Mentoring Makes a Difference!
The VAGTC recently hosted two twilight seminars on mentoring. The seminars, “Mentoring: Does it Make a Difference” were facilitated by Christine Ireland, Mark Smith and Susan Knopfelmacher. All three educators are experienced in facilitating mentorships for gifted and talented students and shared valuable information with the seminar participants.
Christine Ireland provided a detailed introduction to mentoring in her presentation, “Making mentoring a reality in an educational setting”. Christine’s twenty years of teaching experience in both primary and secondary settings allowed her to connect with teachers from a broad range of backgrounds. Her presentation covered the “how to” of mentoring and offered an opportunity to learn about what can be achieved with a mentoring program in a school.
Mark Smith shared a mentoring success story and how he has used mentoring at Carey Baptist Grammar School in a Junior School setting. His presentation, “Combining Mentoring and Inquiry Learning” highlighted the impact that mentoring had on students in his “Altitude” program. Mark shared how he implemented this program and the key focus points for the program. He evaluated his mentoring program as part of his Masters thesis for his Master of Education degree in Gifted and Talented Education.
Susan Knopfelmacher shared how gifted and talented education has evolved at Presbyterian Ladies' College and how mentoring is currently being used in the extension programs at her school. Participants were amazed at what students were achieving in Year 9 and 10 at PLC under Susan’s leadership. Her presentation focused on what could be achieved with a successful mentoring program in a secondary school setting.
The Twilight Seminars were held on May 9th and 26th and were kindly hosted by Nossal High School and Carey Baptist Grammar School. We wish to thank and acknowledge these schools for their generous support of the VAGTC. We also wish to thank once again our speakers, Christine, Mark and Susan.
The next major event for the Victorian Association for Gifted and Talented Children is the VAGTC 2011 Biennial Conference: Unmasking the Possibilities. This event will be held on September 8 and 9 at the CQ Function Centre, 113 Queen Street, Melbourne, Victoria. Additional details are available on the VAGTC website.
Report by Michael Bond
Michael Bond is the Gifted and Talented Education Coordinator in the Junior School (K-6) at Oxley College and Vice President of the VAGTC.
