header image

Random Ruminations

Posted by: chericem | February 1, 2009 | 2 Comments |



“Her restlessness was not easily appeased. . . . Everywhere she turned there was a blinding sameness. She could no longer distinguish one moment of her life from another, and the events of each day were forgotten as soon as they had passed” (Graham, 2001, p. 99).

In transition? Clearly. But transition to what? While waiting, I’ve polished off a number of books, but so far, the nuggets I’ve encountered in them haven’t coalesced into a particularly coherent set of understandings. However, it occurs to me that many may prefer the raw data without the commentary anyhow. Sometimes it is safer that way too. ;-) So, think of what follows as random graffiti that various authors have spray-painted on the walls of my mind. As is the case with graffiti from time to time, at least some of these quotes have artistic qualities that extend beyond the functional purposes they were intended to serve within the context of the books in which they appeared.

“All educational growth is loss … teachers in higher education are pressured to construe their work in oppositional rather than relational terms, pitting teacher against student, separating knowledge and identity, and describing the world in black and white terms” (Stengel, 1998).

“Living matter and clarity are opposites–they run away from one another” (Gilder, 2008, p. 100).

“John had always been drawn to the invisible: more specifically, the invisible connections between things. As a child he had puzzled over the phenomena ordinary men take for granted in modern life: the connection between a flick of a switch and the sudden appearance of light, or sound, or image. He tore things apart–looking for the connections. But his interest went beyond the engineer’s obsession with mechanical cause and effect, with deconstructing and reconstructing physical reality: he searched for things that would leave him awestruck, things residing in mystery and obscurity. Invisible connections” (Graham, 2001, p. 106).

“Co-existence is not the same as communication or connection” (Montgomery, 2009).

“When two particles interact with each other, they exchange energy and/or momentum” (K.C. Cole in Graham, 2001, p. 98).

“It is a gift, you know, to see and to be moved” (Graham, 2001, p. 14).

“Schrodinger nodded . . . ‘And matter is like light,’ he said, ‘and it diffracts’” (Gilder, 2008, p. 89).

“Everything . . . starts with a fall” (Guedj, 2000, p. 17).

“I’m in a constant state of beta…perpetually reinventing myself…” (Adam Schokora)

References

Fleischman, Paul. (2001). Seek. Chicago: Cricket Books.

Gilder, Louisa. (2008). The age of entanglement: When quantum physics was reborn. NY: Alfred A. Knopf.

Graham, Janice. (2001). Sarah’s window. NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Guedj, Denis. (2000). The parrot’s theorem. NY: Thomas Dunne Books.

Montgomery, Cherice. (2009, January 11). A random thought.

Schokora, Adam. (2008). 56minus1::

Stengel, Barbara S. (1998, Sept. 10). Review of Burbules, Nicholas C. and Hansen, David T. (Eds.). (1997). Teaching and its Predicaments. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. EdRev. Retrieved February 1, 2009, from http://edrev.asu.edu/reviews/rev37.htm

under: Uncategorized

Responses - Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and more!)

I thoroughly enjoyed this blog post & one from a few years ago on giftedness and intensity in children. I think the “restlessness” is readily apparent in young gifted children and often misunderstood. It is amazing for me to witness their beautiful minds as their divergent thoughts and ideas coalesce into a stream of creativity. But, at the same time, their extreme emotional intensity and reactions often belie their true abilities. Most observors and teachers view these reactions as curses not “gift[s] . . . to see and to be moved.” And that is unfortunate.

Thanks for taking the time to comment on this post, and for letting me know that you have spent time reading some of the others I have written. That motivates me to build time into my schedule to start blogging more regularly again! ;-)

It is SO easy to misinterpret giftedness–in children and perhaps even more so in some adults. That “restlessness” is frequently perceived as a lack of focus–especially in adults. I love the divergence and delight in the creativity of the gifted. Consequently, the resistance I encounter when I suggest that it might be time to reimagine schools as places that would support such exploration is quite disappointing.

I have thought a great deal about emotionality in the context of giftedness in children, but have not really considered the idea of emotionality as it might pertain to gifted adults. However, I do think that displaying emotion is generally considered a weakness–especially in academic and professional settings. I would love to hear more regarding your thoughts on that issue.

Leave a response - Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and more!)

Your response:

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture.
Anti-Spam Image

Categories