WHAT TYPE OF TALENT ARE U SEEING

All human beings have talents… and weaknesses. In their best-selling book, Now
Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton define talent
as “a recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively
applied”. Neuroscientists define talents as synaptic connections that form strong
neural networks in our brains. These networks are shaped by nature and nurture,
and after we reach the late teen-age years, remain pretty constant throughout our
lives. Talents endure.
Human beings grow and develop fastest in areas where they have talent. Their
brains are wired for success in these areas. We grow and develop much more
slowly, and our potential is less in areas of non-talent. Again, from Now Discover
Your Strengths, “Successful individuals capitalize on their strengths and manage
around their weaknesses”.
The ability of the observer to see and understand the different ways a teacher is
talented is key to the development of that teacher. In the LCS™/Artisan Teacher™
work, we have identified 23 themes of teacher talent. Teachers can be talented in
their use of Personal Relevance, Conscious Attention, First-Time Learning, Mental
Models, Overt Responses, Congruency, Stagecraft, or Complementary Elements, to
name a few. For the purpose of developing teachers’ skills through coaching, it is
important that we are able to recognize and name the meaningful patterns of talent
expressed in a lesson.
To be a really keen talent scout, however, we must be able to answer a deeper
question… what type of talent am I seeing? It helps to think of a talent as being
one of three types– a latent talent, a conscious talent, or a strength.
Latent Talent: A latent talent is an undiscovered talent. It is a “yet to be developed”
talent. If a talent is latent, the teacher may not even be aware that she possesses
the talent. A latent talent reveals itself in the classroom as a natural, intuitive behavior.
It is not a learned behavior, or the product of careful study, or the result of
staff development. A latent talent often seems embedded in the teacher’s temperment
or personality. If we were to comment on the talent, the teacher may seem
surprised or express that she’s “never really thought about it.”
To be a really keen
talent scout, however,
we must be
able to answer a
deeper question…
what type of talent
am I seeing?