About Our TalentWorkshop

talent search & identification

The Kozsán TalentWorkshop covers a wide spectrum of activities. Its kaleidoscope-like structure and flexibility mean that talent search and identification are just as much our goal as the development of children who need special attention. Within this field, we work both on getting to know the strong and weak points of potential and/or already unfolded talents, and on expanding the study-skills toolkit of children who struggle with learning difficulties or progress more slowly. Alongside the talents we uncover, bringing hidden talents to the surface and reinforcing them is also one of our key tasks. We use pedagogical measurement scales for study skills and talent diagnostics (building on the scale of Dr. Mária Dávid, we work with questionnaires adapted to age-specific characteristics). In other processes, based on Renzulli’s revolving-door model, anyone can take part in our development processes and get to know our work as needed.

Talent nurturing is both a planned activity and a process that helps talents unfold. We are happy to give talks on talent nurturing and development, just as we are on supporting pedagogical processes aimed at developing study skills.

talent programs and counselling

At talent festivals and other talent programs, we spend cheerful yet thought-provoking hours with the children using our intra- and interpersonal games aimed at self-awareness. Its title is: Future Planner!, led by an art therapist, a master teacher, and a board-game counsellor.

Talent counselling and guidance for parents can be followed through every possible channel. The person seeking advice can be the student, the parent/guardian, a professional working with gifted children, a teacher at the institution who wants to actively take part in talent nurturing, a school head who needs institution-level support, or simply someone getting acquainted with the subject of talent.

Among our exciting discussion and lecture topics is also Elite sport or studying? Elite sport and studying!, in which our partner Balázs Kozsán collaborates with us — at 15 he became Wado-kai karate World Champion, a three-time European Champion, a fifteen-time Hungarian champion, and alongside all this an excellent student throughout his life, exceptionally talented, and supported by the National Talent Programme (NTP) for 3 years already.

playful stepping stones i-ii-iii

Our workbook — a nationwide novelty aimed at developing study skills and learning self-awareness, Playful Stepping Stones I-II -II I. — the first part of which, the Creative Learning Methods self-development workbook, was published in autumn 2020 by Móra EDU. Its presentation is given by our talent-development master teacher and mentor teacher, the author of the workbook. Our accompanying facilitator course is built on this material, entitled: Interactive study skills, the road to effective and joyful learning. The goal of this development is to build learning motivation and self-awareness for the successful learning of our 10-15-year-old students. To use the program package, the author-teacher holds a 30-hour training course for teachers, class teachers, and development pedagogues who take part in supporting learning processes. The elements of this process build on one another; the 30-hour training course is linked jointly to the three workbooks. You can read more about the structure of the accredited training course at PLAYFUL STEPPING STONES – Practice-centred development of learning self-awareness in schools. The training course’s organiser is Móra EDU: Móra EDU – PLAYFUL STEPPING STONES – PRACTICE-CENTRED DEVELOPMENT OF LEARNING SELF-AWARENESS IN SCHOOLS. It is an educational process that fits into the national core curriculum and is supported by a syllabus, which the Dunakeszi Szent István Primary School has now been teaching within its subject framework for four years. There, the classes are taught by the concept’s developer, Marianna Kozsánné Tóth. Small-group and/or individual development sessions are launched during school breaks.

At our TalentWorkshop, development takes place within individual, small-group, and large-group sessions alike. The participants’ results and motivation reassured us, and so, with the illustrations of art therapist Henriett Horváth and under the professional guidance of talent-development master teacher Marianna Kozsánné Tóth, the Playful Stepping Stones workbook was created in two parts, providing methodological support and boosting motivation. As a first step, we consider baseline assessment important — alongside professional measurements linked to talent areas, we have mapped the starting picture over the last five years using an online questionnaire measuring learning habits and/or talent areas. We also carry out the closing assessment online, then interpret the results in person, jointly mark out the “stepping stones”, look for opportunities, and develop and follow the developmental arc. The primary goal of our study-skills development is to support students moving up to higher grades.

plans and the future

Our plans include joining the network of talent workshops, since building network relationships is in all our interests and is a shared task. We connect to this process with our unique study-skills development, which supports successful career-orientation processes and can form the basis of the “Lifelong learning” principle. Our online presence is also open for building connections (kozsan.x3d.hu, as well as the Facebook page bearing the same name).

Following the modern trends of our ever-refreshing world, with the help of our trained colleagues we are also connecting to the online platform that measures the creativity and vocabulary of “Új Nemzedék” fifth-graders.

The reach and partnerships of our TalentWorkshop

reach

Geographically, our reach has primarily focused on Dunakeszi and its surroundings, but over the last two years children have come to our announced trainings from any part of the country, and we, in turn, have taken part by invitation in the nationally announced Talent Festivals as well. Our main focus areas are lifestyle-oriented, study-skills, interpersonal and intrapersonal development, and our games also target logical, linguistic, native-language, and kinaesthetic development areas (following Gardner). Parts of our plans have already been realised, since learning self-awareness education has been running in three primary schools in Dunakeszi since autumn 2020. In the coming years our goal is to also support secondary grammar schools, and we would like to appear with our sessions within the framework of talent days (for example: Talent Festival, Keszifeszt). We would like to make our programs known at city and regional level, and we continue the collaboration we have already begun in light of our varied development programs.

Our motto: “The capacity to learn is a gift, the ability to learn is a skill, the willingness to learn is a choice.” – Brian Herbert

We believe that by mastering the joyful technique of independent learning, and by dispelling misconceptions that have formed around learning processes, we can motivate our children. Managing stress supports the development of students’ “sense of responsibility”. By recognising decision-making roles and reinforcing their motivation to expand their knowledge (by laying the foundations of “Lifelong learning”), a lifelong shift in attitude takes place.

our partnerships so far

1. Giving a talk on talent diagnostics and talent nurturing to the teaching staff of the Gödöllő Hajós Alfréd Primary School.

2. Initiating a study-skills talk and discussion about talent nurturing with the teachers of the Fazekas Mihály German-Language Primary School, in the spirit of shared thinking.

3. We thought through the questions of differentiation and individual development together with the teaching staff of the Gyömrő EGYMI – Primary School, Vocational School, Skills-Development School, Boarding School and School for Developmental Education, within a talk and workshop session.

4. A talk and workshop on primary-school opportunities aimed at developing learning self-awareness was held with the teachers of the Dunakeszi Széchenyi István Primary School.

5. Building the Kozsán TalentWorkshop’s assessment and development options, and using its developed materials (syllabus, workbook, interactive interfaces) at school level.

Our innovative initiative is the “Playful Stepping Stones” study-skills and, at the same time, career-orientation development. With interactive tasks, using the workbook written by our talent-development expert, it sets every subject and talent area in motion. We measure our children’s knowledge with online questionnaires, and during the training the children get to know the possibilities of conscious future-planning and a wide repertoire of learning strategies and tactics.

planned partnerships

1. Expanding the study-skills program package aimed at 10-14-year-olds to the 6-10-year-old and 15-20-year-old age groups as well.

2. Seeking further development paths by establishing professional cooperation with Eszterházy Károly University in light of the results seen so far.

3. Connecting with primary schools’ workshop sessions to strengthen learning self-awareness (Lifelong learning).

4. Presenting our experiences and results in the spirit of knowledge-sharing. Institution-level preparation for the talent-nurturing activities already running successfully at the featured primary school.

5. Providing subject-consultant tasks as needed at inviting institutions.

6. Providing professional preparation, within the framework of accredited teacher-training, for the development processes running within the “life skills” subject, which form the foundations of learning self-awareness. After the assessment carried out in fifth grade, seeking further interpretation options for the processes built up, even at a national level.

This process leads from the joy of discovery to deeper self-awareness. General aspects include personality and self-awareness, motivation and behavioural culture, as well as uncovering and developing both known and hidden talent areas. This program has a syllabus developed for the 10-15 age group, and teaching is already taking place weekly at one institution. Our long-term plan is to analyse and document this process, and to interpret the developmental arc in light of academic results and motivation, building on the experiences of children, parents, and teachers. Our goal is to be able to track results that cannot be measured in academic performance as well (for example, engagement with learning). We are happy to give talks and training courses on this program package. Supporting the talent nurturing of students who need special attention is close to our hearts.