Author, Advocate for Gifted Learning
Dr. Joanne Foster
EMPOWERING LEARNING, CREATIVITY, AND GIFTED DEVELOPMENT WITH INSIGHTS, RESOURCES, AND STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS.
EMPOWER LEARNING, CREATIVITY, AND OPTIMAL CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Books
This collection of insightful books on creativity, gifted education, productivity, and children’s well-being will inform and inspire parents, educators, and young minds.
Ignite Your Ideas, Creativity for Kids
This book is bursting with ideas designed to fuel possibilities
Ignite Your Ideas: Creativity for Kids is the 8th book written by multiple award-winning author and gifted education specialist, Dr. Joanne Foster. This book is for readers aged twelve and up. However, parents, teachers, and others will also discover important information and abundant strategies to fortify their own creativity, and to inspire the young people in their lives! Set creativity aglow and feel the burn, because these pages positively sizzle with ideas that will ignite the imagination!
Being Smart About Gifted Learning
Empowering Parents and Kids Through Challenge and Change
Being Smart about Gifted Learning: Empowering Parents and Kids Through Challenge and Change is the third edition of the multi-award-winning Being Smart, and it is totally updated and revised! Dona Matthews, Ph.D., and Joanne Foster, Ed.D., provide information and strategies to encourage children’s and adolescents’ optimal development.
ABCs of Raising Smarter Kids
Hundreds of Ways to Inspire Your Child
In ABCs of Raising Smarter Kids, each letter of the alphabet has a clear thematic focus (such as Development, Independence, Learning, Motivation, and Productivity). The ABC design differentiates this book from other parenting, gifted-related, and educational publications; the alliterative style makes the book unique; and the illustrations by artist Christine Thammavongsa are creative and thought-provoking. ABCs is a distinctive, engaging, and comprehensive book.
Bust Your Buts
Tips For Teens Who Procrastinate
Bust Your Buts is for teens—and it’s filled with tips to help them understand, prevent, manage, and eliminate procrastination. There are 28 BUTS (or reasons why kids procrastinate), including having too much to do, being distracted, laziness, not wanting to take risks, being disorganized, confusion, lacking confidence, and more… Kids will find out how to bust their BUTS! They will learn how to tap their strengths, confront challenges, and become more successful.
Not Now, Maybe Later
Helping Children Overcome Procrastination
Not Now, Maybe Later helps parents and teachers understand why children procrastinate and what to do about it. Chapters are organized around specific areas of focus such as expectations; different age levels; goal-setting; power struggles about messiness, chores, and homework, motivation, and more. There are hundreds of practical ideas to help children and teens overcome tendencies to procrastinate. And these strategies apply to adults, too!
Beyond Intelligence
Secrets For Raising Happily Productive Kids
Beyond Intelligence is an informative resource for busy parents. Dona Matthews and Joanne Foster discuss how intelligence develops and describe how parents can offer children and teens a healthy balance of challenge and support. Using quizzes, checklists, and examples from decades of work with families and teachers, the authors reveal how to nurture creativity, curiosity, resilience, and good work habits so kids can be happily productive.
Dr. Joanne Foster’s
Presentations
Dr. Joanne Foster offers a diverse array of presentations on topics such as creativity, gifted/high-level development, procrastination, children’s and teen’s well-being, and more. She shares information and practical strategies with parents, educators, and other professionals. Her sessions can be tailored for various formats including keynotes, webinars, podcasts, and workshops.
For more information, see Dr. Foster’s Presentation Page.
Back to School
This resource material has a targeted focus on matters that pertain to schooling. Additional school-related material is accessible on my Blog page, on my Resources page, and in the Fostering Kids’ Success Newsletter.
Helping Kids Develop Confidence
How does confidence develop? What are some misconceptions, and what fundamentals are required for confidence to build over time? Discover five useful strategies to help kids become more confident, plus other ways to support them.
Suggestions for Kids: How to Get Motivated!
The tips presented here are FOR KIDS—(please share with them)—so they can realize how to become motivated and stay motivated, and experience the joy and fulfilment that ensue.
Next-Levelling: Going Beyond the Here-and-Now
Next-levelling—increasing abilities, knowledge, skillsets, and more—is enabling! It involves extending oneself and reaching for horizons, and it requires effort and determination. Find out how to support and encourage kids’ advancement.
Home-Based Learning
There’s an old adage: “Home is where the heart is.” Home is also where learning transpires, families bond, encouragement abounds, and endless possibilities ignite young minds. Find out more in this article on home-based learning.
Classroom Must-Haves
What contributes to an optimal classroom dynamic? Here are ten questions to consider, positioned in the context of an A-list of “must-haves.” These important elements apply to other learning environments, too!
Finding the Right Educational Fit for Your Child
“Each child has their own unique learning needs and preferences….” In this blog, Dr. Joanne Foster shares a “call to action,” offering 10 “fitting” suggestions to help kids overcome challenges, and engage in meaningful learning.
Selections from the Blog
These pieces represent a sampling of blogs written by Dr. Joanne Foster. To see more, click on the Blog Page – and subscribe to the Fostering Kids’ Success Newsletter.
An Attitude of Gratitude
Gratitude can be invigorating! Adults can help young people become more aware of why being grateful matters, Discover insights and prompts for understanding gratitude, and useful tips to encourage kids to convey it in meaningful ways.
Girls, Giftedness, and Smart Possibilities
Gifted/high-level development among girls is the focus of this piece. Dr. Joanne Foster discusses realities, and concerns—including “dumbing down.” She offers practical approaches to support students in maximizing their abilities, and provides several helpful resources.
Home-School-Community Partnerships
Dr. Joanne Foster emphasizes the importance of collaborative home-school-community partnerships for effective learning. She discusses the roles of students, parents, teachers, and administrators in creating a cohesive educational environment that nurtures students’ growth and development.
Recent and Featured Resources
These selected resources are topical, and address diverse areas of interest. To see many more relevant articles, as well as interviews and podcasts, check out the Resources page on this website.
Flexible Pacing
Flexible pacing – applicable to children and adults – involves attention to needs, energy levels, comfort, and more. Discover three diverse perspectives on flexible pacing – and why it matters!
Women bring something different: The intense world of gifted women
Dr. Foster highlights the challenges of labeling kids with ‘potential.’ She also shares practical tips from her books on procrastination, guiding parents to help their gifted children balance their educational journeys with resilience and success.
From Frustration to Fascination: Guiding Gifted Kids
Dr. Foster highlights the challenges of labeling kids with ‘potential.’ She also shares practical tips from her books on procrastination, guiding parents to help their gifted children balance their educational journeys with resilience and success.
Excerpted Segments from Ignite Your Ideas
Please click on the images or the titles below to see excerpted material that offers a window into content within the pages of Dr. Joanne Foster's book Ignite Your Ideas: Creativity For Kids.
Curiosity and Creativity
Curiosity fuels creativity and intelligence. Dr. Joanne Foster emphasizes the importance of inquiry, purpose, and dialogue to build on knowledge, overcome challenges, and reach new heights, as she explains in Ignite Your Ideas: Creativity for Kids.
Wrestling with Creativity
Creativity may seem elusive or difficult. However, those who power through, and pursue creative avenues, can find joy and fulfillment. Dr. Foster reveals tips to help kids overcome self-doubt, resolve challenges, and become more creative.
Connections (and Why They Matter)
Connections are vital to learning and creativity. Dr. Foster likens them to a lifeline braided with family, friends, and community. Expanding our networks fosters collaboration, supports creativity, and leads to personal growth through new experiences.
Effort and Creativity
Effort fuels creativity and achievement. Dr. Foster emphasizes the importance of being “proactical”—proactive and practical—so aspirations become accomplishments. Through effort, we develop confidence, intellect, collaboration, and creativity while nurturing engagement and brainpower.
The Limitlessness of Creativity
Creativity offers a limitless perspective shift, like viewing the moon from space. It lets you embrace various points of view and make daily life more fulfilling by generating and developing ideas, turning glimmers into compelling realities.
Perceived Risk
Understanding perceived risk is crucial in creative pursuits. Learn how to distinguish between low and high risks and explore strategies to mitigate them, turning daunting challenges into achievable creative opportunities.