Ben-Coyle-Ch7

 The seventh chapter of Coyle’s “The Talent Code” is about how to ignite a talent hotbed. This chapter pertains most especially to would-be teachers, coaches, and the like. This chapter tells the story of a charter school system that incorporates many concepts alluded to earlier in the book: keeping motivation alive, deep practice, and so forth. The school system, whose name is abbreviated as KIPP, was founded by highly motivated educators frustrated with the limitations of the public school system. KIPP continuously points students to the goal of attending college, and in so doing, “keeps the flame lit,” a concept discussed in the previous chapter. The KIPP schools also hard-wire through deep practice, stopping to correct flaws, encouraging repetition, and so forth.

I think it’s interesting to consider igniting a talent hotbed from scratch. I think motivating students is an essential aspect of a talent hotbed, and I found it insightful that Coyle tied this into the continuous messages afforded by primal cues. I am not sure the KIPP schools as they are described perfectly align with other important aspects of growing skill, however. I think that the exceedingly strict environment may send a message that performance is preferred over making mistakes, which mistakes are essential for deep practice. To the credit of the KIPP schools, they employ many aspects of deep practice, such as stopping when mistakes are made and correcting them through critical analysis. In any case, I think it is critical that we aspiring educators think critically about how to develop our own “talent hotbeds.”

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