Sessions
Keynotes
Game On: Strategy Tips for Teaching Highly Capable & Twice-Exceptional Students
Kristie Speirs Neumeister, Ph.D.
Teaching can seem like a strategic, evolving game where every move counts. Just when you think you mastered it, you level up to a new “world” with a class full of highly capable students, some with additional exceptionalities, that require a fresh skill set. In this keynote, we’ll unlock key strategic moves to help teachers navigate the challenging course of teaching gifted and twice-exceptional kids, all with the ultimate goal of helping them become well-adjusted and ready to take on their own game.
OK Boomer, OK Zoomer: What Generational Perspectives Reveal About AI
Claire Hughes Lynch, Ph.D.
Artificial intelligence is changing the way we teach, learn and think – but our responses to it vary widely across generations. This session offers a clear, engaging look at how different generational experiences with technology shape attitudes toward AI in gifted education. Using brief musical references and moments of humor to highlight generational contrasts, we will explore how each cohort – from Boomers to Gen Alpha – understands creativity, rigor and innovation in an AI-rich world.
Curriculum as Transformation: Preparing Gifted Learners for Now & What’s Next
Emily Mofield, Ed.D.
Today’s gifted learners are growing up in a world of instant answers, shifting knowledge and AI that can generate information in seconds. More than ever, they need learning that changes how they think and how they use knowledge, preparing them not just for what’s known now, but for what’s coming next.
Intentional differentiation and rigorous curriculum are key to this transformation. They not only deepen thinking but also help cultivate talent into realized potential. By moving students beyond surface learning into deeper inquiry, creativity and authentic problem-solving, we guide them from curiosity into deep discovery. Along the way, they develop the intellectual courage essential for thriving in a rapidly changing world. In an age of screens and shortcuts, curriculum must do more than deliver information; it must transform learners into thinkers who use knowledge with wisdom and purpose to shape a changing world.
Deep Dive Sessions
Select one track to attend for all three days.
Beyond Good Intentions: Assessing the Effectiveness of Programs for Highly Capable Students
Kristie Spiers Neumeister, Ph.D.
Evaluating gifted programs is critical to ensuring students leave with the knowledge and skills they need for future success. This session equips participants to identify meaningful data sources, collect and analyze both qualitative and quantitative data, and use results to measure true program effectiveness. Drawing on experience evaluating district gifted programs in a variety of settings (urban, suburban and rural), and across high and low performing schools, the presenter will demonstrate the value of a thorough evaluation and break down the process into clear, actionable steps. Participants will learn how to select and use data sources, analyze them effectively, and triangulate findings to showcase strengths, pinpoint challenges and develop targeted recommendations that provide a road map for strengthening programming for highly capable students.
Clustered Classrooms in Action: Differentiation Strategies that Stretch Student Thinking
Emily Mofield, Ed.D.
Are you ready to elevate instruction to the next level in your clustered classroom? Gifted learners thrive when instruction is intentionally designed to challenge them with the “just right” amount of friction. In this session, you’ll learn guiding principles for planning differentiated learning experiences that meet the needs of gifted students within a clustered classroom. Explore ways to move beyond surface-level coverage into deeper layers of meaning and complexity. Walk away with practical tools and strategies to add layers of challenge, ignite curiosity and promote cognitive rigor while ensuring your clustered classroom becomes an environment where advanced learners grapple with advanced content, depth, complexity and abstract concepts.
Recognizing & Supporting Twice-Exceptional Students
Claire Hughes Lynch, Ph.D.
Twice-exceptional students present a unique blend of advanced abilities and learning challenges. This three-part series equips educators with practical tools to identify 2e learners, design instruction that supports both strengths and needs, and address the essential social-emotional components of learning. Teachers and parents will be equipped with specific actions they can implement right away to help 2e learners thrive. Day one focuses on recognizing twice-exceptionalities and how strengths and disabilities co-exist. Day two focuses on effective teaching practices, and day three highlights how to support the whole child.
From More to More Rigorous: Transforming Curriculum with Elements of Reasoning
Jen Flo, M.Ed., MAT & Tamra Stambaugh, Ph.D.
High ability learners need rigor that deepens thinking, not more assignments. This session introduces Paul & Elder's Elements of Reasoning & Intellectual Standards as a practical framework for elevating cognitive complexity in classrooms. Participants will be introduced to the model and engage in an activity to transform existing curriculum plans and student products into complex thinking within specific academic disciplines. The evidence support for the model and achievement impact will be shared.
Breakout Sessions
Smart Is Just the Start: Developing Highly Capable Learners into Meaningful Contributors
Kristie Speirs Neumeister, Ph.D.
Advanced content knowledge alone will not equip gifted learners to use their talents to make a difference in the world. To become meaningful contributors to society, gifted students also need support in developing the personal and interpersonal capacities that fuel talent development and impact. This session will explore why going beyond academics is essential, how these additional skills shape long-term success and what educators can do to foster them in gifted learners.
Fostering Flexible Minds: Building Cognitive Agility in Highly Capable Learners
Kristie Speirs Neumeister, Ph.D.
In today’s fast-paced and ever-changing world, cognitive flexibility has become an essential skill. Some highly capable learners, however, may struggle with cognitive rigidity fueled by their emotional intensity, strong convictions, history of being “right,” and a preference for black-and-white thinking. Although these traits are strengths in some contexts, they may inhibit a gifted student's adaptability when faced with new challenges or shifting expectations. This session will introduce educators to engaging strategies that will cultivate cognitive flexibility within highly capable learners, helping them embrace uncertainty, consider multiple perspectives, and approach complex problems with resilience, creativity and confidence.
Shifting the Standard: Guiding Highly Capable Learners Toward Healthy Achievement
Kristie Speirs Neumeister, Ph.D.
Do you have students who crumble when they make a mistake, obsess over every detail of an assignment or quit the moment they’re not the best in the room? In this session, we’ll dig into the “why” behind these behaviors, unpacking the different types and roots of perfectionism. Most importantly, you’ll walk away with practical tips that you can use to help students replace “perfect or nothing” thinking with a healthier, progress-focused perspective. Discover ways to create a classroom environment where highly capable learners feel comfortable taking risks, learning from mistakes and building the confidence they need to develop their talents.
The Problem-Solver’s Playbook: One Model, Endless Applications
Kristie Speirs Neumeister, Ph.D.
What do engineers, writers and entrepreneurs have in common? All rely on a problem-solving process to accomplish their goals. Although each field put its own “spin” on their process, the core elements of problem solving are the same. In this session, the presenter will share a universal problem-solving process designed around these core elements. The presenter will highlight the versatility of the model by sharing examples of how to use it with highly capable students of all ages in a variety of disciplines. A handout with explanations of each step will be shared.
Vertical Differentiation: Practical Strategies for Gifted Learners in the Regular Classroom
Emily Mofield, Ed.D.
How can we design instruction in regular classrooms that moves gifted learners beyond what they already know into deeper levels of thinking and understanding? This session highlights practical strategies teachers can use within everyday lessons to add the “just right” amount of friction to stretch thinking and deepen learning. Explore ways to increase complexity, spark curiosity and promote cognitive rigor through vertical differentiation that enhances existing assignments and tasks. Participants will leave with ready-to-use tools and concrete examples that can be applied across content areas and grade levels. This session is an abbreviated version of Mofield’s deep-dive morning session.
Collaboration That Elevates: Building Capacity to Differentiate for Gifted Learners
Emily Mofield, Ed.D.
Collaborative teaching practices are essential for equipping regular classroom teachers with the skills and confidence to meet the needs of gifted learners. In this session, explore practical tools and step-by-step approaches for facilitating and sustaining collaboration and instructional coaching that lead to lasting change. Learn how co-planning, co-teaching and reflective coaching cycles can build teacher capacity to differentiate instruction, increase challenge and support gifted students all day, every day. Leave with concrete strategies to strengthen collaboration between gifted and general education teachers, making differentiation more manageable and meaningful across classrooms and content areas.
Psychosocial Skills for Success: Enhancing Resilience, Tenacity & Self-Management
Emily Mofield, Ed.D.
Do you notice that some gifted students can be overly self-critical or insecure, even when they achieve at high levels? How can we equip them to manage perfectionism, build resilience and persist when challenges arise? In this session, participants will learn how to design lessons and classroom practices that nurture the psychosocial skills gifted learners need to thrive. Explore strategies to help students take intellectual risks, apply self-regulation tools, and recognize how emotions can either paralyze or catalyze their pursuit of goals. Discover approaches for guiding students to problem-solve through setbacks, respond constructively to feedback and develop the academic tenacity required to sustain effort over time.
Thinking Aloud: Using Socratic Seminars to Spark Insight
Emily Mofield, Ed.D.
How do we help students move from simply sharing opinions to engaging in purposeful, disciplined thinking? Socratic seminars are a powerful structure for nurturing thoughtful dialogue, intellectual curiosity and original ideas. In this session, discover how to design and facilitate rich discussions that build students’ capacity to question, reason and support their ideas. Learn to craft questions that spark inquiry, establish norms that promote respectful dialogue, and guide students to listen deeply and respond thoughtfully. Leave with practical strategies and classroom-ready tools to support independent thinkers who can analyze complex issues, consider multiple perspectives, and communicate their reasoning with clarity and confidence.
Philosophy Shapes Practice: How Educational Worldviews Guide AI Use in Gifted & Twice-Exceptional Education
Claire Hughes-Lynch, Ph.D.
Educational philosophies profoundly influence how educators understand giftedness, identify talent, interpret twice-exceptionality and integrate emerging technologies into instruction. This presentation examines how worldviews – from essentialism and progressivism to constructivist, critical and Indigenous perspectives – shape the ethical and practical use of AI in gifted and 2e education. We explore how philosophical stances impact screening and identification, enrichment design, talent development pathways and culturally responsive practices. Participants will consider opportunities for AI to expand access, reduce bias and personalize learning, as well as cautions related to equity, over-reliance on algorithms and the marginalization of diverse forms of giftedness. Attendees will leave with strategies for applying AI in ways that honor student strengths, preserve human judgment and uphold inclusive, learner-centered principles in gifted and twice-exceptional education.
Starting With Spark: Inverting Bloom’s to Maximize AI & Gifted Education
Claire Hughes-Lynch, Ph.D.
Traditional Bloom’s Taxonomy suggests that students begin with remembering and understanding before moving toward creation. Yet gifted learners often think divergently, make intuitive leaps and flourish when presented with open-ended, idea-rich challenges. Beginning with creativity not only aligns with their cognitive strengths – it positions AI as a tool for inquiry, ideation and innovation rather than mere task support. Participants will leave with strategies for lesson design, examples of student-facing AI tasks that promote rigor and originality, and actionable ways to support gifted learners in using AI to spark creativity, deepen analysis and pursue meaningful intellectual challenges.
The 2e Teacher Toolkit: Sustainable & Attainable Supports & Structures
Claire Hughes-Lynch, Ph.D.
Twice-exceptional learners thrive when instruction balances meaningful challenge with accessible, repeatable supports that do not add overwhelming demands on teachers. This session offers practical, sustainable strategies educators can seamlessly infuse into everyday lessons – without creating separate plans or redesigning entire units. Participants will explore flexible instructional structures, manageable PBL examples, AI-supported planning tools that save time, Universal Design for Learning approaches that increase access, and thinking routines grounded in creativity and critical thinking. We will highlight simple, high-impact practices that elevate engagement and rigor for all learners. Attendees will leave with a ready-to-use toolkit filled with strategies, templates and instructional moves they can implement immediately to build energized, inclusive and appropriately challenging classroom environments for 2e students.
Beyond the Algorithm: Purpose-Driven Teaching for Gifted Learners in an AI-Shaped World
Claire Hughes-Lynch, Ph.D.
As AI becomes increasingly capable, the role of the teacher in gifted education becomes not diminished – but more essential. This session reframes the teacher as the architect of humanity, purpose, and meaning in AI-rich classrooms. Grounded in Seligman's three levels of happiness, we explore how teachers foster positive emotion through caring and celebration, create engagement and flow through responsive instruction and authentic challenge, and cultivate purpose by helping gifted learners understand themselves, navigate uncertainty and contribute meaningfully to their world.
From Teacher to Architect: Designing Innovative, Inclusive Gifted Experiences Through Teacherpreneur Thinking
Claire Hughes-Lynch, Ph.D.
This session reframes gifted educators as architects of opportunity – professionals who design, innovate and build learning experiences that expand what’s possible for gifted and twice-exceptional students. Building on the teacherpreneur mindset, we explore how educators can use entrepreneurial thinking to create equitable pathways, strengthen underserved students’ access to advanced learning and spark authentic, real-world engagement. Participants will examine practical strategies such as low-barrier PBL structures, culturally responsive connections to student passions, community partnerships and small “startup experiments” that transform classroom ideas into meaningful programs. Grounded in creativity, resilience and problem-solving, this session empowers teachers to take informed risks, advocate boldly and design learning that feels alive and relevant. Attendees leave with an actionable plan for bringing teacherpreneur innovation into their daily practice – sustainably and confidently.
From Launch to Gold Standard: Sharpening PBL for Gifted Students
Nick Castilleja, MAT
Experts agree that Project Based Learning (PBL) is a viable instructional approach for meeting the unique and varied needs of gifted students. But we’re not all experts…yet! So, how might classroom teachers begin designing and leading high quality PBL units of instruction? Once we get PBL rolling, how can we refine our projects to add rigor, organize the chaos, and build student agency? This session is focused on sharpening PBL with scaffolds from a wide variety of sources, including PBLWorks. Novice PBL teachers will leave with a strong foundation and practical tools to design and refine PBL units, while veteran PBL teachers will gain strategies to elevate existing units toward the PBL “Gold Standard.”
Unlocking Creative Potential With Multilingual SCAMPER Technique
Nick Castilleja, MAT
Today’s learning environment reflects a wide diversity of languages, cultures, levels of readiness, interests and learning preferences. All students deserve equitable access and opportunity to creative thinking, and multilingual students who are highly capable need tools, strategies and scaffolds that unlock their potential! How can we efficiently and effectively blend creative thinking with language learning in all classrooms-without hours of extra planning time? In this session participants will think playfully, creatively and collaboratively using the SCAMPER Technique as a scaffold for both idea generation and language development, then brainstorm and discuss instructional possibilities with the SCAMPER Technique tool made available in multiple languages. Participants will leave with the understanding and scaffolds to implement immediately.
Inquiry Without Barriers: QFT/Question Matrix as Rigor & Language Development Scaffolds
Nick Castilleja, MAT
All students deserve to thrive through opportunities to think deeply, ask and refine authentic questions and engage in rigorous learning. But access to language can become a barrier for many students, especially our multilingual learners, and it is easy to unintentionally leave them out of high-level inquiry activities. In this interactive session, participants will experience two tools that help all students generate, refine and strategize their own authentic questions, while the presenter embeds natural opportunities to support language development across content areas. Participants will leave with understanding and tools to implement these low-prep, high yield strategies tomorrow. Warning: Any student who uses and understands these techniques may begin to think strategically about their questions and dive deeply into subject matter!
Keepin’ It Real: Creating Student-Centered Classroom Culture
Sarah Boin & Jen Flo, M.Ed., MAT
Transform your classroom into a dynamic town where students become invested citizens, actively shaping their learning community just like members of a real city. Empower them to draft a constitution, participate in classroom government, and navigate a real economic system. Reimagine your space beyond traditional desks – create zones for reading, building, collaboration and commerce. This approach offers advanced and gifted learners the complexity, autonomy and leadership opportunities they crave while developing authentic problem-solving skills. In this session, discover how to launch your own 'Ville: a learning community where students don't just occupy seats, they shape culture, take ownership and develop civic-mindedness.
Chaos as Clarity: Rethinking Creativity & Critical Thinking
Jen Flo, M.Ed., MAT
What if chaos isn’t the enemy of clarity – but its unexpected ally? In this hands-on session, you'll engage in creative chaos using LEGO bricks and/or other modeling materials, then deconstruct the experience using standards of critical thinking. Discover how creativity and critical thinking are not opposites, but partners in deep learning. Through guided provocations, paradox and playful messiness, you’ll leave with strategies to design learning experiences that sharpen both imagination and analysis. Ideal for educators of gifted learners, this session will challenge assumptions, ignite insight and offer practical tools for bringing clarity out of creative complexity.
Curriculum Design and Advanced Differentiation: Resources and Models that Make a Difference
Tamra Stambaugh, Ph.D.
Quality resources and advanced frameworks promote student learning and positively influence classroom instruction. There are ready-made and evidence-informed resources designed with gifted students in mind. Many of these curricula have been teacher tested, student approved and piloted in high poverty schools with noted achievement gains and increases in identification. In this session, we review curriculum resources found effective in enhancing advanced instruction and promoting access and opportunity. Then, we discuss common frameworks and models that are consistently embedded in advanced curriculum and review features of curriculum that support gifted student learning.
Talent Development: Definitions & Examples
Tamra Stambaugh, Ph.D.
In this session, we discuss how talent is developed across the lifespan and review the different ways talent development, talent identification and opportunity programs are defined and operationalized. Then we examine models and frameworks for developing access and opportunity programs that support and enhance talent development and identification pathways.