Alberta Education policy 1.62- special education and 1.61 Educational placement of students with special needs are posted 

The B.C. Ministry of Education  have online publications concerning gifted education including  gifted education a resource guide for teachers, their manual of policies procedures and guidelines for Special Education and a Parents guide to IEP's.  They have questions for parents to answer about proposed graduations requirements posted here

Bill Tilliers Dabrowski site discusses Kazimieriz Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration.

The Centre for Gifted Education at the University of Calgary has a wide range of information.

CM is a weekly electronic reviewing journal from the Manitoba Library association which reviews books, videos and other material targeted for children and young adults.

CLN  the Community Learning Network part of the Open learning Agency in B.C. posts 50 to 100 new web links every month, some specifically curriculum related, some just very useful (like the one with the kids clip art!)

David Bairds Gifted Children's Website is run by an Ontario teacher of gifted children

Edmonton Catholic Schools Gifted and Enrichment Home page run by Don Delaney  contains links to lesson plans resources and programming for gifted students..

Gander academy school in Gander Newfoundland have pages of theme related resources on the world wide web for primary and elementary teachers and students.

New Gifted E Learning Centre is the product of a joint venture between the Ontario Knowledge network and the London District Catholic School Board

GIFTED ED `96, Dual Exceptionality: Gifted and Learning Disabled has summaries of presentations by Dr. Linda Silverman at a conference hosted by The Association of Educators of Gifted, Talented and Creative Children in B.C.

Global heros (en français aussi) is a bilingual we site for students and teachers focussing on individual Canadians with experience overseas

The International Baccalaureate Organisation aims to assist schools to develop the individual talents of young people with intellectual rigour, high academic standards, and a strong emphasis on the ideals of international understanding and responsible citizenship. Schools across Canada may offer this program usually in the senior grades.

Jerome and Deborah's Big Pages of Education links is run by two teachers in Northern Manitoba who have collected a welcome number of resources for teachers and students  we have lost the link for this site, if anyone knows where it went, please contact us!

Le site d 'adaptation scolaire et sociale de langue français (SASSLF) est une source de renseignements , un lieu d'interaction et d' échange.  Cherchez la section Douance.

New Brunswick has a site for original lesson plans aimed at using the internet for cooperative learning and enrichment

Nova Scotia has a challenge for excellence  document online from their Ministry of Education

The Ontario Ministry of Education and Training web site currently does not have a specific page on Special Education (hopefully this fall). However, there is now information which allows you to locate school board websites and school addresses.

 Children's Author Roald Dahl has a great website with lots of downloadable creative writing tips and pages for teachers.

Toilberta is for French teachers and students studying French as a second language 

The Tool Kit for Curriculum Differentiation is a work in progress by Lannie Kanevsky,   Associate Professor in the faculty of education.  The Tool Kit provides teachers, parents and bright and gifted students with the materials they will need to recognize students in need of more challenging curriculum, identify students learning preferences, seclect curriculm differentiation and learning strategies and develop IEP's

Teach Thinking is a section of the Education Quest website in the UK which offers great articles and information on teaching aspects of curriculum.

Teachon  is a Canadian site dedicated to bringing together parents, teachers and resources on the web.  Good resource material.

Telus learning connection  from Alberta (en français aussi) www.2learn.ca includes links to hundreds of sites connected to k-12 curriculum

United World Colleges offer international programs for interested students at sites such as Lester Pearson College of the Pacific

What Educators of Gifted Learners Need to Know About Gifted/ Learning Disabled Students, is a pamphlet written by teachers for teachers and is one of a series of pamphlets downloadable from the publication section of this B.C. teachers site.

                                               back to top site map

World Sites

Educating the Very Able: Current International Research  by  UK Professor Joan Freeman  is written for teachers and critically evaluates all current research from the point of view of practice.  It has useful summaries of what has been found to work and includes references to research by Canadians Françoys Gagné, Lannie Kanevsky and Bruce Shore.  It is extremely useful reading for teachers, parents and anyone connected with school policy. 

Westminster college Oxford  have a research centre for  gifted education (able pupils) with teaching links and suggestions ( the link is not active at this time)

Kids Domain UK has online lesson ideas

The Northern Grid for Learning is producing educational resources for teachers, Parents and Gifted Children on their UK website. (including case studies)

The New South Wales Association for Gifted and Talented Children  has Dr.Karen B. Rogers Research based essentials for Gifted Education services on actual effect sizes of various teaching practices as well as numerous other articles

New Zealand has several informative and well researched articles online for teachers  Assessing for Differentiation for gifted students  by Dr Tracy Riley of Massey Univeristy  along with articles on portfolio assessment, authentic assessment and self assesment for gifted children by Professor Dan McAlpine 

Acceleration studies The Davidson Foundation in the United States has released an online version of A Nation Deceived  which is a report by Nicolas Colangelo, Miraca Gross and Susan Assouline  about how schools routinely hold back bright students.  Parents looking for information on acceleration should visit the website at www.nationdeceived.org

Online manuals

B.C. Ministry of Education have their Special Needs Policy Manual and also Gifted Education, a Resource Guide for Teachers online

ova Scotia has a challenge for excellence  document online from their Ministry of Education

The State of Idaho Gifted And Talented High School Manual is online as a pdf file.

The Education Department of Western Australia has their Manual for Gifted and Talented
online.  It includes some of Françoys Gagné's Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent
 
 

Why do we do it?  Here by popular demand is a tongue in cheek look at education.
 
 
 

Teaching Strategies  Long memories ,deep memories

For teachers exploring the world of the gifted child, an important step is understanding  Dabrowski's Theory of Emotional Development, including his discussion of the overexcitabilities; psychomotor, imaginational, sensual, intellectual and emotional    It is as important to understand how these children are different inside as it is to determine a process to create an appropriate educational experience.  The two worlds can otherwise clash in very strange ways.  The story below was written by a 14 year old to define humiliation for an English essay.  An understanding of Dabrowski's sensual and emotional intelligences, would have created a learning experience connected with the subject being taught, instead of the emotional experience which resulted in the written piece below, eleven years after the incident occurred. (Gives you some idea of the prodigious memories of these children as well.)

Once, when I was but a boy, I had a teacher who I will refer to as Mrs "X".  It was back when I was very young in my first school.  In pre-school I had two teachers, and I got along fine with both of them.  However, this was about to change…….
We had just come back in from recess, when our teachers informed us that today's project was papier-mâché.  Being a youngster, I had no idea what this was except that it sounded like "pooper-mucky".  Horrible images crept into my young mind as I sat down at my desk.  These were quickly replaced with even more repulsive images as I saw the buckets of wallpaper paste.  For those of you who do not know what this looks like, it basically looks like porridge.  That is, after it has been briefly digested and brought back up again.  Resisting the urge to scream and run from the room, I decided I would try this project and try to enjoy it.  Our  teachers sat down with us and proceeded to show us what to do.  It seemed fairly simple: Just tear the newspaper into strips and dip it in the paste.  However, when I dipped my tiny hands in that bucket ( while looking away) I discovered to my horror that the stuff was still warm! It was disgusting! It looked like puke, felt like it, and, was all lumpy and slimy.  The teacher noticed that I wasn't doing anything.  When she asked if I had a problem, I replied "Yes, I do! I'm not putting my hands in there! It looks gross!"  The teacher just laughed demonically, seized my hands and said "Come on, it's not that bad, this is fun"  That couldn't have been farther from the truth.  Holding my hands above the bucket, she started to lower them in.  I was screaming like hell because I did NOT want to put my hands in that crap!  Then my teacher plunged my hands into the paste. I almost passed out!  To make matters worse, everybody was laughing at me.  I was so humiliated!.  However, later  that year I got back at her by "accidentally" spilling my juice all over her  dress.  But that's another story.

Upcoming conferences,  talks and notices