Wow! It’s taken me two weeks, but I am finally settled down from the totally HYPE National Association for Gifted Children’s Annual Convention that was held November 9th-12th in Orlando, Florida. I must confess that though I have been in gifted education for 28 years, I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO AN NAGC ANNUAL CONVENTION! If you have never gone, I highly recommend you try to attend in Seattle next year! Trust me- you’ll love it and learn so much!
From the opening keynote (George Couros talking about “The Innovator’s Mindset”) to the closing keynote (Donovan Taylor Hall speaking about “The Learner Inside: Creating Emotional Safety in Learning”), the learning for me never stopped. I felt like I was among celebrities all weekend, which actually, I was, if you think about it. I got to listen to the giants in the field of gifted education talk about the things they wrote WHOLE TEXTBOOKS ABOUT way back when I was getting my Master’s degree with an endorsement in gifted education in the early 1990’s. I got to hear Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska (my former professor at The College of William and Mary, by the way), Dr. Del Siegle, Dr. Betsy McCoach, Dr. Donna Y. Ford, Dr. Ann Robinson, Dr. Nicholas Colangelo, and Dr. Rena Subotnik. I also learned from many other educators during the four days of the convention, including Dr. Tamra Stambaugh and Dr. Catherine Little, fellow W&M alumnae!
In order to best process my learning and share it with teachers and coordinators, I’ll be writing a series of blogs from the sessions I attended at NAGC (16 total, including the presentation I gave and the poster I presented). I can’t wait to share what I’ve learned with you! Please leave me a note in the comments if you’ve ever attended an NAGC Annual Convention. If so, when and where did you attend and what is one big take-away you had from it to this day? I hope to learn about some great take-aways from you! ~Ann
Teaching for Talent 
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