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CTD > Conferences, Seminars & Outreach

Conferences, Seminars, & Outreach Events

The Center for Talent Development hosts many informational sessions on issues related to giftedness throughout the year and attends gifted conferences and camp fairs in the Midwest.

Opportunities for the Future Family Conference -- Saturday, June 28, 2008

An afternoon event for students and their families! Featuring great speakers for parents and activities and intriguing mini-classes for students in grades Prek to 12, this annual conference is designed to help the families of gifted children make wise choices about paths to take and opportunities to seize. A light snack will be provided.
For educators: Professional development units will be available.

2008 Keynote discussion panel for parents

David Evenson, PhD, an Illinois licensed clinical psychologist. Evenson has worked with adolescents and their families for most of his career. For the past eight years, Evenson has worked with talented and gifted students at the Illinois Mathematics & Science Academy.

Michele Kane, EdD, assistant professor and coordinator of the Master in Arts in Gifted Education Program at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. Kane is the president-elect of the Illinois Association for Gifted Children and chair-elect of the Global Awareness Network of the National Association for Gifted Children.

May Ann Swiatek, PhD, a licensed psychologist. Swiatek works with mentally ill adolescents at KidsPeace and teaches Abnormal and Educational Psychology at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Her main research interest is intellectual giftedness, particularly in adolescents.

Download conference brochure

Sessions for Adults

Student Sessions grades 10-12

Student Sessions grades 7-9

Student Sessions grades 4-6

Activities for children age 4 to grade 3

Career Planning Resources

FAQs about the conference

Map to conference

Sessions for Adults

Keynote: 1 pm - 3 pm
Break: 3 pm - 3:30 pm
Session 3: 3:30 pm - 4:15 pm
Session 4: 4:30 pm - 5:15 pm

Sessions for Adults

Keynote speakers

1 pm - 3 pm

OPENING SESSION (A/1-2)

A panel of experts will discuss the emotional and social issues that often affect gifted students - motivation, self-confidence and stress management, for example - and provide strategies parents can use to promote the health and well-being of their children. Following the two-hour keynote session, each panelist will lead an individual two-hour session focusing on his/her particular area of expertise.

Break	3 pm - 3:30 pm
A snack will be provided or you can bring your own. Refrigeration not available.
Session 3	3:30 pm - 4:15 pm
EMOTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GIFTED CHILDREN: IS ANYTHING NORMAL? / Evenson (B/3-4) Session leader focuses on the various emotional characteristics of gifted children and adolescents. In the context of these characteristics, participants attempt to explore the emotional needs of gifted kids in order to help define what is "normal" for parents and educators to understand.
COPING WITH STRESS / Kane (C/3-4) Stressors in the life of a gifted child abound. Perfectionism, sensitivities, moral concerns, peers, expectations, and career confusion are only some of the issues facing gifted learners. This session examines specific strategies designed to minimize stress and develop self-awareness.
SOCIAL COPING AMONG GIFTED ADOLESCENTS / Swiatek (D/3-4) This session will describe ways in which gifted adolescents cope with the social implications of giftedness, as well as the connection between coping strategies and self-concept.
BOARDING SCHOOLS (E/3) Explore options for gifted students and discuss ways to assess schools.
WORKING WITH YOUR SCHOOLS (G/3) How can you create a win-win situation for the school and gifted children? During this overview, three school veterans, who also know a great deal about giftedness, offer strategies applicable to every age group. (See H/4, I/4, and J/4 for follow-up sessions.)

Session 4	4:30 pm - 5:15 pm
INVESTING FOR COLLEGE EXPENSE (F/4) Session leader is a trader and author of ETF Strategies & Tactics. He and two bank representatives will answer questions about changes and opportunities in saving for college. Various short-term ideas will be presented as well as new programs designed by the State of Illinois.
WORKING WITH YOUR SCHOOL/HIGH SCHOOLS (H/4)
WORKING WITH YOUR SCHOOL/MIDDLE SCHOOLS (I/4)
WORKING WITH YOUR SCHOOL/ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS (J/4)

Sessions for Students

Session 1: 1 pm - 2 pm
Session 2: 2:15 pm - 3 pm
Break: 3 pm - 3:30 pm
Session 3: 3:30 pm - 4:15 pm
Session 4: 4:30 pm - 5:15 pm

*For students grades 9 to 12*
Sessions 1 & 2	1 pm - 2 pm & 2:15 pm - 3 pm
TRANSITIONING TO COLLEGE (K/1 or K/2) How to prevent the first day of college from being the scariest day of your life.
MEDICAL CAREERS (L/1 or L/2) Did you think cutting up a fetal pig was fascinating? Do you wonder what causes headaches? The field of medicine has myriad career options. A doctor talks about what you can do with an MD.
BUSINESS CAREERS (M/1 or M/2) Business majors can market programs to kids or run Fortune 500 companies. What are other paths you can pursue if you major in business? Staff from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Graduate Management describe options.
LAW CAREERS (N/1 or N/2) Find out what it's really like to be a lawyer! We will discuss what it takes to get into law school (what you should be doing during and after college), the difference between litigation and corporation/"business" law, whether law is right for you, and what career options are available to you after law school.
Break	3 pm - 3:30 pm
A snack will be available to you or you can bring your own.
Sessions 3 & 4	*3:30 pm - 4:15 pm & 4:30 pm - 5:15 pm*
SELECTING A COLLEGE (O/3 or O/4) Should you look at local schools? A school strong in liberal arts? The speaker provides pointers on where to start the search and how to refine the journey along the way.
ENGINEERING CAREERS (P/3 or P/4) Engineers design bridges and microchips, airplanes and prostheses, everything in between and a whole lot more. Staff from Northwestern Unviersity's world-renowned McCormick School of Engineering talk about the career options available to students interested in this field.
LIBERAL ARTS CAREERS (Q/3 or Q/4) You're thinking of majoring in history. What could you do when you graduate? Teach? Research? Write? Become a lawyer? Go into advertising? Why a liberal arts degree offers students countless professional opportunities.
SCIENCE CAREERS (R/3 or R/4) Scientists can spend their careers working in a lab, orbiting the earh, unearthing the "worlds" of ancient people, or swimming in oceans. What are the other possibliities for a student interested in science?

For students grades 7 & 8
Sessions 1&2	1 pm - 2 pm
MENTORING (S1-2) You're interested in chemistry; your father writes children's books for a living. How do you hook up with someone who will provide you with more hands-on/real-life experiences than you might get in school or from your father?
TRANSITIONING TO HIGH SCHOOL (T/1-2) Are you prepared for this big step? This session helps you anticipate the expectations and academic and social pressures associated with high school.
BUILDING YOUR ACADEMIC/EXTRACURRICULAR PORTFOLIO (U/1-2) If you love what you choose to do, you will excel and thrive. Select academic and extra-curricular activities that challenge you and bring out the best in you. The speaker presents not only multiple options for summer programs and activities that tap into your interests and abilities but also ways you might take initiative and demonstrate leadership in the areas you enjoy.
MEDICAL SCIENCE (V/1-2) In this class called "Stems, Roots & Garfield the Cat," the instructor talks about the possibilities for science and medicine in the 21st century.
BUSINESS: UNDERSTANDING THE STOCK MARKET (W/1-2) If you've ever wondered why Starbuck keeps opening new stores (or how they come up with the money to build them), you might look to the stock market for answers. The speaker explains why the market exists, what a stock is, why it goes up and down, and how you might learn about stocks on your own.
ENGINEERING: MATERIALS SCIENCE (X/1-2) Under the watchful eye of an instructor, you'll design a hands-on project that turns scientific concepts into real-world applications.
LIBERAL ARTS: SERVICE LEARNING (Y/1-2) If you want to change the world, these speakers will explain how to turn that dream into reality.
Break	3 pm - 3:30 pm
A snack will be available to you or you can bring your own.
Sessions 3&4	3:30 pm - 4:15 pm & 4:30 pm - 5:15 pm
MENTORING (S/3-4) -- repeat of S/1-2
TRANSITIONING TO HIGH SCHOOL (T/3-4) -- repeat of T/1-2
BUILDING YOUR ACADEMIC/EXTRACURRICULAR PORTFOLIO (U/3-4) -- repeat of U/1-2
MEDICAL SCIENCE (V/3-4) -- repeat of V/1-2
BUSINESS: UNDERSTANDING THE STOCK MARKET (W/3-4) -- repeat of W/1-2
ENGINEERING: MATERIALS SCIENCE (X/3-4) -- repeat of X/1-2
LIBERAL ARTS: SERVICE LEARNING (Y/3-4) -- repeat of Y/1-2

For students grades 4 to 6

All sessions run the length of the conference with a break beween 3 - 3:30 pm.

MATH: PUZZLES & GAMES (Z/1-4)
Math is all around us, whether we're looking at puzzles, games or even art. In this class you explore different games and how they relate to math. You also look at and create your own art that uses maniuplations of mathematical ideas.

MEDICAL: FOODBORNE ILLNESSES (AA/1-4)
How long do you need to wash your hands before they're really clean? Why does it matter if your refrigerator is 46 rather than 41 degrees? What happens when someone gets salmonella? The answers are provided in this class for budding scientists like you and others just interested in bugs that can live in food, on hands and in mouths.

BUSINESS: HOW TO SELL STUFF AND MAKE A PROFIT (BB/1-4)
When you ask your parents to help you set up a lemonade stand, do you think about the cost of the lemons, the plastic cups, paper napkins and sugar? This class helps students like you understand the real costs associated with operating a business, revealing what it takes to market a "must have."

ENGINEERING: THE MATH OF FOLDING CIRCLES (CC/1-4)
Using stacks of paper plates and bits of masking tape, you learn to fold circles while modelling the principles, patterns, and transformational process of forming systems that are foundational to understanding the functions of geometry and mathematics.

LIBERAL ARTS: CREATIVE WRITING/YOUR POEMS PUBLISHED (DD/1-4)
So you want to write and publish. Spend an afternoon crafting poems and designing a book to share with family and friends.

Age 4 - Grade 3

Our Leapfrog staff from the Summer Program will provide an afternoon of games and activities, held in Annenberg Hall (a five-minute walk from the Technological Institute).


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Saturday Parent Seminars

Saturday Parent Seminars are open to the public and cover topics from handling gifted students with learning disabilities to advocating for a child's needs at school to harnessing a child's creativity. Seminars begin at 9:30 am and run until 11 am. Click on the sites to view the speaking schedule:


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In Your Community

To better serve gifted populations throughout the Midwest, the Center for Talent Development attends many state gifted conferences, state award ceremonies, Illinois camp fairs, parent meetings and the national educational conferences. Watch this page to keep abreast of when CTD may be traveling near you! If you know of an event that CTD should consider attending, please email ctd@northwestern.edu.

Where We're Going:

What	Where	When
Upcoming events not scheduled at this time

Where We've Been:

What	Where	When
Illinois Association for Gifted Children Conference (IAGC)	Chicago, IL	Feb. 4-6, 2007
Indiana Association for the Gifted Conference (IAG)	Mariott North, Indianapolis, IN	Feb. 22-24, 2007
Educational Resource Fair	Geneva Middle School, Geneva, IL	Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007, 7-8:30pm
PAGE Annual Youth Opportunity Fair	Greenfield High School (Greenfield, WI)	January 27, 2007, 10am-2pm


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Gifted Education Institute

If you’re seeking a comprehensive overview of gifted education, you’ll find it at the Gifted Education Institute.

By the end of the course participants will be able to:

Understand the breakthroughs and trends in the history of gifted education and research
Recognize and dispel myths associated with gifted education
Understand the intellectual, social and emotional characteristics of gifted students
Develop an understanding of the process used for the identification of gifted students
Understand the different program options available for gifted children
Recognize various curriculum design models for gifted education
Apply curriculum design models to district curriculum for the purpose of development implementation and evaluation of instruction for gifted students
Analyze components of current school gifted programming and identify and evaluate models currently in use.

Course costs $390 (IAGC) or $440 (non members) if you register by June 29th. Three hours of graduate credit are available through Aurora University for an additional $300. CPDUs are available.

Contact the IAGC office for registration forms and/or more information: 847-963-1892; 800 E. Northwest Highway/Suite 610, Palatine, IL 60074

Past fall seminars and other special events:

Spend a Day with Michael Clay Thompson (September 15, 2007)

Michael Clay Thompson, author, teacher and empowering practitioner whose knowledge about the English language is truly extraordinary - conducted a full day seminar at Center for Talent Development discussing the instruction of vocabulary. He stressed the importance of vocabulary in a curriculum and the most effective ways to incorporate the study of words into classroom teaching every day.

"Gifted Students and Underachievement" with Del Siegle and Betsy McCoach (Oct. 15, 2005)

Drs. Del Siegle (www.delsiegle.info) and Betsy McCoach, two nationally known experts in gifted education, spoke at Center for Talent Development to provide parents and teachers with insight and strategies to help children reach their potential for academic achievement and excellence.

Morning Session: Understanding Gifted Children Who Underachieve
Why do some students who seem capable of outstanding performance fail to realize their potential? If your child - or children you know - fit into this category, you're not alone. Drs. Siegle and McCoach shared insights they've gleaned during years of studying underachievement in academically talented children. They also explained how to help children recognize and appreciate the skills they already have - which increases their self-confidence and probability of success.

Lunch Networking
Informal lunch and chat time with Drs. Siegle and McCoach, as well as other parents and teachers of gifted students.

Afternoon Session: Strategies for Helping Gifted Underachievers
Do you know gifted children who do not see the value of school? The pay-off for learning? Do you know a talented child who loves math but never finishes the assignments? Drs. Siegle and McCoach offered specific steps parents and teachers can take to help children value academics and improve their time management and study skills. The speakers recommended the steps that must be taken to create a particularlyfriendly and supportive environment - increasing the likelihood of children reaching their potential.

Saturday, October 23, 2004 - "Re-Forming Gifted Education: Matching the Program to the Child" A special workshop with Dr. Karen Rogers

Karen Rogers, Ph.D. is a highly respected researcher in the field of gifted education, and also draws from her experience in developing individual educational plans for over 150 high ability children. She will be presenting and discussing findings as presented in her book, "Re-forming Gifted Education". Click here for a recent article on her book. The chapters of the book take parents and educators systematically through a process of planning, information gathering and negotiation, resulting in a personalized, comprehensive plan for a gifted learner. Rogers helps parents understand their child's personality traits, learning preferences, strengths, and interests. She then educates parents about the various program options that could be used to accommodate their gifted child's abilities. From there, Rogers leads her readers through the process of actually writing the plan and working with school personnel to get it implemented. The text is peppered with real examples of gifted children, helping to bring the information down to a concrete, practical level. A strength of this book is the combination of research data with practical advice and tools such as data gathering surveys. Parents who wish to follow Roger's process will be rewarded with a detailed educational plan for their child, but they will need to be prepared to work carefully and systematically through the steps she provides in the various chapters of the book.

Thursday, November 6, 2003 - "Cause for Concern, or Reason to Celebrate: The Social and Emotional Development Gifted Children" with Maureen Neihart

Keynote Speaker:

Maureen Neihart, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical child psychologist with more than twenty years’ experience counseling gifted children and their families. She is co-editor of the new text, The Social and Emotional Development of Gifted Children: What do we Know? and a former member of the board of directors of the National Association for Gifted Children. Dr. Neihart serves on the editorial boards of Gifted Child Quarterly, Roeper Review, and Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, and she has given more than two hundred lectures and workshops worldwide. She and her husband, Doug, live in Laurel, Montana where they are licensed as therapeutic treatment foster parents and work with seriously emotionally disturbed adolescents in their home. Dr. Neihart’s special interests include children at risk and violent youth. Her one act comedy, The Court Martial of George Armstrong Custer, was produced and filmed for local television in 2000. Take a look at a review of her new book "Cause for Concern, or Reason to Celebrate: The Social and Emotional Development of Gifted Children"

Friday, May 9, 2003 - “Gifted Education Today” with CTD founder, Joyce VanTassel-Baska

Keynote Speaker:
Joyce VanTassel-Baska is The Jody and Layton Smith Professor of Education at the College of William and Mary in Virginia and founder and former director of the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University. She has served as the state director of Illinois gifted programs, as a regional director of a Chicago gifted service center, as coordinator of gifted programs for the Toledo, Ohio public school system, and as a teacher of gifted high school students. She has worked as a consultant on gifted education in over 40 states and for key national groups, including the U.S. Department of Education, National Association of Secondary School Principals, and American Association of School Administrators. She is past president of The Association for the Gifted of the Council for Exceptional Children, Phi Delta Kappa, and a current member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Gifted Children. Dr. VanTassel-Baska has received numerous awards: the National Association for Gifted Children’s Early Leader Award in 1986, the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award in 1993, the Phi Beta Kappa faculty award in 1995, the National Association of Gifted Children Distinguished Scholar Award in 1997, and awards from five states for her contribution to the field of gifted education. She holds B.A., M.A., M. Ed., and Ed.D. degrees from the University of Toledo.

Thursday, December, 5, 2002 - "Transforming Adolescent Giftedness into Adult Success: How Parents Guide & Provide" with Rena Subotnik

Keynote Speaker:

Rena F Subotnik, PhD is director of the Center for Gifted Education Policy at the American Psychological Association (APA). The center's mission is to generate public awareness, advocacy, clinical applications and cutting-edge research ideas that will enhance the achievement and performance of children and adolescents with special gifts and talents in all domains, including the academic disciplines, the performing arts, sports and the professsions. Before she came to the APA, Dr. Subotnik was a professor of education at Hunter College and research/curriculum consultant to Hunter's laboratory scools for gifted children. She has been awarded reseach and training grants with the National Science Foundation, the Javitz Grant Proram of the US Department of Education and the Spencer Foundation. She currently serves on the editorial boards of Roeper Review, Gifted Child Quarterly, High Ability Studies, Educational Horizons and the Journal for Secondary Gifted Education. Dr. Subotnik also conducts featured interviews in the Journal for the Education of the Gifted under the title "Conversations with Masters in the Arts and Sciences." She is author of Genius Revisited: High IQ Children Grown Up (1993), and co-editor of Beyond Terman: Contemporary Longitudinal Studies of Giftedness and Talent (1994), Remarkable Women: Perspectives on Female Talent Development (1997) and the second edition of the International Handbook of Research on Giftedness and Talent (2000). Dr. Subotnik has been named the 2002 Distinguished Scholar by the National Association for Gifted Children.