Wednesday, August 11, 2010

We'll Be Back Soon...Promise!

It's been a difficult summer.  The last few weeks of June, Chuck's mom started having some pretty serious "elopement" problems with her dementia, which created demands on his dad's health.  And then on July 5th his dad suffered from kidney failure.  After a week in ICU, another week in the hospital, and nearly 3 weeks in an in-patient physical rehab facility, he's recovering nicely though he's now on permanent dialysis.  During the whole process it became obvious that they could no longer live alone and we have moved them into a specialized care facility where they can get the care and attention they need.

We literally just got them moved yesterday and we still have things to take care of regarding their medical and financial needs, but we'll be back to blogging on the GiftedGalaxy soon.

Chuck and Lori

Friday, April 16, 2010

Gifted Children and The Visual and Performing Arts

You might think that this blog, the 5th and final in our series on Areas of Giftedness, should be lumped in with the first blog on creative giftedness. But in the same way that we drew a distinction between general intellectual capacity and a specific academic ability, we’re drawing a distinction here between creative thinking and this area of giftedness for specific capabilities in the visual and performing arts. In the first blog we discussed creative thinking in general, i.e. independent thinking, a sense of humor, standing out from the crowd. When it comes to giftedness in the visual and performing arts, we’re talking about a specific ability to express themselves through the arts.

Just as with specific academic ability, gifted children with characteristics in the visual and performing arts have an uncanny ability to learn advanced modes of expression, whether in art, music, drama, dance, writing, or any other artistic expression. It simply comes natural to them. Both of our children, for example, are prolific writers and have not only tried their hand at creative writing, but have completed complex works and crave time to spend working on more. They also excelled in band (even though they didn’t relish practicing, which in hindsight indicates they had this gifted characteristic but perhaps didn’t have the personal interest that they do in writing).

Children gifted in the arts have great spatial skills and good—although not necessarily athletic—motor coordination. They easily connect the abstract emotional expression with the medium they’re working in (moral lessons in writing, for example, or themes and stories in music). They are observant and study those who have mastered the mediums: if their interest is writing, they enjoy critical literary analysis, or if their interest is dance, they crave watching and attending performances.

But perhaps most importantly, gifted children in this area will want to emulate the masters for their own expression, and you should definitely foster their expression. If their interest is writing, buy them a journal. If their interest is music, find an instrument that interests them, or let them compose their own work (there is plenty of great music composing software out there, like Noteworthy Composer, one of our personal favorite software packages).

We hope you've found this series of blogs useful. If you have any questions about this series, our blog in general, or just want to talk to us about your gifted child, we want to hear from you! Email us at giftedgalaxy@gmail.com


Friday, April 9, 2010

Gifted Children: Excelling in Specific Areas and Interests

In our previous blog on giftedness in intellectual capacity, we were referring more to a general ability to learn, a broader capacity to learn and excel in any problem solving area. In this blog we’re talking more about a specific—almost preternatural—skill in a specific topic.

Everyone’s familiar with the stereotypical nerd with mathematical capabilities, or the 9 year-old programmer. But the topic can be almost anything, even athletic ability (with the winter Olympics fresh on our minds, who would question whether Apolo Ohno or Lindsey Vonn are “gifted”?) Our son, for example, aced the state biology exam, and our daughter has always excelled in English.

What gifted children who excel in specific areas all have in common, regardless of the interest, are an advanced and natural comprehension of that interest. That subject simply “comes easy” to them. They possess the ability to memorize data, perhaps selectively with respect to their interest, and they will read and study their topic with voracity and an ease of comprehension. And naturally they will excel at their area.

If your child is gifted in a specific area, by all means do all that you can to feed their interest. Get them involved in activities that not only encourage them to develop their interest, but pushes them to refine their capability (for example, Apolo Ohno’s dad didn’t just take him to the skating rink, he drove him to Vancouver to participate in competitions).

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Friday, April 2, 2010

Gifted Children and Intellectual Capacity

This is the characteristic area of gifted children most everyone recognizes, but obviously (the point of our most recent blogs) isn’t the only area. There have been many Presidents of the United States obviously gifted in leadership and certain, specific academic areas (our next blog), who haven’t been particularly gifted with the kind of intellectual capacity we’re talking about here. And of course there have been many artists, musicians, and writers/poets who abound with creative gifts and skills in the visual and performing arts (blog after next) who don’t exhibit gifted levels of intellectual capacity.

Children gifted in intellectual capacity are able to process information in complex ways. This information can be almost anything you can imagine: numeric problems, written information, or even their environment. For example, our daughter exhibited some unique capabilities in this area. Even at the age of only 5 or 6 she was keenly aware of everything in her room (and I do mean everything). She would come home and a few seconds after going to her room, would come out and say something like, “who moved my Pound Kitties?” If I switched the positions of 2 (seemingly) insignificant items on her dresser, she could spot the change within seconds of her return (I know, I did this as an experiment on many occasions to see what she would do). She has uncanny skill with Where’s Waldo.

Gifted children with intellectual capacity can easily formulate abstractions and inferences. They are amazingly observant, even of intangible concepts, and are continually inquisitive. They can get visibly excited about new ideas, and they enjoy hypothesizing solutions. They will employ a complex vocabulary that far exceeds their years and they are voracious learners, though not of topics that you or their teachers may want them to learn.

If your child exhibits characteristics of intellectual giftedness, try to identify the topics that interest them and foster their independent learning in those areas. Take them to the library—the university library if necessary—to explore their interests. Let their teachers know of their specific interests, and encourage them to develop projects or experiments so that they can reach their own conclusions and develop their own hypotheses.


Friday, March 26, 2010

Gifted Children and Leadership

Another way a gifted child can express their talents is through leadership. This isn’t just their ability to earn the respect or devotion of their peers (that may be part of it), but more like an inherent capability to assume responsibility long before other children of their own age are exhibiting the same capability.

We think a gifted child’s talent in leadership most likely comes from their own high expectations for themselves. Gifted children usually know that they are exceptional compared to other children and can automatically assume a leadership role in a situation, sometimes inappropriately (like assuming that they should be the team captain, or taking over a group situation even without designation).

Children gifted in the area of leadership will be confident in their abilities of expression, and sometimes supremely frustrated if others don’t “get them”. Despite the physical lack of maturity of their brains (see our previous post) they will tend to make good decisions and can foresee the consequences of their own actions and those around them, perhaps even better than some adults. They are self-confident and organized.

If you child expresses characteristics of leadership giftedness, provide them the structure and organization they crave. Encourage them in activities where they can express their leadership capabilities, but coach and communicate with them if others (coaches, teachers, band directors, other children) don’t see eye-to-eye with them. Keep an open dialog going with the other adult leaders in their lives, and never stop helping them identify ways of expressing themselves.



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Friday, March 19, 2010

Creative Giftedness

Every child is unique and gifted children can express their talents in many different ways. For the next few blogs we’re going to explore some of these different areas of giftedness, starting with creative giftedness. While we’re looking at each area individually, keep in mind that a child is more likely to exhibit characteristics of several of these areas; helping a gifted child more fully develop begins with recognizing their gifted talents and tailoring a learning plan accordingly.

We knew pretty early that both our son and daughter were creatively gifted, but for different reasons. Creatively gifted children aren’t just talented artistically or musically, though those are certainly good indicators. Our son expressed his creative giftedness with a complex and quirky sense of humor: think Monty Python vs. Charlie Chaplin. Not to mention the elaborate near-reality stories he used to come home from pre-school with that left us saying, “huh?”

Our daughter, on the other hand, simply stood out. An obviously independent thinker from the time she could smile and coo, she has never shied away from being different. This made for some challenges during her early teen years. I heard an NPR report recently that a neurologist has identified that the teenage mind isn’t fully wired yet and as a result teens didn’t have the ability to fully understand the consequences of their actions. This is pretty interesting and worthy of a future blog or two, but parents of gifted children should remember that headstrong individuality is also a good indicator of creative giftedness.

The child who is creatively gifted thinks outside the box, will devise several solutions to a problem, will challenge assertions, and will readily invent and create. Complex and challenging problems will engage them, and they will express interest in activities that don’t interest other children. They will surprise parents and teachers with behavior that might even border on the eccentric. And yes they might be interested in art and music.

If your child expresses characteristics of creative giftedness, feed their creativity. Find creative activities that interest them, and foster their continual learning and skills development in that area, even if they exceed your own capabilities or understanding of what they’re doing, but if they burn out on it and lose interest, just go with the flow and help them explore their new ideas.



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Saturday, March 13, 2010

Test Score Obsession

I read an interesting article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution last week entitled “Analytical Learning is the Big Loser in Test Score Obsession.” The article was written by Shannon Howrey, Assistant Professor of Education, at North Georgia College and State University.

In the article, Dr. Howrey talks about the efforts of the Georgia legislature to tie teacher salaries to their student's standardized test scores; i.e. paying teachers based on how well their students do on the standardized state test (the "CRCT" here in Georgia). Some states call this merit pay. Dr. Howrey states that Georgia is trying to "ensure a well-educated, successful work force resulting in a strong economy." But, Dr. Howrey goes on to explain, these bills would essentially do the opposite.

We here in the Gifted Galaxy agree wholeheartedly! Standardized tests measure knowledge and base skills only; memorizing knowledge and performing discrete skills is only a small part of what children need to be successful.

Robert Sternberg, a Yale psychologist and advocate for gifted education who has studied successful people for many years, found that they possess a "triarchic" set of personal qualities. The first of these is "analytical" intelligence, which can be, to some degree, measured on standardized tests.

Equally important, says Sternberg, are two other types of intelligence: "creative intelligence," or the ability to manipulate ideas and think about things in new ways, and "tacit intelligence," or the social/emotional skills needed for dealing well with people. (If you're interested in Sternberg's book, here's a link: The Triarchic Mind: A New Theory of Human Intelligence

Dr. Howrey claims that these skills (all 3 of them) are not only necessary for success, but may be critical for survival in a globally and technically interconnected world. Thomas Friedman, author of “The World is Flat: a Brief History of the Twenty-First Century,” has stated that our country’s ability to compete in a global economy will depend on people with analytical skills to synthesize large amount of information, creativity to apply that information to new ideas and products, and communication skills to lead teams of individuals from a variety of countries and cultures.

According to research by Sternberg, Torrence, Eisner, Renzulli, Reis, and others, children develop these creative and social skills through exposure to the arts, music, and drama; opportunities to apply mathematical and scientific knowledge in experiments and projects; and rich, open-ended discussions of literature and social studies. Dr. Howrey says that these types of opportunities are the exact programs that the Georgia Legislature wants to do away with by cutting funding for them in the near future. She goes on to say that none of these skills can be measured through CRCT scores, "as they require thinking outside the box, not marking inside a box of predetermined right or wrong answers."

State testing can be used to test factual knowledge learned and discrete skill sets but Dr. Howrey believes that the Georgia legislation that rewards teachers and schools for increasing test scores are "dangerously short-sighted" and provide only a small portion of the knowledge and skills that Georgia’s children will need to succeed in the 21st century. And as has been painfully pointed out in Georgia in the last few weeks, tests--even the CRCT--can be manipulated.  Start tying teacher's pay to test performance and the incentive to manipulate testing is that much higher.

It seems very convenient in this time of economic distress when states and school districts are trying to cut every ounce of extras out of their budget that they would push for rewarding only those teachers and schools that increase test scores. The rewards sound like the cheaper alternative and--at first glance--seem logical and a good "business decision".  But learning isn't so cut and dried, and teachers aren't commissioned salespeople.

Besides, we all hear how far American students lag behind other country's students in test scores, yet American workers are--by far--the most productive in the world.  Why are we trying to emulate the education system of less productive societies?

Parents everywhere (not just here in Georgia) need to question their local districts when they start to cut funding for band, orchestra, music, art, etc. and everyone needs to pay attention to the debate over "teacher merit pay".


Saturday, March 6, 2010

The ABCs of Parenting Bright Children, Part 2

If you read my last blog, you know that I try to keep my stuff organized. I like to go through my old units looking for things that need to be used. Last blog I started the ABC’s of Parenting Bright Children. This was a list that was compiled by KIDS Work Studios and presented in a workshop that I attended back in 2000. So, here is the rest of the alphabet…

M-Make time to talk quietly with your child when there has been a disciplinary lapse, whether at home, at school, or in a social situation.

N-Never try to argue through discussions. Bright children are usually strong-willed and have a well-developed sense of duty.

O-Offer them choices. Encourage in them the ability to make decisions.

P-Plan time to be together with your kids. Listen to what they have to say. It isn’t as much what you do for them, as what you do with them.

Q-Provide quite challenging things to do with your child. Expand those interests and open new horizons.

R-Encourage respect and common courtesy for others. Being bright is no excuse for bad manners.

S-Set a good example of being a worthy person.

T-Treat your child’s teachers with the utmost respect and admiration. Teachers and Parents should have common goals and may employ different methods to achieve them.

U-Utilize better ways of showing your child when phrasing a question or making a suggestion if needed. For example, never say, "That’s a dumb idea; I have a better one!" Say instead, "Would this be a good idea?"

V-Value you child's talents and creativity. "Multiple Intelligences" by Howard Gardner help children to realize the many different ways they can be smart.

W-Work on respecting your child and his or her knowledge. Be open minded and ready to listen.

X-Extend your knowledge base by brushing up on giftedness by reading books, attending seminars, and exposing yourself to new areas of expertise.

Y-Yearn to keep a level head and a sense of humor. Though your child is smart, there is always someone smarter. Remember, everyone is a genius at something.

Z-Zip through life with the satisfaction of knowing you are doing your best, although the joys of excellence are tempered by frustrations with school, lack of understanding by many and the fact that your bright child(ren) will keep you busier than you could ever imagine!

Above all, have fun with your children! Laugh often and look for the silver lining in every situation. It is a great thing when you can laugh at yourself. This lets your children know that you are not always perfect. Perfection is a topic for another blog! As is the apple not falling too far from the tree!

Happy Parenting!


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Sunday, February 28, 2010

The ABCs of Parenting Bright Children

Lately, I’ve been doing some early spring cleaning…cleaning out and reorganizing units…eliminating some of the paper that seems to go along with teaching gifted children.  It is amazing what you can accumulate in 13 years of teaching—and I am not one to keep everything; I refuse to be a pack rat!  Whenever I do this, I find some tidbits of forgotten wisdom or some wonderful activity that I forgot I had and haven’t had a chance to use.  This time was no exception: I came across a packet from a class that I attended back in 2000.  It was called Invention Studio and it was put on by KIDS Work Studios.  KIDS stands for Kids’ Ideas Developed Successfully.  They don’t exist today (at least their site doesn't).  I checked.  The domain name is now for sale, if you are interested.


Back in 2000, a group of people were trying to get a creative invention fair going for kids in the area.  The idea was that it would be a competition for 4th-6th graders who would come up with an invention and then present it in a Science Fair type of setting.  Kids had to go through the entire process of inventing something—from coming up with a problem, to finding a solution, to creating a prototype.  I incorporated the process into a unit on Inventors and it was a big hit.  My kids participated for 4 years before Hurricane Katrina shut down Edgewater Mall—where the fair was normally held—for many months.  I don't think the fair ever came back after Katrina.

Anyway, while looking through the info, I came across a list called The ABC’s of Parenting Bright Children.  I remember thinking that this was a great resource to give to my parents when they asked what they could do to encourage their gifted child to reach his or her potential.  A lot of the items are common sense and I am happy to say that I was already telling parents some of them.  But I thought that it would be good to hear this list again.  We, as parents and teachers, need to internalize these suggestions and use them whenever we can.  As you can imagine, there are 26 items on the list, so I will break it up into a couple of blogs.  Here goes part 1!

A-Give them your love.  Remember, they are still children.  They need assurance, encouragement, controls, and discipline.

B-Help them become familiar with their surroundings, neighborhood, and community.

C-Encourage them to assume responsibility for their own actions—put away what they get out, pick up what they spill, give and take messages correctly.

D-Read to your children and encourage them to read to you.  Early verbal expression, music, art, poetry, and reading are valuable beyond measure.

E-We retain more strongly what we learn in our youth.  Therefore, answer all questions as accurately and as honestly as you can, to the depth required.

F-Encourage your children to have healthy bodies.  Let them learn to play ball, swim, ride a bike, and develop good physical motor ability skills.

G-Children need one or two good friends.  Playmates with similar interests or capabilities are advocated, but not to the exclusion of others.

H-Parents must take the initiative in taking children to museums, art galleries, educational institutions, historical places, etc.  Open their world to encompass as many and varied experiences as possible.

I-Become familiar with your Public Library.  Help your child locate great books in the areas in which he or she expresses interest.  Open their minds to the Internet with guidance and purpose.

J-Avoid pushing a child to perform at a level he or she is not ready to achieve.  There is a difference between pushing and intellectual stimulation.

K-If you can, give your child the advantage of private lessons in some skill in which he or she expresses an interest, or excels.

L-Avoid overstructuring your child’s life.  Children need time to be alone, to rely on their own ingenuity, to choose what they want to do, and contemplate or daydream as the mood strikes.  They cannot be expected to perform at top capacity at all times.

We, as parents and teachers, need some downtime, too.  So go have some fun with your children and with your friends.  You will be a better person, and a better parent, for it!


Sunday, January 24, 2010

Robots, Ideal Food for the Gifted Mind

I recently had the tremendous pleasure to judge at an elementary school tech fair.  A few decades back--no comments on this, please--when I was in elementary school we only had science fairs.  Ah, I remember fondly the work and the research I put into my "Air" and "Eye" projects.  Mine were really more research projects compared to what the kids do now.  Today there are fairs of various types and a tech fair allows children to develop a project in various areas of computer and Interent technology, from graphic arts to presentations and robotics.  And naturally the gifted children really stand out, but perhaps not for the reasons you might think.

The category I was asked to judge was robotics.  I suppose this is because of my programming background and the fact that I'm the President of a software company.  The hardware used in the projects were all kits, but it was surprising the varying complexity of the kits and the accompanying programming software (see my notes below).  What we were asked to grade the projects were rubrics such as whether the project worked as intended, how well the student understood the underlying programing concepts, and how well the student had picked up on problem solving capabilities with their project (i.e. did they learn only how to make their robot achieve the designated task, or did they generalize the problem solving capabilities of their kit and learn how it could be applied to other tasks).

I guess because of my love of programming and the fact that I love to see kids really "getting it" when it comes to creating a program, I tended to hone in on trying to see if the children had learned how to generalize their problem solving skills.  I asked questions like, "what would happen if you changed this?" and suggesting a change to their program; or, "if you wanted your robot to do this instead, how would you change your program?"  I found these questions super-effective in determining whether the child really understood the problem solving capabilities in developing software.  So parents out there whose children are building robot projects, perhaps you could encourage them to learn true problem solving questions by challenging them with these questions.

We judged about 8 projects, and as I said before the gifted children tended to really stand out.  Not only did they score high on the rubrics, and not only did they demonstrate true and solid problem solving understanding, but they were filled with enthusiasm (and in one case, almost overwhelmingly so).  Two projects stood out here.  One project was built with a Lego Mindstorm kit and the student had devised a very elaborate task that was even accompanied with a backstory (now, that's a gifted child).  His project worked as designed and he scored well on the rubrics, but he really stood out by being so into his project; indeed, it was hard to get a word in edge-wise to ask him questions!  The other project was much simpler, but unlike the other projects which relied on a graphical flow-chart method of programming, this project relied on writing lines of code in BASIC; not only did the child have to demonstrate problem solving skills, but he had to learn a true programming syntax.  His command of programming for problem solving was solid, and while he wasn't bouncing off the walls, his passion and interest in understanding how to write code was obvious.

I hadn't realized there were so many different types of robot kits now.  If your gifted child is interested in a robotics project, I'd recommend you take a look at the following kits:
LEGO Mindstorms - a staple, allows for creative construction of robotic devices, supports a variety of feedback sensors, and the programming is a nice, powerful, visual environment that is easy for both children and non-programming skilled parents to learn and work with.
Robotic Arm Edge - a robotic arm kit that can mimic the very practical tasks of industrial robotic arms; the kit is not nearly as an open construction platform as LEGO, but will help the child focus on tasks and programming problem solving. This kit also has a nice and powerful visual programming tool that teaches programming techniques, including objects and properties, plus it has the nifty feature of being able to control the arm in real time.
Mobile Robot Base Kit - this kit is for children that can rely on lots of help from Mom or Dad.  It is a mobile device with two wheels that requires pretty low level programming.  It has some modular sensor capabilities and will be best served with someone with skills working with electronics.  This kit will really require the student to hone their programming skills, so I recommend it only for children who have already demonstrated an ability to learn procedural programming.

One last note for this blog; all of the projects I judged were by boys.  I would love to see girls taking more interest, not necessarily in robotics but in programming.