Julie H. Delgado Jimmy Wilson Video
12 Jan 2026, 10:21
Julie H. Delgado Jimmy Wilson Transcript
(0:00) Hello and welcome to our Listen and Learn series of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast. (0:05) This is a special series for winter 2026. And as a reminder, these Listen and Learn series (0:10) is part of our interchange as we move from one season to another season.
And this Listen and (0:15) Learn series is super duper special because we are recording it live at the National Association (0:20) for Gifted and Talented Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And Matt and I, this week, (0:25) we’ve done some scholarly work that’s about our upcoming book, 10 Actions to Fuel the Future (0:31) Creative. So be on the lookout for that link.
And this Listen and Learn series is all about (0:37) capturing some moments we’ve had with some scholars and practitioners and even a past guest we’ve had (0:43) on the show who was fantastic to talk about the latest and greatest of what’s happening in (0:48) creativity and gifted education. So as always, don’t forget that with these Listen and Learn (0:53) series, we do take all of the episodes and put them on our websites. They’re available on one (0:58) page.
You just need to go to fuelingeducationpodcast.com to find that series. And we hope you enjoy. (1:04) My name is Dr. Matthew Worwood.
And my name is Dr. Cindy Burnett. (1:08) Hello, everyone. My name is Dr. Matthew Worwood.
And my name is Dr. Cindy Burnett. (1:13) This is the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast. On this podcast, we’ll be talking (1:18) about various creativity topics and how they relate to the field of education.
(1:22) We’ll be talking with scholars, educators, and resident experts about their work, (1:27) challenges they face, and exploring new perspectives of creativity. (1:31) All with the goal to help fuel a more rich and informed discussion that provides teachers, (1:36) administrators, and emerging scholars with the information they need to infuse creativity (1:41) into teaching and learning. So let’s begin.
(1:44) Hello, and welcome to our final episode of our Winter 2026 Listen and Learn series of the Fueling (1:50) Creativity in Education podcast. As a reminder, we are here live at the NAGC conference. And guess (1:56) who we’ve bumped into? We have bumped into, well, we haven’t really bumped into because we knew he (2:00) was here, but we have bumped into our emerging scholar and resident expert, Jimmy Wilson, (2:05) who has been here presenting on his scholarship.
So we’re going to be asking that question. (2:10) And Jimmy’s also been presenting with his colleague. (2:13) Julie Delgado.
(2:14) Julie Delgado. And first thing I want to do is ask you a little bit about what it is you’ve been (2:19) presenting on, because it’s a topic that we’ve covered on the podcast, but probably haven’t (2:23) covered as much as we should do. So why don’t I pass you the mic and you can kind of introduce (2:27) your topic.
(2:29) So we did twice exceptionalities with bringing in creativity, and I’ll let Jimmy give the real (2:36) meat of it all. (2:38) So we have two projects with 2EASD, which is twice exceptional autism spectrum disorder that Julie (2:45) worked on with her advisor, the great Dr. Sally Reese, in gifted education. And there’s been a (2:53) thinker and creativity, Mitch Resnick, at the Lifelong Kindergarten Lab at MIT, which you (2:59) actually had the leader of that on the show, I think, last season.
And they talk about their (3:04) model of the four P’s, which are passion, play, projects, and peers. And talking with Julie, (3:13) we realized that a lot of her findings in Project 2EASD really perfectly dovetail with this great (3:21) philosophy from this lab that created things like Lego Mindstorms and Scratch and all these tools (3:27) that teachers love to use to help kids activate their creativity. (3:36) So Julie, I want to follow up a little bit on that, because that connection that you’re (3:40) bringing to, I mean, that’s one of the great things in scholarship is when you find a colleague, (3:44) you’re balancing ideas off of each other.
And of course, you’re a tenure-track position (3:51) recently, so you’ve just graduated. Congratulations with your dissertation. So (3:56) part of this is connected to your dissertation research.
(3:59) Yeah, so my dissertation was on Project 2EASD, and I did the professional video modules with (4:06) teachers and seeing if there was any growth. And so we did some interviews. And yes, the good news (4:12) is having some professional learning on twice-exceptional students does make a difference (4:17) for the teachers that I was interviewing and was a part of my study.
So the big connection here, (4:23) though, was peers, right? So we know same-age peers in school doesn’t always work, but the (4:27) interest-based peers is really important. And so one of the connections that I was making a lot was (4:33) extracurricular activities and how can we bring extracurriculars and this passion for those (4:38) extracurriculars into the school, which also leads, of course, to projects and Type 3 experiences (4:45) for students with independent studies and practicing that as a practicing professional (4:51) and getting that passion and excitement, which also leads into mentorship and finding somebody (4:57) to really support them along the way and seeing their passion and how that passion can translate (5:02) to them and all of these things really just kind of combined to make what our presentation, I guess. (5:08) Yeah, and one of the really interesting studies that we were going through in our review of the (5:14) literature, you know, we see so much ADHD or autism as deficit-based, but there was one study on (5:23) business owners who are ADHD, and they showed that their passion was higher than average, (5:32) their passion for their business, and not just the interest, but also the business performance.
(5:38) It was a small effect, but it was a significant effect amongst a bunch of entrepreneurs. So (5:44) how can we harness neurodiverse students to show them that no matter what their domain is, (5:51) they can do something extraordinary and they don’t have to fit into a neurotypical box? (6:02) I want to just quickly follow up a little bit more on that concept of passion, right? Because (6:09) it’s something that you sometimes see within this population that can be incredibly passionate about (6:15) things, but is there times where it’s kind of like extremely passionate in one thing, (6:21) and then suddenly the passion shifts to another thing? Did that come up? Does the projects, (6:29) you know, do you kind of like move with the passions, or do you kind of like (6:32) also bring in some perseverance even though there’s maybe a shift in interests? (6:38) So that’s a great question, and I would say our study did not focus on that so much. Did you look (6:44) at any research? I can say from like my personal experiences, right, we want to, especially in (6:50) type 3 activities, we want it to be something that they’re passionate about.
And yes, there’s (6:53) perseverance, but Joe Renzulli’s type 3 ring conception of giftedness, right? You need that (7:00) above average ability, creativity, and task commitment. And if there’s not the task commitment, (7:04) which is part of that passion, giving them that task commitment, then they’re not exhibiting those (7:09) gifted behaviors anymore because they’re not passionate about it. There’s that lack of task (7:13) commitment.
So is it really more about finishing a task, or like what’s the end goal that we’re (7:18) going for here? Is it to finish a task, or is it to really help them see themselves doing (7:24) something in the future? I absolutely love that, and it’s the fuel, isn’t it? Like, and it’s like (7:31) gold dust. I mean, as an educator, if you’re an educator, and you’re seeing a student with (7:37) passion, then you have everything you need to build a successful learning experience. And in (7:44) fact, is it fair to say that the model that you’ve put together, the framework, is really just (7:50) about implementing that because their passion is just going to drive them and take them forward? (7:56) I mean, it is about implementing it.
It’s about connecting it to some of those other (8:00) P’s, giving them a project, connecting them with peers. There was one person in the study, (8:07) I think his name was Luke, who was passionate about rules and parliamentary procedure, (8:13) I think. And because of that, he ended up joining 14 clubs and launching clubs at a two-year college (8:20) that he was at, because he loved going through and writing their bylaws.
And like, yeah, I think I (8:27) might be butchering that. It’s all right. No, you’re all right.
So Luke’s, yeah, he was a big history buff, and so (8:32) he really helped them create these constitutions for these clubs. But he led two of them, (8:37) and he participated in 14, but he included so many more, helping them build these clubs. And (8:43) that was something that our project and Project 2EASD found was so many of them, 73 percent said (8:49) advanced projects were important to them, but 90 percent said that this extracurricular activities (8:55) was important.
And just being able to, you know, see what was out there, they didn’t have to stick (9:00) with it. That’s that passion part, right? They didn’t love it, so they tried something different, (9:03) and that was okay. And then they found their niche, they found their peers, they found their (9:07) interests.
And so he was in 14 clubs. He talks, it’s really great. He had this tea party, and he (9:13) would have at his, in his dorm, he had this tea party, and it just became this gathering place for (9:19) all of these different students to come and enjoy and just be social, which was amazing for him.
(9:25) That is incredible, and it’s a part of the academic experience. I don’t think we’re always (9:30) utilizing as much anymore, and I know that’s not connected to what you were saying, but it’s (9:34) Luke’s stories, yeah. No, it really is.
Because that’s where they get to practice their real world (9:38) application and leadership and communication and collaboration. And most importantly, I always say (9:43) to a lot of my undergraduate students, is that if you think about your narratives that you tell (9:48) after school, those really meaningful stories, someone who has set up a club, (9:54) and then that club can, I then tell some of my seniors, or when I used to be a club advisor, (9:57) I say, you know what your goal is in your senior year? Is to make sure that the club continues (10:03) after you leave, because you’re kind of leaving a legacy at that point, aren’t you? (10:07) And I wasn’t expecting to go into this direction, but that, you know, even with Gifted Ed, I’m just (10:12) wondering, you know, I don’t know where I posed it, but I think I posed at some point, it was (10:16) one of our debrief episodes. I was wondering if we should have a gifted program.
I know we have (10:20) honors, but should there be gifted programs in academia? And then we started to have conversations (10:25) about, but is there other opportunities for gifted students to flourish? And of course there is. (10:31) I think that the club piece is probably something we don’t make enough of. You know, it’s not just, (10:36) of course, it’s enjoyment, but there’s so much more to running a club.
(10:42) Those leadership skills, leadership is huge. Think about all of the different aspects that (10:46) will then be able to translate into their jobs and, you know, communication, collaboration, (10:50) all of these things are going to take them into their, whatever role they so choose after college. (10:55) Yeah, sorry.
(10:56) And I was going to just highlight that one of the big principles of the four Ps is hard fun, (11:04) right? Like, and when you’re in a club and you’re starting an event, you might have to make a budget (11:09) and run through the bureaucracy of the university and have a constitution. And your passion is (11:14) driving you to do this big event or this big conference or competition, but all the way you’re (11:22) learning these leadership skills and it’s challenging and you’re growing from that (11:26) challenge too. (11:28) And before we go, I just want to build a little bit more because you and I had a conversation (11:32) earlier on in the day around, you know, primarily I think students on the autistic spectrum, (11:39) some of them perhaps haven’t been diagnosed and how challenging academia can be for those (11:45) students, particularly, and this is from experience, particularly those that don’t (11:48) have that support network at home.
And so often they’re, they’re wanting to develop those, (11:55) those skills where they’re interacting with other people. And funny enough, from my experience, (12:00) many of these students are encouraged or maybe self-select clubs as an avenue for that, (12:08) because sometimes depending on what major it is, you don’t always have that opportunity (12:11) in the classroom environment. So I know one of the things that I’m taking away here (12:15) is as an advisor and for some of these students who I see brilliance as well as perhaps some (12:22) additional challenges that they’re navigating that actually, okay, the university might (12:29) not be doing great in some areas, but what we do have is clubs and these clubs, these (12:35) experiences can offer you a lot, but you’ve got to find the clubs that you’re most passionate (12:40) about and to find the activities that you’re most passionate about within those clubs.
(12:45) Yeah. And I would just add, I think that touch point. So like you being their advisor, (12:49) that touch point, that mentor, that somebody that they can go to and have those conversations, (12:54) like, where do I go next? This wasn’t working.
What can I do? You helping guide them, (13:00) you know, finding their interests, finding those passions, helping them recognize that, (13:04) that they can find that if it’s not happening necessarily in the classroom, (13:07) where can they find that? So going to clubs for you is like that big aha for you. (13:12) Absolutely. Well, Jimmy, Julie, thank you so much.
It’s been amazing. It’s a long night. It’s (13:19) in the evening here.
We are starting to crash a little bit, but we did cram in this final (13:24) listen and learn episode. And we’re so thankful for you listening in as a reminder, (13:29) all of these episodes are going to be self-contained page on our website. So you can (13:34) go check them out on our website, filmingcreativitypodcast.com. And I’m going to sign off (13:40) because I’m tired.
My name is Dr. Matthew Warwood. And my name is Dr. Cindy Burnett. (13:48) This episode was produced by Cindy Burnett and Matthew Warwood.
(13:52) Our podcast assistant is Anne Fernando and our editor is Sheikh Ahmed.