|
1
|
|
|
2
|
- Developing gifted provision in whole school learning for the knowledge
economy
|
|
3
|
|
|
4
|
- Historically, a bit like a pyramid
- A small narrow chamber forms the
focus at the apex of a pyramid.
- A solid slab of granite seals it off from the rest of the structure.
|
|
5
|
- Pyramids may be complex, but the human mind presents a far greater
phenomenon
- Abilities cannot be defined or separated out so solidly, and simply as
chambers in pyramids.
- To date, no one can say for certain what giftedness comprises precisely,
where it begins or ends, or how it happens.
|
|
6
|
- It helps if you are male and
European!
- Our history books are not full of
Leila Da Vincis or Margaret Mozarts…
- That doesn’t mean they didn’t exist, they just weren’t identified!
|
|
7
|
- The probability is that thousands of
gifted individuals have existed.
- But chance rather than ability played the greater part in their
discovery.
|
|
8
|
- You could say you are not gifted until you are identified.
- In this sense, giftedness resides within a partnership.
- A partnership between the identifier and the gifted person.
|
|
9
|
- In Britain I am proud to say that we have an excellent commitment in
education to nurturing this partnership, and utilising cutting edge
technology to do so.
|
|
10
|
- Individuals who are:
- Creative
- Innovative
- Can think, or have the potential to think, at high levels
- Highly efficient thinkers
- For details of ready-to-use
problem solving and thinking activities to use in class see: Challenging
Gifted Children 11-16 Letts Educational, Jan 2003.
|
|
11
|
|
|
12
|
- In detention for ‘daydreaming’ in class
- Doodling weird-looking things like flying saucers (!?) in his maths book
instead of keeping on task..
- Drives everyone ‘potty’, because it’s like he’s on another planet.
- Painting strange things, what was it he did last week? The Moaning
Melissa…?
|
|
13
|
- Has extra lessons each week for his handwriting.
- Although not statemented for Dyslexia Lenny does have a tendency to
write all his letters backwards.
|
|
14
|
- Often pulls you out of the staff
room on your coffee break to talk at high speed, with great enthusiasm,
about absolute ‘nonsense’…
- You smile and nod politely, but he doesn’t seem to notice and does
exactly the same thing next week…
|
|
15
|
- On her way down to bottom set Maths with a ‘bad attitude’.
- She ‘has it in’ for Maths teachers.
|
|
16
|
- Will not conform in class.
- Regularly blurts outs ‘irrelevant’ questions that take the class light
years away from what they should be thinking about…
|
|
17
|
- “Hey sir, did you ever think that not everything that can be counted
counts, and not everything that counts is countable!”
- Einstein
- “Yeah Lizzy, just get on with your work, have you finished 1C yet, never
mind looking at me like that…”
|
|
18
|
- A model student in top set.
- He is well turned out, polite, has immaculate writing, gets good marks
frequently, and has been voted form captain three times.
- A lovely young man…
|
|
19
|
- Secretly he is absolutely bored out of his skull most of the time.
- However, he dislikes confrontations, and prefers to bide his time
quietly and obediently.
|
|
20
|
- Meanwhile he is working on a secret project at home.
- It is going well.
- He has found a way to make Bill Gates’ Microsoft programme obsolete,
overnight…
|
|
21
|
- Science award winner for a new discovery
while still only in his teens.
- Graduate of Medical School, New
York University
- Followed by a Masters in Political Science.
- Qualified for the bar, now Attorney at Law in New York and he is only in
his 20’s…(see in class activity in Challenging Gifted Children at 11-16
Letts Educational)
|
|
22
|
|
|
23
|
|
|
24
|
|
|
25
|
- Do use World Class Tests
- They are world class in every sense:
- Culture fair, on-line and up-to-date
- Test thinking ability rather than knowledge
- Encourage a world class on-line arena for teaching and learning
|
|
26
|
- Diversity: More likely to locate Eddie, Lizzy, Wolfy and Lenny.
- Everyone has a better chance to demontrate their individual abilities
- Demolishes stereotypes about who or what is ‘gifted’.
- Builds in equality of opportunity
|
|
27
|
|
|
28
|
|
|
29
|
- Early identification of their abilities
- Developing their creativity
- Challenge and Pace
- Developing thinking skills
- Opportunties to demonstrate their abilities, ideas and innovations.
- All this sound a bit familiar?
|
|
30
|
- Early identification of their abilities
- Opportunities to demonstrate their creativity and ideas
- Developing their thinking and problem solving skills
|
|
31
|
- Encouraging and nurturing innovation and creativity is not just for
gifted provision.
- In a global knowledge economy recognising and developing ALL human
creativity, and unleashing innovation, lies at the heart of
education and business - world
wide.
|
|
32
|
- Gifted and all children can benefit from a ‘think rich’ environment in
the classroom. (For ready-to-use ‘Think Rich’ classroom activities see
Challenging Gifted Children 11-16 Jan 2003).
- Thinking skills are key to life, learning and work in the global market
place.
- Logically, the thinking classroom is where we are at in education today.
|
|
33
|
- Where a thinking framework
underpins whole school teaching and learning, there are no closed
pyramids of ability, only open
roads to develop individual ability.
|
|
34
|
- Within the thinking school, the emphasis is on preparing all children
for the knowledge economy.
- But this does not mean that we therefore ignore the individual abilities
of gifted children.
|
|
35
|
- Importantly, we nurture and
celebrate their gifts, as part of
a whole school approach, in which the development of thinking
skills, creativity and innovation are seen as not the exception, but the
norm – for all children.
|
|
36
|
- Learning from Lenny and making use of
VLE opportunities.
- First, about the rules for Managing Mozarts…
|
|
37
|
- Stating the obvious:
- Managing creativity is the challenge for business and education in the
21st Century.
|
|
38
|
- Lenny, Wolfy and Lizzy are just about as creative as you can get
- Managing gifted children is managing creativity
|
|
39
|
|
|
40
|
- Confused?
- You should be…
- “If you’re not confused you don’t know what is going on” Warren Bennis
|
|
41
|
- Everyone, from Harvard Business School professors to Ben and Jerry’s ice
cream makers are grappling with this one.
- Because managing creativity flouts all the established rules of
Classical Management.
|
|
42
|
- We are the innovators
- Managing Creativity means thinking creatively about management
- Creativity goes both ways. That’s it. That’s the challenge.
|
|
43
|
- “Don’t panic”
- Help is at hand:
- a) we can learn from Lenny & Co
- b) we can take advantage of VLEs to help us manage the job even better!
|
|
44
|
- How did Wolfy, Lenny and Eddie
become so successful in developing their creativity?
|
|
45
|
- Set individual goals, devised a plan, and were persistent in achieving
it.
- Personal objective leading to self-motivation and self-directed learning
- Goal was seen not as an end but as a step to a further goal; an upward
spiral of achievement ensued. The sky was literally the limit.
|
|
46
|
- Liked to bounce ideas of others, in relaxed, fun state, had best ideas.
- Kept adjusting strategies until they met their desired objective and
standard. Did this automatically.
- Own most active critic. Constructive criticism of self, normal.
|
|
47
|
- All had mentors. Myth that they pulled themselves up by their boot
straps – outmoded idea.
- Regularly monitored own progress.
- Mentors were not just academic counsel but emotional support too.
|
|
48
|
- Networks for all children to share ideas and creativity, in a fun and
fruitful way are now possible within and without of school.
- Individual targets, and a plan of
learning to achieve goals (ILPs) can be drawn up to access
experts and resources from anywhere in the world.
|
|
49
|
- Children can store work on-line via different network systems and
retrieve it to work at their own speeds, in their own time as well as
class time.
- Self-directed learning is thus enhanced. Learning is limitless.
|
|
50
|
- Self-monitoring, and discussion of
progress can be supported at the academic as well as emotional
levels via mentors.
- Mentors need not be local, they could potentially be from anywhere in
the world.
|
|
51
|
- Had Leonardo Da Vinci had these kinds of
opportunities, what would he have been able to achieve today?
- Perhaps we would be looking at the space shuttle in a museum, thinking
how quaint – a flight vessel with wings!
|
|
52
|
- In an age of such technology,
managing gifted children forms an integral part of a local and global
drive to promote independent life long learning, and to develop thinking
skills and creativity amongst all our young people.
|
|
53
|
- Managing Mozart today is precisely about taking advantage of the connectivity that the virtual
world represents. That starts with world class tests and moves to
building international networks of
creativity, in which all children can thrive, and whereby all
children are prepared for life in the global knowledge economy.
|
|
54
|
- I have spent a lot of time in
this seminar showing how nurturing creativity and developing gifted
provision is so important in preparing children for life and work in
the global knowledge economy.
- And that’s the thing. The technology is global. The market is
global. Education is global.
|
|
55
|
- Da Vinci, Einstein, Mozart and Oeser-Sweat had all lived in the same
century and had email?
|
|
56
|
- Importantly, by communicating with each other, they would bring
different cultural, as well as creative influences to bear on their
innovations and ideas.
|
|
57
|
- For the first time ever – that kind of cultural interchange of creativity and ideas is available to
our young people.
- Understanding each other at a global and cultural level becomes key in
the exchange of ideas and innovation.
|
|
58
|
- At the moment we use our computer networks to teach our children about things,
but not each other.
- Education-Guru has created a programme to change that.
|
|
59
|
|
|
60
|
- Lizzy might find that she can learn from a Tibetan approach to Maths…
- Wolfy might want to learn how to play music from a master musician in
Ghana.
- Crossing cultural boundaries the wisdom, and achievements of the Jamel’s of this world, will
inspire future generations, wherever they are…
|
|
61
|
- Albert Einstein once said that ‘knowledge stands still, imagination
encircles the world’
- I think that had he been alive today, and here at this conference, he
may have said something different.
|
|
62
|
- Knowledge encircles the world today. Imagination
makes sure that it keeps moving on.
|
|
63
|
- Managing all our children’s gifts effectively today, will ensure that
both knowledge and imagination are alive tomorrow.
|
|
64
|
- Today’s seminar has been
dedicated to that end, and to helping you manage Margaret Mozart
wherever you find her!
- Thank you.
|
|
65
|
|
|
66
|
- Email: TynanGuru@aol.com
- Phone + 44 (0) 1204 845127
- Fax +44 (0) 1204 437163
|
Notes
