Navigating the “High Cs” of Giftedness:

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*Cognition

*Curiosity

*Creativity

*Compassion

*Confidence

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Jackie Drummer, blufflovers@wi.rr.com

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What the brain research says:

FROM THE PBS SERIES ON THE BRAIN WITH DR. DAVID EAGLEMAN : YOUR CHILD’S BRAIN

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So...what kind of experiences and environment do you want to provide for your child?

How do we, parents and educators, create these kinds of experiences and environments?

How do we grow gifts and talents in our children?

Gifts and Talents – What Are They?

• Gifts and talents are unusual strengths in children and adults
• In most states there are five recognized areas of gifts and talents
• Intellectual
• Academic
• Creativity
• Leadership
• Visual and performing arts

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Hallmarks of Intellectual Gifts/Talents

• Advanced vocabulary, used appropriately
• Excellent memory/large storehouse of information
• Learns quickly and easily
• Generalizes/grasps abstractions easily
• Perceives similarities, differences, patterns and relationships easily
• Understands cause and effect
• Makes judgments and decisions
• Comprehends new ideas readily

Hallmarks of Academic Gifts/Talents

• Masters content easily in school
• Moves easily from concrete to abstract without significant explanation
• Often skips steps in problem solving
• May read early – reads advanced materials
• Comfortable with advanced vocabulary
• Reads widely for pleasure – often for life
• Asks many questions – curiosity
• Pursues science/social studies topics on his/

her own time

• May write with clarity, precision and beauty

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COGNITION

Cognition: How can we enhance it in our children?

• “Your brain is like a rubber band. Once you stretch it,

it never goes back to its

original size.”

• Here are some ways

to stretch minds...

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Games of Categorizing -- or “One of These Things is Not Like the Others”

• stop, start, end, finish
• shutter, carpet, chimney, door
• ocean, beach, pond, lake
• huge, horrendous, gigantic, enormous
• Pekinese, Dachshund, Siamese, Dalmation
• forest, plateau, valley, mountain
• ruby, emerald, gold, sapphire
• “kick it up” variation: here are 3, add one more...

Above or Below the Ground?

• orange
• cucumber
• carrot
• horseradish
• banana
• garlic
• onion
• date
• “kick it up” variation: child must name the fruit or vegetable, and ascertain the validity of your answer

Smallest to Largest...Sequencing

• bear, cat, ant, dog
• gallon, cup, pint, quart
• rock, sand, pebble, boulder
• million, hundred, billion, thousand
• state, county, city, country
• pigeon, hummingbird, sparrow, eagle
• decimeter, centimeter, millimeter, meter
• “kick it up” variation: sequence by time, by oldest to youngest, etc.

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Learning with analogies (word puzzles

• Synonyms (goes with)

“happy:grin :: sad: ___.”

• Antonyms (opposite of)

“sun: day :: moon: ___.”

• Object/action (utility -- how we use things)

“brush: paint :: crayon: ___.”

• Source/product

“hen: egg :: cow: ___.”

• Part/whole

“hand: arm :: foot: ___.”

• Animal/habitat

“whale: ocean :: lizard : ___.”

“kick it up” variation: Put the blank in a different spot

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Celebrate!

• Explore puns, jokes, play on words, including crosswords and acrostics
• Explore lyrics of songs, especially some in the great American Musical tradition

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• Explore hink pinks, hinky pinkies, and hinkety pinketies
• Hink pink: angry father =
• Hink pink: lunar song =
• Hinky pinky: easy going man =
• Hinky pinky: frightening Tinker Bell =
• Hinkety pinkety: evil preacher =
• Hinkety pinkety: happier Boston dog =

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Discover My Pattern

• 5, 10, 15, 20, ___
• 12, 16, 20, ___
• 4, 16, 8, 32, 16, ___, ___, etc.
• 1, 4, 9, 16, ___, ___, ___, etc.
• 1, 3, 2, 4, 3, 5, ___, ___, etc.
• “kick it up” variation: have your child devise the pattern, and you try to crack it
• another “kick it up” variation: leave blanks in random positions

Digit Detective -- write your “secret number” on paper (caveat: no repeated digits) Let’s use 54 as our mystery number.

Use this coding system:

means correct digit in correct place

means correct digit, but in wrong place

means nothing is right

First guess: 25 (code )

Second guess: 62 (code now we know we don’t need 2, so the 5 is in the ten’s place; first and second guess)

Third guess: 47 (code ; since we already know that five is in the ten’s place, the four must be in the one’s place)

Fourth guess: 54!

“Kick it up” variation: Use 3 or 4 place digits...yikes!

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Some of my (and kids’) favorite thinking games

• Abalone
• Traverse
• Mastermind
• Battleship
• Checkers
• Chinese Checkers
• Chess
• Sudoku
• Tower of Hanoi
• Other recommendations?

Finally -- Read, read, read to your child -- “there’s no app quite like a lap.”

Double delight:

Read for language,

for fun, for comfort

and joy.

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CURIOSITY

Curiosity: How can we enhance it in our children?

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From Albert Einstein:

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From Dorothy Parker:

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Curiosity Strategies (from Mind/Shift: How We Will Learn by Linda Flanagan)

• Embrace uncertainty (which breeds curiosity...it’s ok not to know...yet)
• Address the emotional impact of uncertainty -- it can be uncomfortable
• Adopt a non-authoritarian style to encourage exploration, challenge and revision; ask, “I wonder,” “what if,” often
• Follow your child’s passion
• Allow the “messiness” of curiosity and the lack of closure to blossom

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Curiosities to encourage

• Curiosity about people, places, things
• Curiosity about the future
• Curiosity about mistakes
• Curiosity about alternatives
• Curiosity about why
• Curiosity about how
• Curiosity about change
• Curiosity about self

Game of Curiosity -- Here’s the Answer, What Could be the Question?

• Let’s go investigate
• Under the bed
• Hawaii
• Fish
• Under the ground
• A good friend
• Water
• Holidays
• “kick it up” variation: kids write the answer, grown-ups model high-level questions

Speaking of questions -- how about Socratic questioning?

• Refrain from asking only questions of fact (who, what, where, when, how), with a single answer
• Instead, ask questions that require inference or evaluation; the answer requires reading or thinking “between the lines,” there may be many possible answers, with justification necessary -- “decide and defend.”. These are often “why” and “why not” questions
• Consider using the 5 WHYS method to help you dig deeper when questioning

Some of my favorite “curiosity” websites:

• Wonderopolis | Where the Wonders of Learning Never …
• PBS Kids
• National Geographic Kids: Kids' Games, Animals, Photos …
• Puzzle Choice - Crosswords, online and printable puzzles …
• Brainpop
• How Stuff Works
• Others?

CREATIVITY

Hallmarks of Creativity Gifts/Talents

• Questions, questions, questions...
• Demonstrates fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration of ideas
• Fantasizes, imagines, resists closure
• Risk-taker
• Challenges status quo, asks “what if…?”
• Keen sense of humor
• Sensitive to beauty, emotion, aesthetics

F₂OE

Hallmarks of Visual & Performing

Arts Gifts/Talents

• Generates unusual solutions to artistic problems (music, art, dance, drama)
• Experiments with materials and ideas
• Demonstrates advanced skill
• Chooses to create in the arts – driven by passion
• Uses the arts to express ideas, attitudes, emotions, experiences
• Relates most other experiences to the art that sustains them

SUPPORT THE TALENT IN THE

BEST WAY THAT YOU CAN!

Creativity: How can we enhance it in our children?

• Brain-training -- force yourself to do novel things each day
• SCAMPER with ideas (Eberle)
• Lateral thinking (deBono)
• Action-Consequence-Sequel
• Other Points of View
• Plus-Minus-Interesting
• Aims-Goals- Objectives
• Six Thinking Hats

facts

challenges

the “plan”

creative thinking

positives

gut/

emotion

Consider taking a “wonder walk” with your child

• Allow time for a nice, leisurely walk
• Voice record, or write down everything that makes you both wonder
• Enjoy the joy of wondering
• Think about “I wonder why”

as well as “I wonder what

would happen if…”

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Encourage looking at things “in new ways”

COMPASSION

Compassion: How can we enhance it in our children?

1. Walk the walk - model it
2. Talk the talk - draw notice to it
3. Put your child on the receiving end of compassion
4. Volunteer time and energy
5. Care for a pet
6. Read about compassionate people
7. Compassion two-sided bracelet (reminder)
8. Give to a charity

from Signe Whitson, Child/Adolescent Therapist

50 Books on teaching empathy...for ages 5-17 by Dr. Michele Borba

The power of books...

From Gifted Carpediem

Another great resource...

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Some of My Best Friends Are Books by Judith Wynn Halsted

CONFIDENCE

Hallmarks of Leadership Gifts/Talents

• Can be counted on to follow through, with quality work
• Is self-confident with peers and adults
• Well liked, likes people, chosen often to lead
• Expresses self well
• Adapts to new routines, ideas
• Can organize, direct, and collaborate
• Can influence others to attempt hard tasks (an encourager)
• Is often asked for ideas and suggestions
• May be a “negative” leader

Confidence: How do we enhance it in our children?

• Be realistic; have reasonable expectations
• Dig deeper in conversations, encourage curiosity
• Watch your words - especially the critical ones
• Watch your child’s words - encourage positive self-talk
• Focus on personal growth -- growth mindset, not fixed mindset (appreciate effort/practice)
• Let your child figure out things by himself/herself
• Appreciate mistakes/adversity
• Do not compare, ever!
• Make your child a priority

Confidence Growing Things

to Say to Kids

You are loved. You make me smile. I think about you when we’re apart. My world is better with you in it. I will do my best to keep you safe. Sometimes I will say no. I have faith in you. I know you can handle it. You are creative. Trust your instincts. Your ideas are worthwhile. You are capable. You are deserving. You are strong. You can say no. Your choices matter. You make a difference. Your words are powerful. Your actions are powerful. Your emotions may be powerful.

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More Confidence Building Words

And you can still choose your actions. You are more than your emotions. You are a good friend. You are kind. You don’t have to like what someone is saying in order to treat them with respect. Someone else’s poor behavior is not an excuse for your own. You are imperfect. So am I. You can change your mind. You can learn from your mistakes. You can ask for help. You are learning. You are growing. Growing is hard work. I believe you. I believe in you. You are valuable.

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More Confidence Building Words

You are interesting. You are beautiful. When you make a mistake you are still beautiful. Your body is your own. You have say over your body. You are important. Your ideas matter. You are able to do work that matters. I see you working and learning every day. You make a difference in my life. I am curious what you think. How did you do that? Your ideas are interesting. You’ve made me think of things in a completely new way. I’m excited to see what you do.

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More Confidence Building Words

Thanks for helping me. Thank you for contributing to our family. I enjoy your company. It’s fun to do things with you. I’m glad you’re here. I’m happy to talk with you. I’m ready to listen. I’m listening. I’m proud of you. I’m grateful you’re in my life. You make me smile.

I love you.

FINALLY

Be sure to have enough “white space” in your child’s life, so that he/she can play!

Questions?