110 area teachers participate in Mid-Ohio ESC’s Embracing Gifted Conference
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Educators from 12 area school districts spent Thursday Aug. 3rd learning about gifted students and taking a deeper look at how to understand and fully meet the needs of gifted students.
Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center organized this event which featured two keynote speakers. The day opened with Angela Osborne who is a Gifted Coordinator in Marion City Schools and the President of the Gifted Coordinators of Central Ohio. The lunch keynote featured hi-lights of understanding a twice exceptional student and was led by Mary Rizza, a psychologist in Sylvania.
Mid-Ohio ESC Director of Education, Amanda Mahon welcomed participants and expressed her pride in the work of Mid-Ohio ESC’s Gifted and Talented Coordinators to offer such a high quality and informative opportunity for area teachers to begin their school year.
Conference participants chose from three breakout sessions to attend out of fifteen offerings throughout the day. Breakout sessions were ranging from gaining an understanding of the uniqueness of gifted students, extending math through projects, sights and sounds of honors classrooms, challenging high school gifted science students, elevating gifted writers through genre study, targeting gifted writers, clustered classrooms, projects in subject areas, STEM, creativity, personalized learning, and breaking the underachievement barrier.
A comment from a Crestview High School Teacher indicated that before this conference they had little to no knowledge about a gifted student. Another teacher from Madison commented that the keynotes were very knowledgeable and gave great insights on gifted students.
Leanna Ferreira, Mid-Ohio ESC Gifted and Talented Coordinator shared, “In response to the change in standards our gifted team worked hard to build a conference that would provide teachers with the necessary strategies and information to understand and grow their gifted learners. As we reflected on the day, the positive, energetic buzz that filled each room and the hallways told us that we had been successful. Watching the teachers leave with this energy fills us with additional excitement as we come alongside them to support them as they serve their students who are identified as gifted.”
Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center, located at 890 W. Fourth St. in Mansfield, provides high quality, cost-effective, specialized academic/ therapy support services and professional development for school districts in the Central Ohio Region. These include offering alternative educational options, preschool education and printing services, as well as conference center facilities.