Hello P.A.L [Parents of Accelerated Learners]

Welcome to The P.A.L. Workshops Blog,

If your child is an early reader, showing advanced abilities in music, art, math or other areas, is intensely curious or sensitive, bored or acting out in the general ed classroom, a bit too good at negotiating, or if you are simply looking for resources, programs and ways you can support your advanced learner, then you are in the right place!

Join us for the P.A.L. Workshop Series in New York City and discover how you can support your accelerated learner.

We want your feedback so we can continue to deliver topics that matter to you. We are always adding new workshops, but we know parents new to the NYC G&T process need the basics, so each year we’re be sure to have that too.

This Spring 2012, P.A.L. has a great line-up, including a Conversation with Gifted Education Expert Rena Subotnik on Shifting from the Best of Gifted Education to Talent Development. We have Supporting Early Giftedness Through Play for those parents who have noticed advanced abilities in their young children, Special Topics in Gifted Education on Gender and Talent Development that will appeal to parents of elementary and middle schoolers and a great Spring wrap-up with Preventing Summer Slide: Engaging Math, Reading, Science and Enrichment Activities to Prevent Summer Learning Loss.

Previous topics have included: Meeting the People Behind the NYC G&T Programs; Parenting the Gifted Child; G&T Admissions & Testing: The Straight Talk; Options in the Gifted Arena; and Becoming Your Child’s Advocate, Positive Discipline & Your Advanced Learner; The G&T Process: Admissions & Testing; What’s the Right Fit for My Child and more. Topics are selected by our P.A.L. Partnership with input from our advisory committee and P.A.L. attendees via email, our blog and polls during the registration process. So chime in, we’d love your input!

Glad we found you!

The P.A.L. Team

Register for The P.A.L. Spring Workshop Series

Welcome back to our Spring P.A.L. [Parents of Advanced Learners] Workshop Series!

If you missed the January event with Dr. Rena Subotnik, you can check out her presentation posted on the last post. The entire Spring Calendar is here, so follow the link at right to sign-up soon!

January:

A Conversation with Rena Subotnik-Shifting from the Best of Gifted Education to Talent Development: Implications for Identification, Education, and Psychological Support Inside and Outside of School

February:

Supporting Early Giftedness Through Play: A Hands-On Session for Parents 

What does advanced ability look like in a young child? What clues or qualities might a parent, caregiver or teacher notice that would suggest early ability? Dr. Julia Osborn, a psychologist who specializes in gifted children, will explore the qualities often recognized early and offer concrete actions to support them.  This hands-on workshop will help parents understand and support their young children through play-based strategies and Reggio-inspired examples, from Tribeca Community School’s program director Kristen Pallonetti. The hands-on portion will focus on children ages 18 months to 5 years.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 @ 6:30 pm- 8 pm

March:

The Power of Books & Film for Kids:  Using Children’s Literature & Movies to Help Kids Connect with Others, Explore Emotions and Understand Themselves

Whether your child is anxious about the first day of school, shy around strangers, experiencing the effects of divorce, struggling with siblings, friendships or issues of giftedness, this workshop will help. Storytelling, through books or film, and connecting with a character can have a profound effect on a child. Bibliotherapy, or reading and discussing books to learn about and help cope with social, emotional or developmental struggles is a strategy often used with advanced learners, but relevant for all children. Identifying with a character in a book or film and sharing feelings, can often provide a child with a sense of relief or catharsis and potentially result in a change of behavior from that new insight.

Join us as we discuss these helpful and simple strategies and the benefits of bibliotherapy for young children, biography for bigger kids & film for the whole family.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012 @ 6:30 pm- 8 pm

April:

Special Topics in Gifted Education- Guiding Gifted Girls: Savvy, Spirited & Strong(-Willed)

Raising Cain and Reviving Ophelia offer great examples of the distinctly different issues that boys and girls have during their formative school years. And just as distinct are the gender differences inherent in educating and guiding gifted girls and boys. Dr. Razel Solow, the Director of the Center for Gifted Studies and Education at Hunter College, will help parents  better understand, support and guide their gifted girls in this session focused on upper elementary and middle school kids.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 @ 6:30 pm- 8 pm

May:

Supporting Your Child’s Gifts & Talents: A Talent Development Roundtable

Experts & Parents explore ways to discover, develop and support the strengths and talent areas of their children with the help of local resources. Come get an actionable list of things you can do every day to support your child’s strength areas. Multiple intelligences and talent development will be the focus of experts, while parents will lend concrete recommendations of resources and examples to help you navigate the best road for your mini Mozart, enthusiastic Einstein or your just your unique little kiddo.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 @ 6:30 pm- 8 pm

June:

Preventing Summer Slide: Engaging Math, Reading and Enrichment Activities to Prevent Learning Loss or ‘Summer Slide.’

Experts will focus on mastering core competencies for early elementary children and more enrichment focused activities for older kids. Learn what simple things you can do to keep your child stimulated through the summer months. Discover local activities, events and summer enrichment programs for your advanced learner to stay connected with peers and have hands-on learning opportunities through the summer.  Plus meet other like-minded parents at this informal session for elementary school parents.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012 @ 6:30 pm- 8 pm

Be sure to register early to have your comments and questions addressed at the sessions, and feel free to email any comments or recommendations you have for topics. P.A.L. is for your benefit, so give us your thoughts.

Realized Potential = Nature + Nurture + Mentors + Opportunity

How much does the interest or strength area of a parent dictate or guide the course of their child? Clearly some parents encourage their children to follow the paths they chose, or wished they had pursued; others discover the talent areas of their children and offer them support to pursue their own course. According to [...]

The P.A.L. Workshops, Spring 2012 Series Begins this Friday!

Don’t miss a rare opportunity to join P.A.L. and The Speyer Legacy School for a Conversation with Rena Subotnik @ The Speyer Legacy School: Shifting from the Best of Gifted Education to Talent Development: Implications for Identification, Education, and Psychological Support Inside and Outside of School Friday, January 13, 2012 @ 8:45 am-10 am. The [...]

Happy Holidays & Thank You for a Great First Year!

On behalf of the P.A.L. Partnership, we wish you all a Happy Holiday and look forward to seeing you in the Spring when our line-up resumes with more experts in gifted education, multiple locations in more boroughs to continue the dialogue and more great resources to help navigate the G&T programs in New York City. [...]

The G&T Process in NYC: Your Questions Answered

Thank you to everyone who attended our P.A.L. workshop in October.  Many parents submitted questions about G&T programs in NYC and the testing process.  Here are some of their many excellent questions answered by Karen Quinn, co-founder of http://www.testingmom.com 1.     I heard rumors that the DOE will change the test or evaluation system for the [...]