WCGTC Webinar: Gifted Education in the Age of AI
2025-04-23 16:00 (America/Chicago)
(Times are in Central European Time) In this webinar, we will address two topics: possible barriers to identity development for 2E learners and the ABCs of connective literacy as a strategy for supporting 2E learners in developing their identity. The first presentation by Eleonoor van Gerven will focus on the topic of identity development. The second presentation by Debbie Troxclair focuses on connective literacy. Twice-exceptional learners may waiver in their identity because of the duality of the ways in which they experience the world because of their twice exceptionality. Using avatars provides opportunities for learners to test different ways of being, interacting, and responding to circumstances and allows opportunities for testing different characteristic traits related to their identity “under development” by depersonalization of their participation (Hébert, et al., 2014; Wood and Syzmanski, 2020). Bibliotherapy encourages social-emotional growth and literacy for gifted learners (Halstead, 2009; Seney, 2017; Ferguson, 2009). Literature which includes gifted learners as main characters in situations, offers students the chance to reflect, discuss how the characters in the story resolve problems, and develop an identity. In reacting to literature, they may recognize themselves/their situations in the literature as they dissect and diffuse problems as part of supportive solution-oriented group. Connective literacy strategies call upon students to generate multiple scenarios for interaction as one of their uniquely designed avatars in a variety of circumstances by changing the elements of the literature (setting, plot, problems, solutions) (Troxclair & Van Gerven, 2023). Product development, an element of the bibliotherapy strategy, provides twice-exceptional learners to demonstrate social emotional development in a variety of formats (oral, written, creative/artistic).

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Eleonoor van Gerven

Debbie Troxclair

Dr. Debbie Troxclair, Associate Professor, at Lamar University, a life-long advocate for the education of gifted children, has been actively involved in many state and national professional organizations in gifted education since 1987, and service to international professional organization as the co-chair of the 16th Biennial Conference of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children in New Orleans in 2005. Dr. Troxclair has recently been honored by the Association for Gifted and Talented Students-Louisiana as president-elect for 2024. She has made numerous conference presentations local, regional, state, national and international conferences. She has publications in Roeper Review, Gifted Child Today, Parenting for High Potential, Understanding Our Gifted, and TEMPO (an online resource of TAGT). She has contributed chapters in publications for NAGC, Using the National Gifted Education Standards for PreK -12 Professional Development, and she was a contributing author in the book Using the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts with Gifted and Advanced Learners (1st ed). In 2013-2014, Dr. Troxclair was instrumental in developing the online master’s degree program in special education and a concentration of gifted education courses within Lamar University’s Teacher Leadership online master’s degree program. Dr. Troxclair has recently began taking art classes where she can now reboot her other creative passion, watercolor painting.

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