I have made dozens of presentations about gifted and advanced learners as a teacher-leader and as an administrator over the course of my career in my school divisions as well as at conferences such as:
- The College of William Mary’s National Curriculum Network Conference,
- The National Association of Gifted Children’s Annual Convention 2023 and 2025 (11/14/25),
- The Virginia Association for the Gifted Conference, and
- The Virginia Consortium of Gifted Education Administrators Annual Meeting.
I have also taught the Gifted Curriculum course to Master’s degree students as an adjunct professor at The College of William, as well as taught 2 and 3-day workshops of the course “Research-Based Teaching Models in Gifted Education” at The College of William and Mary’s Summer Institute for Teachers. Recently, I worked as an adjunct professor for Shenandoah University teaching the Gifted Social-Emotional Development course and the Gifted Curriculum course.
Some of the topics I have addressed through professional development (PD) include:
- Talent Development (See the WJCC School Board video of me discussing our Talent Development pilot program at one of our Title I elementary schools)
- Differentiation
- The Power of Feedback on Learning
- Gifted Identification- in general, underrepresented pops, etc.
- Student Engagement
- Talent Spotting
- Identifying and Serving Twice Exceptional Students
- Identifying and Serving Gifted and EL Students
- High-Level Tier I Instructional Strategies
- Leveraging MTSS for Gifted Education and Talent Development
I also tailor professional development sessions for schools and school divisions as needed.
My PD style is interactive. I provide an interactive agenda, and chunk the learning (I teach, then the groups process together what I taught using a collaborative structure). I always try to provide a handout (or handouts) and/or a curated list of resources for participants when appropriate. If you are interested in hiring me for consultant work, coaching, or professional development, please contact me so we can chat!
Here are descriptions of a few of my signature PD sessions or course modules:
W&M National Curriculum Network Conference 2025
Per the W&M Center for Gifted Education website, “The Center for Gifted Education’s annual National Curriculum Networking Conference (NCNC) offers sessions on curriculum, instruction, programming, assessment, and advocacy for high-ability and gifted learners. NCNC also provides opportunities for networking and highlights of the newest materials, practices, and curriculum approaches that are responsive to the needs of advanced students.” I am presenting a session on Thursday, March 27th, 2025 entitled, “Scouting for Talent Among our English Language Learners.”
Would you like a free download about my presentation, “Gifted English Learners?” If so, please complete my Contact Form (see button below) and I will email you the handout within 48 hours!
W&M Focusing on the Future
On Saturday, March 16th, 2024, The Center for Gifted Education at The College of William & Mary held its annual parent and student conference, Focusing on the Future. According to W&M’s website:
Focusing on the Future (FOF) exposes forward-thinking learners to career opportunities related to the arts, humanities, mathematics, and sciences. The program also informs parents of considerations and guidelines for effective career and academic planning.
I had the honor of conducting a parent workshop about talent development in my presentation, “Talent Spotting- How to Spot and Nurture Talent in Your Children.” If you have any questions about nurturing talent in your child, please do not hesitate to e-mail me.
Differentiating Content, Process, and Product
I presented video content about differentiation in one of the modules from the gifted curriculum course I taught through Shenandoah University.
Student Engagement
As an Assistant Principal in elementary school, I presented a year-long study of student engagement based on the book by Marzano and Pickering entitled, “The Highly Engaged Classroom,” (2010). I have a four-part PD course I used to train two different school faculties on student engagement, and I presented the strategy of leveraging the four elements of student engagement to administrators at the Virginia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development’s Annual Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia in December 2011.
Gifted Curriculum
I have a Teachers Pay Teachers store where I have a freebie as well as curricular items for sale. The items I add there are suitable for mid-upper elementary school.
Teaching for Talent 