Newsroom

The Gifted Education Advisory Committee (GEAC) is hosting two parent speaker events at the Grafton Middle School Kiva. These events are open to public and parents are encouraged to attend.

 

 

 

October 25, 2011, 6:30-7:30 pm: Dr. Ellen Fithian: Preparing Students for College

Dr. Ellen Fithian has always loved school! She has earned a B.A. from Wellesley College, an M.D. from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and a Ph.D. in Educational Policy, Planning, and Leadership from the College of William and Mary (emphasis in gifted education).

 

She began her professional life as a physician. However, while taking time off from medicine to be a full-time mother she became involved in education and decided to pursue a doctorate in that field. After earning her degree in 2003, she served as the Director of Precollegiate Learner Programs at the Center for Gifted Education for a year before launching her independent consulting business.

 

The college admissions process has been an area of particular interest for her. As part of her Ph.D. program, she conducted research on college admissions and completed an internship in the admissions office at the College of William and Mary. She has also had the first-hand experience of guiding her own four children through local public schools to Princeton, Brown, and Harvard. She has conducted numerous workshops on admissions at her office as well as at the College of William and Mary, Peninsula schools, and libraries. In addition, she has provided individual college planning services to numerous families and is Coordinator of a College Planning Program that she initiated at the Governor's School for Science and Technology in Hampton, Virginia.

 

Dr. Fithian is active in state and national educational advisory groups. She serves on the Virginia Advisory Committee for Education of the Gifted and on the Editorial Board for Parenting for High Potential, a publication of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC).

 

The York County Gifted Education Advisory Committee (GEAC) is excited to have Dr. Fithian share her expertise in preparing students for college. She will focus on what parents of elementary, middle, and high school students need to know about the changing landscape of college admissions. Come and take advantage of her knowledge and suggestions to make this sometimes stressful event a more pleasant experience for both parents and students alike.

 

November 14, 2011, 6:30-7:30 pm: Dr. and Mrs. Buoncristiani: Habits of the Mind

Dr. Martin Buoncristiani is an emeritus professor of physics at Christopher Newport University. He has been dedicated to science and mathematics education for over forty years. In his involvement in curricular development for the university he has been a strong advocate for adapting teaching methods to our current understanding of how people learn. His scientific research has focused on lasers and optical science and he was awarded the NASA Public Service Medal for his work developing instruments for atmospheric study. Throughout his career he has addressed K-12 science education, beginning with promotion of computers in the classroom in the 1970's and extending to the introduction of critical thinking skills in the current decade.

 

Pat Buoncristiani has spent over thirty years as an educator committed to the belief that learning how to think is the foundation for every successful learner. She has been a classroom teacher, a teachers' college lecturer and, most recently, a school principal in both Australia and the USA. Her experience includes work with school systems in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. She has had extensive experience training educators in early literacy development, behavior management and the development of thinking based curricula.

 

Together they have undertaken significant training and have extensive personal experience leading learning with the "Habits of Mind". These sixteen habits are not seen as a "quick fix", but rather tools to help guide parents and educators on a path toward significant and enduring change in their children's behaviors. The York County Gifted Education Advisory Committee is thrilled to have Dr. and Mrs. Buoncristiani speak to parents about using the sixteen habits at home as the gifted education staff strives to implement the habits at the EXTEND Center.