Anita Bell
A fun, exciting and motivational workshop by Anita Bell, bestselling and award winning author of 19 books and over 150 short stories, articles and poems (in only 6 years!), including the Kirby's Crusader series of adventure/crime thrillers for children, the Project Apocalypse/Crystal Coffin series of international action thrillers for teens and adults, and the non-fiction series of finance books for both adults and children, including Your Mortgage & How to pay it off in 5 years, Your Investment Property and Your Kid's Money. Also featured in anthologies of short stories by the most popular childrens' authors for the last two years (2004, 2005)
Liz Fynes-Clinton
Buranda State School
Buranda State School is an inner city state school with a student population of 200. For the past nine years, philosophy has been taught at Buranda throughout all year levels and the school has become a world leader in this area. The teachers at Buranda have Teacher Educator certificates in philosophy and are consistently involved in the preparation and presentation of in-service programs on the teaching of the Philosophy in Schools program.
Wendy-Lee Coates
Yugumbir State School
Ms Coates has 29 Years teaching experience in the upper primary school. At her previous schools, she has run Extension English classes, TOM, and Readers Cup and has been the Program Manager for Gifted and Talented at Gympie West and Yugumbir State Schools.
Kay Distel
Kay has worked with children and adults with listening issues for the last eight years following her training as a fully accredited, Tomatis Consultant. Further studies include Masters level and the dyslexia correction program based on the Davis method. As a body/mind psychotherapist with over twenty years experience, and an adult educator, Kay brings an interesting combination to education. Her PhD study is exploring the learning styles of people identifying with dyslexia in Higher Education. She is currently exploring the LD/gifted link in these presentations.
Robyn Gregor
Robyn Gregor Dip.Teach, B.Ed St., B.Bus, M.Spec Ed (Gifted and Talented), and is completing a Doctorate in Education (Gifted and Technology). She has been a teacher for 18 years in the secondary area. She is the parent of three gifted children and an Educational consultant (Robotics, Technology and Gifted Education).
Judith Hewton
Judith Hewton is a performing arts teacher specialising in singing and dancing. She taught for many years in Queensland schools, choreographing and directing musical performances for primary students. Judith is President of the Australian Association for the Education of the Gifted and Talented Ltd. and teaches gifted children as well as adults who need to know about gifted education.
Ken Imison
Ken has had a long career as a teacher, teacher educator and as an educational consultant. In his work, he draws on his experiences as a student in a gifted class, as a teacher of gifted classes, as an academic and most importantly as a parent of gifted children.
He was the co-founder of the Australian Association for the Gifted and Talented, was its foundation President for four years, and was awarded Life Membership of that Association.
He is a member of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children and has presented papers at state, national and international conferences on the Gifted and is presently writing a book on giftedness. It is little wonder he regards himself as the Senior Citizen of gifted education.
Ken Imison was the Chairman of the Queensland Board of Senior Secondary School Studies, from its creation in 1989 until February 2001.
Michele Juratowitch
Michele Juratowitch, Director of Clearing Skies, has been a School Counsellor and worked with gifted students for twenty years. She is the author of "Study: The Simple Facts" and has presented study skills courses specifically designed to meet the needs of gifted students.
Dr. Julian Lamont and Dr. Christi Favor
Dr. Julian Lamont and Dr. Christi Favor are lecturers in philosophy at the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology. They have years of tertiary teaching experience and are the authors of numerous academic articles, mainly in ethics and justice. Dr. Lamont completed his Ph.D at Monash University and then was a Fulbright Fellow at Princeton University. Dr. Christi Favor received her Ph.D from the University of Arizona. Their research and teaching interests include moral and political philosophy, applied ethics, metaphysics, logic and critical reasoning, business and professional ethics, bioethics, and environmental ethics. They have three wonderful daughters aged 3-8 years, and have a particular interest in promoting philosophy in primary and secondary schools.
Terry Lester
Cool Flying Science Workshops
Terry was a federal public servant for over 30 years, working for the RAAF, Department of Civil Aviation and Department of Employment and Youth Affairs. He has a love for all things that fly and has flying experience with both hot air balloons and light aircraft. A father of five and grandfather of several, he has forty years experience instructing, teaching, lecturing and co-ordinating activities for a variety of childrens' groups. He has run Cool Flying workshops in schools all over South East Queensland for the past three years to the delight of thousands of children.
Boris Lukursky B.E. (Electrical) UQ
Boris has lifelong pursued chess as a hobby and is currently coaching in a number of Brisbane schools. His most notable achievements in tournament play span decades including: 1969 Champion of St George Leagues Chess Club, Sydney; 1988 Bicentennial NSW Central Coast District Chess Champion; 1995 Winner of the NSW Central Coast Open Championship and 2005 Redlands Chess Club Champion.
Charles Rheault
Charles Rheault has been working in Australian education for the past 30 years in both New South Wales and Queensland. He has held every position in both primary and secondary school from teacher to subject coordinator to deputy principal and principal. He has presented at State, National and International Conferences and has developed programs in Thinking Skills as a direct response to the needs of tomorrow's learners.
Louise Ruzic
Louise Ruzic, Diploma of Teaching Primary with Early Childhood specialization, has 8 years full time and 7 years part-time Early Childhood teaching experience. She has an interest in sharing her passion for art with the children she teaches. Louise believes all children should have the opportunity to express themselves creatively.
Mark Schutze
Mark Schutze has had a keen interest in insects his whole life. Ever since he was little he has collected, drawn, and learnt about them. In 1996 he moved from Melbourne to Brisbane to complete a bachelor's degree in science (1998), majoring in entomology at the University of Queensland, followed by obtaining his honours (class I) degree in entomology at the same institution in 2000. His honours work focused on investigating the relationships and evolution of seven species of 'antlered flies' from New Guinea and Australia. Antlered flies are unusual in that males have large antler-like head projections not unlike their mammalian counterparts, which they use to combat each other for control of mating territories.
Mark is currently completing his PhD at the Queensland University of Technology, working with a eucalypt pest beetle called the Eucalypt Tortoise Beetle, Paropsis atomaria. This beetle is endemic to Australia, but has emerged as a pest due to the increased use of Eucalyptus spp. in the forestry industry in Queensland and New South Wales. Specifically, Mark is looking at morphological, genetic, and developmental variation over its distribution, attempting to understand the underlying processes of this variability and its evolutionary significance.
Carolyn Stephens
Carolyn Stephens is a Learning Enrichment Teacher at Saint Stephen's College in Coomera. In this role she teaches creativity, mathematical problem solving and philosophy. She was previously an Opportunity Class (OC) Teacher and Gifted and Talented Coordinator at Greystanes Public School in Sydney for 4 years. Carolyn has a Master of Education and Bachelor of Education (Gifted and Talented) from Charles Sturt University.
Sue Stevens
Sue Stevens, B.Sc., Dip. Ed., (University of Sydney), COGE (UNSW) & M.Gifted Ed. (UNE).
Sue has 8 1/2 years full time high school teaching experience and 13 years as a full time Mum to three gifted children. She has developed and presented advanced mathematics and science programs for students to provide the rigour in education they desire and need. During her post-graduate studies, Sue specialised in accelerative programs for gifted students.
Fiona Torzsa
Fiona Torzsa has been a primary school teacher for over 20 years and is currently teaching at Holy Spirit School, Bray Park. She has a Graduate Diploma in Special Education majoring in Gifted Education and is currently enrolled in the Master of Education (Research) degree at QUT. She is particularly interested in giftedness in the early years and those gifted children with learning difficulties and is examining the possibility of designing more effective screening tools for use in Prep. She has been called in as a consultant regarding acceleration and alternative management strategies for children who may be gifted and has conducted workshops for teachers on the nature of giftedness, identification of gifted students, and management strategies for classroom and whole school implementation.
Monika von Oppell
Monika von Oppell has been an educator for the past 25 years. In that time she has taught students throughout the full range of schooling. She has also worked for the Edward de Bono Foundation in South Africa and Australia. She has created many unique programs and has presented at International Thinking Conferences in Asia, America and Australia. She has been working for the past five years in Brisbane developing a Thinking Skills program.
Carol Walker
Carol has taught at all levels in the education system from university to primary groups. Over the years, her main focus has been as an English/SOSE Teacher and her interest in catering for the needs of more able students has intensified. She has completed COGE and has assisted and taught at The Junior Scientia Program at UNSW. She is looking forward to this Conference and hopes it will become a regular date claimer for young Queenslanders.