The Catalyst Page 1 Fall 2016 Fall is my favorite season, but I am looking forward to trading in my sweaters and boots for flip flops and shorts next week… I hope I will see many of you at the NAGC Annual Convention in Florida next week. In this pre-convention issue, we have a list of the strands for the Professional Development Network; as a reviewer for our network, I can vouch for the great sessions that we are offering– there were so many excellent proposals to read, it is unfortunate we couldn’t include more. In addition to our fabu- lous strands, please consider attending the Professional Development Network Meet- ing at 9:15 on Friday in Sierra 2. We will have the honor of presenting the PD Network Award to Robin Weidemueller for her submission, Gifted Educational Specialist Prep. I am also pleased to invite you to an Organic Storytelling session, “Hearing Between the Lines”, provided by Gail Herman in the Networking Niche on Friday at 3pm. Gail is graciously donating her time and talent, and will be accepting donations for the Pro- fessional Development Network’s Javits-Frasier Scholarship Fund. If you won’t be at the convention but are interested in becoming more active in the Professional Develop- ment Network, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me, or any of the leadership team! The Catalyst The National Association for Gifted Children Professional Development Network Newsletter Volume 5 Number 2 Fall 2016 In This Issue Page From Where I Sit … by Dr. Angela Novak 1 Feature Article: Tapping Students Gifted in Leadership Ability by Dr. Alan E. Nelson 2 Professional Development Network Award 7 NAGC Professional Development Sessions 8 About the Professional Development Network 10 From the Editor by Dr. Katie D. Lewis 10 Professional Development Network Leadership 11 From Where I Sit … by Angela Novak
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The Catalyst Page 1 Fall 2016
Fall is my favorite season, but I am looking forward to trading in my sweaters and
boots for flip flops and shorts next week… I hope I will see many of you at the NAGC
Annual Convention in Florida next week. In this pre-convention issue, we have a list of
the strands for the Professional Development Network; as a reviewer for our network, I
can vouch for the great sessions that we are offering– there were so many excellent
proposals to read, it is unfortunate we couldn’t include more. In addition to our fabu-
lous strands, please consider attending the Professional Development Network Meet-
ing at 9:15 on Friday in Sierra 2. We will have the honor of presenting the PD Network
Award to Robin Weidemueller for her submission, Gifted Educational Specialist Prep. I
am also pleased to invite you to an Organic Storytelling session, “Hearing Between the
Lines”, provided by Gail Herman in the Networking Niche on Friday at 3pm. Gail is
graciously donating her time and talent, and will be accepting donations for the Pro-
fessional Development Network’s Javits-Frasier Scholarship Fund. If you won’t be at
the convention but are interested in becoming more active in the Professional Develop-
ment Network, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me, or any of the leadership team!
The Catalyst The N a t i ona l Asso c i a t i on f o r G i f t ed Ch i l d r en
P r o f e s s i o n a l D e v e l o p m e n t N e t w o r k N e w s l e t t e r
V o l u m e 5 N u m b e r 2 F a l l 2 0 1 6
In This Issue Page
From Where I Sit … by Dr. Angela Novak 1
Feature Article: Tapping Students Gifted in Leadership Ability by Dr. Alan E. Nelson 2
Professional Development Network Award 7
NAGC Professional Development Sessions 8
About the Professional Development Network 10
From the Editor by Dr. Katie D. Lewis 10
Professional Development Network Leadership 11
From Where I Sit … by Angela Novak
The Catalyst Page 2 Spring 2016
In 1972, the Marland Report included “leadership ability” in its definition of gifted
and talented. Unfortunately, this domain has been all but forgotten as academic, athletic,
artistic and creativity gifts have driven the GT community and schools. What most educa-
tors fail to realize is that this oversight not only impedes these unique students, but also
the teachers trying to conduct civil classrooms conducive for learning. Teachers can learn
to identify students likely to possess organizational leadership aptitude and tap into their
social influence for the benefit of all.
Leader Aversive Classrooms
The typical classroom in America is leader-averse. The reasons for this are three-fold.
First, the structure of public and most private education requires one teacher to over-
see 20-40 students at a time. The sheer ratio requires a certain level of conformity, rub-
bing against the style of most natural leaders who are by nature non-conforming. Budding
leaders exercising their natural yet unvarnished abilities often get labeled “trouble mak-
ers” or their social strengths are depreciated within the classroom community, forcing
them to mask their aptitudes. There’s only room for one boss and it’s not going to be a stu-
dent.
Secondly, most teachers and administrators are trained in pedagogy and manage-
ment, not organizational leading. This latter skill set is strategically different from former
two. The adage, “it takes one to know one” fits here in that those gifted in teaching and
administrating often overlook those gifted in leadership ability and/or understand how to
channel their energies constructively. A common misperception we’ve noticed among edu-
cators is they sometimes confuse high academic students with leaders, when in reality the
best academic performers often lack the type of social intelligence required to gain the re-
spect from peers in terms of organizing them. While leaders are generally above average
IQ, they are not necessarily the top grade achievers. Thus, GT programs should be over-
looked for leader pools, but since gifts are domain specific, some of your C-students are far
more apt to be influential CEOs than those with perfect GPAs.
Tapping Students Gifted in Leadership Ability
by Alan E. Nelson, Ed.D.
The Catalyst Page 3 Fall 2016
Thirdly, most principals and teachers are so overwhelmed with a plethora of oth-
er tasks that adding yet one more component to their frenetic plate-spinning doesn’t
seem possible. This article itself will be overlooked by a majority of educators who feel
inundated by the tyranny of the urgent or who don’t have time to read about a non-
academic topic like organizational leadership. Plus, you can’t teach soft skills in the
classroom. They’re experience oriented, requiring project based learning for the most
part. Yet our work the last decade in identifying and developing 10-18 year olds gifted
in leadership ability, has taught us a lot about how schools can use these natural influ-
encers to improve school climate that research shows increases academic achievement.
Benefits of Leader Development
Before discussing a few ideas on creating leader-friendly classrooms and schools,
let’s look at two primary benefits that might help motivate your staff to seriously con-
sider adjusting their standard operating procedures.
One benefit is that when you identify and develop the natural influencers, you
will likely reduce the amount of classroom disruptions, often significantly. Think of a
class as a micro-community, where you have student equivalents of mayors, teachers,
counselors, athletes, artists and accountants. In a class of thirty, three to five are apt to
control more than half of the social influence. This is not right or wrong, it just is. De-
pending on the self-discipline, emotional intelligence, and character of these young lead-
ers, you’ll have more or less fires to attend. Tap this potential positively and you use
these students’ influence as an asset. Some of those with frequent flyer miles to the
principal’s office will grow up to be the most influential people in your community,
hopefully because of and not in spite of their school experience.
A second benefit is your school can legitimately say that it recognizes what the
US Department of Education and numerous other educational agencies have recognized
is a unique ability. By legitimately identifying and using these students even informal-
ly, you can expand the development of the whole child to include those who typically
won’t be affirmed for these gifts until much later in life.
The Catalyst Page 4 Spring 2016
Ideas for Creating Leader Friendly Classes
Here are three keys for creating leader-friendly classrooms.
Identify students with leadership aptitude. Educators possessing an aptitude for
leading are more apt to see this potential in their students. There are other
natural ways to determine the small percent who manage a majority of the or-
ganizational influence in a classroom, cafeteria, or school campus. Here is a
bullet list. Consider a student and rate each on a 1-5 Likert scale, one being
none or non-existent to five being strong and consistent.
The student is followed by peers. Don’t confuse a strong-willed or individu-
ally disruptive child with a leader. The key of leading is always a matter
of who and how many are following and to what degree.
Adults tend to select this student for roles of governance. This may be coach-
es, teachers, children’s pastors, etc. One exception is that sometimes
teachers select whistle blowers who are not necessarily leaders, if s/he
has to leave the room. While teachers are not apt to leave the class un-
der the authority of a negative leader, some of these students are very
capable influencers.
The student has the ability to “steal” attention of colleagues from adults. A
comment, spontaneous joke, or physical movement that distracts more
than two or three surrounding students is usually a sign of a leader.
This ability is typically considered problematic for many teachers.
The student tends to be goal oriented and organizational (though not neces-
sarily organized). Leaders are rarely lazy, video gamesmen, or lack am-
bition. They are higher energy individuals who busy themselves with
mental if not physical projects.
Students tend to talk about this individual and/or notice when
s/he is absent or not involved. While popularity is not nec-
essarily the same as leadership, leaders tend to be more
popular and got more than their share of attention.
The Catalyst Page 5 Fall 2016
For a more thorough measurement tool, we’ve developed the Social In-
fluence Survey that looks at 25-observable behaviors and estimates
leadership aptitude. It is available online and free of charge at
www.kidlead.com. Parents can take this for their children get an auto-
mated tabulation along with a key that explains the specific behavior in
how it relates to leadership, so if you want to see the results on the child
you respond about, click the parent button in the form.
Build rapport with your student leaders. Once the 3-5 influencers
of each class have been identified, create relationship building
opportunities so that the teacher develops a sense of trust and
respect among the leaders, both individually as well as the se-
lect group. This can be enhanced by teaming up with other
teachers and/or the class influencers they’ve identified. A
monthly classroom lunch, after school meeting with a communi-
ty leader for mentoring, or touch base with the principal, can go
far in creating constructive communication that can be tapped
later. While leaders don’t always flock together, they do relate
to each other, so bringing them together synergizes your ability
to use their influence with the class in general. Think of it like
judo instead of karate, in that you use the energy of your poten-