Hungary has for many years had a national day of talent to mark Béla Bartók's birthday on 25th March. This year, with talent support as the central theme of their presidency of the EU, they have invited the rest of Europe to join them on Saturday 9th April to mark EU Talent Day. Together with Peter Lydon, we see this as an opportunity both to raise awareness of the needs of gifted and talented children and to give them an opportunity to celebrate their exceptional ability. To this end we have planned
National Gifted Education Awareness Day
Friday 8th April
The goal of this event is to promote awareness among teachers of the special needs of Exceptionally Able and Twice Exceptional (2e) children in classrooms across Ireland
EU Talent Day Ireland
Saturday 9th April
On this day, we would like to encourage individuals, groups and organisations to organise events to celebrate talent of all descriptions. This may be something as simple and informal as parents meeting for coffee whilst their kids are at CTYI classes. We are working on a few ideas of our own, but here are some great but simple ideas which you could use to contribute to the day:-
a treasure hunt
an art and craft event
an art and craft event
a concert
a dance-off
a poetry reading
a book club meeting
a sports event
a museum tour
a visit to an art gallery
a trip to the ‘Dead Zoo’
A trip to a real Zoo!
A picnic.
...anything goes...be creative! Organise your event for gifted children then tell your community….go to our facebook page and post your idea to inspire others.
We would love to see all gifted advocates in Ireland come together to make this occasion a springboard for taking gifted education and awareness to a new level. Please feel free to post any ideas, comments or events on the facebook wall. The Facebook page and the Talent Day are yours to share.
Personally...and I know I'm biased...but I believe the 8th and 9th of April will be a red-letter day for parents and advocates of gifted children and their education. It is tempting to say that if they don't get involved then they can't expect others to see the value of the cause. This would be unfair - people have lives afterall. But it does need to be emphasised that this is THE moment to jump-start progress in mainstream gifted education. Without parents up and down the State marking the day, it is hard to see gifted advocacy moving away from the narrow confines of the converted who currently populate the gifted movement.
ReplyDeleteIn 2006 there was approximately 1,166,000 children under 19 years of age in the State. Roughly 58,000 of these are Exceptionally Able. Even if a small percentage of these childrens' parents got involved and marked the day, this would be a significant statement.
This is a wonderful initiative and so important that we show our kids and teachers that we recognise how special they are and value their talents.
ReplyDeleteWhat can I do?
It was hard to pass up an opportunity like this to raise awareness of the needs of gifted children in Ireland. Plus, we could all do with something to celebrate about ourselves! Thanks for the enthusiasm...email sent!
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