Parent Gifted Education Boot Camp: January 2025
Get to Know Gifted Education and Talent Development
Center for Talent Development (CTD) at Northwestern University has developed its Boot Camp for Parents to provide the knowledge, insights, resources, and support you need to identify your child's unique interests and talents and develop them fully.
Learn about current research on talent development and giftedness, the role of parents in supporting talent development, and how academic enrichment, acceleration, and other forms of programming promote talent development both inside and outside of schools. Talent development is a lifelong journey of learning and psychosocial (social-emotional, mental) skill development. Put CTD's 40 plus years of experience and expertise to work for you!
Boot Camp Topics
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Foundations: understanding giftedness and talent development, how abilities present themselves in different ways
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Identification: how to spot and nurture talent or advanced abilities, common identification practices and tools used in schools
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Services and Programs: In-school and supplemental programming, what programming can look like at each stage of talent development, resources and networks to explore as you plan for talent development
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Psychosocial Skills and Social Emotional Development: importance of these skills, role of parents in developing these skills, resources and guidance
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Advocacy: local, state, national and international organizations; relevant policies and laws; developing proactive and collaborative relationships with schools and educators; finding parent networks
Facilitators
Susan Corwith, CTD Associate Director; Melissa Hinshaw, CTD Assessment Coordinator; Tammie Stewart, CTD Outreach Manager and Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Young Scholar Liaison.
Format and Schedule
The Parent Boot Camp is offered as an online program with mostly asynchronous activities. Though the Parent Boot Camp takes place over a two week period (time frame in which the program content will be actively moderated by CTD facilitators), participants may access content and complete activities where and when it works best within their daily schedules. Content in each topic area may include short videos, audio recordings, articles, and slide shows followed by a discussion or brief activity, which encourages interactions among participants and the CTD facilitators. Two optional, 60-minute live, online sessions facilitated by CTD staff are also available to interested participants during the two-week period. Participants have access to Parent Boot Camp resources for 3 months following the session. (After the initial two-week period the site discussion boards and activities will not be actively monitored but content can still be accessed.)
January 20 - 31, 2025
Participants may access the Parent Boot Camp site on January 20. The site discussion boards and activities will be actively monitored by CTD staff through January 31. Hour-long (optional) synchronous discussion sessions will be held on Wednesday, January 22 and Wednesday, January 29 at 12 p.m. (Central Standard Time). The remainder of the materials and activities are on-demand so as to allow for maximum flexibility and personalized learning. Participants will have access to the materials and resources through March 2025 (though discussions will not be actively facilitated after January 31).
Cost
$55 per registrant.
Questions
Contact ctd-school-services@northwestern.edu.