Gifted Child Society, Inc.
NEWSLETTER
FALL 2012
An Evening with Dr. Sylvia Rimm
By Lori Norian, GCS Board Member
Dr. Sylvia Rimm & David Feldman
I
Dr. Sylvia Rimm
t’s rare that I take the time to attend a lecture, but
every 2 years, when the Gifted Child Society hosts
the Ruth Feldman Memorial Lecture, I listen and learn
and am grateful that I can take advantage of such a
wonderful program. This year, the keynote speaker
was Dr. Silvia Rimm a renowned psychologist, author,
columnist, parenting specialist and advocate for gifted
children. She kept educators and parents alike
engaged with colorful stories that highlighted practical
techniques. For example, how many of us have a gifted child who is a master negotiator? The moment you
step in the house, you are peppered with a request
(which you’ve already denied several times before).
You say “no” but are followed around the house with a
well-reasoned argument ringing in your ears. You’re
starting to get agitated and then you let loose and bellow a “No” that resounds around the house. No one is
happy – not you, not your child not your family. But
where did it all go wrong and what is a better strategy
to use? Dr. Rimm offered this advice – step through
Dr. Sylvia Rimm & Janet Chen, GCS Executive Director
the door, listen to you child make their case. Ask for 5
minutes to think it over, then render a final decision.
This will typically be a “no” but once in a while a
“yes”. If after the “no” your child keeps asking…
retreat to your room and relax.
Dr. Rimm also reminded the audience that talk is
powerful. If your child is anxious before a quiz try
reassuring them (even better if they just overhear the
comments) by saying “Jason is working so hard” or
“Lauren really knows the material”. Your confidence
will help calm their anxiety. Dr. Rimm’s lecture was
engaging and energizing. She is very approachable
and questions can be sent to her at PO Box 32,
Watertown, WI 53094 or DrRimm@sylviarimm.com.
I hope you had a chance to attend and if not, be sure to
attend the lecture in 2014. The Gifted Child Society
also welcomes suggestions for future lecturers and/or
future topics.
Society Updates
FROM THE DESK OF THE
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
FROM THE DESK OF THE
SUMMER SUPER STARS CAMP DIRECTOR
As we continue recovering from the devastation our area
experienced this fall, our thoughts and prayers are with all
those who have been affected by Sandy. Although it has been
heartbreaking for so many, we hope that the strong sense of
community that developed in recent weeks continues to grow.
We hope that life is returning to normal and we look forward
to planning for an outstanding summer.
Last summer was a rewarding experience for us, especially now as we reflect on the growth of our campers.
Throughout the six weeks of Summer Super Stars 2012, we
enjoyed the intellectual, athletic, and social development that
we observed. We hope our challenging and engaging curriculum, physical activities, and commitment to facilitating social
skills are proving to be an asset for each child during his or her
school year. We are looking forward to learning of each
child’s success and to continuing our commitment to gifted
children when our campers return for Summer Super Stars
2013.
I have been planning for the summer and am committed to
each child’s needs. Our trips will remain academically
focused; our curriculum will be rigorous, challenging, and
exciting; the staff will be skilled and committed, and the
Summer Super Stars experience will be rewarding for all who
attend this summer.
On December 15, 2012, Sue Keitel, our Curriculum
Coordinator, and I will be at the Saturday Workshop to meet
with all parents who are interested in Summer Super Stars
2013. This will give us an opportunity to discuss our plans and
answer any questions. It also gives us a chance to see how our
campers are growing through their fall experiences.
I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving and I
wish everyone a happy, safe, and peaceful holiday season.
I look forward to another outstanding summer at Summer
Super Stars.
Thank you very much for all of your interest and support.
Tom Lancaster
Summer Super Stars Director
Fall 2012 has been a season to remember. Having finished
a highly successful Summer Super Stars program, we were
hurtled into preparation and registration for the Fall semester
of the Saturday Workshop. In October our third biennial Ruth
Feldman Memorial Lecture featured Dr. Sylvia Rimm. Over
150 parents, educators and psychologists attended the lecture.
Dr. Rimm is a psychologist who works with gifted children
and their families in both clinical and school settings. She has
spoken nationally and internationally about perfectionism,
underachievement, gender and social/emotional issues involving gifted children. Dr. Rimm was gracious in answering questions from the audience after giving a very down-to-earth talk
about how to parent gifted children so that they can achieve
and yet still have fulfilling lives.
Then Sandy came and left schedules and lives in disarray.
The office had power, but no telephone or internet service. The
office staff was unable to travel to work safely. Saturday
Workshop had to be cancelled because the Ho-Ho-Kus School
had no power and unsafe conditions existed in town, requiring
calls to every family and staff member.
Mid November, Janice and I attended the convention of
the National Association for Gifted Children in Denver, CO.
While we were there, we had an opportunity to network with
others from New Jersey and to meet and learn from educators,
psychologists and researchers from around the country. New
findings in research, new methods and approaches to teaching
the gifted and new materials were presented. Being at the convention keeps us current in what’s happening in the world of
gifted education and energizes us to bring back new ideas and
efforts in advocacy.
In January we will again be soliciting educator nominations from New Jersey district superintendents for our Gina
Ginsberg Riggs Fellowship to Confratute at the University of
Connecticut. It is the leading summer institute for the training
of educators in enrichment learning and teaching and is directed by Dr. Joseph Renzulli and Dr. Sally Reis. The Fellowship
includes tuition and housing for the week at Confratute. The
Society has already sent 120 educators to Confratute as part of
its mission to support professional training for the teachers
who work with our children in their schools. So if you know
of a teacher whom you think would benefit from learning theoretical and practical strategies for meeting the needs of our
gifted and talented students, please contact us in January for an
application packet.
I hope your children are having a fulfilling experience at
Saturday Workshop and that you are able to network and find
other parents with whom you can share experiences.
Janet Chen, Executive Director
Please note: The annual membership meeting will be held in the MPR (room #107) of
the Ho-Ho-Kus public school on December
8th to approve the annual budget and to elect
the Board of Directors. A slate of directors from the
Nominating Committee will be presented. Nominations
will also be accepted from the floor.
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Saturday Workshop
FROM THE DESK OF THE
CURRICULUM COORDINATOR
FROM THE DESK OF THE
SATURDAY WORKSHOP COORDINATOR
I am thrilled to be writing to you as the new Curriculum
Coordinator of the Saturday Workshop. It was not long ago
that I was contributing to this newsletter as the Director of
Summer Super Stars. Some things have changed since then
-- now I am the proud mother of two and a half year old
twin girls! But some things have remained very much the
same – I remain passionate about gifted education, I am a
strong advocate for your gifted children, and I thoroughly
enjoy working with the Gifted Child Society. It is my goal
to continue to push our curriculum, and build upon the
strong foundation that Mrs. Skelley worked so hard to
establish.
This fall session has been an exciting one, filled with
new discoveries, insightful inquiries, and an abundance of
hands-on learning. We were so pleased to welcome five
new teachers to our staff, each one bringing his or her own
expertise into the classroom. These teachers introduced
new classes on the science of sound, pop art, biodiversity,
and law. It was amazing to see how engaged their students
were while participating in activities like dissecting flowers, creating their own simple speakers, and discussing the
art of Jackson Pollock. As I visit and observe the classrooms of our returning teachers, I am inspired by the dedication and enthusiasm they exhibit each Saturday. I loved
watching for the “aha!” moment when the students in
H.O.T.S. solved a difficult puzzle. I was intrigued by the
debate on whether children should have cell phones in our
debating course, and I am amazed each week by the artwork
that students carry through the halls after leaving the
Fashion Project. I hope that many of you had the opportunity to see first-hand all of the exciting things that are happening at Saturday Workshop during our Parent
Participation Day!
As this fall session comes to a close, please feel free to
stop by the front desk to introduce yourself and your children. I look forward to working with you and your families!
Katie Rome
Saturday Workshop Curriculum Coordinator
Another semester at the Saturday Workshop is quickly coming to a close. We had an outstanding enrollment of 389 students who took in a combined total of 602 classes. It was
wonderful to observe an especially large percentage boost
in our 7th and 8th grade population.
A few weeks back, while attending this year’s National
Convention of Gifted Children in Denver, I was asked by an
administrator from another state what I thought was the key
to our program’s longevity. I told her that I believed a number of factors have contributed to our program’s success for
over half a century. We have from our inception asked our
faculty members to create a classroom setting that would
stimulate intellectual inquiry, a desire to learn, and a willingness to experiment. Our emphasis on critical thinking,
problem solving and reasoning skills has never wavered.
We are fortunate to be able to hire and retain teachers who
are masters of their subject matter from Shakespeare to
Molecular Biology.
I believe another key component of our program is that
your children are learning alongside their intellectual peers.
You as parents often tell us that when you first joined our
program, it was a revelation for your children to meet other
kids who shared their abilities and interests. We hope your
children are reaping the social and emotional as well as
intellectual benefits of being in a classroom with kids “like
them”.
After spending time with your children in their classes
on our Parent Participation Day, I hope you were able to
experience how fun and learning often go hand in hand on
Saturday mornings. Your children’s curosity, creativity,
keen sense of humor and perceptiveness continue to inspire
all of us on the GCS staff.
We hope you will be joining us for our Spring
Workshop which will begin on Saturday, March 2nd.
Have a joyful holiday season.
Janice Goldberg
Saturday Workshop Coordinator
T
o raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from
a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advances.
Albert Einstein
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Kid’s Page
Transmogrifications
Cadet Awarded
General Billy Mitchell Award
All of the following are based on the first
lines of well-known nursery rhymes:
1. Scintillate, scintillate, asteroid minific.
2. Bleat, bleat, ebony ewe.
3. Petite lad cerulean, approach and huff your trumpet.
4. Croon a ditty of six coins.
5. Sway-a-bye infant child, on the loftiest conifer.
6. A petite swine traveled to the retail stores.
Answers:
1. Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
2. Baa, baa, black sheep.
3. Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn.
4. Sing a song of sixpence.
5. Rock-a-bye baby, on the tree top.
6. This little piggy went to market.
J
ohn Glidden, a 14-year- old Closter resident and Civil
Air Patrol member since January 2010, has received the
General Billy Mitchell Award. This Award is earned by
Civil Air Patrol cadets who have successfully completed the
second phase of the cadet program. It marks the end of the
enlisted phase of the cadet program; cadets are promoted to
Cadet Second Lieutenants upon receipt and, by extension,
Cadet Officers. The award is given in honor of Major
General William “Billy” Mitchell, former deputy chief of
the Army Air Service and military aviation visionary.
In order to earn the award, cadets must pass a series
of leadership, aerospace and physical fitness tests and attend
character development training for each achievement from
Cadet Airman Basic through Cadet Chief Master Sergeant.
In addition, cadets must attend a military-style encampment
before this award is made. Only 15 percent of Civil Air
Patrol cadets achieve the Mitchell Award. In addition, they
are both very active in community service and are qualified
for ground team search and rescue missions.
Congressman Garrett officiated the ceremony.
Garrett also presented the Mitchell Award, which was
signed by the Civil Air Patrol National Commander Major
General Charles I. Carr. John also received certificates of
recognition from Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi and from
Closter Mayer Sophie Heymann.
John attended the Gifted Child Society’s Saturday
Workshop since the Fall of 2003 and is currently a teen
assistant with the program. We congratulate him on this
impressive accomplishment!
2012 Holiday Toy List
Games and toys provide a way for children to explore
different ways of thinking, moving, and interacting with
friends and family members. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to find the perfect item for your child because the manufacturers’ recommended ages is often not correct for gifted children. Additionally, games that look exciting from the
box, can be repetitive after one playing. That is why NAGC
traditionally runs a recommended toy article in the
September issue of Parenting for High Potential.
Overall winners included Lords of Waterdeep, IQ
Twist and Don’t Rock the Boat.
For a list of the top toys and games, please google
“Parenting for High Potential” at NAGC magazine.
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Parent Page
Sylvia Rimm’s Top Ten List on
How to Parent So Children Will Learn
1. Praise moderately to avoid pressure; post
pone superpraise.
Praise conveys your values to your children and sets
expectations for them. Lack of praise conveys the
message that you don’t believe in them. Reasonable
praise, like good thinker, hard worker, smart, creative,
strong, kind, and sensitive, sets high but reasonable
expectations that are within your children’s reach.
Words like perfect, the best, natural athlete, most
beautiful, and brilliant can set impossible expectations. Children internalize those expectations, and the
expectations become pressures when children find
they can’t achieve those high, impossible goals.
making power as their parents. In adolescence, the
ordinary limits cause overempowered children to
become angry, depressed, and rebellious because they
feel powerless compared to the power they experienced too early.
4.
Build resiliency; don’t rescue your child from
reality.
The V of love must expand its limits as children
mature. You can be kind without being overly sympathetic. You can do for chldren without overdoing.
Your children will need to learn to recover from losses and failures, without being rescue3d from reality.
Developing resiliency willpermit them to triumph
over obstacles.
2.
Don’t discuss children’s problem behaviors with
in their earshot (referential speaking).
Discussion about children also sets expectations for
them. If they hear you talking to grandparents and
friends about how jealous or mean they are, if you
refer to them as little devils or ADHD kids, if they’re
constantly described as shy or fearful, they assume
you’re telling the truth and believe they con’t control
these problem behaviors.
5.
Stay united, be willing to compromise, and say
good things about your child’s other parent.
Leaders in a family that lead in two opposite directions confuse children. Children will not respect parents who show no respect for each other. Describing
your child’s other parent as an “ogre” or “dummy”
may make you feel like a good and understanding
parent temporarily, but sabotaging another parent, or
grandparent, will backfire, and your child will no
longer respect either of you. This is especially hard
after divorce, but it’s even more important in divided
families. Parents and grandparents being united is
important for children.
3. Take charge; don’t overempower your children.
Your children require leadership and limits to feel
secure. Envision the letter V. When children are small
they’re at the base of the V with few choices, little
freedom, and power, matched with few reponosibilities that go with their small size. As they mature, give
them more choices, more freedom, and increased
power, paired with more reponsibilities. Children will
feel trusted as they are only gradually empowered. If
V
you reverse that V like this - and children are
given too much power, too many early choices , and
too much freedom, they are overempowered before
they are ready to make responsible decisions.
These children feel as if you’re taking away their
freedom when you set reasonable limits. They expect
to be treated as adults before they’re ready. In my
reserach on over 5,000 middle-grade students, many
children believed they should have equal decision-
6.
Hold teachers, education, and learning in high
regard.
Set your children’s education as first priority. That
will become most clear if they hear how much you
value learning. Tell them about the best teachers you
had and elevate their teachers as well. Set expectations for higher education early so they will assume
education does not stop after high school.
Continued on page 8
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Society News
TEN NEW CONFRATUTE FELLOWSHIPS IN 2013
The Gifted Child Society will award ten new Gina Ginsberg Riggs Fellowships to Confratute at the
University of Connecticut on July 14 through July 19, 2013. Confratute is one of the nation’s leading institutes
for teacher training in education of the gifted. It is a total immersion, live-in experience offering training in K12 teaching that cuts across all school activities, curricular areas, grade levels, and groupings.
In January, the office will mail applications to superintendents in New Jersey public school districts,
requesting that each superintendent nominate one teacher to become a Gina Ginsberg Riggs Fellow. From the
superintendents’ nominees, ten Fellows will be selected based on professional excellence, leadership, regional
representation, and potential to provide staff development in their district and region. Each Fellow’s training
at Confratute, including meals and housing on the University of Connecticut campus, will be paid for by the
Gifted Child Society.
The 120 Fellows who attended Confratute in July 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2011 have
become the vanguard of a growing cadre of teacher training leaders in education of the gifted. All Fellows
pledge to pass along their new knowledge in the form of staff training and program development in their
school districts and regions. Superintendents also pledge to provide the Gina Ginsberg Riggs Fellows with
opportunities to share their Confratute training in their districts.
S.A.T. ORIENTATION FOR BRIGHT SEVENTH
& EIGHTH GRADERS
2013
Summer Super Stars Dates
The Glen Rock office will again offer two one-time three
hour orientations for seventh and eighth graders who have
been invited and registered to take th S.A.T., a test for
high school juniors and seniors. Sessions will be held on
Thursday, January 17th and Monday, January 21st, 2013.
Please call the office at 201-444-6530 for more information.
Our six week summer day camp program at
Allendale, will begin July 1st and end August 9th.
Brochures will be mailed in early December. Registrations
postmarked by January 15th, 2013 will receive early registration credits. Curriculum information will be ready in the
spring and will be mailed as soon as it is available.
EVENING SEMINARS FOR PARENTS
Glen Rock Office
IMPORTANT DATES
Saturday Workshop ends
December 15th
Spring Brochure Mailing
February 1st
Spring Saturday Workshop
Begins March 2nd
No Classes
Spring Classes End
March 30th & April 6th
May 18th
Our fall Parent Seminars were a great success - - each one
was well attended! We held three in all: “Gifted Children:
The Long Term View”, presented by Dr. Bryan Granelli;
“Promoting Growth Mindsets in Gifted Children”, presented by Patrick Granelli; and “Anxiety and the Gifted
Child: How Parents Can Help Their Children Cope”, presented by Dr. Amanda Klein.
Our next seminars will be in the spring. You can find
information about them in our Spring Saturday Workshop
brochure which will be available February 1st.
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ON THE WEB. . .
BOOkS OF INTEREST
Guiding Parents to
Support Their Gifted Children
As parents, we want to help our children reach their full
potential. This can be especially challenging when our children exhibit characteristics of giftedness. Dr. Janine Walker
G. Caffrey authored the book Nurturing Brilliance (ISBN
978-1-93506-712-2) to help parents discover and foster
thier child’s gifts. Through personal stories of parenting
two gifted children, Dr. Caffrey not only defines brilliance
but also separates it into nine different areas. By answering
questions about a child’s characteristics and tendencies,
parents are able to identify their child’s particular area of
giftedness. Checklists for various developmental skills
allow parents to focus on strengthening areas of weakness.
Readers are also presented with information on asynchronous development, building relationships and mental
health. For more information, contact Great Potential
Press, Inc., P.O. Box 5057, Scottsdale, AZ 85261,
www.giftedbooks.com
Inside the Crayola
Factory
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5305844n
Since 1903, Crayola has been manufacturing wax crayons.
At their Easton, Pennsylvania, factory, up to 14.7 million
crayons are produced in 1 day! This is a short video showing the technology used to mold, label, collate, and pack
the crayons. Here is another website listing all the Crayola
colors since 1903: http://www.crayola.com/about-us/crayon-chronology.aspx
10 myths about gifted children
Myth 1. Gifted children will do fine on their own.
Truth: Gifted children cannot teach themselves
Myth 2. Teachers challenge all students in the classroom.
Truth: Most teachers have not been prepared to work with advanced students; therefore, many of these
children are not learning new material every day.
Myth 3. Gifted students are role models for other students in the classroom.
Truth: Average or below-average students do not look to the gifted students in the class as role models.
Myth 4. All children are gifted.
Truth: All children have strengths and positive attributes, but not all children are gifted in the academic
sense of the word.
Myth 5. Academic acceleration is socially harmful for the accelerated students.
Truth: Gifted children are often happier with older children who share their interests and abilities than with
children their own age.
Myth 6. Gifted education programs are elitist.
Truth: Gifted education program funding and availability of services can be elitist, but meeting the need is
not.
Myth 7. Students getting poor or average grades cannot be gifted.
Truth: Not all gifted students are academically successful.
Myth 8. Gifted students are happy, popular, and well-adjusted in school.
Truth: School can be a negative experience for some gifted students.
Myth 9. A child receiving special education services cannot also be gifted.
Truth: Having strengths in one area does not preclude the need for support in another.
Myth 10. Gifted education programs require an abundance of resources.
Truth: Offering gifted education services does not need to break the bank.
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Nominations for Nicholas Green
Distinguished Student Award
Sylvia Rimm’s Top Ten List Continued
Each year every state is offered the opportunity to recognize
a student in grades 3-6 who has distinguished him or herself
in academics, leadership or the arts. The awards were established by the Green family to honor the memory of their
young son who was killed in a drive-by shooting while visiting Italy. The award includes a $200 United States savings
bond and a certificate. Open nominations include self-nomination and nomination from parents, teachers, peers, and
community and civic groups. This award will be presented
at the New Jersey Association for Gifted Children conference in Somerset on March 8, 2013. Nominations are due
December 21, 2012. If you know of a deserving candidate,
applications are available at www.njagc.org
7. Be positive about your own work and that of your
child’s other parent.
If you arrive home and complain about your work daily,
your children will become antiwork kids. They’ll complain about their schoolwork and household chores. If
you don’t like your work, attempt to find better work,
and remind them that education provides more job
choices. Try hard to keep balance of work and family
fun in your lives.
8. Be a role model of ethics, activity, and hard work.
Locate other good role models for your children.
Your children are watching you. When you “get away
with” speeding, keep too much change, or are disrespectful to your parents (their grandparents), they’ll
notice. When you’re interesting and energetic they’ll be
equally impressed. You can be a good role model without being perfect, but your imperfections are showing.
You don’t have to do it all. Introduce your children to
friends and potential mentors who also will be positive
influences.
9. Enjoy learning experiences with your child.
Too many parents of 20-year-olds have sobbed in my
office because they didn’t find time for their children
when they were growing up. Make time for learning
with your kids and they’ll be learners forever. Enjoy and
develop interests together and you’ll not have regrets,
only wonderful memories.
Every great dream begins with a
dreamer. Always remember, you have within
you the strength, the patience, and the pas-
10. Keep a separate fun time and adult status without
giving your children adult status too soon.
Enjoy adult life without your children. Weekly dates and
a few adult vacations a year will keep you excited about
life. Give your children something to look forward to.
They can watch and wait and do child activities with the
family. Kids who get adult privileges too soon have
power beyond their maturity.
sion to reach for the stars to change the world.
Harriet Tubman
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