DYS Homeroom

This week we discussed Kazimierz Dabrowski's "Theory of Positive Disintegration." (Our introduction to “overexcitabilities” in the previous weeks served as a relevant jumping off point for understanding his complex and profound observations.) Dabrowski was a European humanist counterpart to Maslow. His research involving positive psychology didn't become as famous and is still mostly confined to the world of gifted education. One of the many ways i t differs from Maslow's hierarchy of needs involves allowing for self-actualization in individuals who don't have their lower level needs met (physiological, safety, relationships, etc.). Also, growth in terms of his theory takes what Dabrowski called "developmental potential." It's wise to think of his "theory" as more of a personal philosophy. That being said, his under-explored research can be very insightful for creative individuals going through difficult periods internally or in the...

This week we enjoyed an exciting class reflecting on topics specific to gifted psychology. Overexcitabilities are one aspect of a personal philosophy called "The Theory of Positive Disintegration" developed by the Polish psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski. To start, Dabrowski thought of “overexcitabilities” as “developmental potential” for highly original thinkers. In other words, these are the factors that launch someone on a unique path and unique trajectory as a gifted individual. According to his theory, these are the five overexcitabilities that can cause people who are gifted to be quite intense: - Imaginational - Intellectual - Psychomotor - Sensual (five senses) - Emotional We went through a definition of each of these along with some checklists to see which ones students identified with the most (maybe all five)! Some lingering questions to consider include: Why would overexcitabilities set someone on a unique path in life?  What overexcitability dominates you the most...

This week students were presented with lateral thinking puzzles that challenged their analogous thinking patterns. (Many children who are gifted have an early onset of abstract thinking capabilities compared to peers, lending them unique analogical problem solving approaches performed at different levels of abstraction as they age.)  After the interesting introductory activity, students were exposed to research regarding why analogous thinking is connected to creative problem solving. With the remaining time, we dived into examples from the lives of professionals and historical figures who used analogous thinking as a critical thinking tool to solve problems ranging from radiation exposure to gravity.  What is analogical thinking?   First and foremost, it is a powerful problem-solving exercise for scientists, creatives, and people solving everyday problems. When we use solutions, information, and ideas from one domain to solve a problem in a different domain, we are engag...

 “The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times . . . The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.” - Csikszentmihalyi, 1990   What is psychological flow? It’s an enjoyable state of mind we all have access to when we are absorbed in a challenging but achievable task. How do you know you are in flow? You are completely focused. You don’t worry about the past or future. The activity strikes a balance between boredom and anxiety (see attachments). People with enjoyable, meaningful lives know what activities bring them flow and engage in them regularly.    According to Csikszentmihalyi, these are the eight characteristics of flow: Complete concentration on the task Clarity of goals/reward in mind/immediate feedback Transformation of time (speeding up/slowing down) The experience is intrinsically rewarding (done for its own sake) E...

Creativity is considered the most desired leadership skill of the future. Even though it is a paramount “21st century” skill, creativity is difficult to preserve as one moves out of childhood and into adulthood. It’s also difficult to measure (as compared to IQ).  Those who study creativity often explore it in two different categories.  Little “c” creativity defined: personal tasks that are creatively fulfilling (art, music, experiments) Large “C” Creativity defined: Something original and useful for the human race (includes the arts and beyond). Typically involves collaboration, emotional engagement, problem-solving, divergent thinking, and purposefully applied constraints. Benefits to increasing both little “c” and big “C” creativity include: Better relationships Handling stress and overcoming obstacles Being less prone to depression Motivation, engagement, openness Proven ways to increase creativity: Practice divergent thinking activities with no “right” answer Combine ne...

Guiding Questions:   What are the pros and cons involved in having a lot of options?  How is multipotentiality like having an extensive menu versus just having a list of tasks to get through? What are the pros and cons involved in being good at a lot of things?  What does this have to do with decision making? Opening Thoughts: “Multipotentiality is an educational and psychological term referring to the ability and preference of a person, particularly one of strong intellectual or artistic curiosity, to excel in two or more different fields.”  The meaning of the word “decide” comes from the Latin word, decidere, which is a combination of two words: de = 'OFF' + caedere = 'CUT' = Is decision making really about cutting off alternative realities? Mini-Lesson: This week’s lesson focused on "multipotentiality" (being passionate and talented in a variety of diverse areas). While a blessing (who doesn’t want to be good at several different things?), it can become ove...

I love helping people appreciate different kinds of minds (neurodiversity) and appreciate the different ways of thinking that exist in the world. This week, students started with a visual-spatial identifier questionnaire (see below). We discussed how people who think predominantly in words have a lot to learn from people who think in pictures and vice-versa. In fact, some great creative partnerships in history are argued to have consisted of people who were dialed in at very different ends of this spectrum (from words to pictures). We used quotes from the book “Visual Thinking" by Temple Grandin to explore this topic further. What is visual-spatial thinking? “Visual thinking, also called visual or spatial learning or picture thinking, is the phenomenon of thinking through visual processing. Visual thinking has been described as seeing words as a series of pictures. It is common in approximately 60–65% of the general population. "Real picture thinkers", those who use vis...