Featured Speaker: Janet Aaker Smith

Janet Aaker Smith taught elementary and middle school gifted classes.  Subsequently, she took a position as a lecturer at the University of Melbourne and Deakin University and served as Vice President of the Victorian Association for Gifted and Talented Children.  Since Victoria (Australia) had no state policy concerning gifted education, Janet became involved in designing the government’s new policy and implementing its initiatives.

As an entrepreneur, Ms. Aaker Smith formed L.E.A.P., a consulting business to design and provide professional development for educators and co-founded Vibrant Learning, a company dedicated to educating teachers, administrators and businesses about Learning Styles. Along the way she has written nine books, including: Flying in Style with Altitude, Aptitude and Attitude; Bewitched, Bedazzled and Beguiled; and 90 Instructional Strategies for the Classroom and Challenging Puzzles Series: Social Studies, Science and Language Arts.

Join Ms. Aaker Smith for during the conference for her breakout sessions Giggles and Chuckles: Humor and the Gifted Learner, You Have the Right to Extend, Enrich and Challenge!, and Extreme Makeover: Brain-Compatible Differentiated Instruction.