As part of the requirements for my Introduction to Gifted Education course, I have my preservice and inservice teachers watch five movies from a list of several dozen. While watching the movies, they are asked to use the Kingore Observation Inventory to determine ways in which the characters may be gifted. After watching Searching for Bobby Fisher, I was interested in finding out what had become of Josh, the main character of this movie. Josh Waitzkin was a chess prodigy, and Searching for Bobby Fisher was his father’s attempt to describe the journey from young boy to chess champion.
Josh Waitzkin is a gifted person with multipotentiality. Not only did he display giftedness through chess, he later became a Tai Chi champion. I learned from his website that he had written a book, The Art of Learning, and as a professor in teacher education, I was immediately drawn to the title. Several months later, at the National Association for Gifted Children’s Annual Conference in fall 2008, each participant was given a copy of Waitzkin’s book in preparation for his keynote address in fall 2009. Having previously purchased the book but not having read it, I had another reason to read this book.
I sponsor a gifted education book club selection three times per year, and The Art of Learning is my choice for summer 2009. Many of the participants will already have seen Searching for Bobby Fisher, and this book will be a great way for them to learn what became of Josh, as well as to read about the art of learning from the perspective of a gifted learner.
This book speaks to Josh’s ability to maximize his learning through passion, focus, automaticity through practice, intuition, reining in impulsivity, remaining open to continuous learning through a growth mindset, and preparation. While reading this book, I was reminded of others whose ideas have inspired me including: Coach John Wooden (The Pyramid of Success), Carol Dweck (Mindset), Jane Piirto (The Pyramid of Talent Development), and Art Costa and Bena Kallick (Habits of Mind).
