We have decided that we should push a white paper on curriculum changes for New York state at the conference.

Any links to differentiated curriculum in other states?

Thanks.

Also, there was a post last year about getting more support on gifted education. The conference is about Global citizens, how our children's environment is going to be so different and what their curriculum needs to be.

So I am doing a big push on the publicity front, in NYC. I am approaching Tom Friedman to speak and also Howard Gardner.

Would appreciate any ideas on that front.

Ren

WOW!

Howard! I would love to see him speak!

pardon my naivite but, what do you mean by a white paper?

I have tried to get in touch with my local agate chapter.... no one ever got back to me. I am not a policy maker type.... but I stuff a good envelope!

ooowww! fancy!... I couldn't write one, but i could certianlly fold it with oragami persistion and gently place it in an envelope!

(Where is that kid..... I have words for him to tell me how to spelll....lol)

Good one soup.

The NY AGATE is not the strongest. I heard that Manhattan was really strong in the late 70s and that is when they got the gifted schools started. Now they are there and people don't join.

I found it difficult to get a response in the beginning. Right now the membership is mostly teachers, whose children are mostly grown. You need parents of young children that are willing to push to get things done for their kids education. So we are looking for a strong keynote and something that will feed the media quest for something controversial.

Also contacting Tom Friedman for the keynote, but he may be too expensive.

Ren

You might consult with other state gifted associations to not create from scratch...some states have developed "position papers" (is that the same as white papers)-- on things like "Ability Grouping" or "Differentiation" etc. Our state has these as well as a "Technical Assistance Manual" for the step by step approach. We are not the most progressive state so there are likely others to model from (I thought Virginia was strong)

Thanks Cym. They mentioned Differentiation.

Wren - I'd love to hear Friedman speak at a gifted conference - wow - I really enjoyed 'Earth is Flat' and must remember to request the audio of his latest from our local library!

I see that Susan Winebrenner has a new book out through free spirit - so maybe she is touring to support it: 'The Cluster Grouping Handbook: How to Challenge Gifted Students and Improve Achievement for All.'

Good Luck,
Grinity

Thanks Grinity. I will pass the info on. I really do not know if we can get Friedman. I would have to ask some people to underwrite it and I am not sure spending 10K or so on him speaking is the best way to allocate money.

Ren