Creativity: A Gift for the Gifted.

Gifted students rarely let on that there is something missing from their learning. The creative world of their earliest years has lost its validity. They have been forced to let it go. Their sense of wonder has begun to fade.

Learning has become less about them as individuals and more about their ability to comply with a set of arbitrary expectations. These gifted learners who had an abundance of curiosity and inspiration become particularly disheartened.

While traditional extension programs focus heavily on vertical extension, they ignore the creativity that arises from lateral exploration. Creativity revives unused talents and interests, and extends the gifted learner in significant ways. Academics and creativity do not belong on separate poles. Gifted learners, when freed from artificial constraints, will pursue learning at their own level AND explore its creative edge.

It is a great tragedy that surprisingly few gifted children become creative adults. simply being intelligent does not guarantee a creative future. Over time, gifted students tend to approach their education as a means to an end.

Gifted learners need time to step back from destructive conditions and make their own contributions to what they are learning. If we can integrate creativity into the curriculum, we can awaken inside our learners their own freely creative spirit.

We need to give gifted students power over their learning. Many struggle with motivation. The creative process motivates, through its positive contribution to emotional well-being and intellectual growth, through promotion of higher order thinking.

Academics and creativity can naturally be woven together:

1. Allow the gifted learner to delve into material head first. They will draw on a wide range of sources, pose questions and gather the data they require
2. The gifted learner will then cast off into the depths, seeking a path of their own
3. Often, they will discover areas where their understanding or skills fall short
4. They will return with new questions and new problems
5. The process will continue

 

Above is my response to the first chapter of "Igniting Creativity in Gifted Learners, K - 6"; entitled Creatvity: a Gift for the Gifted.