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High Achiever, Gifted Learner, CreativeThinker

High Achiever, Gifted Learner, CreativeThinker
Identification of gifted students is clouded when concerned adults misinterpret high achievement as giftedness. High-achieving students are noticed for their on-time, neat, well-developed, and correct learning products. Adults comment on these students' consistent high grades and note how well they acclimate to class procedures and discussions. Some adults assume these students are gifted because their school-appropriate behaviors and products surface above the typical responses of grade-level students. Educators with expertise in gifted education are frustrated trying to help other educators and parents understand that while high achievers are valuable participants whose high-level modeling is welcomed in classes, they learn differently from gifted learners. In 1989, Janice Szabos published a comparison of the bright child and the gifted learner. Later, in the second cartoon, the teacher poses a question to the class. Szabos, J. (1989).

Creativity Challenge 1998 #4 - Crawford's Attribute Listing Creativity Challenge 1998 #4 Robert C. Crawford, professor at the University of Nebraska who taught creativity classes in the early 50s, wrote about ATTRIBUTE LISTING in his book, The Techniques of Creative Thinking published in 1954. So this week let's try an "oldie but a goodie". Take a common object/challenge/problem. My 5th step. Take 1 to 6 of the wildest and think about how you/we might reach or create that result. In 1954 my father was learning to use a computer at his company to do his gear engineering designs. If he had used "attribute listing" he might have listed "size of the computer". Then he might start working on how that might be possible. Viola his son buys a "palm top" computer in 1998. Your challenge if you take it this week is to use attribute listing on a "lawn mower". Prev Page Next Page Index Page

Definitions of Giftedness | National Association for Gifted Children Giftedness, intelligence, and talent are fluid concepts and may look different in different contexts and cultures. Even within schools you will find a range of beliefs about the word "gifted," which has become a term with multiple meanings and much nuance. Gifted children may develop asynchronously: their minds are often ahead of their physical growth, and specific cognitive and social-emotional functions can develop unevenly. Some gifted children with exceptional aptitude may not demonstrate outstanding levels of achievement due to environmental circumstances such as limited opportunities to learn as a result of poverty, discrimination, or cultural barriers; due to physical or learning disabilities; or due to motivational or emotional problems. This dichotomy between potential for and demonstrated achievement has implications for schools as they design programs and services for gifted students. NAGC does not subscribe to any one theory of the nature of human abilities or their origins.

Creative Think: Give Yourself A Whack on the Side of the Head The more often you do something in the same way, the more difficult it is to think about doing it in any other way. Break out of this "prison of familiarity" by disrupting your habitual thought patterns. Write a love poem in the middle of the night . . . Eat ice cream for breakfast . . . Wear red sox . . . Visit a junk yard . . . How can you whack your thinking? How would each of the following situations change the way in which you think about your issue: How do you whack your thinking? The 25th Anniversary Edition (completely revised, redesigned, and updated) of the book "A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative" will be published by Business Plus on May 5, 2008.

Characteristics and Behaviors of the Gifted Characteristics of Gifted Children Identifying The Gifted Recognizing the Characteristics of Gifted Children General Behavior Characteristics Learning Characteristics Creative Characteristics Who are the Highly Gifted? Some Myths About Gifted Children Identifying The Gifted Einstein was four years old before he could speak and seven before he could read. Recognizing the Characteristics of Gifted Children ERIC Clearinghouse on Handicapped and Gifted Children (1985) cites three types of characteristics of gifted children: general behavioral, learning, and creative characteristics. General Behavior Characteristics Gifted children's behavior differs from that of their age-mates in the following ways: Learning Characteristics Gifted children are natural learners who often show many of these characteristics: Creative Characteristics Gifted children's creative abilities often set them apart from their age-mates. Who are the Highly Gifted? Learn at a much faster pace. Printed with Permission Not necessarily.

The Virtues of Confusion We all know that confusion doesn't feel good. Because it seems like an obstacle to learning, we try to arrange educational experiences and training sessions so that learners will encounter as little confusion as possible. But as is so often the case when it comes to learning, our intuitions here are exactly wrong. Scientists have been building a body of evidence over the past few years demonstrating that confusion can lead us to learn more efficiently, more deeply, more lastingly—as long as it's properly managed. How can this be? We short-circuit this process of subconscious learning, however, when we rush in too soon with an answer. 1. 2. 3. GIFTED 101 What is giftedness? The hallmark of giftedness is abstract thinking ability. Those who are gifted learn more and learn faster; they remember more and make more original connections compared to those in the normal range. Those who are gifted also have a depth of feeling with levels of intensity. Some gifted children are high achievers, but not all. Underachievement can be the result of a poor fit between school curriculum and the gifted student. "Giftedness is asynchronous development in which advanced cognitive abilities and heightened intensity combine to create inner experiences and awareness that are qualitatively different from the norm. - From the work of Linda Silverman cited in Academic Advocacy for Gifted Children, Barbara Jackson Gilman, p. 39. Back to Top How is giftedness identified? Usually a child qualifies for gifted education through testing. Click on this link for further explanation about percentile ranking. As an adult, am I gifted? Are you a good problem solver?

Walking Promotes Divergent Thinking, Find Stanford Scientists Humans have a complicated relationship with walking. This wasn’t always so. British paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey identified marks of bipedalism dating back 3.7 million years in Tanzania—it’s an old endeavor indeed. Bipedalism conferred onto us two distinct advantages. Secondly, and more importantly for this story, the ability to walk turned us into efficient communicators. Was walking considered a creative endeavor, however? The more sedentary the world has become, the more the primitive act of walking is romanticized. Modern activities for creative problem solving include daydreaming, sleep, and cardiovascular exercise. The team conducted four experiments to better understand how walking affects creative thinking, with two tests administered to participants. In the first experiment participants completed the two tests while seated and then while walking on a treadmill (to factor for environmental influence). Their assessment?

Is expertise a necessary precondition for creativity?: A case of four novice learning group facilitators JavaScript is disabled on your browser. Please enable JavaScript to use all the features on this page. Abstract Many North American theorists conceptualize expertise as preceding creativity. Keywords Expert thinking skills Shared expertise Social creativity Group facilitation Collective zone of proximal development Choose an option to locate/access this article:

The Prufrock Press Blog The Danger of (Some) Creativity Advocates In general, even if I disagree with them about specific issues, I tend to be appreciative of creativity advocates – the educators, policy experts, science journalists, and concerned citizens. They help reinforce the importance of creativity to the general public. However, what worries me are the ones who advocate so strongly for creativity that they end up hurting the cause. I know many NRA members who cringe when Wayne LaPierre speaks; I imagine it is a similar gut feeling. Some of these advocates argue that creativity is more important than reading and math. Other people advocate for removing the SATs or other standardized tests entirely, which is also a little silly. The risk, to me, is that if certain advocates, public figures, or mainstream authors lead this movement without extensively consulting and collaborating with the people who actually do this research, then it will likely not end well. It’s like edamame. There is a place for revolutionaries.

Part 4… Creativity In The Digital Classroom… Amazing Web Sites… Are They In Your School? I hope you enjoyed the the past three post involving creativity and the digital classroom. I welcome you to the fourth in this series of posts. I have some reflection, ideas, and some amazing resources to share. Please enjoy and share this post via email or a retweet. While you are at it, I would appreciate that you take a moment to subscribe to this Blog by RSS or email and follow me at (mjgormans). Also, feel free to contact me about any conference, in-service plans, or PD you might wish to include me in. Note – Join me for a free webinar this Tuesday, February 12 at 8:00 PM EST entitled “Connecting & Collaborating In and Out of the Classroom“. So many times we encourage students to be creative, but don’t always provide an explanation nor assessment. In this post I would like to focus on item number 4 in my below categories, Websites that Promote Creativity in The Digital Classroom. Arts Edge – Art of course is a prime example of creativity and innovation. Like this: Like Loading...

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