Calendar of Events

CAG Santa Lucia Region 5 is active with a great many events for students, teachers and parents of gifted children. Listed here are some of the many upcoming events. We also have a CALENDAR that lists these and other events.

If you know of additional events, programs or activities at any of the school districts (or individual schools) that we should include on our calander, please contact us and let us know!

Upcoming CAG SLR5 Events
GATE Coordinators’ Meetings	Workshops & Conferences
All 5 of our coordinator’s meetings this year are going to be held on Thursday evenings from 5:00–7:00 pm at Hobee’s Restaraunt in Los Gatos: 165 Los Gatos Saratoga Rd. (Highway 9 @ University Ave.), Los Gatos, CA 95030, (408) 395-5600 (Google Map) Thursday September 24, 5:00–7:00 pm, Hobee’s Agenda Minutes Thursday November 12, 5:00–7:00 pm, Hobee’s Agenda Minutes Thursday January 14, 5:00–7:00 pm, Hobee’s Agenda Minutes Thursday, March 11, 5:00–7:00 pm, Hobee’s Agenda Minutes Thursday, May 13, 5:00–7:00 pm, Hobee’s Agenda Minutes Educator Representative Steve Kahl has proposed that every meeting include the ongoing agenda of addressing these important questions: How do we set up and maintain a quality GATE program? How do we serve all GATE students in elementary, middle, and high school? How do we identify GATE students successfully? How do we train teachers in differentiating instruction effectively and efficiently? How can we get support from individuals at other sites in the region? How can we evaluate and continue to improve our GATE program? Here is the CAG SLR5 2008–2009 Regional Plan. (2009–2010 Plan coming soon!)	Training for Adminstrators Tuesday, October 6, 2009 8:30–11:30 am Hobee’s restaurant in Los Gatos (See location description to left, under Coordinators’ meetings) Read more about this event. Positive Identity Development for Students Wednesday, October 14, 2009 7:00–9:00 pm Campbell Union School District, Pacific University professor Mark Symanski will speak Teacher Training: “Differentiating Instruction Using Depth & Complexity Icons” Saturday, November 21, 2009 12:30–4:30 pm Santa Cruz County Office of Education Read more! Annual CAG Conference Friday, March 5 – Sunday, March 7, 2010 Sacramento Convention Center, 1400 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 (Google Map) More information at CAG’s website, www.cagifted.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=139. Second Annual “Student-to-Student” Conference
Online Events	Special Events
“WOW: Webinars on Wednesdays” Online Webinars from NAGC The National Association for Gifted Children (www.nagc.org) is offering a series of six webinars (online seminars) to “bring high quality professional development to your desktop.” These webinars are further described as ”designed for classroom teachers, counselors, graduate students, parents, g/t coordinators, and administrators. NAGC’s Webinars On Wednesdays will bring top-notch educational content direct to you. In the convenience of your home or office you will be virtually connected to experts in the field who will share practical advice, as well as updates on the latest issues in gifted education.” Each webinar is around an hour long, 45 minutes presentation followed by 15 minutes discussion. Tune in the 2^nd and 4^th Wednesday (plus a monthly “Parent Night”) for these informative webinars. WOW is FREE for a limited time! All sessions through 2009 are free, but you must register. More information and registration can be found at http://www.nagc.org/wow.aspx. You can also contact Derrick Johnson, Manager of PD Meetings, NAGC, (202) 621-5764 or djohnson@nagc.org. The six webinars will be: Classroom Indicators of Giftedness with Mary Slade, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, Wednesday, August 26, 2009, 7:00 pm ET All aspects of gifted programming must emanate from students’ unique educational needs. Gifted and talented learners are different from their same-age peers because of advanced cognitive, psychosocial, and physiological development. These developmental differences, as well as a host of outside influences, are expressed through a range of student behaviors and other indicators. How do teachers recognize the behaviors? How do they know what is necessary and appropriate in order to differentiate curriculum, instruction, and assessment? This session discusses characteristics, traits, related needs, and the impact of the environment on the expression of giftedness. Registration Closed: Capacity Reached Differentiation Overview with Jennifer Beasley, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Wednesday, September 9, 2009, 12:00 pm ET Registration Opens: August 27 Parent’s Night: Back to School, Back to Gifted, with Robin Schader, NAGC Parent Resource Advisor, Wednesday, September 16, 2009, 7:00 pm ET Registration Opens: September 3 Things Administrators Should Know about Gifted Education with Joyce VanTassel-Baska, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 7:00 pm ET Registration Opens: September 10 Pre Assessment: What are the Tools?, Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 12:00 pm ET Registration Opens: September 24 Examining the Myths and Truths of Gifted Education, Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 7:00 pm ET Registration Opens: October 15 Addressing Literacy Through Neuroscience, Thursday, September 24, 2009, 9:00 am Pacific Time The New Science of Learning is being created by the rapid growth in our scientific understanding of brain development and plasticity. Some recent research findings will be reviewed. The presentation will also review how neuroscience can be applied to the development of training tools that can help enhance literacy and learning in students. Online Webinars from Scientific Learning The fall series of webinars (online seminars) from Scientific Learning (www.scilearn.com) is called “The New Science of Learning: Changing the Way Students Learn” Complete information and registration (FREE) can be found at www.scilearn.com/company/events/webinars/index.php. The six webinars will be: Addressing Literacy Through Neuroscience, Thursday, September 24, 2009, 9:00 am Pacific Time The New Science of Learning is being created by the rapid growth in our scientific understanding of brain development and plasticity. Some recent research findings will be reviewed. The presentation will also review how neuroscience can be applied to the development of training tools that can help enhance literacy and learning in students. Disrupting Class, Wednesday, September 30, 2009, 10:00 am Pacific Time As our understanding of how people’s brains work and how people learn has improved through neuroscience and cognitive science research over the years, we now see that the way we typically teach and test often doesn’t match up well with how individual students learn. Using the theory of disruptive innovation, which describes how products or services that offer simplicity, affordability, and convenience transform a market that was previously dominated by complicated, expensive, and inaccessible ones, Michael Horn will describe how online learning is disrupting our notion of a classroom and how it offers the possibility of moving toward a student-centric learning system that is much more focused on different people's distinct learning needs. The Impact of the New Science of Learning on English Language Learners, Wednesday, October 7, 2009, 9:00 am Pacific Time English Language Learners are challenged to learn both the English language and academic content at grade level simultaneously. Join us in learning how the simultaneous development of language and content knowledge based on neuroscience and standards expands cognitive capacity and accelerates academic achievement for ELLs. Instructional Strategies for Reluctant Learners at the Secondary Level, Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 9:00 am Pacific Time This discussion will focus on issues, challenges and recommended solutions for educators to consider as they strive to provide effective learning interventions at the secondary level. The presenters will provide practical classroom/campus applications for educational improvement taken from the research based on Brain Fitness and student achievement. The Science of Learning Behind Accelerated Literacy for English Language Learners, Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 9:00 am Pacific Time This presentation explores how the findings of brain research focused on learning aligns with educational research into the teaching and learning of reading to accelerate literacy among English Language Learners (ELLs). Stewarding the Health of Our Children’s Learning, Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 9:00 am Pacific Time Children can innocently, intelligently, and unconsciously learn in ways that retard, diminish, or disable their capacities for ongoing learning. Learning can be unhealthy to learning. Our populations’ most widespread learning disability, “mind-shame,” is but one example of this dark side of learning. Drawing on “The New Science of Learning” and the work of the “Children of the Code Project,” this webinar explores the critical differences between “stewarding healthy learning” and “unwittingly facilitating unhealthy learning.”	ISEF 2010: International Science & Engineering Fair Sunday May 9 – Friday May 14, 2010 San Jose Convention Center The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, a program of the Society for Science & the Public (Intel ISEF), is the world’s largest pre-college science fair. It brings together more than 1,500 of the world’s most creative, intelligent and resourceful students from more than 50 counties. The fair allows these students to not only showcase cutting-edge science projects that compete for over $4 million in awards and scholarships, but also to share ideas,through networking with fellow young scientists. They are mentored by professionals and other volunteers who act as judges, speakers and event workers. This network of peers and industry veterans will provide a foundation that will foster new ideas for future-generation technologies. Lean more about Intel ISEF at www.isef2010sanjose.org/. Student Visitation Day: Thursday May 13 Heidi Black, of East Side Union High School District (San Jose) is in charge of bringing students to visit the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair when it comes to San Jose this May. Visiting the fair is probably most appropriate for students in grades 6 and above. A program, including a hands-on activity and college presentation as well as visiting the projects and talking with finalists, will be available to 6–8 graders, and all other students will have the opportunity to visit the projects and finalists on May 13, 2010. Contact Heidi at (408) 347-6563 or BlackH@esuhsd.org. The early notification is to inform you of the May 13, 2010 date, and to let you know of a possible source of funds to help offset the cost of a field trip: Target will award 5,000 Field Trip grants of up to $800 each for the upcoming school year. You can complete an application online anytime between now and November 3, 2009. For more information, please visit http://sites.target.com/site/en/company/page.jsp?contentId=WCMP04-031880.
Archive of Past Events