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Home of the Ruf Estimates
of Gifted Online Assessment
February 2011
In This Issue
World Maths Day
Map Game of the Middle East
Winter Issue of GEPQ
Gifted Adults
Ingenious Minds
Change Your Story, Change Your Life
Keeping Up With Dr. Ruf

Minnesota Council for Gifted and Talented, East Metro Chapter, CHAT Night, Thursday, March 3, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.,  at the District 622 Service Center, 2520 East 12th Avenue, North St. Paul. Dr. Ruf will discuss guidelines for parenting gifted children, as well as gender issues.


Minnesota Council for Gifted and Talented Seventh Annual Resource Fair, Saturday, March 19, 2011, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Edina Community Center, 5701 Normandale Road, Edina, MN. Dr. Ruf will speak at 9:00 a.m. about "What is Gifted?" and at 1:00 p.m. on "Education and the Gifted Child."

 

On Saturday, January 29, 2011, Dr. Ruf joined with Mary St. George of New Zealand as speakers for the Fourth Global Virtual Meeting in Gifted Education through Secondlife. The topic was "Underachiever."   The event is now available through the following links: All Links, Full Version, and YouTube.       
Greetings!

We're seeing signs of spring here in Minnesota - simply in the fact that the snow is "sublimating" down to one inch. Apparently that happens when a solid changes to a gas rather than a liquid. In other words, the snow is disappearing! Of course, this being Minnesota, and with the erratic nature of the weather this season, I'm sure we'll see more snow before we start seeing daffodils.

Whatever the weather in your area, we hope you are safe and warm and enjoying the year so far.

Sincerely,

  

Kathy Hara, Editor

 

P.S.  We are sending this newsletter to a number of Dr. Ruf's family, friends and colleagues, in the hopes they will enjoy the contents. If not, they may feel free to unsubscribe!  


World Maths Day 

 

Imagine students from all around the world solving the same math problems over the same 48 hours. That's what happens on World Maths Day on Tuesday, March 1 (the official competition runs for 48 hours, for as long as it is March 1 somewhere in the world). All students and schools from around the world are invited to unite to set a new world record for the numbers of questions correctly answered in math. Then, as part of the World Education Games, World Spelling Day will take place on Thursday, March 3, and then, eventually, World Science Day will be scheduled in 2012.

Students (including homeschoolers) play at home and at school against other students around the world in live games of mental arithmetic.  Each game lasts for 60 seconds and students can play up to 100 games, earning points for their personal tally.  There are 5 different levels of play, 20 games on each level. The students who answer the most questions correctly appear on the Hall of Fame.  

 

Registration on the site is quick and easy, and participation is free of charge. During the registration process, you will also be automatically registered for World Spelling Day, which takes place on March 3. Once you have registered, you receive an email with simple instructions for getting started. Visit the World Maths Day website for more information, start times, and to register.

 

Map Game of the Middle East

With so much going on in the Middle East these days, here's a fun way to hone your knowledge of the geography of that area.  

 

This map game is offered by Rethinking Schools Online, which was started in 1986 by a group of teachers from the Milwaukee area. Besides wanting to improve education in their own schools, they want to shape reform throughout the public school system in the United States. So after you complete (or give up) on the puzzle, you might want to browse the site.

 

Winter Issue of GEPQ
 

The Gifted Education Press Quarterly is offering a complimentary copy of its Winter 2011 issue online. Contents include Discussion of The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr (2010); Nurturing Creativity; Gifted Girls; Educating Twice-Exceptional Children; Summary of Gifted Lives: What Happens when Gifted Children Grow Up (2010) by Joan Freeman; Ray Bradbury, Gifted Science Fiction Writer.

 

To receive your copy, send an email to  gifted@giftededpress.com, and then consider subscribing. The GEPQ appreciates your support in making their magazine a resource available to all educators and parents who want to maintain and expand programs for gifted students.
 

 

Gifted Adults

Gift of Being Uncommon coverWe've recently heard of a book out of the Netherlands entitled Enjoying the Gift of Being Uncommon. Written by Willem Kuipers, the author coins the phrase eXtra intelligent (Xi) to alternate with the term "gifted," as adults are often uncomfortable applying that term to themselves. As in his counseling career with his partner Annelien van Kempen, Kuipers guides his readers in understanding why they feel so different.

For more information about the book, read a posting from Linda Silverman's Foreword at highability.org. To order the book, go to the English language version of Kuipers' site at http://www.xi2.nl/EN/sources/book.html.

 

Ingenious Minds

There's a new television show debuting Thursday, February 17, on the Science Channel (at 10 p.m.Central Time). Titled Ingenious Minds, the show chronicles the lives of six people with extraordinary intellectual capabilities and the challenges they face.  Each of the six has severe neurological disorders or traumatic brain injuries which affect their abilities, and leading neurological researchers offer insights into their unique brain functions.


Change Your Story,
Change Your Life 

Is It a Cheetah
is an article familiar to many parents of gifted children around the world. This was written by Stephanie Tolan, who has moved back and forth between writing fiction and nonfiction and has won such prizes as the Newbery Honor and the Christopher Award and has been a New York Times bestseller.

Now Tolan has written Change Your Story, Change Your Life, and she is offering it as a free download.

Her website, StoryHealer.com, is named for the healing power of what Tolan terms "Story Principle." This "enlists one of our greatest natural assets-imagination-to change our stories and enrich our lives." Her website is "dedicated to exploring the infinite possibilities of story for the benefit of ourselves and our world."  

 

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Newsletters from Educational Options

If you like this newsletter, you may wish to subscribe to our Educational Options Newsletter, as well. Issued once a month, this newsletter contains completely different content from the TalentIgniter Newsletter. To subscribe, simply send an email to Kathy@EducationalOptions.com, and write "Subscribe to Newsletter" in the subject line.
To see visit the Educational Options Newsletter archives, visit our website at http://www.educationaloptions.com/newsletters/newsletters.php.

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TalentIgniter 

  

TalentIgniter invites you to browse the many features offered on its website, including the following:
  • Dr. Ruf's Talent Igniter Blog 
  • The Parents' Picks section (with recommendations for parents of eager little learners, starting at infancy with more age groups added weekly!)
  • Book Recommendations for people wanting to learn more about gifts, talents, and how to develop both!
  • Detailed insider information about the Ruf Estimates of Levels of Gifted Online Assessment, the inventory parents fill out to know how to help their own young children thrive.
Keys ebook cover
Keys to Successfully Raising the Gifted Child

You know your child is gifted. But how does that impact day-to-day life and your role as a parent?

Written by Deborah L. Ruf, Ph.D., and Larry A. Kuusisto, Ph.D., this ebook is for parents who are new to the idea that their children might be intellectually advanced or gifted. The book addresses important parenting issues, including what to actually tell your child about his or her giftedness, how schools approach learning differences, best ways to provide emotional support, sibling rivalry, and more.

The book delivers lots of provocative information that will lead to hours of good discussion, debate, and further investigation and research by group or class participants studying the gifted and talented.

The book is available for purchase at www.TalentIgniter.com/products.

5 Levels of Gifted


5 Levels cover5 Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options (2005) (formerly titled Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind). 5 Levels of Gifted, published by Great Potential Press, combines four years of data gathering from 50 families with nearly 30 years of research and experience in the field of giftedness, individual differences, and high intelligence. The book is aimed primarily at parents and vividly describes the upper 10 to 15 percent of the intellectual continuum in human beings from birth to adulthood as manifested in their behaviors, thoughts, accomplishments, and test scores. She introduces the concept of Levels of Giftedness and makes it very clear how many factors contribute to a person's intellectual levels and achievement.