BEING SMART ABOUT GIFTED EDUCATION
top finalist in the Education/Academic category
2009 National Best Book Awards sponsored by USA Book News.
The book is now available across Canada and the United States, as well as internationally. For more information about availability, go to Purchase Info.
In November of 2008, Dona received the Upton Sinclair Award, given annually by Education News to ten “heroes of American Education”, in recognition for their outstanding contributions to the field of education.
This was the citation for the award:
Dona Matthews, Ph.D., for twenty-three years now, beginning in 1985, has been teaching, writing, counseling, consulting, and conducting research on behalf of gifted students. From 2003-2007 she was Director of the Center for Gifted Studies and Education at Hunter College, City University of New York, where she worked with New York City teachers on policies and practices relating to giftedness. Currently, working at the University of Toronto, her emphasis is with families and schools regarding important issues relating to gifted education. Dr. Matthews collaborated with Joanne Foster to co author Being Smart about Gifted Children: A Guidebook for Parents and Educators (2005). Current projects include The Development of Giftedness and Talent Across the Life Span, co-edited with Frances Degen Horowitz and Rena Subotnik; The Routledge International Companion to Gifted Education, co-edited with Tom Balchin and Barry Hymer; and upcoming books with Joanne Foster and Felice Kaufmann.
For Recent and Upcoming Books and Articles by the Authors: go to RESOURCES.
Presentations and Events
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education -- Toronto; January 7, 2010
Joanne Foster: Understanding and Encouraging Gifted-Level Development
Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented -- Houston, Texas; December, 2009
Dona Matthews: Featured speaker: What does the research say? Current views on best practice with high ability learners. Workshops presented: How Educators’ Attitudes Can Support—Or Undermine—Students’ Achievement;and Developmental Transitions in Giftedness and Talent: Childhood to Adolescence
Council for Exceptional Children, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education -- Toronto; December, 2009
Dona Matthews: Gifted Education: What Is It? And What Should It Be?
National Association for Gifted Children -- St. Louis; November, 2009
- Bernie Beales, Susanne Alter, and Joanne Foster: Teacher Training Triarchy: Inservice from Three Different Perspectives
- Joanne Foster: Procrastination: Pathways to Productivity
- Dona Matthews and Joanne Foster: Looking for Gifts in All the Wrong Places: How Changing the Question Changes the Answer.
The Association for Educators of Gifted, Talented, and Creative Children in British Columbia -- Vancouver, British Columbia; October, 2009
Joanne Foster: Keynote address and professional learning sessions
American Psychological Association -- Toronto, Ontario; August, 2009
Dona Matthews, Rena Subotnik, Frances Degen Horowitz, David Lohman, and David Henry Feldman.
Symposium: At Promise: Redefining Giftedness and Talent within a Developmental Framework
Conference for Gifted Education -- Durham, Ontario, February 2009
- Joanne Foster: High ability/ low productivity: What’s a teacher to do?
- Joanne Foster: The gifted label: To use or not to use?
Educators of the Gifted Organization -- Toronto, November, 2008
- Joanne Foster: Who’s who in gifted education?
- Joanne Foster: Why children procrastinate (and what to do about it.)
National Association for Gifted Children -- Tampa, Florida, November, 2008
- Joanne Foster and Dona Matthews: Voices from the Front: What's Missing?
- Dona Matthews and Joanne Foster: The Gifted Label: Person or Program?
- Joanne Foster: Maybe tomorrow… Maybe next week…
American Psychological Association -- Boston, August, 2008
Frances Horowitz, Rena Subotnik, Dona Matthews, Ellen Winner, Lynn Liben, & Frank Worrell: Symposium: Development of Giftedness and Talent Across the Life Span
Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted conference -- Salt Lake City, Utah, July, 2008
Joanne Foster: Maybe Later: Perfectionism and Procrastination among Gifted/High-Ability Learners
Wallace Research Symposium -- Iowa City, May 2008
Dona Matthews, Frank Worrell, & Rena Subotnik: A Developmental Perspective on Giftedness and Talent across the Lifespan
Northern Secondary School -- Toronto, April, 2008
Dona Matthews: Why Gifted Education Matters, and The School-within-a-School Model of Gifted Programming
Educators of the Gifted of Ontario -- Toronto, November, 2007
Dona Matthews, Keynote address: Myths & Mindsets: How Everything You Used to Think about Giftedness Is Bad for Children
National Association for Gifted Children – Minnesota, MN, November 2007
- Joanne Foster: Clues for clarity: Navigating the literature in gifted education
- Joanne Foster & Susanne Alter: A tale of two specialists
Teachers College Center for Outreach and Innovation in collaboration with the Education of the Gifted Program --Columbia University, New York, July, 2007
Dona Matthews, Changing Mindsets: A Shifting Paradigm in Gifted Education
Citywide Gifted and Talented Conference -- Columbia University, New York, May, 2007
- Dona Matthews, Giftedness Is a Mixed Blessing! Academic, Social, and Emotional Stressors Experienced by Gifted Learners and Their Parents
- Dona Matthews & Christy Folsom, Got It! Professional Development that Facilitates Emotion/Cognition Connections
Community Information Session, Toronto District Public Forum -- April 2007
Joanne Foster: What matters in gifted education?
Association for Bright Children Conference, Toronto, April, 2007
Joanne Foster, Expert Panelist
Durham (Ontario) District School Board Gifted Conference, April 25, 2007
- Joanne Foster, Keynote Address: Flaw and Order
- Joanne Foster: Thoughtful teaching
Greens Farms Academy -- Westport, CT, April 2007
Dona Matthews, The Stressed Child: How to Plan a Balanced Life
Association for Gifted and Talented Education -- Port Washington, NY, January 2007
Dona Matthews, What Does the Research Say? Current Views on Best Practice with High Ability Learners
National Association for Gifted Children – Charlotte, NC, November 2006
- Foster, J. F., & Matthews, D. J. (November, 2006). Mastery model of giftedness: Answers to parents’ questions
- Matthews, D. J., & Foster, J. F. (November, 2006). Mastery model of giftedness: Answers to educators’ questions.
- Matthews, D. J., & Lipton, E. (November, 2006). Making it real: Supporting teachers working with diversely gifted learners.
- Matthews, M., Dixon, F., Gentry, M., Matthews, D. J., McCoach, D. B., & Worrell, F. C. (November, 2006). Effect size reporting in gifted education, 1996 – 2005: Where we are, and why it matters
- Plucker, J., Subotnik, R. F., Culross, R., Eckes, S., Matthews, D. J., Pyryt, M., & Roberts, J. (November, 2006). School choice for gifted students.
- Subotnik, R. F., Matthews, D. J. & Worrell, F. C. (November, 2006). A lifespan perspective on developing talent.
EDGO/TAGO - Educators of the Gifted Ontario - Toronto, Oct. 2006
Joanne Foster, Keynote Address: The diversity of the gifted experience.
AGATE (Association for Gifted and Talented Education) New York – Rochester, NY, October 2006
- Matthews, D. J. (October, 2006). Mystery to mastery: Simplifying the who? what? when? where? & how? of gifted education.
- Matthews, D. J. (October, 2006). Giftedness is a mixed blessing! How gifted learners and their parents can cope with academic, social and emotional stress.
American Psychological Association – New Orleans, LA, August 2006
Rena Subotnik, Frank Worrell, & Dona Matthews: The development of giftedness and talent across the lifespan.
Ontario Institute of Education of the University of Toronto, May 16, 2006
Joanne Foster: Ministry of Education/Faculties of Education Forum
Understanding and Encouraging Gifted:High-Ability Learners
Durham District Gifted Conference -- Durham, ON, April 28, 2006
Joanne Foster: “In Case You Want to Know…” How Case Studies Inform Teachers’ Understanding of the Gifted Experience
National Association for Gifted Children – Louisville, Kentucky, Nov. 9 -13, 2005
- Dona Matthews and Joanne Foster: Mastery Model Theory to Practice: Simplifying the Who? What? When? Where? and How? of Gifted Education
- Joanne Foster: Over Fifty Ways to Love Your Learner
American Psychological Association Conference, Washington, DC - August 18 - 21, 2005
Dona Matthews: Giftedness as Domain-Specific Mastery: Shifting Perspectives and Psychological Implications
SENG Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico - July 8 -10, 2005
Joanne Foster: Case Study Applications for Supporting Gifted/High-Ability Learners
Professional Learning Institute for Educators within Independent Schools: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, Department of Continuing Education - June 2005 - April 2006
Joanne Foster (co-presenter): Enhancing Student Success: The Power of Differentiating Instruction.
ABC - Association for Bright Children - Annual General Meeting, Toronto, Ontario - May 7, 2005
Joanne Foster: Keynote Address
American Educational Research Association – Montreal, April 12-16, 2005
Dona Matthews and Joanne Foster: From Mystery to Mastery: A Shifting Paradigm in Gifted Education
Council for Exceptional Children Conference – Baltimore, Maryland, April 6 – 9, 2005
- Dona Matthews, Joanne Foster, Debbie Gladstone, Jeannette Schieck, and Judy Meiners: Good Theory into Best Practice: Implementing a Mastery Approach to Gifted Education
- Joanne Foster and Dona Matthews: Gifted Education: Encouraging and Sustaining Engagement in Teaching and Learning
Durham Gifted Conference – Whitby, Ontario - January 26, 2005
- Joanne Foster: Giftedness: Perspectives and Paradigm Shifts
- Joanne Foster: Preservice Pathways to Inspired Inservice Possibilities
The Authors in the News
Being Smart about Gifted Children won first prize, 2006 Exceptional Book of the Year, in Exceptionality Education Canada's annual book contest.
Being Smart about Gifted Children has been chosen by Canada's biggest bookstore chain, Chapters/Indigo, for its Trusted Advisor List of Approved Titles:
Being Smart about Gifted Children won the prestigious Glyph Award of the Arizona Book Publishers' Association in the "Best Book in Education" category. The judges for this biennial event were librarians, bookstore buyers, and educators.
Ottawa Citizen. A wealth of whiz kids. By Maria Kubacki
In winter, 2007, Dona Matthews was interviewed by Maria Kubacki of the Ottawa Citizen for an article about socioeconomic disparities in gifted identification
The article Helping Sensitive Children Cope in Difficult Times by Dona Matthews and Joanne Foster was distributed to gifted organizations across the United States and Canada following the Asian tsunami disaster, and appears on the SENGifted website (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) at www.sengifted.org (under the heading Articles and Resources, Social and Emotional Issues). Click To View Article
Dona Matthews spoke to the Stuyvesant Parents Association about supporting gifted children with learning differences. A transcript was made of that talk and published in the parents newsletter in Fall, 2005. Click to view article.
Joanne Foster was interviewed about her work as a gifted education consultant and about programming for high-ability learners. The article by Frances Kraft appeared in the Special Sections feature of the Canadian Jewish News, March 24th, 2005. Click To View Article
Dona Matthews and Joanne Foster were interviewed by Michael Shaughnessy about their book for an article in Education News, published on March 21, 2005.
Joanne Foster and Dona Matthews were interviewed by John Hoffman for an article on gifted education in Today's Parent, published in March, 2005. Click To View Article
Media Appearances
Joanne Foster (2007). How to nurture gifted/high level development. Your Voice. “Too Smart for School?” TVOntario Online, www.tvoparents.com
In July, 2006, Dona Matthews was on WNBC in New York, commenting on children's academic/cognitive development over the summer holiday. She was also a panellist at a public forum on gifted education held by NY Civic (see www.nycivic.org)
While in New York, Dona Matthews was interviewed several times by New York City newspapers and television stations: http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/gifted-ed/news.shtml
In January, 2005, Joanne Foster appeared on TVOntario's More to Life Program with host Mary Ito, and guest Becky Hurwitz (Association for Bright Children, Ontario). The panel discussion focused on educational opportunities for gifted learners. Dona Matthews and Joanne Foster were asked back to appear on this show again in January, 2006.
Interviews with the Authors
Matthews, D.J. & Foster, J.F. (in press). An interview with Dona Matthews and Joanne Foster about teaching gifted students higher order and critical thinking skills (Michael F. Shaughnessy, Ed.) The International Journal of Creativity and Problem-Solving.
Book Clubs
Are you a member of a book club or a parent or teacher association? Several teachers and parents have told us that they have found Being
Smart about Gifted Education a great book club choice. It works well for groups whose members want to read something
that will stimulate their thinking and discussion about what giftedness is, and what people can do to nurture and support children's
optimal development.
Please go to the Being Smart media kit at www.giftedbooks.com/beingsmart.html for
more information about the kinds of issues and questions that could be
raised, and to see about the possibility of having Dona Matthews or Joanne
Foster facilitate a discussion with your book club or group.
Book Reviews
Go to the Reviews page of this website to see what people have written about Being Smart.