When I deal with, or spot or I am, purposefully further accelerating students I’m looking at their Processing Capabilities.
Unfortunately TV and movies, trying to confer a broad, individualistic concept in a short period of time make it look like raw ability or talent, when in fact gifted/accelerated children-people are simply processing faster, better, more comprehensively or deeper.
I’m looking at the Engine, not the car itself. The car I can repair, alter, renovate, enhance.
Language Superiority As a First Indicator
I’ve written before about a boy I met during a sa batical to care for family—I went and got a job down the road at WalMart to kill time and have space away from my family—-he came to the Customer Service desk with his mother and he, about 4 years old, was OFF the charts.
One his language and syntaxical abilities were INCREDIBLE. Complex language structure, concepts, ideas, questions. I then began progressively passively testing him—-you understand A of what I’m doing—-what would be the next logical progression—-he got to B—-ok, what if I do F?—confused?—-no, he jumped to MNO.
Ok, do you understand what I’m doing—-can you “see” my thinking as I evaluate this item for return or exchange? Do you understand the concept of returning and exchanging. He did.
Ok, do you understand the inherent limitations of the human body/brain? Which is why we have this computer/cash register?
He did.
What about money? Do you understand that representation of a concept of exchange and the heightened concept of inherent and imposed value?
He did.
I was fucking floored.
Processing Capabilities and Future Learning Structures
I stopped the line, took the mother and him aside and tried to gently explain to her how incredibly superior he was. she was a young Black girl, maybe 18, from the South. Her educational level was about Freshman to Sophomore level in high school and she’d had some levels of social-educational retardation by having a child so young.
There happened to be another teacher in line, who came over with us and we told her to not be frightened of him or his advanced perceptions. The way to help him would be to always buy materials—-books, toys that were at least 2–3 years or grades higher than him. To teach him how to write and draw and provide him with as much paper and colored pens and pencils as possible.
To read books that were higher than him—-like tween or teen (which would also help to advance her) and not dumb them down to him, force him to work out new words and concepts.
There wasn’t much I could do for her beyond that. but we talked to her for about 20 minute sand she’d noticed it and was a seemingly nice, godo mannered and not threatened by his intellect, young woman. If she does her part, the school system will start to help him along farther when he’s in the appropriate grades.
If I had neighborhood daily/weekly contact with him I could get him to 4–5 grade levels ahead in a year or so. In a school I could have him operating at a 12th grade reading level and 10th-12th grade Math level (as I was by 9 years old) with a couple of years because I would be able to teach him HOW to think to decode most things of what he encountered.
I encouraged her to teach him to play chess—-which would direct his capabilities in a strategic and futuristic/long term conceptualization way. That games were good and important.
What Am I Specifically “Listening”/ “Seeing” in EVERYONE’S head?
Cognitive Strategies
INPUT: Quantity and quality of data gathered (Pre K to 7th grade)
. 1. Use planning behaviors.
2. Focus perception on specific stimulus.
3. Control impulsivity.
4. Explore data systematically.
5. Use appropriate and accurate labels.
6. Organize space using stable systems of reference.
7. Orient data in time.
8. Identify constancies across variations.
9. Gather precise and accurate data.
10. Consider two sources of information at once.
11. Organize data (parts of a whole.)
12. Visually transport data.
ELABORATION: Efficient use of the data (5th Grade to 9th Grade)
1. Identify and define the problem.
2. Select relevant cues.
3. Compare data.
4. Select appropriate categories of time. .
5. Summarize data.
6. Project relationship of data.
7. Use logical data.
8. Test hypothesis.
9. Build inferences.
10. Make a plan using the data.
11. Use appropriate labels.
12. Use data systematically.
OUTPUT: Communication of elaboration and input (8th Grade through High School)
1. Communicate clearly the labels and processes.
2. Visually transport data correctly.
3. Use precise and accurate language.
4. Control impulsive behavior.
The above was what I was listening to, testing, seeing in the little boy. I’m doing this constantly with everyone—-children, adults, small groups, etc.. I even do field test exercises with my high school and college level adult students where we go place—-like Columbus Circle or the train and I point out to them people in passing and their educational levels. My students then go and politely strike up a conversation and ask the people if I’m right. I’m generally 100% right.
I’m also doing a level of social class, parental history, cultural analysis.)
But when I have some time to observe or listen to communication I can then see them in my head on the Cognitive Strategies list from above.
I directly teach my students, advanced and not the strategies because I want them to see their own “engines” and more importantly how to service and enhance them. I teach it to younger students as “buckets” in their mind that I’m trying to fill and that when there are issues, I can sense that a specific bucket wasn’t filled correctly. We then through our learning work can go and fill in sections/buckets and reinforce what was missed.
For advanced students I’m then teaching them that this is the basic structure—-you will constantly do this throughout all learning but what you’ll do is do it at faster and higher levels.
When people who aren’t at least 5–7 years in Education as a career talking about schools and learning, they generally don’t know how the brain works, neuroscience—-dendrites, axons, myelin, etc.—-so they have a rather Luddite thought to what teaching, learning and education is.
In conclusion, it’s not something actually “better” in a quantitative/unusual sense of matter that is different in the brain of a gifted child/adult. It’s the parent’s/environment’s awareness or enhancement to one of the 28 that supports another in the 28 that supports and enhances and so on……
Outliers Like Mozart, Prince, Coltrane, etc.
Mozart’s father was a composer who trafficked Mozart and his sister around Europe playing instruments and composing and engaging with musical theory from their youth. To in a blunt way borrow Ericsson’s theory of 10k Hours—-Mozart got in his 10k hours before he was 10—-which is why he looked like a prodigy.
- Exposure.
- Repetition.
- Mentoring.
- Ever Advancing Levels of Exposure to higher complexity within the Domain. Repeat
- EQUALS Prodigy.
Prince’s father was a musician. Same thing happened to him.
Coltrane did the same alone and then played with Miles Davis and others for years.
The (tennis) Williams sisters.
Even Beyonce learning to sing and dance and dance in heels at 4 years old.
Tiger Woods.
Einstein working for 7 years in the Patent office.
What Then Is Giftedness?
What separates being gifted is often Time and Focus. Most students as children/adults don’t Focus for an extended period of time, years, on a specific subject and have exposure to people with expertise in those fields.
Imagine a child (under 5) who likes Lego blocks. Now imagine you spend a year with them and this is their primary toy. You then show them mainly Lego movies and TV shows and videos of competitions. Then you take them to a Lego store every week. Then you take them to Lego competitions and you keep doing this for a few years. Then at about 8, you introduce them to other forms of building materials—-sticks, stones, liquids. Then you start infusing their time with books on building on structure on size and scale and slowly drawing. Movies, TV shows, videos. Taking them to meet people, see competitions. Their allowance is predicated upon identifying certain kinds of buildings in your city with pictures and presentations on the buildings.
IF, because we have to enjoy learning on some level, they take to all of this. You’d have either an architect, builder, construction genius, engineer.
(This is generally what we’re seeing when we see gifted children—-we’re not seeing all of the parent’s/environment’s infusion time to their special interest/preference. We’re often just seeing the byproduct of them playing the piano. Children do this better and faster because of brain elasticity and Time. Kids don’t have jobs, families to support, stress, sexual desires—-so 8800+ hours a year are divided to mainly Sleep, Eating and their Preference. Who and what would you be if the 2000 hours a year one spends approximately at a full time job—-you FOCUSED that TIME on a musical instrument, a language, an ability—-and you did it for YEARS? Five years, 10k hours minimum and you got paid for it your current salary? What if we doubled that time within 5 years to 20,000 hours? How good would you be then?)
We don’t have as many geniuses as we could because there isn’t the will, resources, time and concerted attention to larger and larger groups of children and adults in areas they might show aptitude for because there isn’t a lot of deep assessment of children and adults and then lesson plans designed for say a decade afterwards based upon that preference.
Gifted children generally stumble upon or are taught a preference and simply stick with it. The same with profoundly talented/gifted adults.
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Kyle Phoenix is a teacher, certified adult educator, sexologist, sex coach and sexuality educator with over two decades of intensive experience. He studied at the University at Buffalo, SUNY, New York University, and Columbia University. He has worked, consulted and taught individuals and focused professional developments for the CDC, Department of Education, Gay Men's Health Crisis, New York City Department of Health, non-profits, Fortune 500 companies and unions. He began his career facilitating on-campus workshops addressing a wide range of sexuality and sexual health issues and then moved on to teaching at universities, non-profits, private groups and clients, hosting The Kyle Phoenix Show on television and multiple online webinars, including YouTube and Sclipo and writing extensively through his blog, Special Reports, articles and other print and E books in the Kyle Phoenix Series on relationships, finance, education, spirituality and culture. He lives in New York with his family.
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