Our Visual Arts Teacher, Christy Allen, shared her thoughts on art – why we do it, what is is, and how we might consider practicing art even in these challenging times. Here is the second in the series, with some of Christy’s insights on how to silence the inner critic and get started creating! She also shares some art exercises you can use to get started.

Don’t Invite the Judges!

When it comes to artistic creation, many cannot begin without sending out an invite to the judges.  Those judges may be perceived to be outside of oneself, classmates, other people in the room, etc., or they might be those internalized judges so familiar to us. In any-case, they are never too busy to pop in with some authoritative declaration, almost always a downer! I hear time and time again, “I’m no artist!” or “I can hardly draw a stick figure”. First of all I question why the stick figure is the low end of the skill scale? Did no one inform Keith Haring of this? 

For many young adults (and adults)  the space between beginning, and delivering a masterwork feels sort of embarrassing, and the question of quality is viewed in black and white. Of course, self reflection in any endeavor is a good practice however, I would argue, asking ourselves “Is it good or is it bad?” is an irrelevant starting point (especially if we haven’t even begun), and perhaps is not a helpful question throughout. How can you possibly know if a work is interesting to you until you’ve met it and conversed for a time? 

Make Your Own Rules

Many artists that we now consider masters did not let the good/bad standards of the time stop them from following a line of inquiry. They were deep in conversation and invented the “words,” the rules, as they went. They pushed art forward by refusing to consider an external good/bad scale. Which is not to say they did not have one of their own, but most certainly, in the cases where they succeeded to produce innovative work, they did not shut themselves down before they had even begun.

As with any relationship beginning a creative endeavor, can be awkward at first, halting with long moments of silence. Especially so, if you enter feeling nervous or with high expectations. Many gifted students excel at high expectations and perfectionism.  The thing one imagines, is often different once it appears in the world outside of one’s mind. It has a life of its own so to speak, and if the goal is to hold it to one’s mental blueprint it will often disappoint. 

An idea is rarely born fully formed, it has to grow. We cannot know what something will be until it is. I believe artistic expression is the result of a back and forth between a person, their intellect, emotions, associations  and the life of the medium, the place, the world outside of themselves. For example, a random line one draws, might have the feeling of a wave, or something more abstract, like the feeling of the sound of a trumpet. Not all lines are alike. Unless one is willing to let go of the need to dominate over the conversation, the exchange can be one-sided and less fulfilling. 

Try A Guided Exercise

For gifted students I have found artistic exercises that set the student up to follow rather than lead helps the student focus on the process of creating rather than hyper focusing on what they wish the end result to be. The reason this is positive is that it allows the student to work for a time, keeping the judges at bay. They can blame the “limits” of the assignment for the results instead of knocking themselves. It seems less personal if they feel they themselves were not in charge. It also allows for space enough, to sit back and take in the results, judging them on their inherent qualities. For example, if the assignment is a blind contour drawing, which is a drawing in which the student is asked to look at something, say a pot of flowers, then asked to close their eyes and draw it from memory without picking up their pencil from the paper. There are two points in which the student is being asked to let go of control. When they close their eyes, and when they are restricted to keeping the pencil lead on the paper as they draw, without lifting it. These are things outside of themselves they can blame, if they don’t like the results. 

Often though, a surprising thing happens, often the results are interesting. This gives the lines themselves a chance to be heard. A line’s quality is not limited to its ability to impersonate something else, it has a life that perhaps can be associated with a feeling that reminds one of something. It truly has an energy all its own. Once that is discovered, one moves into a more balanced relationship with creating – one in which an individual makes a move and listens for a response, and so the engagement, or even joy, weighs heavier in the process and less heavy in the result. And so the practice of creating becomes a sentence with commas, that allow for pauses but a continuation, instead of periods that stop one in their tracks, and forces one to start over, and over again.  

Begin YOUR Conversation with Art

If this approach appeals to you, I have included a series of exercises you can try. Some of the exercises ask that you draw things, but the focus is on the looking and noticing as opposed to techniques. Learning technique is important, like learning different languages allows you more opportunity to communicate, however in my opinion it is simply a means to allow for further conversation, and so first the conversation must begin. 

Try These Exercises!

These were created as lessons for Mack art classes during our MackFLEX virtual learning

Nature Journal

Found Object Drawing

Curious about how our inquiry-based, cross-disciplinary approach that fully integrates the arts into our daily instruction? Learn more.

The post Art and the Pandemic: Getting Started! appeared first on Mackintosh Academy.

That thought-provoking headline comes from our Visual Arts Teacher, Christy Allen, who shared her thoughts on art – why we do it, what is is, and how we might consider practicing art even in these challenging times. Here are her insights. Stay tuned for Part Two, with tips on silencing self-criticism, getting started, and ideas to explore.

Art Does Not Require a Classroom

Well, let’s begin with this. Art does not require a classroom, nor does it require any particular material. We might be fooled into thinking art is housed inside something other than ourselves. I suppose it is, in a way.  It is housed in our relationships, to the world outside of ourselves as well as inside of ourselves. Art does not, however, require any specific material, place, or technique. Perhaps, being stripped of these things, allow us a chance to discover this truth?

I think of art as a conversation, sometimes light and chatty, sometimes with a greater depth. This conversation, as I see it, is between an individual and their senses, emotions, and intellect. It’s between their desire to make conscious experience and to connect with other experiences, in order to more strongly feel their own. Simultaneously, and seemingly contradictory, it sometimes provides the sense of being outside of our individual self and connected to a greater whole. 

Art as Conversation

This conversation can be had in many, many ways — almost any way. It can be through movement, through sound, through sight. It does not need even to be documented or made physical, like a painting, sheet of music, a film, or a meal. However,  there does seem to be something primal in our desire to make art tangible, in our desire to share or somehow manifest our experience into a form separate from our own, an object of art.

It is wonderful to realize that wherever we sit now, as long as we have the ability to pay attention, art can be created. It is a living thing, an organic thing. However, despite the ever-present opportunity to create, it is not always easy. This kind of attention takes muscle and endurance. Even play takes energy! Art takes focus, concentration, perception and a desire to make experience conscious. And, yes, it takes courage.

Silencing the Critical Voices

It is in fact difficult, especially as we grow older, to keep the conversation going without being distracted by the rude interruptions from critical “outside” voices – voices that say things like, “A GOOD drawing is a drawing that physically resembles the thing you are observing.” That, I would respond, is mastering the technique of illusion which can be used, but should not be confused with what makes something “good.”  Technique can be helpful and give us choices but, as anyone who has spent time around a young child knows, profoundly beautiful and perceptive thoughts can be communicated with a few simple words. 

Poetry in Art

We can be wowed by a technique like, for example, photorealism, but even the most photorealistic works can be devoid of poetry – or they can contain poetry. I once heard a poet describe poetry as the action of banging two words together, like stones: the poetry is in the space between…the energy, the vibrations. The poetry is in the authenticity of the engagement and the realness of the conversation, that give life to the work.  As an individual, this is the energy I am seeking when engaged in creating. As a teacher, I hope to help my students in discovering this energy.

Relief from Distraction

This time during which we are restricted to home has to a certain degree, relieved us from distraction. Perhaps right now the creative experience can be condensed down to the basics. These basics include: the moment; our thoughts, feelings, and sensations; the specific space we occupy, our desire to engage; and whatever may be at hand to document that engagement. We could use  a piece of paper and a pencil, a leaf and a twig, water, a brush, and the sidewalk. There are endless tools.

We, all of us, parents and children alike, have all the ingredients we need at hand. Shall we enter the conversation with art and see where it takes us?

Stay tuned for Christy’s second article, here on this blog!

Curious about how our inquiry-based, cross-disciplinary approach that fully integrates the arts into our daily instruction? Learn more.

The post Art and the Pandemic: What’s the Up Side? appeared first on Mackintosh Academy.

When Social Distancing is “Normal Life”

Selah C. is an eleven-year-old former Mackintosh Academy student who was born with a condition that puts her at higher risk for respiratory illnesses. Recently she shared her tips on social distancing from the point of view of someone who lives with a chronic illness.

What most of us are experiencing for the first time in the COVID-19 pandemic, Selah has lived with her entire life. Her mom Sarah says, “We’ve already learned how to live in quarantine and social isolation except for in the safest situations. It’s not easy, but we’re used to it by now and it’s second nature.”

With Selah’s family’s permission, we are sharing her advice here.

Selah’s Tips on Thriving in Isolation

“Apparently most people don’t live like I do, which is not really a revelation, but to me I can’t imagine what a normal life is, if there even is one.

I’ve been in the hospital a lot. All my life I have been living extremely cautiously, because I know what happens if I make a couple of small mistakes like forgetting to wash my hands or touching a door knob and then scratching my face. Even just a cold can turn into pneumonia for me. I never hang out with anyone even remotely sick, and most times when I’m in the hospital I’m contagious, so I can’t leave my room for days on end.

Thank you, Selah, for sharing your words of wisdom with our community!

For more information and tips on how to help kids with social distancing, please visit these sources:

https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/coronavirus-social-distancing.html

https://broomfield.org/3125/Activities-While-Social-Distancing

https://newywithkids.com.au/family-fun-social-distancing-coronavirus/

We will be covering this topic, sharing more student and family perspectives, and highlighting activities and student work as our staff continues to provide hands-on, inquiry-based experiences for our students via MACK FLEX, our flexible learning platform. Follow us on this blog, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to stay tuned.

Want to learn more about our school? Here’s a good place to start.

The post Tips on Social Distancing from an 11 Year Old Expert appeared first on Mackintosh Academy.

By Kim Servia, M.A.Ed., DCSD GT Facilitator, and Parent

Our son’s underachievement surprised us.  Maybe it shouldn’t have, but it did.  Through study and reflection, I understand more about how parenting, school, and mindset unintentionally contribute to the perfect storm of underachievement.  As it turns out, underachievement is learned behavior.  Fortunately, when we understand and intentionally adopt constructive practices, underachievement can be prevented, and even reversed.

Parenting and Achievement

Parents unwittingly foster underachievement through contradictory parenting styles, authoritarianism, overprotection, excessive permissiveness, and inconsistency.  Parents can intentionally foster high achievement by implementing the strategies described below.

Time.

Parents need to spend time with and nurture their children, especially their same-gender children.  Children look to parents to decide the type of adult they would like to become.  When a parent is absent or disengaged, children are left to figure it out on their own, floundering without a role model.

Compromise.

A consistent dynamic that exists between parents of underachievers is that they unintentionally compete with each other believing that their parenting method is better than that of their partner.  Examples include: Father is an Ogre, Daddy is a Dummy, Mother is an Ogre, and Mother is the Mouse of the House (Dr. Silvia Rimm).  Parents must be united to avoid over pressuring or protecting.  When parents share reasonable and appropriate expectations, the child can accept positive challenges and please both parents.  Ideal role models are parents that view their own lives as interesting and successful and who model equal respect in the husband-wife relationship.

Understand.

Seek to understand and support the needs of the child.  Helping the child understand him or herself and how to navigate challenges will be a gift used repeatedly throughout life.  Children that continuously score in the 98 and 99th percentile on nationally normed tests are outliers.  Seek professional advice from a doctoral level psychologist that specializes in working with gifted children.

Expectations.

Parent expectations should be high enough to challenge but also reasonable and attainable for the child.  This sends a strong “we believe you can do it” message and nurtures self-confidence.  When important-others believe, it’s easier for the child to believe in him or herself.  High parent expectations must be paired with expectations of hard work. “You can do anything you want as long as you are willing to work hard enough.”

Responsibilities.

Insist that children assume responsibilities appropriate for their age.  When parents do too much, the children become reliant for things they could do independently.  This sends the message that they are not capable, lowering self-confidence.

Power.

Maintain an appropriate level of power.  Too much power can inadvertently be given to gifted children because they often act older than their years.  They can fall into a pattern of manipulation to avoid ordinary tasks.  This robs them of skill-developing opportunities and again, self-confidence suffers.  To break this pattern, put agreements in writing for reference when manipulation is attempted again.

School and Achievement

Rigor.

Don’t fall into believing the common myth about gifted kids: “They’ll be fine”.   Most do not realize the extent of the damage that boredom can cause.  Without daily challenge and engagement, children often lose trust in their teachers, the educational system, and even their parents (for not helping them find a more suitable situation).  Disengaged students will find something other than the curriculum to engage in.  Tuning out teachers and missing instruction, they turn to their own thoughts and behaviors.  They daydream, draw, make classmates laugh, or take apart pens and create something new with the pieces.  These non-curricular activities result in missed skill development which catches up with the child and chip away at self-esteem.

Educational fit.

You can change the environment or change the child.  (Hint: You can’t change the child.)  Don’t be afraid or too busy to explore alternate school options.  The traditional school setting may or may not be the best fit for your child.  As wonderful as our elementary school was for most children, outliers like ours did not fit in the box they were prescribing.

Assess.

Children who have been underachieving for a time, often have some deficits due to factors already described.  It’s important to assess strengths, deficits, and creativity.  Build on strengths, invest in interests, and support deficits.  Cultivate creativity.  Learn more about the child.  Listen and meet them where they are.

Communication.

Ideally school and home work together for the benefit of the child.  A student that seems to not pay attention, doesn’t complete homework, but still aces tests can be annoying to teachers.  Gifted kids will pick up on this dislike and internalize it as confirmation of their already established poor self-perception.  Help your child be understood.  Volunteer at the school.  Offer to provide materials and resources to extend learning for your child or the entire class.  Bring coffee or lunch.  Support teachers in their efforts.

Mindset and Achievement

Perfection, sportsmanship, resiliency.

Children need to be taught how to recover from failure experiences.  Underachievers will avoid competitive activities unless they perceive themselves as highly likely to win.  Instead of viewing the loss as temporary, the child is likely to view himself as a loser and quit.

Self-efficacy and the growth mindset.

Self-efficacy is the belief in a person’s ability to succeed or accomplish a task.  It plays a major role in how we approach goals, tasks, and challenges.  A growth mindset is the belief that through effort and perseverance we can improve at something. Engagement, motivation, choice, ownership, and a growth mindset are intimately related.  Think about it.  To stay motivated, people of all ages need to believe in their ability to impact an outcome.  They must also put in the necessary work. 

Smart  ≠ Easy.

Praise effort, not achievement.  When children are told they are smart, they hear “smart = easy”.  When work becomes difficult, they may be left believing they are no longer smart.  This is terribly confusing and scary for a child whose identity may be wrapped in being smart.  They will use avoidance, rebellion, humor, and more to protect themselves from showing others they lack ability in certain areas.  Children need to be reassured that with hard work, they can create a positive impact on the outcome they are seeking.

Underachievement is not predestined, nor does it have to be permanent.  With intentionality, parents, schools, and a healthy child mindset can cultivate the road to a successful launch into a rich, productive, and satisfying future.

Be encouraged!

This article is based on personal experience and the underachievement chapter of Education of the Gifted and Talented, Pearson New International Edition.  G. Davis, S. Rimm, and D. Siegle

References and Resources

Dr. Sylvia Rimm

Dr. Carol Dweck – The power of believing that you can improve – Ted Talk

The Underachieving Gifted Child by Dr. Del Siegle

SENG (Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted)

dcagt.com

The post How Parenting, School, and Mindset Foster Underachievement appeared first on Mackintosh Academy.

With the cooler fall weather comes a time of year that many of us cherish, a time that brings some of our favorite traditions. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Diwali, Christmas: these celebrations and the traditions associated with them can be exciting, comforting and overwhelming, not only for us as parents but for our children. The dual sense of disruption and comfort that comes with tradition can be grounding – or unsettling – especially for bright kids.

Gifted children like those we serve at Mackintosh Academy may revel in these traditions, or they may not be willing to go with the flow and simply “do what we always do.” As James Webb writes in A Parent’s Guide to Gifted Children, “Bright children become aware of alternative choices early in life, and many of them start to realize that they need not be controlled by the traditions that guide others.”

Perhaps, after cooking turkey and dressing for the umpteenth time and washing approximately 346 dishes, you too might question the value of traditions that sometimes feel like just another thing on your “to-do” list. But if we back up and reflect, we can see what traditions do for us and for our children.

Traditions help to ground busy minds.

A gifted child’s mind can be like a whirlwind, always spinning, always busy learning and taking in new things. In the middle of this mental windstorm, it can be profoundly comforting and grounding for a child to step into a tradition that is familiar, comforting and warm.

Traditions can connect children to each other.

Some gifted kids feel different. They feel like outliers or like nobody understands them. When children can participate in shared traditions, whether at home, in the classroom or a place of worship, they see that there are others out there like them, others who enjoy and value the same things.

Learning about traditions connects kids to cultures other than their own.

An important part of the International Baccalaureate curriculum at Mackintosh Academy is learning about traditions in other cultures. We infuse this into our Spanish classes and into many other topics throughout the curriculum. Children learn that there are common themes in different cultural celebrations; for example, in the winter many cultures have traditions that celebrate the idea of light amidst darkness.

Traditions create a connection between past, present and future.

Because their brains move so quickly and their bodies are changing rapidly too, kids can sometimes feel unmoored from the past, disconnected from the present and apprehensive about the future. Gifted kids are often learning so much that they are continually focused on “what’s next” and don’t take the time to pause and reflect. Traditions can help children think back to their past selves, find peace and enjoyment in the present and have something to look forward to in the future.

School traditions can be an important part of a child’s life, reflecting milestones and accomplishments.

As we celebrate our 40^th anniversary year at Mackintosh, we are mindful of the traditions and rituals that comprise our community. From starting our assemblies with the salute to the flag, to honoring each child with a birthday celebration, to special occasions like “Spirit Week,” we try to weave tradition into our daily practice at Mack Littleton. At the end of the school year, Field Day is a cherished tradition led by our Physical Education teacher Patty Weston (herself a school “tradition” after 20+ years at Mack!). At Field Day, younger students look forward to the day when they will become “big kids” and be able to help with lower school field day. Big kids enjoy the growth and relative freedom that comes with getting to go off campus and swim, play tennis on real courts, and explore the Ken Caryl athletic club.

Perhaps our most cherished tradition as Mackintosh Littleton is graduation. Unlike many schools where commencement ceremonies are reserved for the graduates and their families, at Mack the entire school shows up to celebrate our graduates. When the grads are escorted into the gym by their PreK buddies, a visible reminder of the growth that occurs in a child’s journey from PreK to 8^th grade, there’s not a dry eye in the house. Graduation at Mack offers an opportunity for each student to give a special performance that represents his or her interests and accomplishments. And finally, when those graduates turn their tassels and toss their hats into the air, they are partaking in a centuries-long tradition that celebrates education and personal growth.

Whether your child is an eager participant in rituals and tradition, or an intrepid questioner of all things routine, you can be sure that traditions hold value for children, giving them (and us) a way to pause and reflect on the experiences that bring connection and meaning into our lives.

The post “Why Do We Do That Anyway?” Traditions and Gifted Kids appeared first on Mackintosh Academy.

Too often, gifted children and adolescents hear that they are “too _______.”  Fill in the blank with any of the following:  intense, sensitive, weird, self-absorbed, hyperactive, bossy, stubborn, or lazy.  Many adults and peers are guilty of transforming the traits of giftedness into criticisms by using these negative descriptors.  These kids are not trying to be difficult.  It’s just how they are wired.  “By definition, someone who is gifted is different from the norm, and in many places, being different is not only unusual, it is unacceptable,” as James Webb writes.  Even if the child never hears these words, others’ reactions cause them to feel and internalize these labels, causing damage to the child.

Bored, disengaged, edgy, disrespectful – this is how some teachers saw our son.  Those he liked and respected, knew it.  Those he didn’t, knew that too.  At home, we saw a funny, bright, energetic, insatiably curious and creative thinker.  He was bored and disenchanted with school, but we believed it was the most rigorous and nurturing choice available at the time. “High school will be better,” we told him.  He trusted us.  He “hung in there.”

Continual misunderstanding of the traits and needs of gifted children can drive them to negative self-talk and to ponder questions such as: “I thought my teachers were supposed to know more than I do.”  “My parents said it would get better.”  “What’s wrong with me?”  “Does anyone else think the way I do?”

Confusion, frustration, disillusionment, helplessness, loneliness, and anger can result.  These feelings can transform into negative behaviors including: decreased motivation and enthusiasm, underachievement, procrastination, and crippling perfection.

Depression can develop.  Parents and teachers should be prepared to recognize the signs of depression in children which presents differently than in suffering adults.  Boys with depression may act out in anger or aggression.  Girls may be withdrawn and irritable.  Both can experience changes in their sleep patterns.

We experienced ALL of this but still did not understand what was happening nor what to do about it.  Our relationships were strained.  I sought help from everyone who would listen.  Eventually I found a book called Searching for Meaning: Idealism, Bright Minds, Disillusionment, and Hope by Dr. James Webb.  Surely, he knew my son and wrote this book about him – or so I thought after reading it.  With my new understanding and the need for more, I scheduled a comprehensive evaluation with a psychologist who specializes in working with the gifted,  we finally began to learn what we needed to know to help our son.  Our mindset shifted and is well described in this quote:

Thinking of your child as behaving badly disposes you to think of punishment. Thinking of your child as struggling to handle something difficult encourages you to help them through their distress. ~ Unknown

Parents and teachers simply must understand more if they want to help, not hurt, gifted children navigate the social, emotional, and academic challenges in their journey.  The strategies below are recommended.

First, MEET the CHILD where he/she is – intellectually, emotionally, and socially.  Accept the child for who he/she is.  Explore and emphasize the child’s interests and strengths.  Support their challenges.  Understand that children’s behaviors are not just random events.  Look beneath concerning behaviors for unmet needs and find ways to meet them.  Recognize asynchronistic development with age and ability and engage accordingly.

In our house, asynchronistic development looks like this:  My son sometimes acts 12 (maturity) and sometimes 28 (intellectually) years old.  He almost never acts his chronological age of 18.  I’ve learned to engage with him according to the age he is acting at the time.  It sounds absurd, but it works!  Eventually, he will mature into his chronological age.

Second, teach RESILIENCY which will build confidence and self-esteem.  Affirm their independence, actions, problem-solving attempts, successes, and failures.  Help them understand that we all face adversity.  It’s what we THINK and DO about these challenges that matters.  If we choose (and are taught) to, we can learn and grow from them.

Help your child understand, identify, and question the beliefs, both positive and negative, that run through his/her head during these times.  Help them ask themselves:  “Why did this happen?”  “Was it me or not me?”  “Is it permanent or temporary?”  “What’s the worst thing that can happen?  The best?” and “Now what?”  Encourage your child to view the situation from a different perspective to gain a sense of his/her reasonableness.  “Would others’ see this the way I do?”  Encourage the child to take action by asking “Did I learn anything that will help me later?”

Finally, and most importantly, BUILD RELATIONSHIPS –  Choose to find a way to cultivate good relationships with the gifted child(ren) in your life.  It will have a huge impact on them (and you) and it will be how you are remembered!   Using the strategies described above will naturally build relationships.  When in doubt, use this formula: listen, learn, listen more, and repeat.  Read A Parent’s Guide to Gifted Children by Dr. James Webb, founder of SENG (Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted).  Join a SENG Model Parent Discussion Group and find the comfort of connecting with other parents experiencing the same struggles you have.

In summary, choose to understand.  Meet and unconditionally accept them where they are.  Teach and model resiliency to prepare them to manage life’s challenges.  Understand and encourage them.  As the quote below implies, the benefits of understanding are unending.

“Failure to help the gifted child is a societal tragedy, the extent of which is difficult to measure but which is surely great. How can we measure the sonata unwritten, the curative drug undiscovered, the absence of political insight? They are the difference between what we are and what we could be as a society.”  James J. Gallagher, 1978

Back to my family… Based on the psychologist’s recommendation, our son left school during 10th grade.  In the two years since, he has continued to invest in his future and use his creativity primarily within his passion area of predictive analytics.  He worked long-term with a mentor, and has met with many professionals, including investors.  Our relationships have been restored and are better than ever.  While his age peers are preparing for graduation, he’s still contemplating what’s next.  Our concerns have thankfully evolved into excitement with this new understanding.  We can’t wait to see the satisfaction he’ll experience and the contributions he’ll make.  So, our story is not over.  But, with our new understanding, we are confident our story will end well!

Be encouraged!

References

This article is based on personal experience and the book A Parent’s Guide to Gifted Children

by Dr. James Webb, Founder of Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG)

For more information about SENG, visit: sengifted.org

Kim Servia works with Douglas County Association for Gifted and Talented:  http://www.dcagt.com/ 

Kim’s website link is https://sites.google.com/a/dcsdk12.org/mrs-servia/

Connect with Kim on LinkedIn.

The post Misunderstood: Misconceptions about Gifted Children appeared first on Mackintosh Academy.

Holiday traditions such as lights, music, food, and annual gift-giving notwithstanding, our fast-paced Facebook world demands we travel light, discarding old products and pursuits to embrace the innovation and creative change necessary to thrive in today’s world.

But sometimes, past practices deserve a fresh look. One of those is the old-fashioned spelling bee. To give it another look, you must consider that maybe it’s not really about spelling. It’s not just a quaint ritual that deserves to fade into the past (after all, we’ve got spellcheck at our fingertips these days). Although knowing how to communicate with clear and correct language is important, the real power of the spelling bee experience centers on the habits of mind it promotes. Watching the annual event unfold in our school gym just a few weeks ago, I saw displayed so many of the characteristics touted by today’s educators, innovators, and thinkers as necessary for success.

Youngsters, age 9 to 13, sat listening, fully engaged and ready. When their turn came, they paused. They thought, considered the options, then communicated their answers to the audience. It was visceral – you could feel the courage, the calm, the grit it took to be up there on the stage. Think of the resilience required to hang in there after that first and only allowable mistake. Our school’s winner this year had been a close runner up for the past four years. No amount of talking about the power of perseverance can compare with what he experienced. And then, of course, there is the ultimate life lesson of learning to be a good loser and a good winner, how to give applause and to accept it with grace.

Just as we decide every year, as a family and a community, which traditions or decorations we want to keep and which we need to pitch, our schools have to do this, too. The school day is full. Cutting-edge educational opportunities abound, and new initiatives are rich, exciting and sometimes overwhelming. We must foster higher order thinking skills, multi-sensory instruction, and design thinking. We need our innovation labs and 3D printers. We want to promote service learning, and field trips, and so on…. But it is tremendously valuable, and sometimes surprising, to dust off an old treasure and discover its clarity and relevance as if for the first time.

The post Spelling Bees: An Untraditional Take on Tradition appeared first on Mackintosh Academy.

Our house is filled with trash. Not because I’m a terrible housekeeper, not because my husband shirks his weekly duty of taking out the trash, but because my children love making projects out of garbage, recycling, and anything else they find interesting. Anyone visiting our house would see any number of creations made by our three boys: bats with five-foot wingspans made of paper and masking tape, daggers whittled from sticks, Star Wars ships made of cardboard, guns created from anything and everything, bug zoos designed with wine corks and popsicle sticks, night vision goggles consisting of toilet paper tubes and duct tape, rocket ships constructed from boxes, snake traps, paper airplanes, mouse mazes, robots, and a two-pronged lice comb that my oldest son made for his kindergarten teacher out of wooden skewers and Scotch tape.  While I haven’t fully embraced the effect all of this creativity has on the appearance of our home, my husband and I encourage this type of play, because we believe that allowing our children this freedom nurtures in them a spirit of innovation.

While some parents would likely shudder at the freedom we allow our children, we believe that teaching them a mindset of innovation will help them develop important skills that will benefit them as thinkers, learners, and community members.  Furthermore, the ability to think innovatively will be crucial for them as they enter the workforce of a rapidly-changing world that faces complex challenges in the areas of technology, health care, the environment, and the global economy.

How do we nurture a spirit of innovation in children? Here are five principles you can start with:

Provide materials that foster creativity.

When my five-year-old wanted a Star Wars clone trooper mask, rather buy one for forty dollars, my husband cut up a plastic milk jug, drew on it with Sharpie, and attached a cord to the back.  Our son was just as happy with his milk jug mask as he would have been with a commercial one, and seeing his father create his idea, simply with materials around the house, unlocked a new realm of possibility for him.

Give children access to a variety of materials that can be used in many different ways, and model for them that their ideas can be made with these rough materials. Children can create from unexpected materials – paper, tape, sticks, toilet paper tubes, popsicle sticks, boxes, corks, egg cartons, leaves, rocks, and much more.  Rather than buy toys for your children that have a singular, set purpose, choose toys that encourage creativity in their open-endedness. Examples include: Legos (without the instructions), Citiblocks, Tinker Toys, Magnatiles, straws and connectors, and blocks.

This process can work in reverse as well. Children can be inspired to create a project from what they find compelling about various materials. My boys, after they had collected numerous toilet paper tubes, created several sets of night vision goggles and binoculars because the cylindrical nature of the tubes triggered their imaginations in that direction. Materials that foster creativity can give form to the ideas that children already have, as well as spark novel ideas in their imaginations.

Emphasize that there is no right way to create something.

When my oldest son was a toddler, in a never-ending quest to keep him occupied and out of mischief, I found a painting activity in a book that I thought he would enjoy. After spending twenty minutes setting up the activity, I presented the materials to him and said, “Look, you can use these paints on the sliding glass door and then wash them off with the hose!” He performed the intended task for about three minutes, and then proceeded to experiment with mixing paint colors for the next twenty. As a rule-following, structured person, I was tempted to tell him that he wasn’t using the paint the “right” way; I had, after all, invested twenty minutes of my time to create the experience that the book described. Instead, I refrained from saying anything and followed his lead, and his paint mixing experiment ended up being far more intriguing for both of us.

As adults, we often take a “teacher-learner” approach with children; we teach, they learn, and we tell them when they’re doing something right or wrong.  When it comes to innovation, use a “learner-learner” approach.  Resist the urge to instruct your child in the “right” way to do something; allow them to experiment on their own.  Children can often surprise us with the unique ways that they utilize materials to design what they imagine.  They may incorporate a material in an unexpected, novel way, or use a completely different process to create their ideas. Instead of saying, “You should do it this way,” or, “That’s not going to work,” use neutral language that encourages independent thinking, such as, “That’s interesting, I wonder what else we could do with that,” or, “I wonder how that’s going to work.” Give your child the opportunity to think for himself without the idea that there is a “right” or “wrong” when it comes to innovating, and both of you will likely learn from the process.

Provide scaffolding for children in their creative processes.

When my youngest son was two, he wasn’t able to rip off pieces of tape by himself, but he wanted to use tape for his projects. Instead of doing it for him, I started off by tearing off the tape pieces for him while allowing him to stick the tape on by himself wherever he wanted. When he was a little older, I held the tape dispenser for him, had him pull out the end of the tape to the length he wanted, and helped him tear off the pieces. When he was even older, I placed my hands over his and showed him how to hold the tape dispenser with one hand, pull the tape with the other, and tear it off by pulling it slightly downward against the blade.

This approach is often called “scaffolding.” Once children have an idea in mind of something they want to create, resist the urge to tell them how to do it, even if they ask.  Instead, give them just enough assistance to help them progress, while still fostering their independence. The concept stems from psychologist Lev Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development, which states that help from adults is most beneficial when it is provided in the Zone of Proximal Development, just above the level of what a child can achieve on his or her own. Scaffolding allows children to accomplish more than they could by themselves in a developing skill or ability, and enhances the learning process. Scaffolding techniques might include breaking a process down into simpler steps, providing hand over hand assistance, or giving feedback as the child works on a project. As children develop and learn, their Zone of Proximal Development changes constantly, so parents need to adjust the level and type of assistance they provide to optimize the child’s learning and increase independence.

Teach children to view setbacks as opportunities to learn rather than as failures, and encourage them to embrace an attitude of experimentation.

When my oldest son was five, we received a box of Magnatiles as a gift. My son immediately began building a tower with them. At a certain point, the structural integrity of the tower failed, and it collapsed with a resounding crash. My son dissolved into tears. My immediate inclination was to rush to his side, comfort him, and reassure him that we could build the tower again. To my surprise, my husband said, “Wow, that was interesting!  Did you see how that collapsed?”

My son stopped sobbing for a moment, intrigued.

“I noticed that this part seemed weak,” continued my husband.  “What do you think we could do to make it stronger?”

My son’s crying ceased completely as he began to contemplate the remnants of his tower and the pile of Magnatiles in front of him. “Well, maybe we need some supports instead of building it straight up,” he said.

“Let’s give it a try and see what happens. Do you have an idea for what kind of supports you want to try?”

They began rebuilding the tower, making modifications as they went, and quickly finished a sturdier structure.

“See, buddy, even though it can be frustrating when something doesn’t work, it actually helps us learn so that next time we can make it even better!” said my husband.

“Yeah,” said my son. “Now my tower is really strong!”

After experiencing more of these incidents, with my husband coaching him, our oldest began seeing falling towers and broken Lego ships as opportunities for improvement rather than as indicators that he was doing something wrong. He has developed such resilience from this mindset that his frustration tolerance has increased tremendously, and he has a much greater capacity to persevere on his projects.

When a project falls apart, gets knocked down, breaks, or is in some way unsatisfactory to a child, model a positive view of setbacks by encouraging children to think about what they can learn from it. Some children, particularly those with a low frustration tolerance or who are perfectionistic, will be upset when something goes wrong. Acknowledge their feelings and then ask questions such as, “That’s interesting, what happened there? What can we learn from that?  What can we try next?  How can we change what we’re doing to make it better?” When parents point out that children can make their projects even better when things don’t go as planned because they can learn something in the process, children will be more likely to accept setbacks as learning tools rather than view them as barriers that paralyze their progress.

In addition, encourage children to experiment with their ideas and make quick representations of them rather than focus on a finished product. Most children incorporate this attitude naturally in their play as they explore and try new things, but can be overly concerned about producing a perfect end product when attempting to create something. As parents, we can help establish a culture of experimentation by prompting them with questions and comments that emphasize learning and problem-solving. “That’s interesting, what do you think?  What can we try really quickly to test out this idea? What can we try next to help us learn? What if we sketch this out to see what might work?” are examples of questions that remove the pressure of making something perfect from the start and bias children towards action.  For example, if a child is frustrated that his drawing is not turning out the way he wants it to, we can ask, “Can we just do a quick one first before we do the real one? We might learn something from doing a sketch that might help us go forward.” This approach helps children test their thinking and identify and resolve problems early on, reducing the need for perfectionism and instilling confidence in their own creative abilities.

Praise the effort children put forth in the creative process, not their innate abilities.

My oldest son recently went to a birthday party. When I asked him what kind of cake was served at the party, he said, “We had red velvet cupcakes.  They were really good, Mama.  They were way better than yours.  You need to try your hardest next time you make them.”

Instead of feeling offended, I laughed, as it was obvious that the intentional ways my husband and I had been praising our children had rubbed off.  Rather than telling our children that they are smart or creative, we are constantly pointing out what they are able to do independently, how we see them giving form to their ideas, and what we see them learning in the process.  We have chosen to encourage them this way because research suggests that praising children’s innate abilities may do more harm than good, and that they benefit more from having their efforts praised, rather than their ability.  Psychologist Carol Dweck has discovered that praising children’s efforts yields motivation and resilience in learning, even in the face of challenges. Focusing on effort means that children perceive themselves as being in control of their successes, whereas emphasizing intelligence means that success or failure is not within their control.

Rather than tell your children that they are creative or artistic or smart when they are engaging in the creative process, praise them for working hard, experimenting with new strategies, and persevering through difficulties. Dweck calls this type of praise effort or “process” praise, and here are some examples:

“You worked really hard on your paper airplanes, and it shows. You tried a few different ways of folding it, made the changes you wanted, and now you have something that flies the way you want!”

“You were frustrated that your Lego ship kept breaking apart, but you didn’t give up.  You changed the parts that were fragile, and now your ship is stronger because you kept working on it. That’s great!”

“I like the way you used so many different materials to make your puppet. It looks like it took a lot of work, but you learned how to make different materials stick on the popsicle stick, and it makes it look so colorful.”

By praising children’s creative efforts rather than labeling them as “creative,” they are empowered and motivated to innovate without fear of failure, and view themselves as continuous learners.

These principles for nurturing creativity in children are highly intertwined and interchangeable.  When we provide materials for children to work with freely, without telling them the “right” way to use them, they are free to experiment and develop their own ideas.  When we provide scaffolding rather than impose a particular plan on the process, they learn from and become more accepting of their setbacks.  When they are able to view setbacks as learning opportunities, they become more willing to work with an attitude of experimentation, and confidence in their own creative abilities increases.  When we praise children for their efforts rather than their abilities, they are more resilient in the face of difficulties, and see themselves as constant learners.

Incorporating these concepts can foster a spirit of innovation in your children; they will experience freedom to work in a way that is true to who they are, because safety has been established for their creative processes.  This approach can also help them develop resilience, problem solving skills, confidence, flexible thinking, curiosity, intrinsic motivation, persistence, and the ability to question assumptions.  What’s more, children discover a joy in the process, a richness and vitality from risk-taking that instills in them a love for learning.

As a parent, what I appreciate the most about nurturing a spirit of innovation in my children is that it creates space for their unique voices to shine, and honors what is special about each of them, and I can’t wait to see what they’ll design next.

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Social and emotional needs are crucial to the well-being of gifted students. When these needs are not met, the result may be low self-esteem, anxiety or depression. It is possible for gifted students to build social & emotional core strength and flexibility– in short, to become Social-Emotional ACES. An ACE, of course, is a highly skilled expert.

Gifted students and adults who are Social-Emotional ACES have what I like to call the “5G’s”:

1. Gaining perspective, or the Big Picture about their social & emotional needs
2. Gaining understanding and acceptance of oneself and of others
3. Gaining skills to identify, express and balance emotions
4. Gaining skills to meet one’s own social-emotional needs effectively
5. Gaining skills to establish and maintain social relationships

Gaining perspective, can come from the Big Picture about gifted students’ social & emotional needs, especially for Visual-Spatial learners. Many gifted students have told me they feel like aliens from a different planet. They may secretly ask themselves “What’s wrong with me?”  This can lead to inferiority, alienation, and deep discouragement. The tragedy that follows is that many gifted students dumb themselves down, underachieve, cop out or drop out. Some tragically go down the spiraling path of deviancy or violence. Still others live, what appears to be a normal, even a privileged life, while hiding their feelings of alienation and deep discouragement.

Gaining understanding and acceptance of oneself and of others can be tough, especially for highly sensitive highly creative or highly intelligent people. These traits are not well understood or accepted. This is not new, but it can be changed. Let me introduce you to the gifted students’ mascot – the legendary Four-Legged-One-with-Antlers-and-a-Red-Nose. Because of his difference, our mascot-hero was ridiculed, excluded, and banished into exile. He returned from exile when his ‘defect’ was recognized and utilized as an asset. He has much to show gifted students about self-acceptance.

Gaining skills to identify, expressing emotions may also be challenging, especially for the gifted with multiple intensities and over-excitabilities. It can help to know that emotions are a lot like ocean waves. Both are natural phenomena produced by the movement of energy. We typically have learned to fight our emotions, but when we do that, we lose, just like when we fight an ocean wave. When we learn to read both ocean and emotion waves, we can stay safe. When we practice riding our emotional waves (instead of acting them out), we can enjoy them and eventually even have fun with them, just like we can with ocean waves.

When we learn to identify the size of our ‘emotional waves,’ and communicate this information to others around us, this process can go a long ways towards gaining perspective in the moment, balancing our own emotions, helping others around us to balance theirs, and meeting our own and others’ emotional needs as well. These are all important steps in the process of establishing and maintaining social relationships and becoming Social-Emotional ACES.

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Anyone who thinks the current generation of children are apathetic and uninvolved needs to hear about all of these award winners and take heart that our world will be trusted to caring and capable hands. ~ Joe Pausback

How does it feel, as a teacher, when your students surpass your expectations, and do something truly remarkable?

Mackintosh Littleton 5/6 teachers Joe Pausback and Nancy Muhich had this experience when their sixth graders in 2014 wrote and won a $96,000 grant from State Farm to install solar panels at the school. Because of that grant and the many other environmental and sustainability initiatives it sparked on campus, the students went on to receive the President’s Environmental Youth Award in August 2016, the nation’s highest environmental award for students.

Joe and Nancy share their reflections on this experience and what it has meant to them as teachers.

April – May 2014: The students and teachers decide to pursue the State Farm grant as part of their Exhibition Project, the culminating project of the IB Primary Years Program.

Joe: In my heart, I am something of an open-minded skeptic.  I never really think that anything is going to work, but am open to the option that it might.  This drives my own children crazy.  We’ll head out to go fishing and they’ll ask me if I think we are going to catch something.  Invariably I say no.  But we still go fishing and when we catch something it is a very wonderful surprise.

I did not really expect that we would get the grant.  People write grants all the time and rarely seem to get them. It was a student-led project, so Nancy and I (mostly Nancy) supported the students by keeping them on track, but not too much beyond that.  They self-edited their work on the grant and when I got a hold of it, I was all set to do some heavy-handed editing.  However, before I even got started I got several clear directives to leave it alone.  I managed to go through and put in some commas and take out a few commas but, really, that was it.   I remember thinking, wow, this is really in their language, and I didn’t feel too optimistic about our chances.  Still, we hit send and got it off to the cheers of all of the students.

Nancy: This grant opportunity was brought to us by Stacy Nimmo, a Mack parent.  She thought we had a good chance to get the grant, so we thought we would give it a try.  The idea for the solar panels came from the students, and they researched it extensively. The hardest part for me was trying to let it be completely student-led.  I kept wanting to jump in and “help.”  As it turned out, the students didn’t need it.  They were incredibly capable and resourceful.

The hardest part for the students was the fire hose of work we piled on them in a short period of time, because the deadline was within two or three weeks of when we proposed this project.  They jumped on board pretty readily.  They had no idea this could become a reality, and since we didn’t find out the results until the fall, it was crazy busy! And then we set off this balloon into the stratosphere and wondered what would happen.

September 2014: They receive the news that they have won the grant.

Joe: Getting the call in the fall that we had received the grant felt surreal. I think we were all completely surprised.  From there it turned into a whirlwind! Somehow this little project completely transcended the classroom and the small group of students who were working on it and it became so much larger.

Nancy: When I first found out, it was a week or two before the students, and a couple more weeks before the overall community. I was speechless. And that takes doing with me!  I was amazed that our kids could accomplish this for our community, and I thought about how this would be a resume builder for them throughout even their college careers.  Think of what is possible in their world – they got $100,000 grant for their school! When the students found out, it was a truly priceless moment. They were so stunned, so surprised, so happy. It’s a sweet moment of captured success.

April 2016, Earth Day: The news is announced that the students have been awarded the President’s Environmental Youth Award.

Joe: I think the coolest moment for me was when the Colorado Public Radio interview of the students ran on NPR.  I was with my class in Washington, D..C.  We had just had a meet and greet with Senator Bennett.  We walked out of the Capitol building and out onto the Mall — blue sky, cherry blossoms, cool breeze – and ate lunch on the Mall.  A number of the adults huddled around someone’s cell phone to listen to the story.  One of the parents had tears in his eyes at hearing his daughter’s voice coming out of the phone.  She had joined our class just after winter break, because her previous school was not meeting her needs.  She started at Mackintosh right into the Exhibition project and here we were, 15 months later, with her being interviewed on national radio.  I felt like a miracle worker who was dumbstruck by his own actions.

August 2016: Joe and the students travel to Washington, D.C. to receive the PEYA Award.

Joe: The PEYA Awards were another amazing experience.  It was special to reconnect with these students.  They had graduated from Mackintosh last spring and were all just days away from starting high school.  The four students who made the trip to Washington for the awards are all going to different high schools.  There was a sense of finality that came from knowing this would probably be the last time we would all be together in this context.  I think the students had some mixed emotions.  On the one hand, they were about to enter high school and were excited about moving forward, and this was the end of a series of events that started two years before.  On the other hand, they all recognized what an amazing and unique experience they had had in their elementary and middle school years.

The coolest part of the awards was hearing about all of the other award winners.  There was a girl who had started a rewilding wolf recovery website and was doing a lot of public speaking regarding the role that wolves play in maintaining a healthy environment.  There was a boy from LA who had coordinated a campaign to educate his school and neighborhood about the importance of reducing their use of water.  A group of fifth grade students from Leadville successfully got their school district to stop serving 500 lunches per day from single use Styrofoam containers.   A high school boy had created passive, pollution-absorbing nanostructures.   A group of first grade students from the inner city of Chicago had created a community garden. I came away so inspired.  Anyone who thinks the current generation of children are apathetic and uninvolved needs to hear about all of these award winners and take heart that our world will be trusted to caring and capable hands.

Read more on the Smart Village initiatives at Mack Littleton here.

For more details on the PEYA award, click here.

~ by Kristi Holmes Espineira, Director of Advancement, Mack Littleton

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