LISD Academic Advocates

1. Call to order and Pledge. President E. Frey called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm and those present recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

2. Minutes & Correspondence. Minutes of the November 20, 2002 meeting were approved as read.

3. Treasurer's report & budget. Treasurer F. Hashemi reported a current balance of $909.96 including $75 from new memberships since the November meeting and expenditure of $90 for 6 months of internet service.

4. Formation of Nominating committee. C. Kay and Ray Coppersthwaite agreed to serve on the nominations committee to select nominees for board positions for the 2003-2004 term.

5. Seek volunteers for Scholarship committee. C. Cavalli and E. Mittag agreed to serve on the scholarship committee.

6. Speaker - Wayne Craigen - Does Your Gifted Program Address Gifted Children?
Mr. Craigen presented material on several characteristics of gifted children, some of the social problems that may accompany these characteristics and guidance and instructional tips to moderate these problems. He referred to a publication of the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented (TAGT) titled Raising Champions, (see their website at http://www.txgifted.org/Products/productfive.html ). High achieving students are often confused with gifted students however each has characteristics which require special attention. High achieving students are highly goal oriented and because they usually have developed more evenly in the physical, cognitive, social and emotional realms, they may be many months ahead of their age group peers. Gifted students can be goal oriented however they are more likely to go their own way toward goals that are not so clear to those around them. Gifted children develop at different rates in the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional areas with the cognitive aspect often being far ahead of their development in the other areas. Thus a gifted youngster may be cognitively able to do college of graduate level math while having trouble relating socially to her peers. Due to this differences, Mr. Craigen advocated treating gifted students more like special education students and developing individual education plans to accommodate these varying needs.

7. Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Erika Mittag
Secretary