This article was first published on LinkedIn on May 5, 2020,
and featured in SENGvine May 2020 Issue.

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Unmasking Giftedness

When I think of unmasking giftedness, I think of the vitality gained from an intake of a collective and variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. The process of unmasking giftedness is as beneficial as maximizing the unique nutrients that each fruit or vegetable provide. Offering four (4) guiding principles for unmasking giftedness, I address the dilemma of understanding how one should feel about his or her giftedness, and his or her relationship with the gifted community at large.

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Barry Gelston (2019), in his Gifted Home Forum (GHF) presidential message, “The Gifted Community”, asked the question: “How do we find common ground where our commonality is our uniqueness, our individual differences from the norm?”. Gelston went on to state that “gifted people go through a life-cycle of changes that need to be understood within the context of giftedness”, and offered some example questions to consider “as a complete overlay to norm-centric people”. Using a few of those questions as the framework, I would like to address this dilemma of understanding how one should feel about his or her giftedness, and his or her relationship with the gifted community at large.

How do I learn to understand why and how we are different?

I often recite the common phrase, “Different is not deficit!” which is echoed by many scholars whose work centers around diversity and multiculturalism. It reminds us of the strength and benefit of being different. It is our differences – opinions, experiences, perspectives, and so on –  that give strength to a common community, goal, and/or cause. In one of my favorite movies, Divergent (adapted from the book of the same name), the protagonist exhibits characteristics of divergence, empowering her to excel in simulated real-life problems, solving them in unusual ways. It is in her difference from the norm that she contributes most to her community. More closely related to identification, E. Paul Torrance, the developer for the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT), recognized this same strength of divergence as a characteristic of giftedness. TTCT, a test of creativity[1], originally involved simple tests of divergent thinking and other problem-solving skills.

It is my belief that our unique talents and gifts will make room for us. They are tied to our service-driven purpose – that which is meant to be a part of our legacy. If you find yourself in a situation where you are fixated on some issue, problem, or innovative idea, but find that others may not find it as critical, then assume that it is your assignment, a part of your purpose! This is even more important to note when “in a crowded space of saturated talent, you may sometimes question how best to use [your gifts] … you need only to pay attention to the space that is constantly being cleared for you; that place that gives you life”[2].

“in a crowded space of saturated talent, you need only to pay attention to the space that is constantly being cleared for you … your gifts will make room for you.”

How do we as adults find our own tribe? How do we find our place in the workforce?

When I decided to leave the corporate world to teach, my quest was always to find the space where I could make the most difference. During my final years of teaching high school,  I often found myself in situations where I felt that either my contributions were not appreciated or did not match the mission and vision of the current administration. Conflicted with where I belonged, I took a leap into higher education. That journey started with completing my Ph.D. in psychology with a major emphasis in gifted and creative education and minor in quantitative research methods. During that journey is when I felt most “at home”. I felt like I was among not just a few that thought like me but a whole tribe of people with the same vision of excellence and mission to guide gifted learners toward maximum potential.

Your spirit, or inner voice, will be at peace when you have found your tribe. When your “soul” is not at rest, inner turmoil[3]persists to let you know you are not in the right place at that particular time in your life.

Who are the professionals that get us and can help us through life?

I developed and teach a graduate course at Texas State University entitled, Mentoring Across the Lifespan[4]. In this class we discourse at great lengths the concept of talent development at different stages of life. As a common understanding, we first agree that mentoring, or guidance across the lifespan, is not reserved for “professionals”. All those that come in contact with a gifted individual are in a position to help them through life.  However, those that are most effective, or that “get us”, are those that recognize the development of their own multicultural, talented self. Consequently, perceived mentor effectiveness indirectly impacts mentees’ academic and career outcomes as well as mentee’s self-efficacy beliefs[5].

At the core of mentoring is the relationship – a relationship that can be categorized in four phases: (1) preparing one-self for the mentoring relationship, (2) negotiating the parameters and mission of the relationship, (3) empowering the mentee toward agency and self-efficacy, and (4) closing, or redefining, the mentoring relationship. I would further assert that these phases are appropriate for any healthy relationship.

How do we raise gifted kids who struggle to find their tribe?

In 2018, I introduced a culturally responsive model for STEM identity development[6]. In this model, I maintained that students of color, in their journey of scholarly identity, ponder over four reflective questions as they decide whether or not to develop and pursue a STEM identity or STEM career. I would submit that these same four questions, replacing “STEM” with “gifted identity”, are the basic questions that gifted students might ponder over as they contemplate their place in society:

1. Do I belong in [a gifted programming/ community]? (Reflective Identity)

2. Can I succeed [as a gifted student]? (Competence/Ability)

3. Do I want to succeed [with a gifted identity]? (Value/Interest)

4. What must I do to succeed [in gifted and talented culture]? (Assimilation)

The answers to these questions have real implications for those of us that have dedicated our time and expertise in guiding the experiences of gifted individuals. It is our duty to foster positive responses to such questions, so that the gifted student learns to “love the skin s/he is in” – embracing his or her differences as strengths, finding his or her voice, and possessing confidence in valued contribution to the gifted community at large.

In summary, four principles are offered in understanding how one should feel about his or her giftedness, and his or her relationship with the gifted community at large:

1. In a crowded space of saturated talent, pay attention to the space that is constantly being cleared for you – that place that gives you life. Your gifts will make room for you.
2. Your spirit, or inner voice, will be at peace when you have found your tribe. When your “soul” is not at rest, [inner] turmoil persists to let you know you are not in the right place at that particular time in your life.
3. Self-check your relationship. Act accordingly. Relationships within a community can be categorized in four non-linear phases: (1) Preparation, (2) Negotiation, (3) Empowerment, and (4) Closing, or Redefining.
4. Be reflective as you contemplate your place in society. Find affirmative ways to know, in fact, that: (a) you do belong, (b) you can succeed, (c) your gifts are valuable, and (d) there is benefit to being different – it gives strength to the community.
   

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[1] Creativity is measured by four scales (1) fluency, (2) flexibility, or difference of responses, (3)originality, or statistical rarity of responses, and (4) elaboration

[2] Dr. Kristina Henry Collins’ LinkedIn page, accessed December 16, 2019, https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-kristina-henry-collins/.

[3] Leon F. Seltzer, “What Causes You Inner Turmoil? When You’re at War with Yourself, There’s Generally a Good Reason”, Evolution of Self (blog), April 15, 2015, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evolution-the-self/201504/what-causes-you-inner-turmoil.

[4] Kristina Henry Collins, “CI 5383 Mentoring Across the Lifespan Course”, STEM Mentoring Matters: Changing the F.A.C.E. of STEM One Mentee at a Time, accessed on December 16, 2019, https://mentoringmatters.wp.txstate.edu/ci-5383-mentoring-across-the-lifespan-course/.

[5] Angela M. Byars-Winston, Janet Branchaw, Christine Pfund, Patrice Leverett & Joseph Newton, “Culturally Diverse Undergraduate Researchers’ Academic Outcomes and Perceptions of Their Research Mentoring Relationships”, International Journal of Science Education 37, no 15 (2015): 2533-2554. doi: 10.1080/09500693.2015.1085133.

[6] Kristina Henry Collins, “Confronting Colorblind STEM Talent Development: Toward a Contextual Model for Black Student STEM Identity. Journal of Advanced Academics, 29, no 2 (2018): 143-168. doi:10.1177/1932202X18757958.

As Pride, Pomp and Circumstance is to Graduation Ceremonies.

This article was first published on Dr. Kristina Henry Collins’ LinkedIn page (Original article: Pride, Pomp and Circumstance: The Symbolic Emotional Support within Rite of Passage was featured in print for SENGvine Newsletter, June 2018*)

Gumbo is a popular Louisiana dish that is enjoyed by many. The key to making a great Gumbo, one might argue, is in the art of m
aking an even more exceptional roux. The Roux is considered the foundational building block for Cajun cooking. With its strong aroma and dark color, cajun roux sets the “flavoristic” tone for Gumbo that is just as much a cultural significance as it is a soup base. So much so, there was a time in cajun/creole history that passing on roux-making skills to the next generation was considered a rite of passage.

With its Cajun roux base, Gumbo traditionally consists of what Louisianians call the “holy trinity of vegetables” – celery, peppers, and onions – along with meats and additional dressings. Featured with the music of Pomp and Circumstance and represented by its own “trinity” of sorts, graduation ceremonies include (1) a processional – a separation from existing status in society, (2) an inculcation – a personal transformation, and (3) a recessional – a return to society with a new status.

The month of May [and June] is full of celebrations and milestone recognitions on many school and college campuses across America. Most notable are graduation ceremonies that are filled with “pomp and circumstance”, a phrase used to signify a splendid celebration with ceremony. Pomp and Circumstance is also the title of the infamous composition by Sir Edward Elgar (Reynolds, 2010) that is [traditionally] played at most graduation ceremonies. Originally composed and played as a military march song in honor of King Edward VII’s coronation, the inspiration for Elgar’s (1901) “Pomp and Circumstance” title came from a line in Shakespeare’s Othello where Othello declared a loss of mental peace that came with the “pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war”. Four years later, when Yale University bestowed an honorary doctorate to King Edward VII, it was also played as he walked off stage. Afterwards, schools around the country began to adopt this tradition as part of their pageantry of ceremonial display in honor of graduating students. Proud family members, friends, and faculty come to show their support and share in this milestone accomplishment for graduates at all levels.

Pomp and Circumstance, along with the ritualistic activities and academic regalia worn by the graduates, continues to set the emotional tone for the celebratory event to this day. While it is an intangible concept, emotional tone plays a very important role in shaping feelings and sense of belonging surrounding the overall [college and graduation] experience. Graduation represents more than coursework completion. As a rite of passage, it symbolizes a student’s journey of separation from his or her existing status in society (processional), a personal transformation (inculcation), and a return to society with a new status (recessional). The traditional “pomp and circumstance” graduation ceremony is only one perspective for fostering this rite of passage.

Many schools and universities incorporate other ceremonial celebrations during this time as a culturally responsive complement to the traditional graduation that celebrates academic achievement, sense of community, and cultural heritage. Especially for marginalized or underrepresented students, these ceremonies add personal meaning and cultural value to the students’ educational process. For some, it represents “survival” in an environment that may not have always embraced or significantly recognized that part of them that they value most. Participating in a non-traditional rite of passage helps to reinforce who they are and the community of support available to them as they prepare to transition with a positive last experience.

One common example is the Lavender Ceremony. The Lavender graduation is a ceremony that honors the achievements and contributions of graduates from the LGBTQ+ community, including ally students (Human Rights Campaign, 2018). It was born out of the discrimination that Dr. Ronnie Sanio experienced when she was banned from attending the graduation of her children because of her sexual orientation. This experience triggered empathy to the pain that might be felt by LGBTQ+ students who were also denied an opportunity to participate in graduation ceremony. Thus, Sanio designed the first ceremony in 1995 at University of Washington. The lavender color represents the blended color of pink and black that gay men and women were forced to wear, respectively, as political prisoners in Nazi Germany. It is symbolic in that they took past symbols of hatred and reclaimed them, together, as a color of strength, survival, and pride.

Another common rite of passage held on college campuses as well as middle and high schools is the Sankofa Ceremony (Inniss, 2013). A Ghanian term, Sankofa means “go back and get it”. This African concept stresses the principle of honoring the past to inform one’s purpose and to guide one’s destiny. At the University of Georgia’s Rite of Sankofa, graduates are provided an opportunity during the ceremony to reflect on [their] experiences while at UGA to consciously identify “lessons learned” that will be used to move them forward. In addition, what distinguishes this program from the traditional graduation ceremony is family, friends, and/or faculty participate alongside the graduating students, whereby visually representing the shared achievement and support that embodies the student’s academic success. This inclusion of family is also often seen at home-school graduation ceremonies as well. For the UGA Sankofa ceremony, students receive a certificate of completion and is presented with a Kente stole, which represents African heritage and knowledge, to wear as part of their traditional graduation regalia.

Historically Kente stoles were associated with Historically Black College/ University (HBCU) students’ college experience, but for students predominately white institutions (PWIs), it’s another visual representation of pride in their cultural heritage that is not necessarily recognized by the university they attend. Students may choose the Kente stole with traditional African colors and Adrinkra symbols or wear the colors of their historical Black Greek-lettered organization. Featured above is Dr. Collins, donning her sorority colors at UGA where she earn three of her advanced degrees/certificates.

Learn more about SENG: Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted

Learn more about graduation ceremonial Rite of Passage:

Rite of Passage Programming (2018). Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color. Retrieved from https://www.coseboc.org/sankofa-passages

Human Rights Campaign, (2018). Lavender Graduation. Retrieved from https://www.hrc.org/resources/lavender-graduation

Inniss, E. (2013, June 27). Sankofa’s culturally significant graduation ceremony. New York Amsterdam News. p. 29.

Pomp and Circumstance. (n.d.).Dictionary.com’s 21st Century Lexicon. Retrieved from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/pomp-and-circumstance

Reynolds, A. (2010). The King and the Troubadour: Edward VII & Edward Elgar. Elgar Society Journal, 16(5), 7-34.

Welcome to Fresh Flavor Fridays … a blog featuring new takes on old ideas!!

The origin  of Fresh Flavor Fridays: One of the first things that I do when I get on a plane is look for that green recharging light to make sure I have a outlet to plug in all of my devices to work during flight.

On May 18, 2018, I was on a American Airline flight. As I looked for the green light,  I noticed a menu in the seat pocket next to the light that read, “Fresh Flavors Marketplace Menu: Ready for the Journey Ahead?” I immediately thought, “how befitting”, referencing my current stream of random thoughts of alternative  perspectives to status quo ideas and constructs. And just like that … “Fresh Flavor Friday” blog was born – a new, fresh take on a menu of old ideas.

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