Unlocking Student Talent

How do we truly help all students achieve their fullest potential? What are the roles of motivation, deliberate practice, and coaching in developing talent and abilities in students? This hands-on guide examines each of these elements in detail providing definitions, relevant research, discussions, examples, and practical steps to take with students in elementary, middle, and high school. The authors examine cutting-edge research on world-class performance and distill information specifically for educators. Offering guidelines to help teachers spot and encourage all students’ exceptional aptitudes, passionate interests, and special strengths, they show concretely how to promote greater motivation for learning and success. This foundational book infuses new ideas into established teaching. User-friendly chapters include thought-provoking insights, vignettes of how notable talents were developed, teaching and learning tips, grade-level examples, and discussion questions.

Book Features:

• Offers practical versions of ideas that impact instruction: motivation, practice, and coaching.
• Examines how “the brain learns deeply,” including emergent brain science on myelin and its contribution to memory, learning, and automaticity.
• Illuminates findings that question the “10,000 Hour Rule” about becoming an expert.
• Explores the important differences between practice and “deliberate practice” in the classroom.
• Explains research findings on the motivational factors that impact student learning and expertise.
• Highlights the role and features of the most effective formative assessment.
• Addresses the “Is Talent Born or Made?” question and elaborates with actions educators can take.
• Guides teachers in unlocking their students’ talent and helping them reach their true potential.

Robin J. Fogarty is president of Robin Fogarty & Associates, a Florida-based educational consulting company. Dr. Fogarty has trained educators throughout the world in curriculum, instruction, and assessment strategies. Gene M. Kerns is chief academic officer of Renaissance Learning, Inc. and a leading authority on the educational standards in the United States and United Kingdom, learning progressions, and formative assessment. Brian M. Pete is cofounder and CEO of Robin Fogarty & Associates and an international professional developer with extensive work over the past 18 years with adult learners.

"This book offers revolutionary proposals for transforming general education and, in particular, describes how to produce high-school graduates who are independent learners prepared and ready to employ the appropriate methods in acquiring whatever skills they need to succeed in their careers."
—From the Foreword by K. Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool, coauthors of Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise

“The authors of this book understand that educators who seek to unlock talent must first and foremost build the confidence, not just the achievement, of the possessor of that talent—the student. This requires open sharing of intended learning targets in student-friendly terms from the outset of instruction, the intentional ongoing use of assessment to support and not merely judge student learning, and the effective communication of formative assessment results in ways that keep students on winning streaks as they watch their talents emerge. Only then can our students feel in control of their own lifelong learning success and in charge of the unleashing of their own true talent. This volume is the guide book for all who wish to use assessment for learning and other strategies in partnership with talented learners in the service of their success.”
—Rick Stiggins, founder, Assessment Training Institute, Portland, Oregon

Foreword by K. Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART I. MOTIVATING: SPARK THE PASSION 

Chapter 1. Inspire
   Defining Moments
   Sources of Inspiration
   Voices
   Impact
   Professional Learning Communities Discussion Questions
   Professional Learning Exercise "Inspire-Speak"

Chapter 2. Invigorate
   Challenge to Persist and to Peak
   Aspirations, Competitiveness, Novelty, and Hallmarks
   Voices
   Impact
   Professional Learning Communities Discussion Questions
   Professional Learning Exercise: What Invigorates You?

Chapter 3. Instill
   Instilling the Will to Prevail
   Voices
   Impact
   Professional Learning Communities Discussion Questions
   Professional Learning Exercise: What Is Sportsmanship?

Part I Classroom Teaching Ideas
   Elementary School Level: Think, Then Act
   Middle School Level: Finding Your True North
   High School Level: Ask Yourself Questions

PART II. PRACTICING: ENGINEER TO DEVELOP EXPERTISE

Chapter 4. The Repetitions
   Deliberate Practice
   Achieving Balance: Drill Versus Scrimmage
   Professional Learning Communities Discussion Questions
   Professional Learning Exercise: Stringing Skills
   Learning More

Chapter 5. Resistance and Results
   Resistance Extends Practice Potential
   Results Inspire and Inform Practice
   Impact
   Professional Learning Communities Discussion Questions
   Professional Learning Exercise: Turn Hustle and Bustle into Precise Practice

Chapter 6. Recovery and Residual
   Time to Recover
   Necessary Recovery
   The Residual after Practice
   Residual Effects
   Professional Learning Communities Questions
   Professional Learning Exercise: Thinking Threads

Part II Classroom Teaching Ideas
   Elementary School Level: Multiplication Fact Mastery
   Middle School Level: The Highlight Is Highlighters
   High School Level: Thinking About Throughlines

PART III. COACHING: SEEK EXTRAORDINARY EXCELLENCE

Chapter 7. Engage
   A Trusted Mentor
   The Science of Teaching
   Coaching Ways
   Formative Assessment
   Summing It Up
   Professional Learning Communities Discussion Questions
   Professional Learning Exercise: Investigating Informative Assessments

Chapter 8. Elevate
   Genius in Simplicity
   Voices
   Impact
   Professional Learning Communities Discussion Questions
   Professional Learning Exercise: Progressing Toward Progressions

Chapter 9. Exceed
   Surpassing All Expectations
   Voices
   Impact
   Professional Learning Communities Discussion Questions
   Professional Learning Exercise: Make a Statement

Part III Classroom Teaching Ideas
   Elementary School Level: The Coach’s Chart
   Middle School Level: Voting for Education
   High School Level: One-on-One Coaching

Closing
   What Does the Future Hold?
   Future Vision

References

Index

About the Authors