What is a CHAT Night?
Connect. Help. Advocate. Talk. MCGT is taking CHAT Nights online! CHATs are dedicated to informally connecting parents of gifted children, helping them find other parents in similar situations with an ear to listen, experiences to share, and solutions to offer. Each online CHAT starts with a presentation by a facilitator on a designated topic of interest followed by an opportunity for viewers to comment with thoughts or questions. The format of CHAT Nights is intended to be casual, rather than structured.
Below is the archive of our past chats, available to be viewed at any time. Questions? Contact MCGT at [email protected]
May 26, 2020: Regulation for Learning: Essential Skills for Success
Parents will learn about self-regulation for learning, and be offered useful strategies to help their children be better prepared for the complexities of life on-line and beyond the K-12 setting.
Dr. Richard M. Cash is an award-winning educator and who has worked in the field of education for more than 30 years. His range of experience includes teaching, curriculum coordination, and program administration. Currently, he is an internationally recognized education consultant (www.nrich.consulting). His consulting work has taken him throughout the United States, as well as into Canada, The Czech Republic, China, Cyprus, England, Indonesia, Kuwait, Mexico, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, South Korea, and Turkey.
Dr. Cash may be reached at: www.nrich.consulting, [email protected], 1-612-670-0278
May 19, 2020: Coping with Covid Using the Science of Mind Body Medicine
Join Dr. Andrea Johnson, clinical psychologist trained in Integrative Health, as she explains the science behind self care and mindfulness. Learn what happens to our bodies when we take deep breaths and why sleep is a superpower.
May 12, 2020: Intensity and Navigating Big Emotions
Join Teresa Boatman, Ph.D in talking about how to navigate the intensity and big emotional responses of family when we are togther 24/7.
May 10, 2020: Overexcitability: From a Kid’s Perspective
Gifted kids often have to learn to cope with overexcitabilities, such as imaginational, intellectual, sensual, psychomotor, and emotional. CHAT host Kosmo Esplan discusses and answers questions about these interesting traits that have their pros and cons.
May 5, 2020: OK, we know this is hard… now what? Managing Social-Emotional Learning during a Crisis
We are living in uncertain and unprecedented times… but you knew that. The real trick is what to do with that reality. This session and Q&A will focus on research-based, achievable strategies to manage social-emotional learning at home for your gifted and 2e kids during distance learning.
Matthew Zakreski, PsyD is a high energy, creative clinical psychologist who utilizes an eclectic approach to meet the specific needs of his clients. He specializes in working with children and adolescents, as well as their families, in providing therapy and conducting psychological evaluations.He is proud to serve as a consultant to schools, a professor at the university level, and a researcher and author on his specialty, Giftedness. Dr. Zakreski is a member of Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG), the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), and the New Jersey Association for Gifted Children (NJAGC). He is also a member of the Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education (PAGE) Board of Directors. He is currently in private psychological practice outside of Philadelphia, PA.
May 3, 2020: Home-Based Learning: 3 Tips for Online Meetings!
Let’s talk about online meetings…Getting your space ready, yourself ready, and Do’s & Don’ts of meeting online. Please join us and tell us what is and isn’t working for you!
Dr. Melissa Malen and her daughter, Lydia, are partnering to provide a parent and student perspective. Melissa is an academic coach who works with many gifted and twice exceptional students, now exlusively via Zoom videoconference. Lydia is a sophomore at Highland Park Senior High School in the Spanish Immersion IB program, and she is meeting her teachers and friends on Google Meet or Zoom.
April 28, 2020: Managing a Variety of Working Styles Under One Roof
Managing different working and learning styles and preferences is a challenge for many families. Now that we are working in close quarters for weeks on end, these differences take on new significance. Join Carol Malueg to discuss ideas for acknowledging these style differences, accepting each other’s quirks and habits, and creating your very own family plan that gives everyone a say.
April 26, 2020: Quarantine Variety Pack
Xander Hermann discusses a variety of entertainment options while in quarantine, including how to use Jack Box Party Pack and other games to play while stuck at home with the family.
Xander Herrmann is a 16 year old high school student. He is well versed in all types of scams, from phishing to malware. He also knows a lot about what’s legitimate and not on social media platforms that youth mainly use.
April 21, 2020: Supporting Your Child’s Writing When You are Not Their Teacher
The writing process is frequently stressful for students and may become an additional source of frustration for families during quarantine. Join Cori Paulet to discuss simple strategies you can use to reduce tensions and support your child’s writing without needing to be the expert.
Cori Paulet holds an MA in gifted, creative, and talented education from the University of St. Thomas, MN. Cori is an education consultant and writing coach. She has written and edited for educational television, websites, and multimedia and has designed and implemented curriculum for writing a personal narrative/college application essay. Mother of two highly gifted children, she led a twice-exceptional parent support group and has presented informational sessions to parents, educators, and administrators about the nature and needs of gifted and twice exceptional children.
April 19, 2020: QUARANTAINMENT: ENTERTAINMENT DURING QUARANTINE
Join homeschooled twelve-year-old Kosmo Esplan this Sunday in a live Facebook Family CHAT. He will be discussing entertainment options during COVID-19: whether it’s late night shows filmed from home or putting together a family ZOOM night, Kosmo will speak on various ways to stay entertained during quarantine.
April 14, 2020: Perfectionism–What It Is, and How To Help
How do we encourage kids to “be all they can be,” without creating perfectionists? Pursuing excellence, while leaving behind perfectionism’s destructive anxiety, begins with an understanding of the psychology of perfectionism. Learn how to use this understanding to create perfectionism’s antidote.
Join Dr. Thomas Greenspon, author of Moving Past Perfect and When Good Enough isn’t Good Enough, for a discussion of perfectionism at a time when uncertainty is our norm.
Thomas S. Greenspon, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice. He earned his B.A. from Yale and his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Illinois. Tom lectures and writes on a variety of topics including perfectionism and the emotional needs of gifted children and adults.
April 12, 2020: Homeschool Crash Course
Join Jennifer & Ruthie Farner for their top 5 homeschool tips about how they adjusted to homeschooling with everyone in the house together:
We made our decision to homeschool, but now families are homeschooling and it wasn’t their decision. I know how overwhelming that must be. I imagine that, like my son, children are looking at their parents and asking, “Do you know what you are doing?” It’s ok to not know.
Ruthie Farner is a sophomore at Southern Oregon University currently back at home doing online classes for the remainder of the school year. She is an Emerging Media Digital Arts major with minors in Digital Cinema and Shakespeare Studies. Jennifer Farner spent seven years homeschooling her three gifted children.
April 7, 2020: 2e Home-Based Learning: 3 Tips to Get Ready! Schedules, Spaces, & Organizers
Let’s talk about getting ready for home-based learning! Students and parents both benefit from developing temporary home-based learning structures because they provide consistency and reduce stress on everyone. In this live chat Melissa will talk about how to “do school” from home by setting a consistent daily schedule, creating learner work-spaces, and organizing information.
Melissa Malen, Ph.D is a life-long student who is a Valedictorian and has earned a B.A. in Psychology from Illinois Wesleyan University, a Master’s in Counseling Psychology from the University of St. Thomas and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Minnesota. She coaches students to achieve their highest potential, especially while learning skills to support giftedness as well as giftedness combined with learning challenges such as ADHD, Nonverbal Learning Disability, ASD, anxiety or dyslexia.
April 5, 2020: How to stay snazzy and social during quarantine without burning down the house
Join me as I chat with y’all about how quarantine has affected how we stay social. I’ll also share some platforms and ideas to help you not be a hermit.
Nora Malueg is a Freshman at St. Cloud State University, majoring in Creative Media Production.
March 31, 2020: Bringing Calmness and Resilience into the home and homeschool during COVID19
Join Anne Tyler in talking about how to help your child navigate the new expectations of completing schoolwork at home with more calmness and success.
Anne Tyler, MS, LMFT is the owner of Tyler Institute, which is devoted to helping children, adolescents, families and adults work through mental health challenges in order to live up to their potential and manifest their talents and strengths in a more vibrant way in everyday life. Her primary specialty is working with gifted children and their families.
March 29, 2020: Online Safety for Distance Learning
As more students are moving online to learn, the risk of falling prey to online scams increases. Join St. Paul Public High School Student, Xander Herrmann, to discuss signs of possible scams and how to avoid them to keep yourself safe while on the internet.
Xander Herrmann is a 16 year old high school student. He is well versed in all types of scams, from phishing to malware. He also knows a lot about what’s legitimate and not on social media platforms that youth mainly use.
March 24, 2020: Anxiety
Anxiety may be high within your family right now. Join Shelly Harvey, leadership team member from MCGT and school counselor, for a Facebook Live discussion on how to help manage anxiety for your whole family.
Shelly Harvey, MA, LSC is a school counselor, parenting coach and parent of a gifted son. She has experience working in both private and public schools. Shelly’s areas of specialty are: anxiety, Social Thinking, Zones of Regulation and teaching executive functioning skills to students. Prior to becoming a school counselor, she was a corporate executive specializing in organizational development, training and leadership coaching.