ABOUT US!
Recognize Yourself...?
We never stop thinking, learning and exploring!
We advance through regular learning in rapid paces, in depth of thought, and in acceleration to much higher and more profound levels, far beyond standards and proficiency levels!
We love to delve deep into subjects and topics, exploring their issues and expanding our knowledge base in interdisciplinary ways!
We are concerned with BIG issues that impact our world and connect to the most authentic learning experiences to make learning real!
We love to explore a range of learning places and spaces, diving into new adventures!
WE have hundreds of ideas simultaneously about any theme, issue or topic and read voraciously as we remember crucial facts and figures about our world!
We engage in projects and problem-based learning to explore with depth and complexity!
Our creative explorations in thought evolve into creative productivity as we try to impact innovations and inventions for authentic audiences!
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We believe in our right to be taught appropriately, not to be held back to fit in, but to be celebrated as we stand out and take a stand in creating our future world.
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THIS IS "US"!!
JOIN US!!
Dr. Eriksson and Dr. Cavilla -
Instructors in Gifted Education
Dr. Gillian Eriksson
Dr. Derek Cavilla
Gillian Eriksson, Ph.D. is the Coordinator of the Gifted Education Certificate and M.Ed. Gifted Track Program, the Lead Instructor and Senior Lecturer in Gifted Educatio, and also teaches Curriculum, Global and Comparative Education. She earned her doctoral degree in Curriculum, Research and Evaluation, and Special Education: Gifted at the University of Connecticut. She has an international reputation as a specialist in underserved gifted and talented students; has served as the USA elected delegate to the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children for 3 terms (2007-2013), and has presented at 14 World Gifted conferences and at NAGC annual conventions. She is the UCF PI for Project ELEVATE (Jacob K. Javits Grant, 2015-2021) and Project GLIMPSE (2022-2027) and previously served as the Project Coordinator of Project Step-Up, a Javits Grant at Lamar University, Texas (1993-1994). She was the Co-Pi on the Working on Gifted Issues (WOGI) Grant at UCF for the Florida Department of Education (2002-2003) and rewrote the Teaching Special Populations of Gifted Training Manual used by school districts in 2007. She coordinates the UCF Semester Teacher Education Abroad Program (High Ability Studies) and has conducted study and internship abroad programs to The Netherlands, England, and South Africa. She was the Director of the Schmerenbeck Educational Center for Gifted at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, for 11 years. She served on the UCF Morgridge International Reading Center Council; has received awards for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning; UCF Women of Excellence for Global Achievement (2016); Teaching Excellence (TIP Teaching Incentive Program); Internationalization; Minority Mentorship and a Fulbright scholarship. She received the 2015 Board of Educational Affairs Golden Psi Award of Excellence (APA) for developing the Gifted Curriculum at a charter school for gifted. Her textbook addresses underserved gifted (Wallace, B; Eriksson, G.I. (2006) Gifted Education: International Perspectives on Global Issues. Oxon, UK: Taylor & Francis) and she is widely published and on the Advisory Board of Gifted Education International (SAGE).
Dr. Cavilla earned his education doctorate from UCF with a specialization in gifted education. His areas of research include how to maximize student success through the infusion of social-emotional learning, which includes helping students learn skills such as empathy, self-regulation, and curiosity in the everyday classroom setting. His expertise also includes how to better identify and support both underachieving and dual-exceptional students, such as those who are both gifted and learning disabled or who are both gifted and on the Autism Spectrum Disorder. He entered the field of education in order to make a positive impact on society and has touched the lives of thousands of students from kindergarten to the graduate level having held various roles, including fifth grade teacher, high school English teacher, university professor as well as a school-based administrator in both public charter and private schools in Florida and California. Prior to entering the field of education, Dr. Cavilla ran a graphic design business for over a decade. When not busy helping to shape today’s youth and their teachers, Dr. Cavilla enjoys traveling the globe to new and exciting places, flying around the Bay Area in his single engine plane, and exploring culinary delights in his home city of San Francisco.