Post disceptationem , Pax

Reflections on the VAGTC State Conference

I hope any readers out there were able to attend the VAGTC Conference in the CQ Centre this week. Highlights for me were my first workshop [more on my subsequent relief later] and the speeches by Manoj Chanda Handa.

Huge thanks to the people at CQ and the Karsten's AV mob, who came to the rescue when the wi-fi dropped out minutes before the presentation, and during the workshop itself... and the subsequent relief. Apologies for those of you unable to download the A-Z guide, so here's a link for you with the script from the presentation.

A few things finally for any readers out there.

1. the link to obtain the A-Z guide and script (click)
2. the link to the feedback page and an offer to visit your school (click)

Thanks to the following for their support and honest advice;

• Anita Evelyn
• Holly Mae
• Harrison Roberts
• Phillip
• Carolyn and Briony

Next stop, Odense Denmark in August for the WCGTC conference, Aug 9-14 2015!

Countdown!!!

Only a few days to go until the Victorian Association for Gifted and Talented Children conference at the CQ Centre in Melbourne, May 21 and 22 2015.

With a few days up my sleeve, the script is almost complete, a few minor additions here/subtractions there. My children have been hard at work putting the finishing touches to the collaborative slideshow that will be available here [only to view now, you'll be able to edit your copy during the conference] right now! At just-under 8000 words the script will be available also on the day of the VAGTC conference as well. I hope any readers out there will introduce themselves and take part in what, i hope, will be a useful and stimulating experience!

Here's the updated list.. once again, feel free to let me know your thoughts, questions and suggestions!

As of 16 May [Happy Birthday Matthew James!]

An A to Z guide to developing an Academic Extension Program

	is for....
A	ATTITUDE and the Australian Problem Solving Mathematics Olympiad and GAMES, Audiobooks and Acid Express
B	BEHIND THE NEWS and Blox, Blippar, Bills and Blogger
C	CRITERIA and COLLABORATION, Code.org and Calendar books
D	DEVICES, Dromkeen and D3/3D printing with TinkerCad
E	EVERNOTE and Cloud services such as www.live.com, eBooks
F	FUTURE PROBLEM SOLVING, FloorPlanner, Free Postcards and FUTUREPROOF
G	GOOGLE Docs, Scholar, Forms and apps
H	HAPPINESS and Helix magazine
I	INFORMATION NIGHT, au.IXL.com, Investment Club and Inklewriter
J	JUSTIFY YOUR THINKING through P4C Philosophy and Turningstonechoice.com
K	KEY concepts of the PYP, Kickstarter, Khan Java Classes
L	LOOK DIFFERENT, LabRats, Lego, LinkedIn and Lunchtimes
M	MASK MAKING, Melbourne Writers Festival, Mythbusting and Microscopes
N	NEW MEDIA MENTORING and NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC FOR KIDS
O	OUTDOOR INITIATIVES and Old Bailey Online
P	PARENTS, Paint swatches, PowerPoint Investigations, PBS kids and Pinterest portfolios
Q	QUEST as in MAV Mathematics Talent Quest and Questioning
R	RUBRICS, Robotics, Reverse Garbage Dump, Room108
S	SYMBALOO, SketchUp, Science Night, Storybird and Storyboard and Scholastic Story Starters, Science Talent Search
T	TOURNAMENT OF MINDS, TeacherTube and That's My Face
U	Using CognitiveFun.net and Unconditionally
V	Adding VALUE to your school
W	WRITING CLUBS, Writing Competitions, Word Girl and Wikis
X	EXCITING and EXHIBITION
Y	YOUTH SERVICE DEPARTMENTS at local city councils
Z	ZIMMERTWINS and ZERO COST