ENG1101_S21_OL79

Before I Began: The initial focus for this project was revolved around drawing. Finding different information about drawing, more specifically figure drawing and the things related to it. While in the early stages of the rough draft, one part that I was writing in particular was how my family are all artists. When writing, the question dawned on me, where did this come from? Is by chance, or hereditary? This lead to me thinking about what became the focus of the project: Gift vs Talent. This wasn’t a new topic for me, it was something I thought about before but only slightly.

Rhetorical Situation and Related Choices: I made this project because I was interested in the topic. On top of that, this topic is something I want to hear other people’s opinion on. It’s a discussion that I don’t think gets talked about often. Presenting this to enthusiasts of these type of topics, conceptual ideas, would have interesting responses and make a good discussion. The best way to present my project would be on a social media post, more specifically, reddit. When writing the essay, I used logos and ethos. My piece wasn’t persuasive, I wanted to just bring up the idea and kind of leave it open for response. Using pathos wouldn’t have been effective.

Genre Considerations: The genre I chose was written abstract. There’s a lot more freedom in writing a written abstract versus an academic essay. The reason I chose this genre was because my piece was conceptual; there wasn’t any right or wrong, just opinion. It was more a collection of thoughts proposed to an audience. Written abstracts are typically informal and not specifically structured a certain way. I felt like it would be most effective in being open and welcoming to the audience as well as getting the point across.

Doing the Project: When I usually write, it’s a well structured academic essay. So before I even started, I cleared my head. I didn’t want to unconsciously write it in a similar way I did for unit 2. I want it to be some-what a proposal to the audience for them to respond to. So I made that clear in the beginning by adding a title to the central question. One thing I wanted to keep the same was the order of the content. So I re-read what I had wrote and decided to just write the first things that came to mind. One thing I added was bullet points. I felt like this was an effective addition to my abstract. It got right to the point while being something different that wouldn’t be in a formal piece. I also cut up chunks of information and italicized the quotes so it would look more appealing to the readers and not just a block of words. I also changed the language of this piece. I approached it more as a conversation than a presentation, however I’m not sure if I did that as effectively as I wanted to. Another part of the piece I felt wasn’t as strong was the latter half of it. It kind of reverts back into the essay I wrote previously; bigger blocky text. I tried more cutting and italicizing to help fix it.

Now that it’s Done: Now that the abstract is finished, looking back at it, I believe it turned out pretty good. The appeals stayed the same; logos and ethos. It was as effective in this piece than it was in the essay. I didn’t want to change much because it was an essential piece of the argument. If I had all the time and money in the world, I don’t think I would change much about this project. It was fun working on it like this and I like the way it came out overall. The aspect I’m most pleased with is the idea I used. I personally think it’s a different take on something I found interesting and not talked about often, even though finding that topic was the most difficult part. Doing this as a college student was interesting. This type of project is creative and I feel is something all grades can do and learn a lot from. One thing I benefited from when doing this project was learning about and being exposed to different genres of writing and media’s in which it is explored. It was also beneficial working on something I was interested in, I felt like there were more things I took away.

What is the true meaning behind being gifted and being talented?

A question to ponder to all viewers on this Subreddit.

There are two ways I’ve seen the terms gifted and talented being used:

• Associated with possessing a natural born ability/skill.
• Result of high work ethic, fearlessness, determination, and other attributes alike.

When I was growing up, my parents would call me “gifted” or “talented” whenever they would see my drawings (they were just being nice). It gave me the impression that being “gifted” or “talented” meant having some special natural ability. In other cases, I hear stories about successful people would be called those terms get praise for their hard work and dedication. So what does being gifted and talented really mean?

Google’s definition is this:

• Being talented is to have a natural aptitude or skill for something.
• Being gifted is to have an exceptional talent or natural ability.

Essentially, being gifted is like an upgraded version of being talented.

Before I get to my definition, I want to define mentality and mindset.

• Mentality is the characteristic attitude of mind or way of thinking of a person or group.
• Mindset is the established set of attitudes held by someone.

Essentially, the characteristics of a mentality makes up a mindset.

The reason I included mentality and mindset is because I believe there is a connection. I believe that being gifted identifies more with the mentality of an individual while being talented focuses more on the application of an individual’s mindset. Being gifted is the foundation of being talented.

I decided to look up any instances where those terms were being used. There’s an article titled “What Is The Difference Between Gifted And Talented?” By Ray Fitzgerald who was an elementary school teacher. He spoke about how he’d answer a question similar to this one, what he told parents, and the purpose behind different tests. I’m focusing on what he said about the test.

“While a test that identifies a gifted child looks more at broad cognitive skills, testing for an academically talented child focuses on the nitty gritty these students are ones who score in the top percentiles of all students on individual subject-area tests for math, science, reading or any other topic.”

Tests for children identified as gifted, focuses more on their mental action, tendencies, and process of understanding information while testing for talented children focuses more on them applying their smarts to different subjects.

One person that came up in my research is Kobe Bryant. He’s one person that if you didn’t watch basketball you would still hear his name and that’s because of his “Mamba Mentality.” He’s the type of person that gives his all in everything he tries. In his book “Inside the Mamba Mentality” he goes into depth with his attitude and approach to challenges he faced.

“When it came to basketball, I had no fear. What I mean by that is: if I wanted to implement something new into my game, I’d see it and try incorporating it immediately. I wasn’t scared of missing, looking bad, or being embarrassed. That’s because I always kept the end result, the long game, in my mind…”

Kobe breaks down the different characteristics of his mentality and how it played a part in him practicing to get better. His fearlessness, eagerness, and focus, where all aspects that contributed to the foundation of his mindset, leading him to become the 18x All-Star, 5x Champ, League MVP, and overall great person he was.

In addition to my concept of mentality and mindset, there is also the idea that when an individual has a certain mindset/gift, they are able to perform or achieve certain things faster and/or at a greater level than others. However, with the right mentality, anyone can still achieve anything they desire even if it’s outside the domain of their gifts.

One interesting article I found is titled “Is There a Mindset Misconception with Giftedness?” by Emily Mofield. It speaks about the concept of mindset and growth of intelligence as well as a common misconception about them.

“The buzz about mindsets, what we believe about our intelligence, has captivated parents and educators in recent years. Its message is powerful if you believe your intelligence can grow, you will embrace challenges and achieve more… this mighty notion of mindset can be misinterpreted. In discussions about giftedness and mindsets, there may also be misconceptions. Research about praise tells us that when we praise students for their intelligence, they are likely to develop fixed mindset beliefs—the belief that your abilities do not change and so, they are more likely to avoid challenges in order to maintain a smart identity…”

This article identifies 2 mindsets:

• Growth mindset – being a mindset where one believes in growth of intelligence; expansion of their mentality.
• Fixed mindset – where one believe they can’t grow beyond the mentality they have. I believe people can break out of this fixed mindset. People can add to their mentality.

Let’s make up a hypothetical situation: There are 2 people: person A who has is gifted with math expertise; and person B who is gifted with language arts expertise. They are both equally gifted in their own right, but what if they both are striving to become authors? Both can do so however person A will have to work harder to achieve this feat. This is because their characteristics don’t compliment the goal they’re after as well as person B. However, as long as person A keeps a growth mindset and believes that they can complete their goal, they will.

So what do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? What are your thoughts on the meaning behind gifted and talented? Comment below.