Serendipity, that unexpected but fortunate discovery or learning experience that happened accidentally, is often characterized by successful people as a “chance encounter” or a “lucky break”. In reality, luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity (Roman Philosopher, Seneca), and gifted students in particular have the preparation, but may not have the skills to leverage technology to create opportunities. This session highlights how gifted students are uniquely qualified to leverage technology to achieve their goals, illustrates the strategies successful individuals use to make their own luck, and provides concrete examples and activities that can be applied in classrooms or at home to enable gifted students to manifest their potential for self-fulfillment and the betterment of society.

1. ENGINEERING SERENDIPITY
LEVERAGING SOCIAL MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES
TO DEVELOP INTERESTS AND CREATE OPPORTUNITIES

2. Serendipity noun:
the occurrence and
development of
events by chance in a
happy or beneficial way

3. HORACE
WALPOLE 1717-1797

4. Three Princes of Serendip

5. “The Three Princes of Serendip
were always making discoveries,
by ACCIDENT and SAGACITY,
of things which they were not in quest of…
now do you understand Serendipity.”
Horace Walpole, 1754

6. Teaching THP for High Potential
Summer 2013
“The world is moving at a tremendous rate. No one knows where.
We must prepare our children, not for the world of the past,
not for our world, but for their world, the world of the future.”
— John Dewey
The admonition that we should be preparing our
students for the 21st century is everywhere. There
are numerous books, blogs, and content resources
promoting and espousing the virtues of 21st cen-tury
learning. If one examines the titles and descriptions of
presentations at any gifted or general education conference,
reference to 21st century learning is prevalent. Most of us
in gifted education have regularly advocated for teaching
21st century skills. However, we have been living in the 21st
century for 13 years now, and if we are only now preparing
our students to be 21st century learners, we’re showing up
to the party very late. In fact, as the class of 2013 graduated
from high school, consider that this group of students was
always 21st century learners regardless of what they were
learning or how they were learning it; they entered Kinder-garten
in the fall of 2000. So, maybe it is time to stop talking
about the 21st century and start talking about the future.
The idea of preparing students for their future is certainly
not a novel idea. Indeed the opening quote from John Dewey
in the 20th century emphasizes this. In many circles, there is
an impassioned call for STEM education and an increasing
vocalization for the integration of the arts into a movement
called STEAM. Yet, even these ideas are not new and can
Quality Classroom Practice
for High-Abillity Students
Brian C. Housand, Ph.D.
East Carolina University
www.brianhousand.com
Brian Housand is an Assistant Professor at
East Carolina University in the department of
Elementary Education.
trace their origins back at least 30 years. In 1983, the Na-tional
Science Board Commission on Precollege Education
in Mathematics, Science and Technology published a report
entitled, Educating Americans for the 21st Century: A Plan
of Action for Improving Mathematics, Science, and Technol-ogy
Education for All American Elementary and Secondary
Students So that their Achievement is the Best in the World
by 1995. This publication outlined many of the same initia-tives
and programs that we are arguing for three decades
later. The executive summary chided, “America must not
become an industrial dinosaur. We must not provide our
children a 1960s education for a 21st century world.” Yet,
some might argue that is exactly what we have done. It is
time that the field of gifted education begins to re-envision
itself not for the 21st century, but for the future that our stu-dents
will live in.
You may remember, or have seen reruns of The Jetsons
cartoon. It originally aired in primetime from 1962 to 1963,
and was set in a futuristic utopia of the year 2062. While
we may not have flying cars, or robot maids, we do have
access to many technologies that are even more advanced
continued on page 18
The 21st Century
is SO Yesterday
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
FEATURE ARTICLES Smart Cookies 15

7. Chance
favours
only
the
prepared
mind.
- Louis Pasteur

8. ARTHUR FLEMING: PENICILLIN

12. GO

13. GO

14. BUT…

15. I am interested in _______________.

16. I am interested in _d__i_n_o__s_a__u__r_s__.

17. I am interested in __p__o__k_e_m__o__n___.

18. I am interested in _c_o__m_i_c_ _b_o__o_k__s_.

19. I am interested in N___O__T__H__I__N__G__.

20. I am interested in E__V_E_R__Y_T__H_I__N_G__!.

21. TYPE II
METHODOLOGICAL
HOW-TO ACTIVITIES
TYPE III
TYPE I
GENERAL
EXPLORATORY
ACTIVITIES
TRAINING /
INDEPENDENT OR SMALL GROUP INVESTIGATIONS
PRODUCTS AND/OR PERFORMANCES
(Renzulli, 1977)

22. AGGREGATOR

24. EXPLORE
THE GARDEN

30. Suggested meeting time: 30-60 minutes (Some of you may choose to combine
this meeting with meeting #2.)
!
Before the meeting:
● Create a TED-Ed (ed.ted.com) account if you haven’t already. All members
over 13 should aim to have their own account.
● Watch the first TED-Ed Club Lesson (http://ed.ted.com/on/vaY6FipN). Your
group can choose to do this before or during the meeting. !
Guiding questions
● What is your name? How would you describe yourself? What are three
things you are passionate about?
● What do you and your club members hope to get out of your TED-Ed Club
experience?
!
Materials
● A device to take pictures
● Index cards
● Pens
● Copies of this guidebook (one for each member)
!
Meeting activities
● Take a few minutes to create a name badge on an index card. Write your
name and at least 3 things that you are passionate about.
● Gather in small groups and introduce yourself to your fellow club members.
Learn each other’s names and get to know each other.
● Share your reasons for joining a TED-ED Club with the group. Let people
know what you’re interested in and what you’re passionate about. This will
help your club members give meaningful feedback when you begin
developing your presentation idea.
!
What will you have created by the end of your meeting?
A name badge that lists 3 things you are passionate about. You will bring this to
future meetings so that everyone in the club knows your name and interests.
!
After meeting #1:
● Browse through the TED Talks (www.ted.com) /TED-Ed Lessons (ed.ted.com)
to find ideas that speak to your passions.
● Facilitator: Please send a photo of the name badges from different club
members to TED-Ed at TEDEdClubs@ted.com.
$6
#1 Introduction week: What’s your passion?
It’s tough to give a good presentation on a topic that you’re not passionate about! This meeting is
all about getting to know your fellow club members and spending some time identifying and
articulating the ideas that motivate each member of your group. Later on, each club member will
present and record their own idea worth spreading in the form of a short TED-style Talk.

31. Don't be afraid to
fall in love with
something and
pursue it with
intensity

32. LURK

33. 1. (of a person or animal) be or remain hidden so
as to wait in ambush for someone or something:
a ruthless killer still lurked in the darkness.
2. (of an unpleasant quality) be present in a latent
or barely discernible state, although still
presenting a threat: fear lurks beneath the
surface | (as adj. lurking) : he lives with a
lurking fear of exposure as a fraud.
3. read the postings on an Internet message board
or in a chat room without making any
contribution oneself.

34. 1. (of a person or animal) be or remain hidden so
as to wait in ambush for someone or something:
a ruthless killer still lurked in the darkness.
2. (of an unpleasant quality) be present in a latent
or barely discernible state, although still
presenting a threat: fear lurks beneath the
surface | (as adj. lurking) : he lives with a
lurking fear of exposure as a fraud.
3. read the postings on an Internet message board
or in a chat room without making any
contribution oneself.

35. As the volume of media has grown exponentially,
our propensity to explore it is diminishing.
Danny Cohen / BBC1

36. flâneur
one who
saunters
around
observing
society.

37. BROWSE
SEARCH

38. roadtripnation.com/roadmap

39. roadtripnation.com/roadmap

40. THINK LIKE A DISCIPLINARIAN
THINKING SKILLS

42. What are the DETAILS of the
discipline?
What are the MULTIPLE
PERSPECTIVES in the discipline?
What are the BIG IDEAS of the
discipline?
What are some of the
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS?

43. STALK

44. Arranging serendipitous encounters
isn’t always a function of
WHO YOU KNOW,
it should also be a function of
WHO YOU WANT TO KNOW. Or
WHO YOU SHOULD WANT TO KNOW,
even if you don’t realize you should
want to know them.

45. http://calvinandhobbes.wikia.com/wiki/Calvin's_snowballs

46. ? ? ? ? ?
Who are the EXPERTS?
How do I follow them?
Who do they follow?
What are they reading?
What are they producing?

49. CREATE

50. GET
OFF
THE
SIDE
LINE

51. Googleable

57. 400,000
DOWNLOADS
!

58. BETHANY MOTA

60. 13

61. 13

62. 13

63. $40,000.00

65. MATT NADEL

68. marques brownlee

69. Content
Quality

70. Always improving
Attending to detail
A lot of hard work
“Able to make some serious money”
MKBHD

74. (bytelaunch.com)

75. ENGAGE

77. Social
Capital

81. Become Well Liked

82. Valence
Volume
Quality

83. Nobody
Likes to Hear
“You’re Wrong”

84. Don’t
you
think
if I were
wrong,
I’d
KNOW it?

89. S
O T
W
Helpful
to achieving the
objective
Harmful
to achieving the
objective
Internal Origin
Attributes of the
Individual
Strengths Weaknesses
External Origin
Attributes of the
Environment
Opportunities Threats
SWOT
Analysis

90. LISTEN!

92. Relational & Egalitarian

94. Network Structure
The Pattern of Connection
• The number of contacts
• The diversity of the contacts
• The configuration and stability of the network
• Position within the network

98. All in all, that night taught me you can never plan for
what’s going to happen next at SXSW, but you can be
prepared.

99. Openness to
Experience

100. Cognitive Ability
Intelligence
Reasoning Ability

101. Intellectual Engagement
Seeking the Truth
Engaging in Ideas and Thought

102. Using Emotion, Gut Feelings, and Empathy
for Decision Making
Affective Engagement

103. All members must be capable of absorbing, applying,
and recognizing the value of new information.
Aesthetic Engagement

104. LGEOT

107. CURIOSITY + EFFORT = INTELLIGENCE
(von Stumm, Hell, & Camorro-Premuzic, 2011)

108. STAY
HUNGRY
STAY
FOOLISH.

110. Episodic Curiosity

111. Episodic Curiosity

112. Episodic Curiosity

113. Episodic Curiosity

114. ∞

116. AM GAuiNdeI fForE DSevTeOlop:i n g a Creative Career
1. Don't be afraid to fall in love with something and
pursue it with intensity.
2. Know, understand, take pride in, practice, develop,
exploit and enjoy your greatest strengths.
3. Learn to free yourself from the expectations of
others and to walk away from the games they impose
on you. Free yourself to play your own game.
4. Find a great teacher or mentor who will help you.
5. Don't waste energy trying to be well rounded.
6. Do what you love and can do well.
7. Learn the skills of interdependence.