning. Teachers were asked to be both reflective and presently aware. Teachers identified the moments of synchronicity in their teaching careers and in their lives. Simultaneously, they identified foundational perspectives and longitudinal outlooks. By applying this coherent framework, developed for and successfully used with a teacher-leader program, high quality professional growth resulted. Since the inception of this initiative, many philosophies have been created by kindergarten through high school teachers which demonstrate the versatility and practicality of this framework. Participants have been challenged to think creatively and implement higher order thinking skills in their own learning. In turn, their students encounter meaningful and challenging learning. This project was based on the components of Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW). The expectations were set for intellectual rigor and ways to increase interest for this work and in-depth understanding of the components. The construction of knowledge for teachers occurred through disciplined inquiry and yielded discourse through a product that had meaning, not just for success in individual classrooms, but also for success in our contemporary society.

A philosophy is built not only in theory and concept, but also authentic experience. It continues to evolve and change as our experiences shape what we do. We urge you to continue to think wildly, express yourself without inhibitions, connect professionally, and find ways around the limitations. It is this approach to thinking that enables us to support our colleagues and one another, as well as reflect on why we are passionate about our gifted students. Write freely and edit sparingly: The greatest ideas come from building upon each other.

Spring 2014 Religiosity of Intellectually Gifted Korean American College Students: Driving Force of Academic Achievement? Taekhil Jeong

Where the term religiosity broadly refers to degrees of religious behavior, belief, or spirituality, studies measuring religiosity typically have been conducted by counting attendance at religious services and by asking some narrative questions to the believers of a particular religious doctrine(Seol & Lee, 2012). Because a sense of oneness with the divine (i.e., the essence of religiosity) is subjective and idiosyncratic in nature, measurement of religiosity is hard to standardize. When religiosity is In the United States of measured, therefore, it is important to specify which aspects America, Korean of religiosity are referred to and how the measurement Americans are instruments are operationalized. In the United States of distinctively known for America, Korean Americans are distinctively known for their their high religiosity high religiosity (Park, 1999). More than 70% of Korean (Park, 1999). immigrants in the USA professed their faith in Christianity, and the majority of about 80% of those Korean immigrant Christians actively have attended Korean ethnic Christian churches at least once a week, regardless of their job demands in the week hours of weekends (Lee, Chang, & Miller, 2006). Put into perspective, it is a stark contrast to only 20.5% of Korean populations identifying themselves as a Christian in South Korea where they can freely practice their Christian faith in their own native language and their jobs are commensurate with their actual level of education so that they can take time off from work on Sundays (Chi, 2012). It is obvious that Christianity has played a critical role in the lives of Korean American Korean American adolescents stated that they feel a strong sense of belonging, immigrants in the United States (Hurh & Kim, fulfilled personal growth, meaningful 1990; Kang & Romo, 2011). The vital roles of socialization, and they can explore their Korean American ethnic Christian churches are self-identity by interacting with peers and particularly noteworthy in order to understand the mentors who share the same ethnic uniqueness of Korean American ethnicity. Korean background and Christian faith in American ethnic Christian churches have served Korean American ethnic Christian the needs of spiritual, social, and psychological churches (Cha, 2001). However, research welling-beings of Korean American immigrants in findings on religious identity of Korean the United States (Hurh & Kim, 1990; Park, Americans and its impacts on 1999). The parents of Korean American psychological functioning, socialization immigrants reported that conveying Christian faith patterns, and academic achievement of Korean American young adults are to their children was one of the most important scarce, inconclusive, and even parenting priorities (Min, 1992). In response, contradictory sometimes (Seol & Lee, Korean American adolescents stated that they feel 2012). a strong sense of belonging, fulfilled personal 10

Spring 2014

growth, meaningful socialization, and they functioning, Le, Tov, & Taylor (2007) can explore their self-identity by found that ethnicity played a different role interacting with peers and mentors who in the association between those two share the same ethnic background and variables across five different ethnic Christian faith in Korean American ethnic adolescent groups. The degree of religious Christian churches (Cha, 2001). However, identity (and/or religious socialization) was research findings on religious identity of a significant predictor for White and Black Korean Americans and its impacts on American adolescents’ depression, but its psychological functioning, socialization predictive validity was not statistically patterns, and academic achievement of significant among Asian, Hispanic, and Korean American young adults are scarce, Native American adolescents. Finally, one inconclusive, and even contradictory of the most recent studies about religious sometimes (Seol & Lee, 2012). identity with only Korean American adolescents’ reported fewer depressive Religious adolescents in the United symptoms for Korean American girls and States showed fewer internalizing and better academic performances for Korean externalizing problems and had a higher American boys(Kang & Romo, 2011). psychological well-being (Wong, Rew, & Slaikeu, 2006), where the internalized Whereas those aforementioned problems refer to an over-control of quantitative research findings informed us emotions such as feeling of worthless or with the insights as to the magnitude of inferior and social withdrawal, and the effect sizes and the strength of correlations externalized problems refer to under- between/among variables, the current control of emotions such as breaking rules study used a qualitative autoethnographic and display of irritability or belligerence. approach to explore as to what, how and Strong religious identity also positively why those intellectually gifted Korean correlated with prosocial behaviors and American young adults had charted on the negatively correlated with substance usage particular topographies of religious identity such as cigarette and marijuana and and religious socialization, where an promiscuous sexual behaviors (Furrow, autoethnography is defined as a “method of King, & While, 2004; Verkooijen, de research that involves self-observation and Vries, & Nielsen, 2007). However, the reflexive investigation in the context of study by Good, Willowghby, & Fritjers ethnographic field work and writing” (2009) showed different results in that the (Maréchal, 2010, p. 43). The most salient magnitude of correlations between strong three preliminary findings within the religious identity and internalization or framework of autoethnographic externalization problems was not methodology follow in the ensuing statistically significant, and the effect size discussions. of correlations between involvement in religious socializations and other secular First, the theology of Korean extracurricular activities were no different. American ethnic Christian churches In the midst of these inconclusive or mixed seemed to be well aligned with research findings on the effects between uniqueness of Korean specific ethnic religious identity (and/or religious heritage. In Korean language Bible, the socialization) and psychological Christian deity of monotheistic God has been referred to in two completely 11

Spring 2014

different terms; one as Yahweh (여호아 in Korean) and the other as “Ha-Na-Nim”, which is a pure Korean vocabulary word, meaning “Heavenly Ruler” (하나님 in Korean). Yahweh was mentioned 6,961 times(Naver지식백과 , Naver.com, 2014), and the Ha-Na- Nim was mentioned 3,584 times in Korean Bible (Naver 지식백과, Naver. Com, 2014).Yahweh is a proper noun so there was no other way to translate Yahweh into Korean language, but Elohim is a common name of God in the Hebrew Bible, and the epithet of Elohim was translated into a pure Korean word “Ha-Na-Nim” (Wikipedia, 2014; Naver지 식백과, , Naver.com, 2014). According to the birth legend of Korean nation, the very first king of Korean nation, Dan-Gun (BC 2333), was a son of the “Ha-Na-Nim”, Heavenly Ruler. Within Korean culture, heritage, and history, Korean people have steadfastly revered the “Ha-Na-Nim” for the past 4,327 years according to the myth of Dan-Gun. When Christian faith as a religion of worshiping the “Ha-Na-Nim” was introduced to Korean people during the 19th century, Korean people were attracted to Christian faith spontaneously and straightforwardly. It is important to understand religious identity and Christian faith of Korean Americans because they have referred to the monotheistic Christian deity in their own Korean proper noun, the “Ha-Na-Nim”, which is not necessarily always agreeable with the characteristics of Jewish monotheistic deity of Elohim. Second, Korean American ethnic Christian churches seemed to practice a rationalized faith in Christian theology. Gleaning from my own reflections, faith practices, religious participations, and conversations with many Korean American Christians, particularly with those second or third generations of college students, I learned that many Korean American Christians would love to refer to the verses in John (1:1), “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God”, pointing out that the English word is actually referred to the “logos” in Greek language. Not only the Greek vocabulary, “logos” means “word” or “speech”, but also it means “reason” and “logic”. Those Korean American Christians often stated, “faith and reason should be invigorated simultaneously”. “Blind or dogmatic faith may not necessarily God’s providential intention”. After all, the power of reason or “logic is also an endowment from God”. Those Korean American Christians supported their theological perspective with numerous Biblical examples. Their theological perspective might be summarized as: 1) Christianity allows a dialectic engagement with God, or 2) it is not necessarily sinful to react to God with human conditions because God created human beings as such. A few of the often-cited Biblical texts included: (1) Moses pleaded with God (so the LORD changed his mind about the harm which he said he would do to his people, Exodus 32:14), (2) Abraham interceded for Sodom (will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?, Genesis 18: 23), and (3) Jonah rejected God’s calling (but Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish, Jonah 1:3). Third, Korean American ethnic Christian churches seemed to be a vessel for the advancement of academic achievement, admission to highly prestigious universities, and transmitting Korean heritages to succeeding generations of Korean American immigrant populations. Korean American ethnic Christian churches typically began their Sunday mass at 11:00 a.m., and ended their religious service at around 12:30 p.m. However, nobody went to his or her home afterward, but everyone gathered in the 12

Spring 2014

church cafeteria and ate together after a very family gathering-like prayer. No American finger foods, but only Korean ethnic foods, were served at such times. During those dining times and afterward (typically until 3-5 p.m.), Korean American ethnic Christians engaged in conversation, Bible study, and various church programs including each church affiliated Korean Language School for their born American Children. On every Sunday morning to evening, Korean American ethnic Christian churches became an ethnic business hub of collective communality by partaking, sharing, and helping each other with the information relevant to academic advancement, college admission, scholarship and grant opportunities, learning and maintaining Korean language, and overall well-beings of those Korean American Christians. The atomic core of human beings’ self-identity is beginning to split into myself vs. the others across the fissile lines of race or ethnic identities, intellectual or physical abilities, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, gender, and religious beliefs. Because religiosity constitutes one of the major components of self-identity, religiosity should increasingly deserve to be an integral focus for the study of gifted individuals’ psychological development. The current newsletter article purported to disseminate a few salient interim findings about the impacts of religious identity and religious socialization on psychological functioning among intellectually gifted Korean American young adults. The preliminary findings of this autoethnographic study indicated that intellectually gifted Korean American college students might be the progenies of synergistic influences from the Korean ethnicity accommodated Christian theology, rationalized practices of Christian faith, and ethnic church as a vessel to advancement and transmission of Korean ethnic heritage, language, and culture.

REFERENCES

Cha, P. (2001). Ethnic identity prosocial concerns. Applied Developmental formation and participation in Science , 8, 17-26. immigrant churches: Second generation Good, M., Willoughby, T., & Fritjers, J. Korean American experiences. In H. (2009). Just another club? The Kwon, C. K. Kim, & R. S. Warner distinctiveness of the relation between (Eds.), Korean Americans and their religious service attendance and adolescent religions (pp. 141-156). University psychological adjustment. Journal of Youth Park, PA: Penn State Press. and Adolescents , 38, 1153-1171. Chi, Y. G. (2012). Report on Koreans' Hurh, W. M., & Kim, K. C. (1990). religious faith and practice. Seoul: Religious participation of Korean Korean Christian Pastors' Association. immigrants in the United States. Journal of Furrow, J. L., King, P. E., & While, K. Scientific Study of Religion , 29, 19-34. (2004). Religion and positve youth Kang, P. P., & Romo, L. F. (2011). The role development: Identity, meaning, and of religious involvement on depression, 13

Spring 2014 risky behavior, academic perforamnce The construction of self and community among Korean American adolescents. by young Korean Americans. Amerasia Journal of Adolescents , 767-778. Journal , 25, 139-163. Le, T. N., Tov, W., & Taylor, J. (2007). Seol, K. O., & Lee, R. M. (2012). The Religiousness and depressive symptoms in effects of religious socialization and five ethnic adolescent groups. International religious identity on psychological Journal for the Psychology of Religion , 17, functioning in Korean American 209-232. adolescents from immigrant familes. Lee, J., Chang, E. S., & Miller, L. (2006). Journal of Family Psychology , 26 (3), Ethnic-religious status and identity 371-380. formation: A qualitative study of Korean Verkooijen, K. T., de Vries, N. K., & American Christian youth. Journal of Youth Nielsen, G. A. (2007). Youth crowds and Ministry , 5, 9-40. substance use: The impact of percieved Maréchal, G. (2010). Autoethnography. In group norm and multiple group A. J. Mill, E. Durepos, & E. Wiebe (Eds.), identification. Psychology of Addictive Encyclopedia of case study research (Vol. 2, Behaviors , 21, 55-61. pp. 43-45). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Wikipedia. (2014, April 14). Retrieved Publication. from Wikipedia: Min, P. G. (1992). The structure and social http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_ functions of Korean immigrant churches in God_in_Judaism the United States. International Migration Wong, Y. J., Rew, L., & Slaikeu, K. Review , 1370-1394. (2006). A systematic review of recent Naver지식백과. (2014, April 16). Retrieved research on adolescent from Naver.com: religiosity/spirituality and mental health. http://www.jisiklog.com/qa/1617720 Mental Health Nursing , 161-183.

Naver지식백과. (2014, April 14). Retrieved doi:10.1080/01612840500436941 from Naver.com: http://www.jisiklog.com/qa/2972170

Naver지식백과. (2014, April 14). Retrieved from Naver: http://terms.naver.com/search.nhn?query=% EC%97%98%EB%A1%9C%ED%9E%98

Park, K. (1999). 'I really do feel I'm 1.5!': 14

Spring 2014 Multisensory Learning for a Multisensory Age Lawrence Baines Cynthia Rundquist

When students For decades teachers have attempted to create lesson plans that invoke more than engage students in activities predicated upon individual learning styles. Not only is planning around learning styles a complicated endeavor for one sense, teachers, but recent research (Baines, 2008) has cast doubt about whether engagement, a learning styles approach actually improves learning outcomes. A more retention, and viable and effective strategy, one that promotes engagement and achievement achievement for all students, uses instructional strategies that engage the increase. senses as a matter-of-course.

Through multisensory learning, students connect sensory inputs with thoughts, feelings, and the task-at-hand. When students invoke more than one sense, engagement, retention, and achievement increase. Humans are sensory beings and are constantly bombarded with stimuli. Adolescents today receive between 3,000 and 30,000 “messages” per day. If these stimuli are unconnected to thought, they are transitory sensations. If on the other hand, we have thought without sensory input, such as when reading a highly technical journal, learning is difficult. The more abstract the experience, the greater the need for multisensory anchor points.

Never has it been more important to create learning environments that stimulate learning through sensory experience. In the last decade the hours spent reading books, magazines, and newspapers versus time on the internet or watching television has plummeted. In 2013, young people, ages 15-19, spent less than 1% percent of their time reading according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Studies have shown students are disengaged in school, with decreasing attention span, interest in reading, and vocabulary (Crotty, 2013). Comfort with “enhancers,” tolerance for complexity, simultaneous input, sophistication and speed of decision-making processes, however, have increased among our students. These trends should engender new instructional pathways and new possibilities, beyond the traditional assign-and-assess approach to teaching that has been the dominant mode of instruction for the past hundred years. Instead of expecting students to educate themselves, multisensory approaches help students meld abstract conceptions to sensory, concrete experience.

Perhaps the most important sense to bring into the classroom is sight. Visual processing takes up about half of the brain’s cortex, is connected to the center of emotions, and is integrated with all other sensory systems. Research on sight versus text strongly shows that visuals improve student achievement. A good rule for teachers to follow is “The more visuals, the better.”

Although visuals are crucial for increased learning, sound remains important. The maxim that whoever controls the sound in a classroom controls the curriculum is true. Is it the teacher’s voice and intended cues that students hear or the obnoxious comments of an out-of-control child? A large and growing body of research exists on the positive effects of music. Homan (2011) helped significantly raise adolescents’ reading achievement several grade levels in only a matter of weeks by utilizing a singing program. Soothing music after surgery or after treatment for cancer in hospitals, reduces anxiety, decreases pain, speeds the 15

Spring 2014

body’s biologic response, and shortens recovery time (Stanford Hospital, 2014).

Smell and taste are rarely utilized in a classroom setting, but there are benefits to learning that behoove teachers to look for opportunities in which to bring these sensory experiences into the classroom. Smell and taste operate beyond the conscious mind, and they have been shown to increase workplace satisfaction and attitude. Some teachers have found bringing these sensory experiences into the classroom has benefitted classroom management.

Perhaps more importantly, we need to become aware of air quality in our schools, and how it may be affecting the health of our students. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that students miss more than ten million days annually as a result of the contaminated air in school buildings. To optimize the learning environment, we should pay attention to temperature, air quality, light, sound, and aroma.

Most teachers are aware that requiring children to sit still for long periods is unnatural, yet movement is under-utilized for learning. Active learning—such as drama, hands-on math manipulatives, projects, and science experiments—has demonstrated benefits. Instead of just using movement during brain breaks, teachers should look for every opportunity to teach concepts through movement. The more Multisensory Learning is substantive, relevant, and powerful. The more sensory-rich an experience, the easier the recall. The more abstract, sensory-rich an the harder the recall. Multisensory Learning represents an unprecedented experience, the opportunity for teachers to increase the quality and quantity of student easier the recall. learning while also making learning an enjoyable experience.

References

Baines, L. A. (2008). Teacher’s guide to multisensory learning. Washington, D.C.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).

Crotty, J. (2013, March 13). Motivation matters: 40% of high school students chronically disengaged from schools. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmarshallcrotty/2013/03/13/motivation- matters-40-of-high-school-students-chronically-disengaged-from-school/.

Homan, S. (2011). Melodic learning: More torque for the learning engine. Tampa, FL: University of South Florida (white paper).

Stanford Hospital (2014). Adding Music to Medicine: A Resounding Success. Retrieved from http://stanfordhospital.org/newsEvents/newsletters/SHC/adding_music_to_medicine.html.

Spring 2014 Wasted Adult Potential: How is Adult Creativity Overlooked? Scott R. Furtwengler

I had the opportunity to present at the NAGC 2013 convention along with three colleagues, J. Young, Christine Peet, and Jess Cummings, on the lack of identification and development of creativity and giftedness among adults and the implications of this void. Mr. Young provided the historical context, Ms. Peet suggested an identification process based on the medical model, Ms. Cummings described the current prison population and correlations to creativity, and I suggested that the lack of identification might be related to a bias against creativity. The following is a summary of our presentation.

At the start of the 20th century, giftedness and gifted education were relegated strictly to theory. Giftedness was primarily thought to be related to intelligence and denoted by high IQ. Empirical research on high ability students, however, provided evidence that creativity is related to and contributes to giftedness. How researchers interpreted evidence dictated the role of creativity in defining giftedness. A consensus emerged, however, that creativity is a necessary component of giftedness. According to several researchers, creativity plays a central role in giftedness, as in Renzuili’s three-ring model and Sternberg’s triarchic theory. Winner suggests that creativity is inextricably linked to giftedness in certain cases. Creativity can be minimized, however, as it is in Gagné’s differentiated model of giftedness and talent, in which giftedness assumes many domains and factors.

Creative individuals are important to a society’s and to an organization’s innovation, productivity, and sustainability. Despite its importance, there is a creative deficit in the United States. Researchers in the humanities and social sciences have suggested that society stigmatizes creative innovation. Indeed, research findings indicate that creative individuals are viewed as deviant. Several instruments have been integral in measuring creative attributions, yet few encompass a systems approach, one that includes social influences on creativity. A social cognitive approach provides a theoretical framework to explore the social influences on divergent thinking. Based on the hypothesis that individuals non-consciously suppress their creative tendencies out of the fear that they will be perceived as atypical, abnormal, or deviant, a scale to measure the extent to which individuals suppress their creative expression would be useful in identifying creative individuals who otherwise suppress this attribute.

Such an approach to identifying creativity in adults resembles the medical model, in which atypical behavior, such as creativity, is identified much in the same way that disorders such as ADHD is identified. Yet, while the medical model has its basis in treating a problem, its application to creativity is to enhance the creative potential of gifted adults. Sadly, many individuals in the U.S. who possess creative attributes use their gift to engage in illegal activities and are often convicted and incarcerated. Rather than continue the cycle of recidivism, it would be economically advantageous to develop individual creativity toward personal and socially useful ends and decrease the cost of incarceration. 17

Spring 2014 The Whole Child: Are We Paying Attention?

Dan Peters Jean Peterson The phrase the whole child is parents may all ignore the whole familiar in education, although “whole” child. Depending on their role in the life might be conceptualized in a variety of of a gifted child, each of these invested ways, of course. In the performance-driven adults can benefit from understanding culture of schools, the “whole” may gifted children’s social and emotional actually have low priority. In the gifted- development. education culture, the same may be true. A Adults who are knowledgeable high achiever may in fact be viewed about these areas of development are entirely as a high performer. An probably able to engage in underachiever may be perceived only in nonjudgmental and non-evaluative terms of low academic performance. To conversation with gifted youth, to acknowledge more, for either, might not acknowledge their humanness, to focus resonate with a narrow institutional comfortably on non-academic conceptualization of giftedness. development, to recognize potential Programming may be similar— developmental challenges of both high narrow in scope and appealing only to achievers and underachievers, to consider children and teens who are highly and create curricular components that motivated to achieve academically. Even enhance social/emotional development, then, however, based on feedback from age and to keep characteristics associated peers and adults, those students may sense with giftedness in mind when evaluating that they are seen only in terms of behaviors. These adults might be able to performance. When more-and-faster offer support to gifted students in curriculum is perceived to be the only need distress, withholding negative judgment to be addressed in a program, the highly about troublesome behavior, for instance. idiosyncratic nature of any gifted Teachers might create curricular population is not acknowledged, and multi- components that enhance affective dimensional gifted children and teens may development. Coaches and directors, and feel that their humanness is not parents as well, might realize that acknowledged or appreciated. changing how they interact with a gifted Teachers, administrators, child or teen could contribute to researchers, program coordinators, school improved attitude, productivity, and and other psychologists, school and other satisfaction. counselors, graduate students, scholars, and Trends in the field, including a 18

Spring 2014

seemingly even narrower focus on academic created. A good program embraces the performance or non-performance and on whole child and addresses the reality measureable variables and outcomes, potentially that gifted youth may have little or no inhibit attention to the whole child. Both high opportunity to explore non-academic achievement and underachievement may mask and non-talent dimensions of serious emotional concerns. Both high themselves formally. A gifted- achievers and underachievers may be education curriculum that offers developmentally “stuck” in one or more areas of opportunities to explore social, development. Both may struggle, at times, with emotional, and career development in unexpected negative life events, with trauma, addition to appropriate academic with lack of motivation, with normal challenges can help to prepare gifted developmental tasks (e.g., developing identity, children and teens for non-academic direction, relationships, autonomy, sense of struggles during college and for competence), with bullying or other social complex responsibilities as parents, concerns, and with distressing family factors. partners/spouses, colleagues, and However, concerns and burdens are not community members. Too often these the only non-performance-oriented aspects of areas are ignored during the school the whole student. Embracing the whole gifted years, as if the whole gifted child is not child also means noting personal strengths (e.g., involved in, and affected by, aspects of kindness, calmness, empathy, personal problem- themselves that may or may not be solving, wisdom, common sense, flexibility, directly involved in academic aspects adaptability, perseverance, sense of humor, of school life. helpfulness, fairness, listening skills). It also means affirming the important roles of play, unstructured time, and expressive language in the development of gifted youth. Embracing the Programming should whole child means embracing complexity, including of the complexity of the construct of reflect the complexity giftedness. of the population for Every gifted individual is complicated, interesting, and intriguing—with more which it is created. dimensions than are evident at first glance. Each student also has unique personal needs. Each is multi-dimensional, not one-dimensional. The whole child is continuously developing—in multiple areas of development. Programming should reflect the

complexity of the population for which it is 19

Spring 2014 NAGC Convention Themes: 21st Century Conference Presentations Laurie J. Croft

The annual National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC) convention provides a way for thousands of advocates for high-ability learners to gather and learn more about topics of interest in the field of gifted education. While some of these attendees access journal articles and book chapters to remain well informed about current research and best practices, many more, especially teachers, take advantage of convention sessions as a primary source for ideas from professionals, including university faculty, and fellow practitioners. Recent reviews of contemporary research (Jolly & Kettler, 2008; Dai, Swanson & Cheng, 2011) have analyzed the themes in published empirical studies appearing in major peer-reviewed journals, including Gifted Child Quarterly, Journal for the Education of the Gifted, and Roeper Review. Jolly & Kettler reviewed the topics included in articles from 1994, following the publication of National Excellence: A Case for Developing America’s Talent the prior year, through 2003; the identified broad categories of research including special populations, psychosocial needs, measurement, and teaching and instruction” (p. 437). Dai et al. found four major topics in the years from 1998 to 2010: “creativity/creatively gifted, achievement/underachievement; identification, and talent development” (p. 126); the terms identification, achievement, underachievement, and the concept of talent were subsumed under Jolly’s & Kettler’s category of measurement. Jolly and Kettler note that the published research reflects “the priorities of those conducting inquiries in that discipline” (p. 443). What do the presentations at the national convention reflect? This study is a preliminary exploration of NAGC convention themes in the first 10 years of the new millennium (2001 – 2010). Ongoing content analysis will review all presentations at each conference; this study emphasizes the invited presentations for each year. The invited presentations included Board of Director Institutes, available to those who chose to participate in special sessions immediately before the start of the convention, and addresses titled Keynote, Special Ticketed Sessions, General Sessions, Mini-Keynotes, Special Sessions, Focus Sessions, and Signature Series, with the titles varying across the years. The invited presentations reflected the topics selected by NAGC leadership, supporting the planning and scheduling for the annual convention; presumably, these topics were believed most reflective of current issues in the field, as well as relevant to attendees’ interests and needs. While NAGC networks (formerly known as divisions; Arts, 20

Spring 2014

Computers and Technology, Conceptual Foundations, Counseling and Guidance, Creativity, Curriculum Studies, Early Childhood, Global Awareness, Middle Grades, Parent and Community, Professional Development, Research and Evaluation, Special Populations, Special Schools and Programs, and most recently STEM) play a significant role in selecting proposals that fit their varied emphases, the invited presentations are likely included to reflect the broader interests and issues important to those working in the field of gifted education and talent development.

Methodology The methodology for this study is content analysis, that is, “a systematic, replicable technique for compressing many words of text into fewer content categories….Content analysis is … useful for examining trends and patterns….” (Stemler, 2001). The titles and authors for all convention presentations, as reported in the published NAGC convention programs, were entered into a database, organized by year and type of presentation (e.g., Board of Directors Session or Special Session) or by network/division. Titles of presentation, the analysis sampling units, were examined to explore word frequency (including stems or synonyms), and to infer the broad categories or topics of importance. If the title did not clearly reflect content and/or meaning, convention program descriptions allowed categorization of the data. The recording units for the analysis identified the idea(s) embedded in each title; while one title could reflect more than one recording unit, each separate idea (unit) belonged to only one mutually exclusive category, an essential component of content analysis (Stemler). In addition to manual analysis, the titles were entered into nVivo 10 for Windows, a platform for organizing and analyzing data.

Findings

The word cloud below is developed in nVivo to visually capture the relative frequency of words that appear in the data. The word cloud was developed using words and their stems only, rather than words and synonyms, primarily as a way to disaggregate “gifted” and “talented.” The word cloud graphically illustrates the use of words in titles over the decade beginning in 2001. “Gifted” was included in titles more than twice as many times as any other single word, appearing 230 times out of 606 separate titles. “Education” was used 102 times, and “students” exceeded “teachers” by a ratio of just over 4 : 1.

The major categories, or themes, that emerged across the decade, appearing in each year, suggest emphases different from the word counts alone (see Table 1). Considering primary and secondary themes across invited presentations, programming and curriculum models (including references to development and evaluation) far exceeded 21

Spring 2014

any other theme. While some of these presentations explored general issues in programming and curriculum, many explained specific models (e.g., Parallel Curriculum Model, introduced for the first time during this decade, which appeared in 19 presentations and the Schoolwide Enrichment Model, the focus in 7; specific references to 8 additional models featured in other presentations). Socioemotional needs emerged as a theme across the years, reviewing affective topics such as underachievement and specifics such as overexcitabilities and intensities. Approaches to differentiation emerged as a frequently considered theme, followed closely by issues of creativity in learning, teaching, and content, as well as specifically in the arts. Designated content areas were addressed, including STEM (9) with math a specific focus (10); language arts presentations, however, exceeded the STEM areas (12 language arts presentations with an additional 13 focused specifically on topics related to reading). Presenters addressed

Table 1

Themes and Frequencies among Presentations ______Theme Frequency Programming/Curriculum Models 85 Socioemotional Needs 55 Differentiation 49 Creativity 47 Content Areas 44 Identification 34 Diversity 33 Research 27

Spring 2014

issues of identification, including equivalent to socioemotional needs; explanations of specific instruments. measurement encompasses both Presentations explored diversity, with identification and some of the research references to underrepresentation, presentations; and teaching and underserved students, and specific instruction corresponds to populations. Invited sessions about research programming/curriculum models, as well featured professional research, although a as differentiation and the emphasis on limited number described involving students teaching and learning specific content in the research process. areas. Dai et al. reported a major theme Other themes that emerged in the associated with creativity, also apparent invited presentations were more limited in among invited presentations; as well, Dai scope, not mentioned in each year. These et al. referenced topics associated with included talent development (17); issues identification. The similarities suggest related to parenting (15); topics emphasizing that many invited presentations reflect technology (15); discussions about twice- research topics in the field, likely both exceptionality (15), encompassing Response before and after publication. to Intervention (RtI); and presentations about The parallels with published leadership (14) emphasizing opportunities research, however, should not suggest for NAGC members, guidance in the field that the purpose of the annual convention itself, and a smaller number about leadership is to showcase the material that has or development among students. The topics that will appear in print. Even among the aren’t referenced as themes (e.g., No Child invited presentations, far more titles do Left Behind or standards) are as surprising as not fall into one of the major themes the limited numbers of presentations in suggested above. The presentations at the categories such as technology or twice- annual convention reflect the scope of exceptionality; perceptions of these limited complex interests within the field of numbers might reflect the rapidly changing gifted education and the emerging field of landscape in general education in the 21st talent development, and the unique Century, and our sense that some urgent interests of presenters. Dai et al. themes today have been significant for longer designated a small number of published periods of time. authors as “prolific” (p. 135); when The themes that did emerge overlap reviewing the frequency of invited with research themes identified by both Dai presenters who appeared more than one et al. and Jolly & Kettler. Jolly’s & Kettler’s time, 9 of the 15 authors listed by Dai et themes all paralleled NAGC convention al. have been invited to deliver at least 2 themes among the invited presentations: presentations. Table 2 lists presenters special populations is comparable to with 20 or more invited sessions, noting

diversity; psychosocial needs is largely those who appeared on Dai et al.’s list of 23

Spring 2014

those with 10 or more publications, sole or co-authored, with the number of publications.

Table 2

Prolific NAGC Presenters and Authors ______Prolific Presenters (number) Authors (number) VanTassel-Baska (39) VanTassel-Baska (12) Reis (32) Reis (12) Siegle (30) Kaplan (24) Renzulli (24) Callahan (21) Leppien (21)

Others among Dai et al.’s prolific authors who were invited to present at NAGC between 10 and 19 times over the decade include Olszewski-Kubilius, with 13 articles and 14 presentations), Gentry (11 articles and 10 presentations), and Cross (10 articles and 18 presentations). Additional invited presenters who numbered between 10 and 19 presentations included Olenchak (19), Julie Link Roberts* (19), Tracy Cross* (18), Ann Robinson* (17), Sidney Moon* (16), Ford (14), Laurence Coleman* (12), Johnsen (15), Subotnik (14), Purcell (13), and Nancy Robinson* (11). Conclusions This article provides preliminary findings from a content analysis of the major themes from invited presentations at the NAGC annual conventions in the first decade of the 21st Century. Major themes were similar to those uncovered in analyses of research publications, suggesting that the NAGC leadership considers current research findings when planning sessions to include at the convention. Invited presentations, however, include much broader range of topics than those considered for research. The NAGC convention is attended by large numbers of practitioners, and the invited sessions include topics that will be of interest and of use to those who attend the convention as their primary source for up-to-date information in the field. As well, authors identified as prolific researchers overlap with some of those who are the field’s most prolific presenters; far greater numbers present at the conventions, however, including practitioners who will never publish their information. This research is continuing with the analysis of the great number of presentations proposed and accepted by NAGC networks (formerly divisions). Although each network provides one type of a priori coding, ensuring presentations that enrich their separate 24

Spring 2014 Major themes were similar missions, each session will be coded for meaning to those uncovered in beyond the broad network theme; many may analyses of research represent more than one theme and will promote greater understanding about choices of information publications, suggesting that available to those attending annual conventions. A the NAGC leadership review of published research is one way to considers current research understand a field’s priorities, but a review of the findings when planning annual conventions provides a sense of the wide sessions to include at the variety of complex topics that capture the attention convention. Invited of those who are stakeholders in nurturing gifted and talented learners. presentations, however, include much broader range of topics than those *First names were used to clarify last names with considered for research. more than one notable presenter in the field.

References

Dai, D.Y., Swanson, J.A., & Cheng, H. (2011). State of research on giftedness and gifted education: A survey of empirical studies published during 1998-2010 (April). Gifted Child Quarterly, 55(2), 126- 138. Jolly, J. & Kettler, T. (2008). Gifted education research 1994-2003: A disconnect between priorities and practice. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 31(4), 427-446. Stemler, Steve (2001). An overview of content analysis. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 7(17). Retrieved August 27, 2012 from http://PAREonline.net/getvn.asp?v=7&n=17 .

With thanks to Caitlin Palar, a University of Iowa undergraduate employee, for entering 10 years of NAGC data.

Spring 2014

Curriculum, Being, and Becoming with Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska

The Conceptual Foundations Network Announces the Eighth Annual Legacy Series Honoree

Dr. VanTassel-Baska is the Jody and Layton Smith Professor Emerita of Education at The College of William and Mary in Virginia. She is the founding director of the Center for Gifted Education and also initiated and directed the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University.

The Conceptual Foundations Network is honored to be able to provide this opportunity for teachers, administrators, and scholars to benefit from the knowledge and experiences that Dr. VanTassel-Baska will share.

Spring 2014 NETWORK OFFICERS

Chair Erin Morris Miller Chair Elect Jennifer Riedl Cross Newsletter Editor Danae Deligeorge