Dr.+Stuart+Omdal

Stuart Omdal
Dr. Stuart Omdal was an elementary teacher for 15 years, both in the regular classroom and as a gifted education coordinator facilitating the Schoolwide Enrichment Model. After completing graduate school at the University of Connecticut in 1995 he has been a professor of gifted education at the university of Northern Colorado (UNC). He is the Education Director for the Summer Enrichment Program and Assistant Director o the Center for the Education & Study of Gifted, Talented, Creative Learners at UNC. His professional interests include creativity in education, twice-exceptionality, underachievement of students from non-dominant cultural and language groups, and the evaluation of gifted education teachers. He is on the board of directors for the National Association for Gifted Children and the Association for the Education of Gifted Underachieving Students (AEGUS), the Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented (CAGT), and the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC).

**Description**: //Imagination! Brainstorming! Ingenuity!// We love these words associated with creativity. But what about those students who could better be described by words like: //Non-conforming! Unconventional! Questioning!// In this workshop we will look at the recurrent characteristics of creative people and how teachers can help students channel their creativity in constructive and productive ways. We will also look at the relationship between creativity and intelligence and how our understanding of them affects the way we teach and serve our students.

Response to Intervention: A Problem-Solving Approach for Highly Gifted and Twice Exceptional Students **Description:** Is Response to Intervention (RtI) an appropriate philosophy for application in the education of students who are highly gifted and talented? In this presentation we will address the origins of RtI, implications for possible application in gifted education, the benefits of the problem-solving process, and personal and organizational hurdles to overcome.