Morgan P. AppelDirector, Education Department
42nd Annual City/County Gifted Conference
At the Crossroads: The Legend of Robert Johnson
FLOW or SOUL?
As the story goes, in the 1930s Robert Johnson ventured to a Mississippi cross roads at midnight to make a deal with the devil. The pact? Offer his eternal soul for Lucifer’s guitar tuning skills. With guitar in-hand, Johnson and the devil stuck an accord.
According to the legend, Johnson’s new talents were immediate. In fact, Son House -- a boyhood idol of Robert Johnson and one of the most highly regarded blues guitarists of all time -- said Johnson’s seemingly overnight metamorphosis from a poor guitar player to an elite guitarist must have meant he sold his soul to the devil at the Crossroads. “He sold his soul to play like that,” House once said.
Source: Visitthedelta.com (2016)
Brain Bits:
Wisdom from
the Ancients
In ancient Egypt, when humans were preserved through mummification, the brain was discarded--viewed as a superfluous organ. It was believed that the heart was the center of all emotion and learning.
Wisdom from the Original Renaissance Man: Good Ol’ Leo
“As every divided kingdom falls, so every mind divided by many studies confounds and saps itself.”
“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough. We must do.”
“He who loves practice without theory is like a sailor who boards a ship without a rudder and a compass and never knows where he may cast.”
“All our knowledge has its origin in our perceptions.”
“When we are at work, we ought to be at work. When we are at play, we ought to be
at play. There is no use trying to mix the two.” – Henry Ford
“People rarely succeed at anything unless they are having fun doing it.”
– Southwest Airlines Mission Statement
The Conceptual Age/Knowledge Economy requires creativity; empathy; happiness;
meaning; critical thinking; problem solving; effective communication; metacognitive
abilities (sound habits of mind) and collaboration.
Providing manifold opportunities for flow compels students to be creative and
collaborative, playing important and more interdependent roles in the creation of
their own learning environments that address their cognitive and affective needs.
Brain Bits: Teaching as Art Versus Science
Teaching is an art form—not a delivery system. Teaching is an arts practice. It’s about connoisseurship and judgment and intuition. We all remember the great teachers in our lives. The ones who kind of woke us up and that we’re still thinking about because they said something to us or they gave us an angle on something that we’ve never forgotten.
--Sir Ken Robinson
Involving Spirited/Manic Chaotic Porous/Focused Tense Artistic Creative Play Collaborative Competitive Energetic Purpose-Driven Synergistic Differentiated Epiphany-Based
The Importance of Creative Play
Creativity Abstract thinking
Problem solving/ProcessImagination
Mastering new conceptsSelf-confidence
Self-esteemAnxiety reduction
CooperationSharing
EmpathyConflict resolution
LeadershipCommunication
VocabularyStorytellingPersistence
ConcentrationCommunication skills
‘Brain release’
Our Current Environment: The Context for Flow
“Learning is more effective when it is an active rather than a passive process.” – Euripides
In each of your classes, you will find a diverse range of skills, abilities and attitudes based on prior expertise and experience.
To enhance learning and metacognitive skills requires the application of pedagogical (modified), andragogical and heutagogical strategies to differentiate content and instruction.
Smart use of strategies and tools can facilitate transitions and create an environment characterized by creativity, engagement and commitment (FLOW).
Move from more to less structure and from concrete/manipulation to application to abstraction
The blank canvas makes astatement but requiresguidance, structure and foundation (pedagogy)
The work in progressscaffolds upon an existing foundation --good or bad (andragogy)
The restoration requires a more delicate and complex touch in which the work guides the process (heutagogy)
Every learner and every topic requires diverse approaches to and tools for creating a masterwork
Boundaries are porous and contextually situated: knowing WHEN to use a particular approach
1. The brain is a complex adaptive system. 2. The brain is a social brain. 3. The search for meaning is innate. 4. The search for meaning occurs through patterning. 5. Emotions are critical to patterning. 6. Every brain simultaneously perceives and creates
parts and wholes. 7. Learning involves both focused attention and
peripheral attention. 8. Learning always involves conscious and unconscious
processes. 9. We have at least two ways of organizing memory. 10. Learning is developmental. 11. Complex learning is enhanced by challenge and
inhibited by threat. 12. Every brain is uniquely organized.
Source: Caine and Caine (1997)
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development
The gifted brain ismuch like a volcanoon the verge oferuption.
Chaotic, swirling, yet somehow controlledunconsciouslyseeking order andrelease.
The same neurochemistrythat fuels all we love aboutour gifted and talented students cognitively also tends to wreak tremendous affective havoc.
Even in prehistoric times we understood that all learning is connected to the neurochemistry of survival
Ferryman/facilitator versus filler/ transporter
Organic differentiation and detective work
Creating diverse and multiple opportunities for engagement throughout the day (usually not possible ALL DAY)
Monitoring and watching for transition points (P/And/Heut)
• Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi (1975, 1990)/positive psychology
• A Zen-like, intensive state in which an individual becomes completely emerged in an experience
• “In the groove,” OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE, “In the zone”• Time stops (almost a meditative state) or flies• “Seeing the seams of the baseball” or “seeing the Matrix”• Losing oneself so that one is so focused, s/he is unaware of
distractions, even bodily needs• A universal and cross-cultural experience• Connectivity between emotion, motivation and
internalization
Balance between individual’s ability and level of difficulty in the challenge (cannot be too easy or difficult or flow cannot occur).
Goals should be clear. Expectations are foreseen and goals are attainable.
High degree of concentration in a limited field of attention—person should be able to focus and become deeply engaged in the activity.
A loss of self-consciousness is experienced (unaware of self and what the self is doing).
Sense of time transcendence (subjective experience of time is altered—passes quickly/slowly/slow motion)
When in the flow state,the brain is activelyseeking out informationfrom multiple sourcesto engage in problemsolving activities.
That is where motivation,Persistence and creativitymake their homes.
That is FLOW.
Where are your students?
Flow is cognitive, affective and metacognitive. It is primitive, innate and
essentially brain compatible at its core. It defines us as human. It helps
contain (or at least guide) the flow of cognitive lava, as it were.
You should also experience flow in your work with students. If you are not
enjoying things, it is time to stop and regroup.
You can establish conditions for flow and monitor the flow channel. Flow,
however, cannot be compelled or scheduled in a traditional sense.
One cannot flow all day. A little goes a long way—and flow is the
foundation for (and the result of) effective differentiated instruction. You
will not believe your experiences once a classroom is in the flow channel!
Challenge, balance and complexity Choice, voice and empowerment Clarity and importance of tasks Opportunities for deep concentration Opportunities for demonstration of competencies and small
successes Timely and constructive feedback (ongoing) Ongoing support for motivational drives Humor, trust and quality of relationships Relevance and proximity Promote strengths-based education, intuitive skills and
metacognition Ideas for dual exceptional and non-traditional gifted students
Problem-solving emphasis (multiple opportunities to use the
brain for the purpose which it is designed)
Availability of diverse curricular and extracurricular activities
that are respected
Every teacher is aware of the importance of flow and catalyzing
flow is at the heart of the classroom and school
Create an environment in which kids love to learn and use your
intuition and instincts as educators in so doing (wellspring from
within)
Archive, curate and display the work of the classroom
Provide support for parents in maintaining flow after school
Robert Johnson Redux: Stones in my Passway
I got stones in my passwayand my road seem dark as nightI got stones in my passway and my road seem dark as nightI have pains in my hearts they have taken my appetiteI have a bird to whistle and I have a bird to singHave a bird to whistle and I have a bird to sing.
Morgan Appel, DirectorEducation DepartmentUC San Diego Extension9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0170-NLa Jolla, California 92093-0170
[email protected]/education