Morgan P. Appel Director, 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 1930’s 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)

Brian 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/Process Imagination

Mastering new concepts Self-confidence

Self-esteem Anxiety reduction

Cooperation Sharing

Empathy Conflict resolution

Leadership Communication

Vocabulary Storytelling Persistence

Concentration Communication 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 a statement but requires guidance, structure and foundation (pedagogy)

The work in progress scaffolds 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 is much like a volcano on the verge of eruption. Chaotic, swirling, yet somehow controlled unconsciously seeking order and release. The same neurochemistry that fuels all we love about our 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 actively seeking out information from multiple sources to engage in problem solving activities. That is where motivation, Persistence and creativity make 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 passway and my road seem dark as night I got stones in my passway and my road seem dark as night I have pains in my hearts they have taken my appetite I have a bird to whistle and I have a bird to sing Have a bird to whistle and I have a bird to sing.

Morgan Appel, Director Education Department UC San Diego Extension 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0170-N La Jolla, California 92093-0170 mappel@ucsd.edu 858-534-9273 extension.ucsd.edu/education