Pearl in a Petri Dish: Poetry, Gifted, and the Visual-Spatial Learner

Bruce H. Allen

Foreword by Linda Silverman

I feel like a midwife. Bruce Allen’s labor of love was born in fits and starts, with many years of encouragement. I believed in Bruce. I kept asking how the writing was coming. We were at a National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) meeting when Bruce finally handed me the manila envelope with his Pearl. I am often asked to review other people’s writing, but I read very slowly with an editor’s eye, so it is not something I relish. It took awhile before I picked up the envelope. I was stunned. Its contents filled my senses with delight. And when I finished, I kept saying over and over again, “I had no idea.” “I had no idea.”

Even though we both live in Denver, I only bumped into Bruce annually at the NAGC conferences out of state. I had no idea what was inside of him. Pearl in a Petri Dish revealed a cavernous depth of character so far beyond what I had perceived on the surface.  I was in awe of the profound way Bruce thinks, feels, and uses language to paint magnificent landscapes. Bruce is a gentle man who would rather listen than speak. I had no idea how deep he is.

Bruce is an exemplary teacher. He appreciates his students. They feel safe with him to take risks to reveal themselves poetically. Pearl in a Petri Dish: Poetry, Gifted, and the Visual-Spatial Learner is filled with poetry from Bruce’s students; the poems show what it is possible to elicit from students. The book serves as a guide to teachers on how poetry can illuminate all subject areas. It is also a beautiful collection of poetry that speaks to the Soul of the reader. 

My work on visual-spatial learners (VSLs) resonated with Bruce, and served as pedagogical support for his mission to infuse poetry into all facets of the curriculum, not just in teaching English. Pearl in a Petri Dish extended the ideas in Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner (Silverman, 2002) well beyond my imagination. 

Our right hemispheres are our mental cameras; they integrate all the sounds, smells, tastes, textures, sights and feelings of our experience. Those who hang out in their left hemispheres ruminate about the past and try to plan the future. Those who spend more time in their right hemispheres are fully present in the now. The creative process occurs in the now. Art is made in the now. Joy is in the now.

We have tried to reduce education to a measurable science, dissecting it into units of study. We have imposed increasing numbers of standardized tests to measure mastery of these fragments of knowledge. Time can no longer be spared in school for the frivolous pursuit of art. There is work to be done. After all, we have to be accountable! 

But in this frenzy to prove ourselves to our left hemispheric court, we have forgotten that education, in its essence, is actually an art. The teacher-as-artist is precious to students. Teachers who love what they do and love their students inspire and transform. They draw from all forms of art in their teaching and they encourage their students to express their understanding in any form that has personal meaning—art, music, dance, theater, poetry.

Bruce Allen is an inspirational teacher-as-artist. He offers his insights about the art of teaching to all who have the heart to hear him.