C-Creation:
What exactly do you want to love into existence?
I am going to use this challenge ( See https://giftedresources.wordpress.com/2013/01/19/jos-chaos-plan/) as an opportunity to consider the 2013 version of Gifted Resources, Sprite’s Site and my personal life– which in some cases means continuing with services and activities in their present form and in other cases means revising, updating or discontinuing them or creating something completely new.
H-How:
How will you know you’ve accomplished it? What kind of parameters do you need to complete your creation?
Using my image ‘Getting the 2013 wheels turning as an idea starter I will regard each activity as a separate wheel and will be considering the activities individually with the help of mind mapping and then posting the resulting thoughts as blog posts
Gifted Resources will continue to engage in project work with Borderlands http://www.borderlands.org.au/
The main foundation of Gifted Resources is the website http://www.giftedresources.org/ I intend to leave the website very much as it is but to update it as needed. Some sections need a complete revision, some just need updating and some need all the links to be checked and made to open in new windows. Possibly a shopping cart may be added in future – I am still considering this.
The other main activities of Gifted Resources are the monthly email newsletters and the four Holiday Programs newsletters. I will continue to produce these.
At present the newsletters are sent as a PDF attachment to regular emails and are also posted on the Gifted Resources website. The most recent edition can be read by following a link on the main page and back copies can be read in the Newsletter Archives http://www.giftedresources.org/gr/newsletter.htm
I may consider changing the form of the newsletter as I have seen some very attractive templates for email newsletter which are not sent as an attachment.
For many years now I have been compiling the Gifted Resources Information Pack.
See http://www.giftedresources.org/gr/infopacks.htm
It is a collection of brochures, pamphlets, articles and business cards from psychologists, education consultants, parent support groups and extension programs and information about conferences and events relating to giftedness and to gifted and twice exceptional students.
The contents of the pack vary from time to time to reflect the currency and availability of the information. Although most providers now have websites and publish their information digitally, the Information Pack collection of hard copy flyers is still useful in many circumstances.
I am currently compiling the 2013 Info Pack
At present most of my consultation work is conducted by phone, email and post.
Using Skype has enhanced the effectiveness of phone consultation and made it a more affordable method.
Presentations can be given in person or in the form of webinars or Skype sessions
Last year I gave presentations for Jo Hart’s Fine Focus webinars http://johart1.edublogs.org/?s=Jo+Freitag using Blackboard Collaborate and hope to do so again this year.
I will be talking to a group of parents at Village School in March and would like to give other in person presentations during the year.
Last year I presented a Film Discussion on the film The Incredibles to a Lunch n Learn Group in Texas using Skype
It worked well. The Skype connection was so good that I felt as if I were in the room with the participants. I would be happy to do more Film Discussions in that way.
Also as I have 3 plastic crates filled with Film Discussion kits another option would be to add the kits to the Gifted Resources Library collection and groups can borrow a kit to facilitate holding their own Film Discussion.
I am in the process of re-cataloguing the Gifted Resources library
See https://giftedresources.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/re-cataloguing-the-gifted-resources-library/
And https://giftedresources.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/re-cataloguing-the-gifted-resources-library-2/
When the re-cataloguing is complete the Library page can be restored to the Gifted Resources website.
In August 2012 I received an email telling me that I needed to either close the Gifted Resources blog or update it to the newer format. My tech guru, Jamie Tarling, put in a lot of work to update the blog and transfer old posts into it.
See: There’s life in the old blog yet
https://giftedresources.wordpress.com/2012/08/18/theres-life-in-the-old-blog-yet/
Since then I have posted reviews of books, programs, conferences, webinars etc to the Gifted Resources blog and I will continue to use it the same way in 2013.
At present I am reading three books published by Gifted Homeschoolers Forum and hope to post a review soon.
Sprite’s Site blog http://spritessite.wordpress.com/ has the theme of Giftedness and 2E Twice Exceptional issues
In About the Topics http://spritessite.wordpress.com/about-the-topics/ you can read about the issues that have been discussed
The About Sprite page http://spritessite.wordpress.com/ describes the main theme of the blog.
Sprite is the twice exceptional (gifted with a learning difficulty or difference) cartoon character who is the Poster Child to illustrate Jo Freitag’s Feetspeak: 2E shoes presentations.
Feetspeak: 2E shoes is about planning programs that will be suitable for gifted students who also have a learning difficulty or different learning style using Edward De Bono’s 6 Action Shoes as the planning tool.
Sprite is always depicted as having an injured left ankle and needing to wear different shoes on each foot to illustrate the concept that she needs different educational provisions for both her giftedness and her disability.
The About the Characters pages describe the other characters you will meet on the blog.
I enjoy posting to Sprite’s Site as it gives plenty of scope for imagination and creativity as well as being able to present facts and opinions in a narrative form.
I would love to be able to produce books or e-books about the Sprite’s Site characters.
Last Christmas I gave mouse pads with the Twitter Bird bowers printed on them as gifts to some techie friends and I can imagine Twitter birds adorning mugs etc.
Currently I enjoy participating in groups relating to giftedness and 2E issues on Facebook and Twitter, especially the weekly #gtchat sessions on Twitter.
I will consider possible expansion of participation in these areas – perhaps a Gifted Resources Facebook page or revisiting my Linked In profile which I set up but have not used.
I also belong to a couple of NING communities and should visit them more often.
There is always so much to learn!
There are conferences in real life.
I will be attending the VAGTC EmpowerEd conference in April.
http://www.vagtc.asn.au/empowered-for-giftedness
Local libraries and groups offer real life opportunities.
MOOCs, webinars, global education conferences and many others offer so many online opportunities.
At the end of 2012 I participated in an online course about Digital Badges which led to Khan Academy http://www.khanacademy.org/ and several other sources of self education which I would like to pursue if I have the necessary time, energy and ability.
At the moment I am trying to learn about creating computer games at Gamestar Mechanic and programming with Scratch http://scratch.mit.edu/
This is an area which gives me so much satisfaction and happiness.
I will continue to participate in the Brilliant Chaos Group on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/brilliantchaosonline/
monthly creating challenges
http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/brilliantchaosonline/doc/253263591368971/
Regarding my personal life – this year we will be celebrating 40 years of marriage.
I am enjoying the quiet pace of life in Rosebud and would like to continue to walk on the beach and appreciate the many species of birds that visit the garden.
In the past I have been very involved with writing and teaching church Sunday School programs and I have several plastic tubs of programs which I have written over the years which I would like to turn into online programs. The church we are currently attending does not have a children’s program at the moment.
You can see on the mind map the purple dotted lines and text. These are the Wish lists or Possible? to do lists. They are the maybe I could?s . They are the What if…?
They are the Perhaps and the Imaginational Dabrowski says…. Lists
But it sounds more lofty and official to call them Aspirations!
Gifted Resources 