OZ eLIVE 2016

Again this year I participated in the OZeLIVE! Online conference which ran from February 26 – 28 2016

I apologize for taking so long to post about OZeLIVE!
Possible excuses include
a. I have been very busy
b. I have been engaged in other programs/activities
c. Time is passing more quickly these days (my favourite!)

Participating

This year there were 19 interesting and inspiring webinar sessions. I attended most of them during the conference and intend to catch the ones I missed by listening to the recordings.
The recordings of the sessions are available at http://australianeducators.ning.com/recordings-2016

Volunteering
Again this year I volunteered to assist with moderation of the sessions. I was not the primary moderator for any of the sessions but was available as a backup in case extra moderators were needed.

Presenting

This year I presented a session titled Persona Dolls: Dressed for learning.
The recording of the session can be found at https://sas.elluminate.com/drtbl?sid=2008350&suid=D.51092091ED4B4597AC051BB74A41CD

OZeLIVE! – I presented

I was really delighted to be able to present a session for the OZeLIVE! online education conference which ran from 27 February – 1 March 2015. http://australianeducators.ning.com/

The details of my session together with some feedback I received can be seen at

http://australianeducators.ning.com/2015-accepted-presentations/personas-profiles-and-portraits-of-giftedness

Photos Jo Freitag

My Persona Dolls representing Neihart and Betts Revised Profiles of the Gifted and Talented made their first appearance at this presentation and I am very relieved and pleased to say that they were given a warm reception.
http://www.ingeniosus.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/PROFILES-BEST-REVISED-MATRIX-2010.pdf

A recording was made of the session and can be found at https://sas.elluminate.com/drtbl?sid=2008350&suid=D.BE2E9BF65F331889431F277C4B1F15

Errata: The reference slide should contain the wording All photos and images except  Gifted Awareness Week and OZeLIVE  logos  c. Jo Freitag

 

Persona Dolls

Recently I received a request from a teacher to answer some questions relating to giftedness to help her develop a persona doll for an assignment she was doing.

She supplied this information about persona dolls and the doll she intended to create.

“A persona doll is a doll developed by a practitioner/educator to enable children to gain an awareness and understanding of the richness and diversity of different backgrounds and lifestyles as well as to help children learn strategies for dealing with unfairness against themselves and others.
The dolls are given personalities, family and cultural backgrounds, likes and dislikes and the stories that are created around them enable children to explore positive and negative emotions.
To be able to develop one, I need to research and consult with children and their families to develop the persona doll identity and story. This is to avoid stereotypes and to provide an authentic representation of the children and their challenges.
I believe that developing a persona doll about giftedness can also be a way to advocate because children, families and educators where it will be shared will be cognizant of the current realities and difficulties faced by children that are gifted.”

She then asked a large number of detailed questions about ethnic, socio-economic and cultural conditions and everyday life matters to help her build a unique and authentic persona for her doll.

She would have liked to ask the questions to my youngest child also, hoping to hear a child’s voice expressed. Our youngest is now in his late twenties; so was not able to provide the child voice.

After replying that gifted children can be found in every ethnic, socio-economic and religion group so she could choose whatever background she felt most comfortable to use; I answered the giftedness related questions and some of the everyday life issues questions using my twice exceptional blog character, Sprite, to personalise the answers.

I have written a separate blog post about my answers for a post on Sprite’s Site and will include the link here
http://spritessite.wordpress.com/2014/10/13/could-sprite-be-a-persona-doll/

I have enjoyed searching the Internet for information about Persona Dolls.

Here are some of the interesting and helpful sites I found.

http://www.persona-doll-training.org/ukhome.html

http://www.amazeworks.org/curriculum/personadolls.html

https://extranet.education.unimelb.edu.au/ceiec/DiversityDolls/index.html

http://www.montessori.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/99725/issue_66.pdf

http://www.teachingforchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/ec_personadolls_english.pdf

http://maisiareflections.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/personas/

I began to consider the idea of buying a persona doll here http://www.persona-doll-training.org/ukresources.html

 

or here http://www.amazeworks.org/store/p_pdoll.html

and dressing it as my Sprite (I already have all the mini versions of De Bono’s 6 Action shoes and a mini plaster cast); or of sewing one myself.

I found sewing instructions here
http://www.livingcrafts.com/blog/doll-room/a-doll-for-every-child

This is what I imagine a Sprite 2E twice exceptional persona doll would look like.