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Advanced Creative Thinkers: A New Way to Look at How Some Kids Learn

by Elaine Impara Ely, Ph.D.

116 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-1292; ISBN 1-55395-576-5; US$14.95, C$22.95, EUR15.00, £10.40

Book offers solutions that save bright underachievers from unnecessary struggles in school. Includes action plan ensuring "no child left behind." Author's online testing identifies advanced creative thinkers (ACT) sometimes mislabeled ADD.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpts or Table of Contents      catalogue info

About the Book Advanced Creative Thinkers (ACT) is the first book that offers on line testing to help frustrated parents and educators identify not just merely bright underachievers but advanced creative thinkers. The author writes from a parent/ teacher perspective about the problem of these students who do not find school pleasurable. A new way to look at how these kids learn breaks the cycle for this unidentified and overlooked group of students who unnecessarily struggle in schools that don't meet their needs. This book promises rich rewards with a simple plan of action that offers insight into a long term approach of resolving the problem of identifying the student with advanced creative thinking skills (ACT). The well thought out design encourages parents as well as teachers, to create a positive and supportive learning environment in which all students' needs can be fulfilled. The book is divided into three parts: Part I A New Way to Luok as How Some Kids Learn centers on the defining creative thinking and how it differs from logical thinking. Part II Advanced Creative Thinking discusses why ACT students are often misdiagnosed as ADD and gives advice to parents on how they can be distinguished through testing. Part III ACT4Me blueprints for parents and teachers' motivational techniques that make children feel good about themselves and their accomplishments while restoring a sense of structure and order in the family. You can view the book's website at Act4Me.com

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About the Author Elaine I. Ely, Ph. D. is a certified teacher of "gifted students" and a Reading Specialist with 24 years of experience as an educator of middle school students. She served as a lecturer at the Creative Retirement Center of International College, and presently teaches at the Renaissance Academy of Florida Gulf Coast University in Naples, Florida where she resides with her husband. One of her major concerns is the lack of a clear distinction between the common characteristics of the bright, boisterous or rambunctious child who is an advanced creative thinker (ACT) and the child with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). This concern led her to do doctoral research in finding ways to identify creative giftedness in middle school students. As a result of her research, she can now offer two tests that yeild a numerical score of a student's creative potential: T.E.A.M. and OEQ 2.

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Sample Excerpts and Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Bright Underachievers

Part I: A New Way to Look at How Some Kids Learn
Chapter 1: Advanced Creative Thinking:
New Thinking for the New Age
- Just What is Creative Thinking?
- How Does It Differ From Other Thinking?
Chapter 2: Public Schools and Creative Thinking: A History of Suppression(??)
- Industrial Revolution: Forerunner of Public Schools
- School Buildings
- Teaching Methods
- Role of Student
- Public Schools at Dawn of 21st Century: Time for a Change
Chapter 3: Evolution of Creative Thinking: New Kid on the Block
- Educational Milestones
- Integrated Thinking
- Combining the Taxonomies
- Benefits of Integrated Thinking
- A Look at The Child Left Behind

Part II: No Child Left Behind
Chapter 4: The Child Left Behind: Education*s Missing Link
- Major IQ Categories
- Traits of ACT Students
Chapter 5: Distinguishing ACT Students from ADD Students ADD * It Doesn*t Add Up
- Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD): A Medical/Biological Condition
- Treating ADD
- ADD or ACT: Behavioral Distinctions
- Informal Inventory: Questions
Chapter 6: ACT or ADD: Informal Inventory Case Studies
-Hey, Look at Me
- Can ADD and ACT Co-exist?
Chapter 7: Measuring Creativity: Outside the Box Thinkers
- Separate but Equal Intelligences
- Importance of Using Creative and Intellectual Thinking Together
- TEAM Inventory
- OEQ2 Inventory
- No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
- Creative Thinking and the *Average* Student
- Benefits of Creative thinking

Part III: Act 4 Me
Chapter 8: Parental Guide: Blueprint for Success
- Home Environment
- Motivational Approaches
- Structured Work Environment
- Parents as Advocates for ACT Students
Chapter 9: Parent-Educator Conference Guide: United We Stand
- AWord to the Wise
- Teacher: Facilitator of Learning
Chapter 10: Integrated Thinking Strategies: Putting it All Together
- Two Learning Strategies
- Staircase of Learning
- SQ3R
Conclusion
References

Introduction

During my career as a teacher and an educator, I have encountered students who experienced difficulty "fitting into" regular classroom routines by the time they reached middle school. These students, otherwise intelligent, even "bright," displayed boredom, inattention or lack of interest in many of their subjects. They often refused to participate in class or turn in homework, yet scored high marks on tests. Some of them disrupted classes by talking and fidgeting. Others simply "zoned out" and withdrew into their own world. Their actions frustrated their parents, teachers and administrators, who labeled them "underachievers," "rebels" or "daydreamers." Sometimes those students who conformed managed to receive good marks, but, more often, their grades fell far below their abilities. For the non-conformers, school became drudgery, an educational grindstone that crushed any desire to learn.

At first, I wondered why such obviously smart and talented students failed. I*ve come to realize that it*s time we all give serious thought to taking a look at how these kids learn. That realization really hit home when I taught "Joey" in my sixth grade classroom. Joey transferred from a private school early in the school year. My first impression of him was not favorable. Joey dressed sloppily, had poor hygiene and seemed completely disorganized. During class, he would stay in his seat but squirmed constantly: sat on one knee, fidgeted and bounced. His antics distracted his fellow students and me. He appeared to pay no attention in class and refused to do his homework. Yet, at test time, he scored well.

The better I got to know Joey, the more I realized he was not an average child or student. He and I exchanged little dialogue in class, but I worked hard to establish his trust in me. One day, he stopped by my desk and we talked, one on one. He shared his interests with me. I asked him penetrating questions and was startled by his depth of knowledge. This kid was no dummy.

I asked, "Why do you play dumb when you*re obviously smart?" He shrugged. "It always works, and I don*t have to do the boring, stupid stuff teachers like Mr. Smith assign. I know it all better than he does anyway."

Later, I discovered Joey was right about that particular teacher. Far from quenching Joey's thirst for knowledge, Mr. Smith had turned their classroom relationship into a contest of wills. Joey refused to turn in homework, while his teacher responded by giving him D's and F's. I asked Joey, "You really are smart, aren't you?"
"Yeah," he answered.
"Do you want to do well in school?"
Joey made no response at first. His face scrunched up thoughtfully and he fidgeted with items on my desk. Finally, he said, "What do I have to do?"
"First, you must change your attitude about school. I will help you," I answered in my most reassuring tone.
He looked at me quizzically and intently. I knew I had hooked his curiosity, but I needed to do more. So, I challenged him.
"I want you to sit still at your desk for one week. No squirming, no bouncing. Can you do that?"
Joey stared at me like I'd lost my mind. "Are you kidding? That's nothing. I thought you'd tell me to turn in my homework or something stupid like that to show I'm smart."
Little did he know that my challenge would be the hardest he had faced in his young life. You see, Joey was in my classroom for every subject except math and social studies. By the end of the first day, he was beside himself. "This is hard," he said when he stopped by my desk after school. The next day, he raised his hand and asked, "Mrs. Ely, may I sit on one knee?"

I knew we had turned a corner. Chuckling to myself, I answered, "Sure."
One day, I asked Joey, "Would you like to be part of a special project?"
He eyed me cautiously. "What do I have to do now?"
My response raised his eyebrows. "Work your tail off doing research on assigned topics."
"Sure," he said without hesitation.
"Joey, understand this is a team project. To stay on the team, you must continue to stay in your seat and exercise self-discipline. And, you must cooperate with other team members." Then, casually, I added, "Oh, by the way, you will be excused from some regular classroom assignments." He nodded enthusiastically. "Awesome!"

Joey turned into a team leader. His team won the regional problem solving competition and advanced to state finals. By ninth grade, he had "pulled his act together" and went on to win state and national awards in science. Seeing the social, emotional and academic development of this youngster gratified me.

I've met many students like Joey: intelligent, inquisitive and creatively gifted. Some of them manage to navigate crowded public schools, but many run aground on the shoals of boring curriculum and outmoded classroom procedures. And, during the past decade or so, students like Joey often have been labeled with education's latest in-vogue syndrome, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or ADHD with hyperactivity, then medicated with drugs like Ritalin.

America has moved into a new millennium while its school systems, for the most part, remain trapped in the late 19th or early 20th centuries. I've written this book to be a 21st-century educational initiative that fulfills President George W. Bush's pledge that, "No child will be left behind." Unfortunately, there is a group of overlooked or unidentified students like Joey. They find themselves left behind or cast adrift by the educational system that is supposed to prepare them for productive lives. I call such students Advanced Creative Thinkers (ACT). I am also the mother of two ACT students: my daughters, Mary and Patty.

From the day she was born prematurely, Mary was a persistent and persevering child. As the second-born, she tried to outdo her older sister in everything. She was also extremely sensitive to the needs and feelings of others. Mary did well in school until she entered the fourth grade. Then her grades dropped and her attitude toward school changed. She became defiant and miserable. Against professional advice, I pulled her out of that school and enrolled her in a new school as a third grader. I hoped another year of maturing would help. Fortunately, her new teacher maintained a nurturing environment in the classroom. Mary's grades improved‹temporarily. She continued to struggle all the way through high school.

"I felt stupid," she now says. "I heard that word so many times, I believed it. When my teachers yelled at me, I blanked them out of my mind. I shut down and daydreamed."
Mary frustrated her teachers because she had an above average IQ but did not work to her potential. Tests indicated she was deficient in reading. Yet, she could explain the meaning of passages she did read, a clue that she was not the "banana head" she had been dubbed by an insensitive teacher. She can see the "total picture" in any situation, loves puzzles and games, gets vicariously involved in movie plots or pretends she "was there" during historical events.

Mary lost her desire to finish school. Without guidance from her father and me, she might have dropped out. Mary received tutoring from a reading specialist, and then went on to earn an Associate Degree in Art History from a school that helped her bloom academically and creatively. Now, she has a Master's Degree in Human Relations. She is a school counselor and has the certification to teach both gifted and learning disabled children. Her caring and sensitivity to the feelings of others make her an outstanding educator.

Patty, my youngest daughter, has always been perceptive. Even when she was a toddler, she could find lost items. One time her dad could not locate something he needed for business. Patty asked him to describe it, then went right to a credenza and pulled it out. She exhibits a keen, witty sense of humor, a gift for clever remarks and the ability to make unique connections between differing ideas. Unlike Mary, Patty chose to "play the game" and conform to her teachers' expectations, so she experienced few problems in school. Still, conformity did not indicate happiness.

"I loved school until the fourth grade," she says. "Until then, teachers taught in different ways and related school to life experiences. Starting in fourth grade, they focused on details I couldn't be bothered with." Patty now found school not only boring but also unchallenging.

Patty's IQ was short of the 130 cut-off for the gifted student program. She was also an advanced creative thinker. But her school refused to budge from its rigid 130 IQ guideline as its only measure of "giftedness" and denied her entry into its program. Still, she coasted through high school, college and even earned a post graduate degree in business administration. I understand now, though I didn't when they attended school, that my daughters were not just merely bright but advanced creative thinkers. So were many other students I encountered during my teaching career. These unidentified and overlooked students unnecessarily struggle in schools that don't meet their needs. Advanced Creative Thinkers, A New Way to Look as How Kids Learn, presents a first step in changing that cycle.

If you are a parent or grandparent of a child who:
• Does not achieve his or her potential in school
• Is bright and imaginative, yet still earns low marks
• Has been denied entry into a gifted student program because his IQ doesn't "measure up"
• Professes boredom or dislike of school
• Has been tagged an "underachiever" or "daydreamer" by teachers
• Displays inattention and behavioral problems in class
• Tells you schoolwork is too easy

If you are a teacher or school administrator who cares about students who:
• Seem bright but perform beneath their abilities
• Display exceptional imagination or creative talents
• Exhibit behavior problems in class
• Cannot adjust to rigid classroom curriculum and rules
• Need guidance or intervention

If you are a concerned reader who:
• Wants all children to receive the best possible education
• Expects American public schools to meet the needs of all children, not vice versa
• Worries about the trend of overmedicating students with drugs like Ritalin
• Wants to learn about Advanced Creative Thinking

Then this book is for you!
After 24 years of teaching "at risk" children, raising my own four children (two of whom were ACT students) and researching the needs of Advanced Creative Thinkers, I've become an advocate for this unidentified group of children.

This book answers the following questions:
• What is creative thinking?
• Who is a creative thinker?
• When is creative thinking used?
• Where is creative thinking overlooked?
• Which "kids" are the most creative thinkers?
• How can creative thinking be taught to all children?
• Why is it important to identify creative thinkers?

I want to inform every reader about Advanced Creative Thinkers (ACT). Federal law mandates that students identified with "exceptional" or "special" needs receive an individual educational program. ACT students meet the requirement of Federal law and should be identified, tested, then placed in such a program. This book explains that process and more. I urge parents to become advocates for their creative child, join in partnership with educators to meet their child's needs so he or she is not overlooked and "no child is left behind." There is no intention on my part to be gender specific. When I refer to he or she in the remaining chapters, the reference may or may not be specific but rather includes both boys and girls.

The information you need to take action can be found in these pages. The task of updating schools, which have been entrenched in old ways, must be revamped for the 21st century. Our task will not be easy. Yet, the results‹a richer education and a brighter future for all students‹make our effort worthwhile. We owe it to all the Joeys, Marys and Pattys in our schools.

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Catalogue Information

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