Just sharing something I've circulated to a group of teachers around Bath who have been 
designated by the schools as leaders of gifted and talented education.

http://www.jackwhitehead.com/jwgtpaper/jwgt031208.htm

Given the title of the paper, 'How Do We Enhance Our Educational Influences In Learning 
Through The Expression And Development Of Our Talents In The Production Of Gifts.' I'm 
hopeful that you will find it relevant to our conversations on explaining our educational 
influences in learning (this includes our educational influences in our own learning, in the 
learning of others and in the learning of the sociocultural formations in which we live and 
work)

The first video-clip in the first narrative shows a group of teachers resisting an exclusive idea 
of gifts and talents and clarifying their inclusional approach by insisting that all young people 
have talents that can be developed in the production of gifts. I'm hoping that you will help to 
test the validity of my belief that sharing such visual narratives can help us to sustain and 
enhance the flow of the energising values we use in giving meaning and purpose to our own 
lives in education.

The second narrative includes video-clips of Sally Cartwright and her year 12 pupils. I'm 
wondering if my recognition and description of the talents Sally expresses in her educational 
relationships resonate with your own. I'm wondering if the expression of these talents form 
explanatory principles that you might also use in explaining your educational influences in 
learning? I think you enjoy Sally's writings from the url at the end of the paper where Sally 
explains her educational influences in her own learning and in the learning of students and 
colleagues.

In relation to Alan's point in a recent posting of a collection his inclusional essays:    

"These essays explore the dynamic inclusional geometry of open space through which we can 
bring the common sense of co-creative relationship to our lives in simultaneously receptive 
and responsive natural communion with one another and our surroundings.",

I'm seeing the sharing of the paper at http://www.jackwhitehead.com/jwgtpaper/jwgt031208.htm using e-media, in terms of an 
exploration of the educational influences of a flow of life-affirming energy of 'open space 
through which we can bring the common sense of co-creative relationship to our lives in 
simultaneously receptive and responsive natural communion with one another and our 
surroundings.' 
 
I also like Alan's point about the paradigmatic transformation from 
(objective) rationality into inclusionality being understandable in terms of transformation
'From emptiness to openness'.
 
I'm looking forward to Joan's return from a vacation to continue with an exploration of the 
educational implications of her understandings that:

"If I know that I reside in the imagination of a loving compassionate, dynamic intelligence 
with limitless creative potential, who desires me to live out my story to the full, and will give 
me full reign to do so if I can handle it, then I can respond to that, with no fear of 
consequences. I need not fear being adversely judged or condemned for what I do. Given 
the knowledge I have developed during the course of this enquiry, there is one criterion that 
I can reliably use to guide me and that is that, in everything I think and do, I do it in the 
consciousness that I am interconnected to everything that is. If I move around the world in 
this consciousness, then the actions I take will enhance that connection, and will seek to 
engage those who feel separated. I need to know fully with the whole of my being that 
every part of the universe has also emerged from the author’s imagination; and in that 
respect, everything and everyone that materializes is of equal value. If I perceive all I 
encounter in this way, then my developing hypothesis suggests that the actions I choose will 
be those that enhance my interconnection; and in that way, I will be helping to create a 
more coherent story." (Walton, 2008, p. 113)

Walton, J. (2008) Ways of Knowing: Can I find a way of knowing that satisfies my search for 
meaning? Ph.D. Thesis, University of Bath. Retrieved 3rd December 2008 from 
http://www.jackwhitehead.com/joanwaltonphd/joanwaltonphdsmall.pdf

Joan left today for an 8 day holiday so may be out of touch until she gets back to the UK. 

Love Jack