21st Century Thinking: A "Talents" Approach

Talents Unlimited is based on Calvin Taylor's Multiple Talent Theory, and has been shown to be a successful means of getting children and youth to think both creatively and critically across all academic disciplines. Talents Unlimited, Inc. is based in Mobile, Alabama and has been around since the late seventies.

As a National Certified Trainer for the Talents Unlimited and the TU2 (Talents for adolescents), I have used and taught the specific components of this thinking skills program since the early 1980s, and I have seen first hand what it can do for children. Based on a foundation of Academic skills, Talents Unlimited focuses on five "world-of-work" skills:

Productive Thinking Talent: Thinking of many, varied and unusual ideas, and adding detail to those ideas (think E. Paul Torrance's fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration).

Decision Making Talent: Making decisions by--1) Thinking of many, varied alternatives; 2) Thinking of many, varied questions to ask about these alternatives (criteria); 3) Weighing each idea against each criterion; 4) Making a decision; and 5) Giving many, varied reasons for your decision.

Planning Talent: Creating a plan for doing something, by--1) Stating your project idea clearly so someone else can understand it; 2) Listing all of the materials and equipment needed to complete the project; 3) Listing all of the steps, in order, needed to complete the project; 4) Giving many, varied problems that might keep you from successfully completing your project; and 5) Making many, varied improvements in your plan based on the problems identified.

Forecasting Talent: Using cause/effect thinking to--1) Think of many, varied predictions about the causes of a situation; 2) Think of many, varied predictions about the effects of a situation.

Communication Talent: Using language to--1)Think of many, varied single words to describe something; 2) Think of many, varied single words to describe someone's/something's feelings; 3) Make many many, varied comparisons in the form of a simile; 4) Show someone you know how they feel by sharing a similar experience; 5) Make a network of thoughts using many, varied complete thoughts; and 6) Communicate your ideas, thoughts and needs without using words.

This is just the beginning. In my next blog, I will share some Talents activities and student responses to those. Very enlightening!