JOURNAL
2015
Illinois Association
for Gifted Children
A Not-For-Profit Organization
IAGC JOURNAL FOCUS:
CREATIVITY, CRITICAL THINKING, AND CURRICULUM
From the Editor’s Desk
Joan Franklin Smutny
2
I.Framework for the Classroom
Creative and Critical Thinking in Curriculum 3
Sally Y. Walker
The Importance of Challenge for Thinking and Learning 4
Tracy Ford Inman
Classifying Giftedness in the Age of the Common Core
7
Maurice D. Fisher
Addressing and Assessing 21st Century Skills for High-Ability Learners
12
Dina Brulles and Karen L. Brown
II. Application to Content Areas
Supporting Creative and Critical Thinkers:
Accessing the Arts and Higher Order Thinking Skills in Early Childhood and Elementary Classrooms 16
Stephen T. Schroth and Jason Helfer
Creating a Writing Community: Fostering
Multiculturalism in the Gifted High School Creative Writing Classroom
23
Elizabeth Brown
Spread Newspapers Around: Students Acting!
The Invaluable Role of Modern Theater Class in a STEM Environment
26
Leah A. Kind
Patricia Polacco and The Three C’s: Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Curriculum
29
Jerry D. Flack
Tolkien and Gifted Students: Blending Creative and Critical Thinking
41
Adam Kotlarczyk
More Than Just a Video Game: Tips for Using
Minecraft to Personalize the Curriculum and Promote
Creativity, Collaboration, and Problem Solving
44
Cathy Risberg
Let It Ring! Creative Music Making—Motivating and
Inspiring Musicians of all ages to Love What They Do and Do It Well
48
Sarah Hodges Sherban
Fostering Ownership of the Democratic Election
Process in the Primary Grades Through Creativity,
Analysis, and Self-Reflection
Carol Sandberg Howe
Connecting The Dots: c.c.c. “Bringing Rail to Higher
Education”
Christine Ohtani-Chang
My personal experience as a parent…
Michele Foote
50
53
56
III. Diverse Populations: Promising Practices
Creative Underachievers: Children Who Are Too “Out-of-the-Box”
60
Sylvia Rimm
Safe Haven: Parenting Creative Children Amidst
Abundant Conformity 63
Kathryn P. Haydon
Is STEM for all? Perspectives of Black and Latino
Students on STEM Motivation 67
Adrienne Coleman and Kayla Ingram
Episodes in Education, a Teacher Researcher’s Reflections on “Five Minds for the Future” 75
Dorothy Clare Massalski
Educational Impact on Spiritual Growth:
A Case Study 80
Kristy Kowalske
IV. Looking Ahead…
Changing Education-Thoughts about Creating and
Inventing Tomorrow’s School Harry T. Roman
83
Getting Students Ready for College and Career Through Creative Thinking 88
Diane Witt and Elizabeth Hahn
IB Programmes: Creativity, Critical Thinking,
Curriculum, and So Much More Susan Rhodes
93
V. POETRY
Dear Teacher,
Kathryn Haydon
Torrance Legacy Creativity Award 2014 Winners
96
96
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
Joan Franklin Smutny
In this time when standardized education and testing could
not be greater, gifted children often feel contained within the
narrowest restrictions. Creativity and higher level thinking come
naturally to these learners and would continue effortlessly if they
were not schooled out at a young age. What Toni Morrison has
called “our busied-up, education as horse-race, trophy-driven
culture” continues to set the tone and pace of our schools (1996,
p. 13). In this frenzied pace where teachers and students have
to focus more on crossing the finish line than anything else, the
lively art of teaching and learning often slips away. A mother
once commented to me, “it’s odd to watch my daughter create and
grow intellectually when she’s at home, but in school, she barely
has the freedom to stretch her wings. It’s not the teachers but our
system. When she tries to fly, she keeps hitting the wall.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “No bird flies too high if
he soars with his own wings.” The authors in this issue have
attempted to explore creativity and critical thinking in the
curriculum from the inside out—that is, from an understanding of
the child’s nature and needs. As such, they explore all aspects of
gifted students’ lives—their intellect, culture, creativity, learning
styles, social and emotional being, sensibilities, and moral and
spiritual development. The contributors know from experience
how vitally important the creative dimension is—how it combines
with knowledge and critical thinking to significantly expand the
learning process. When gifted children master a skill or learn
something new, they seek ways to apply it—through invention,
intuition, or the “sensing” abilities that guided their earliest
discoveries as little children.
There are five sections in this issue: Framework for the
Classroom; Application to Content Areas; Diverse Populations:
Promising Practices; Looking Ahead; and Poetry. With examples
of real classrooms, children, teachers, and parents, this issue
provides a rich journey through the larger landscape of advanced,
creative learning. As authors and practitioners, we have focused
attention on the fundamental question of how our gifted students—
all our gifted students in all their variety—can receive the benefits
of a more creative and challenging curriculum in ways that meet
their needs. This question has led us to a variety of topics—from
the larger meanings and implications of creativity and critical
thinking, to an in-depth focus on teaching strategies and programs,
to underserved populations, and the social-emotional world of the
gifted. What readers gain in this journey is an appreciation of not
only the complexity of meeting the needs of advanced learners in
today’s classrooms, but also the potential for variety and flexibility
in responding to these needs.
Creativity and critical thinking, when applied appropriately,
are a restoration to wholeness—an ability not just to do, but to
thrive. By sharing their experiences and research with gifted
children, the authors in this issue have presented what is perhaps
the most compelling reason for creativity and critical thinking in
the curriculum: that it is simply the most humane thing to do.
And being humane surely must rank among the most important
qualities of any educational system. Without the combination of
creativity, the arts, and critical thinking, gifted children live like
caged birds, imprisoned by attitudes, policies and practices that
won’t allow them to be themselves. The authors here understand
the perilous passage that awaits those who abandon the road to
the “far country.” The “far country” is of course where every
gifted child wants to go—the wide horizon beyond the small
window afforded them in school, imaginary worlds to explore,
or mysteries to unravel. As the authors reveal, creativity, artistry,
and critical thinking illumine the individuality of gifted children
and ultimately provide the inspiration, motivation, and resiliency
they need to follow their own path in life.
Reference
Morrison, T. (1996). The dancing mind. New York: Alfred A.
Knopf.
Founder and Director of the Center for Gifted and Midwest
Torrance Center for Creativity, Joan Franklin Smutny has
designed and implemented programs for thousands of gifted
children from all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. She
has authored, co-authored, and edited many books on gifted
education for teachers and parents, including Stand Up for Your
Gifted Child (2001), Igniting Creativity in Gifted Learners, K-6
(2009), Differentiating for the Young Child: Teaching Strategies
Across the Content Areas, PreK-3 (2nd edition, 2010), Teaching
Advanced Learners in the General Education Classroom (2011),
Discovering and Developing Talents in Spanish-Speaking
Students (2012), and Great Women Leaders and You (2014).
2
Creative and Critical Thinking in Curriculum
By Sally Y. Walker
Are we in the United States raising a nation of children who
will be world leaders and thinkers or a nation of children who will
be followers and/or good test-takers? Our country has focused on
academic performance with an emphasis on standard curriculum
and standardized tests. As a nation, we realized that the United
States was lagging behind other countries. Many of our children
from poverty and from minority backgrounds were exiting
schools without basic skills, unprepared for the work world. As
a result, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was enacted and
emphasized testing and rigid benchmarking of progress. This
punitive legislation took the fun, creativity, and liveliness out of
lessons. All of the focus was on the “test.” And now there are
rumblings that even teacher evaluations are to be tied to students’
test scores. The “test” has become the driving force of curriculum.
Teaching to the test has become the survival strategy for many
teachers. If it’s not on the test, it’s not taught.
It soon became clear that NCLB was not the magic cureall for education that it was supposed to be. U.S. students were
improving to a degree, but still lagged behind. The bottom did
come up—a goal for NCLB—and the gap between the top and
the bottom narrowed. However, this gap narrowed because the
top came down. The children left behind were students at the top,
those who excelled. It was believed that since they were at or
above grade level, they did not need help or attention; they could
make it on their own. Research reports confirmed that gifted
students are indeed those students being left behind. (See: Mind
the (other) Gap! The Growing Excellence Gap in K-12 Education;
The Achievement Trap; Talent on the Sidelines: Excellence Gaps
and the Persistence of America’s Permanent Talent Underclass;
High- Achieving Students in the Era of NCLB; Do High Flyers
Maintain Their Altitude? Performance Trends of the Top
Students). Strategies that would have taken the curriculum beyond
grade level or above the expected standard were abandoned in
some schools. Although it was never stated that teachers must
abandon critical and creative thinking, the tests took precedence.
When teachers are judged on how well their students do on the
“test,” it is evident that they will feel compelled to cover every bit
of content that might be on it.
When it was obvious that NCLB was not working, a new
reform movement began to take shape. There was a change to
Common Core Standards. This new movement looked at fewer
things, but in greater depth. Common Core does go into problem
solving and uses thinking skills. There still is debate over the place
of test scores with teacher evaluations in order to assure essential
academic material is learned.
Concern still needs to be raised when Common Core State
Standards contain no creative verbs and eliminate fiction from
the reading curriculum. Civilizations that have flourished have
not done so because of test scores. They have done so because
individuals took risks and created new and better ways and places
to live. They researched ideas and cured diseases, made living more
comfortable, and explored the unknown. These accomplishments
have been largely due to critical and creative thinking that was
promoted in those civilizations at that time in history.
Not all states have elected to jump on the Common Core
bandwagon. For example, the state of Kentucky has developed
“Characteristics of Highly Effective Teaching and Learning.”
They looked at research related to highly effective teaching and
learning and established five components: 1. learning climate; 2.
classroom assessment and reflection; 3. instructional rigor and
student engagement; 4. instructional relevance; and 5. knowledge
of content. In all of their work, they strove to make learning
meaningful, complex, and inquiry-based, requiring critical and
creative thinking with attention to problem solving. They also
stressed differentiated strategies to make instruction meaningful to
all students. In their entire document, testing was not mentioned
as a component.
3
Characteristics of Highly Effective Teaching and Learning
(CHETL) Published: 7/31/2013
Richard Paul has written widely about critical and creative
thinking and stresses that the mind needs to be trained in order
to be “mentally fit” as the body needs to be trained in order to
be physically fit. When the body is not fit, it does not function at
its best. When we are not in good physical shape, we tend to get
out of breath easily, experience lethargy, lose muscle function, and
lack energy. Likewise, the mind that is not trained to focus jumps
aimlessly from one topic to another, thinks randomly, and has no
goal. Excellence is never achieved when there is no end in mind
and thoughts are random without purpose. When the mind takes
on a task that is challenging, it must become engaged and active in
order to accomplish the goal.
A fit mind should be a goal of our schools’ curricula. Our
activities for students should be originated and designed to create
products of excellence. This definitely does not mean that assigned
work is effortless, without meaning, and just keeping students
busy. Tasks assigned should be well thought out and engaging,
allow no easy answers, involve struggle and require accuracy. The
“kill and drill” of the past is not what we need today to move our
schools and society forward.
Many students “drop out of school,” if not physically, then
mentally. Some of the students who drop out are gifted. They
feel that school is meaningless, see no point in what they are
learning, and are tired of playing the school “game.” The 21st
Century Skills presents a framework for students who are problem
solvers, solution finders, and good collaborators. It is not a “sit
and get” curriculum of the past. It is meant to prepare students
for the “real world” that they will face. The creative thinking in
problem solving allows students to navigate the world so that they
will have the flexibility and capabilities necessary to find solutions
when life throws them a curve ball. Our job as educators is to keep
students engaged and the key to engagement is indeed through
critical and creative thinking.
So what exactly is critical thinking? Critical thinking is the
ability to recognize and challenge assumptions, ask pertinent
questions, examine and explore alternative answers, recognize
the importance of context, compare and contrast options, perceive
different points of view, make decisions, clarify ideas, classify and
analyze, determine parts-whole relationships, sequence, analyze
arguments, and assess reasonableness and judge ideas. Critical
thinking is the ability to provide positive as well as negative
appraisals. Critical thinking skills are life survival skills. They are
skills that can determine success or failure.
And what is creative thinking? Creativity is the process we
use to develop unique ideas that are useful and worthy of further
study and development. Creativity is the spark that has us question
given one day, one way. That is efficient product, but not realistic
or effective for the different levels of content or multiple levels of
thinking. Products need to be appropriate to the learning style of
the student, aimed at the content, and reflecting the highest level of
thinking. This is typically not done on a standardized test.
Bandwagons litter the education highway with their claim
of improving learning for students. Rather than learning from
the past and keeping what has worked and discarding what has
not, policy makers throw all away and start fresh with each new
bandwagon. We, as educators and parents, need to know what
is essential information that is worthy of study, as well as the
processes needed for students to think. We want all students to
succeed, including the gifted.
We must never lose site that the reason we are involved in
education is for the students. They must be our focus and priority.
the assumptions underlying our habitual ways of acting and
thinking. It pushes us to think and act differently based on critical
questioning. Creativity takes thinkers outside the traditional box.
Creative individuals may reject standard formats for working and
problem solving and have an interest in a wide range of topics
and divergent fields of study. When confronted with a problem,
creative individuals may have multiple perspectives and use trialand-error methods of experimentation. They may have a future
orientation to a situation. People who possess creativity tend to
have self-confidence and rely on their own judgment rather than
the opinions of others. Creativity brings joy and wonder to life.
Neither critical nor creative thinking can exist without content.
Solid content needs to be the base of any curriculum. What do
students need to know and be able to do? Content must be worthy
of study as well as applicable and connected to the students’ lives.
Content must be broad enough that students can expand it through
complexity, depth, time (past to present to future), and relevant to
their lives. They want to know how they can use and manipulate
information to make things better. Differentiation can occur
with the depth, complexity, time, and relevance of the content,
considering the different levels of knowledge and expertise of the
students.
Once content is established, the thinking skills come into play.
What level of thinking do students need? Bloom’s taxonomy can
prove helpful here with differentiation. The revised Bloom’s
taxonomy has creativity as the highest form of thinking. This
does not mean that creativity is reserved for only gifted students.
All students need to be exposed to all levels of thinking, but with
varied levels of complexity for differentiation.
We assess students based on products. For many, it is a test,
Sources
Anderson, L.W. & Krathwohl, D.R. (Eds.). (2001). A taxonomy for
learning, teaching and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy
of education objectives. New York: Longman.
Paul, R.W. (2012). Critical thinking: What every person needs
to survive in a rapidly changing world. Foundation for Critical
Thinking.
Sally Walker is the Executive Director of the Illinois Association
for Gifted Children (IAGC). She is also author of the Survival
Guide for Parents of Gifted Kids, which won two national awards.
She has co-authored Teaching Young Gifted Children in the
Regular Classroom (currently in its revised edition), Acceleration
for Gifted Learners, and Making Memories, A Parent Portfolio.
The Importance of Challenge for Thinking and Learning
By Tracy Ford Inman
Contrary to what we usually believe … the best moments
in our lives … are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times—
although such experiences can also be enjoyable, if we have
worked hard to attain them. The best moments usually occur when
a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary
effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. Optimal
experience is thus something that we make happen. For a child, it
could be placing with trembling fingers the last block on a tower
she has built, higher than any she has built so far; for a swimmer,
it could be trying to beat his own record; for a violinist, mastering
an intricate musical passage. For each person there are thousands
of opportunities, challenges to expand ourselves.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi,
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
those with gifts and talents, may not have the opportunity to
expand themselves, especially if their typical learning experiences
lack challenge.
The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC)
argues that CCSS, although strong starting points in curriculum
development, simply aren’t challenging enough for students with
gifts and talents:
Although the new content standards are considered to
be more rigorous than most current state standards, they
fall short in meeting the specific needs of gifted learners,
and if held strictly to the standard, could actually limit
learning. To overcome this pitfall, it is imperative that
gifted educators create a full range of supports for
high-ability learners through differentiated curriculum,
instruction, and assessments. (Common Core, 2014, par.
3 & 4)
Ideally, regardless of whether a state or school has adopted
CCSS, all educators should offer a full range of academic services,
including differentiation, so that students can be appropriately
challenged. It is through challenge that students learn how to
think and how to learn. Optimally, each student works within his
zone of proximal development, a concept defined by Vygotsky
(1978) as the ideal level of instruction for a student, one that
stretches him beyond what he knows already but doesn’t frustrate
Csikszentmihalyi (2010) captures the essence of optimal
experience in his hallmark work on flow. Optimal experience does
not come through completion of easy tasks; rather, it is birthed
by genuine effort to accomplish something difficult, to meet a
challenge. He believes “challenges … expand ourselves” (p. 3).
But what happens to those students who do not face appropriate
academic challenges in school? With today’s educational world
focusing on Common Core State Standards (CCSS), federal and
state mandates, and standardized testing, many students, especially
4
him with an impossible goal. In short, instruction should provide
the “sweet spot” of challenge for each individual learner. If CCSS
are implemented as they stand, they may not be challenging at all
for the gifted learner.
Unfortunately, the myth that we do not have to worry about
the gifted child—he will get it on his own—has continued to
perpetuate. A survey completed by the Fordham Foundation
reported that the majority of teachers (60%) indicated that
academically struggling students are the top priority at their
schools; understandably, 80% also responded that they devote
the majority of their time to these struggling students (Loveless,
Farkas & Duffet, 2008). Almost universally, schools and the public
seem to agree that our focus should be academically challenged
children instead of academically challenging all children. They
mistakenly believe that no harm comes to the gifted students
when they are left to work on their own. Nothing can be farther
from the truth.
Take a few moments to mentally answer this question: If a
child earns good grades and receives high praise without putting
forth much effort, what are all the things he doesn’t learn that
most children learn by the end of primary grades? The answers
to this one question provide an irrefutable argument for providing
challenge to all children, including those with gifts and talents.
Perhaps the most damaging lesson high ability students miss
out on is that hard work equals success. IQ does not. Family or
friend connections do not. Regardless of how smart someone
is or the networking he’s established as an adult, unless he is
willing to work diligently, he will not be successful. Eventually,
the lack of work ethic will sabotage potential. Closely related to
this is the concept of mindset (i.e., fixed and growth) coined by
cognitive psychologist Carol Dweck (2006). People with fixed
mindsets believe they are born with a certain capacity for talent
and ability. For gifted or talented students, school can become
a place to demonstrate that talent and ability—they raise their
hands to most questions, turn work in first, and feel validated
with honors, certificates, and eating lunch with the principal for
making honor roll. However, once a real challenge is presented—
it could be something as simple as questions to which the children
don’t know the answers—those with fixed mindsets lack the skills
necessary to cope. After all, they believe that talent and ability
are set.
Ideally, students embrace a growth mindset, one that believes
talent and ability are malleable. Yes, we are all born with a certain
capacity for learning, but with effort and struggle, that capacity
can expand.. Intelligence, talent, and ability can increase with
effort. Validation, then, comes in the form of joy in learning new
things and the feeling of self-confidence in overcoming obstacles
– all intrinsic rather than extrinsic rewards. This mindset is critical
to developing potential: “Without effort, a student’s achievement
suffers, if not sooner then later. Thus, it is important for the student
to value and believe in effort as a vehicle for academic success”
(Dweck, 2012, p. 11).
Mindset mirrors another concept that children who make
easy grades without effort don’t learn: the importance of failure.
Failure to gifted children isn’t necessarily an F. It can be a B
or even a 97%. Failure is not living up to one’s expectations.
In the real world, this is not the case at all. Failure provides an
opportunity to learn: “Success is about being your best self, not
about being better than others; failure is an opportunity, not a
condem­nation; effort is the key to success” (Dweck, 2006, p. 44).
The opportunity lies in the debriefing of the failure: what caused
the failure, what could have been done differently, what role did
lack of effort play, etc. This debriefing encourages metacognition
and reflection, along with problem solving, critical thinking, and
goal setting. Failure, when approached in a healthy way, prompts
the development of resilience, persistence, and grit. As Hoerr
(2012) explained: “Every child needs to encounter frustration and
failure to learn to step back, reassess, and try again — and again.
It surely seems odd and perhaps heartless to create scenarios
in which students are not successful, but how can they learn to
overcome adversity if they haven’t experienced it?” (p. 84).
Overcoming academic adversity requires grit, a relatively
new term to be used in the education arena. Duckworth (2007)
defines grit as the “tendency to sustain interest in and effort
toward very long-term goal” (par.1). She has even developed a
Grit Scale wherein people self-assess their goal-setting and ability
to handle setbacks. Grit, developed and honed through meeting
challenge head-on, impacts success. Shaunessy-Dedrick & Suldo
(2014) recently conducted a study with 30 Advanced Placement
and International Baccalaureate high school students – programs
that are typically considered academically challenging. In the
perception part of the study, “students were adamant that their
personal engagement with their classwork, reflected in their grit
and persistence in their classes, was a major predictor of success.
They were correct; students’ levels of cognitive engagement were
a unique predictor of better mental health and GPA” (slide 47).
Grit and persistence prove critical to academic success, and these
attributes do not come readily to children who are not challenged.
What else does an unchallenged child fail to learn? He does
not learn how to think critically and creatively. Through challenge,
one learns the following:
• Raise vital questions and problems, formulating them
clearly and precisely
• Gather and assesses relevant information, using abstract
ideas to interpret it effectively
• Come to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing
them against relevant criteria and standards
• Think open mindedly within alternative systems of thought,
recognizing and assessing, as needs be, their assumptions,
implications, and practical consequences
• Communicate effectively with others in figuring out
solutions to complex problems. (Foundation for Critical
Thinking, 2013, par. 5)
A child who never breaks an academic sweat and never faces
challenge or endures struggle in the classroom does not raise
questions, interpret aspect ideas, form plausible solutions, think
open-mindedly, or collaborate with others to solve problems—all
foundational skills to thinking critically. The Partnership for 21st
Century Skills (2011) numbers critical thinking and creativity as
two of their four Learning and Innovation Skills (with the other
two being communication and collaboration)—skills developed,
in part, through appropriately challenging learning experiences.
The nation readily recognizes the importance of thinking in
today’s world; schools must provide the learning experiences that
encourage critical and creative thinking for all children.
What else does a child not learn? A child does not learn skills
necessary for success. For example, if he never has to set learning
goals and create a plan for meeting them, he will not develop
goal-setting skills which are critical to personal and professional
success. Ideally, he should be practicing goal-setting and goal
5
achievement regularly. Likewise, when he earns an A on a project
he threw together last minute, he will not learn time management
and organizational skills. To hone those skills so necessary in
life, he should incorporate realistic time allotments and deadlines
for completing each part of the plan to reach the goal. Time
management, goal-setting, and organizational skills are all
components of study skills. If a child can simply listen and absorb
material and then make A’s on the test – or even make A’s without
listening at all because he already knows the materials, he will not
develop study skills so important to a healthy education. Then, the
first time he is challenged, he has no answers to questions such
as these: “How do I break down a challenging assignment into
manageable parts?” “How can I take notes so that they help me
later on?” “How do I prepare to take a final exam?” Additionally,
when the student is not challenged to predict outcomes of possible
choices, rank importance of criteria, or systemically dissect an
issue into its base parts, he will not develop decision-making and
problem-solving skills. Solving problems early in life provides a
strong foundation for addressing problems and making decisions
later in life.
The list continues of what this child does not learn:
• The value of collaboration and teamwork;
• Empathy for others who do struggle with learning;
• Metacognition and the ability to reflect on learning;
• Responsibility;
• The importance of sacrifice and delayed gratification;
• The value of authentic learning that links to real world demands, expectations, products, etc.;
• Independence in learning; and, perhaps most importantly,
• The joy in learning.
This list isn’t complete; it’s just a sampling of the possible
answers. Notice the common denominator: these are the life skills
that young people need to be successful scholars, citizens, and,
most importantly, humans. Educators, administrators, parents,
and decision-makers must understand the potentially irreparable
damage that can be done to a child in his early years if there is
no challenge. Critical skills – cognitive and social – do not fully
develop. It is these skills that equip young people to be successful
in their adult lives. That’s an incredibly important reason to
promote challenge to all. Another unintentional consequence of
the lack of challenge is underachievement. It takes as little as six
weeks for underachievement to grab hold of a learner (Rimm,
2008). Educators and parents must understand what happens to
children and what doesn’t happen to children when appropriate
challenge is absent.
What, then, can be done to ensure challenge for all learners?
Much can be done in the school setting. Perhaps the most important
is professional development. All educators need training on the
nature, needs, and characteristics of gifted learners. Not only must
they debunk the myths surrounding these exceptional children,
but they must also embrace the importance of a growth mindset
(see Ricci’s Mindsets in the Classroom, 2013). Understanding best
practices in effective instruction, utilizing those practices, and
being held accountable for their implementation would help ensure
that educators are indeed providing appropriate challenge for all
children, including those with gifts and talents. Administrators
must support the creation of learning environments conducive
to addressing the needs of all learners. They must understand
the importance of differentiation, acceleration, and enrichment.
They must make professional development a priority and hold
educators accountable for addressing all students’ needs.
On the homefront, information is power. Parents must
learn as much as they can in order to be strong advocates. This
information ranges from their state’s laws, regulations, and
policies concerning gifted education, to understanding their own
child’s areas of strengths and interests. Parent advocacy groups
are a wonderful resource. Go to www.nagc.org for a complete
listing of state affiliates with the National Association for Gifted
Children.
Strong parent advocates realize the importance of partnering
with schools to help provide optimum learning experiences for
all children. They volunteer in the classroom and in the school;
they serve on committees, run for the school board, or are officers
in the parent-teacher organization. They champion extracurricular
activities such as Future Problem Solving or Odyssey of the Mind.
At home, they provide challenging opportunities for their children:
scouts, FIRST Lego League, community athletics, community
theatre, music lessons, etc. They understand the importance of
challenge and growth mindset, so they provide opportunities
for struggle, risk-taking, and failure. These parents even model
their own failures, complete with the ever-important debriefing
of the problem, internalizing what they learned, or emphasizing
the growth and learning that come from struggle and overcoming
obstacles. Put simply, they embrace challenge.
As Csikszentmihalyi (2010) emphasized, “For each person
there are thousands of opportunities, challenges to expand
ourselves” (p. 3). Parents, educators, and administrators must work
together to provide those opportunities in their schools, homes,
and communities. Ensuring challenging learning experiences
for all children, including those with gifts and talents, leads the
way for that personal expansion Csikszentmihalyi mentioned. By
providing academic challenge, educators provide the opportunity
for students to develop lifelong skills and values (such as decisionmaking skills and the importance of work ethic and effort). These
skills and values prove critical in students growing personally and
professionally, so vital in their achieving optimal experiences
References
Common Core State Standards, National Science Standards
and Gifted Education. (2014). National Association for Gifted
Children. Retrieved from http://www.nagc.org/resourcespublications/resources/timely-topics/common-core-statestandards-national-science
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of
optimal experience. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.
Duckworth, A. L. (2014). The Duckwork lab: Our work.
Retrieved from https://sites.sas.upenn.edu/duckworth
Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of
success. New York, NY: Random House.
Dweck, C. S. (2012). Mindsets and malleable minds:
Implications for giftedness and talent. In R. F. Subotnik, A.
Robinson, C. M. Callahan, & E. J. Gubbins (Eds.), Malleable
minds: Translating insights from psychology and neurosci­ence
to gifted education (pp. 7–18). Storrs: University of Connecticut,
The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented.
Foundation for Critical Thinking. (2013). Our concept
and definition of critical thinking. Retrieved from http://www.
criticalthinking.org/pages/our-concept-and-definition-ofcritical-thinking/411
Hoerr, T. R. (2012). Principal connection: Got grit?
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Educational Leadership 69(6): 84-85.
Loveless, T., Farkas, S., & Duffett, A. (2008). Highachieving students in the era of NCLB. Washington, DC: Thomas
B. Fordham Institute.
Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2011). Framework for
st
21 century learning. Washington, DC: Author.
Ricci, M. C. (2013). Mindsets in the classroom: Building a
culture of success and student achievement in schools. Waco, TX:
Prufrock Press.
Rimm, S. (2008). Why bright kids get poor grades and what
you can do about it. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press.
Shaunessy-Dedrick, E., & Suldo, S. (2014, November).
Teachers’, Parents’, and Students’ Perceptions of Successful AP
and IB Students. Presentation conducted at the Annual Conference
of the National Association for Gifted Children, Baltimore, MD.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of
higher psychological processes. Boston, MA: Harvard University
Press.
she has presented on the state, national, and international levels,
trained hundreds of teachers in differentiation and gifted education,
published multiple articles, and serves as writer/editor for The
Challenge, the award-winning newsmagazine for The Center for
Gifted Studies. Tracy co-authored three books through Prufrock
Press: Teacher’s Survival Guide: Differentiating Instruction in the
Elementary Classroom; Strategies for Differentiating Instruction:
Best Practices for the Classroom, now in its second edition;
and Assessing Differentiated Student Products: A Protocol for
Development and Evaluation. She and her co-author received the
Legacy Book Award from the Texas Association for the Gifted
and Talented for Strategies for Differentiating Instruction. Tracy
was co-editor of Parenting Gifted Children: The Authoritative
Guide from the National Association for Gifted Children, a
compilation of the best articles in Parenting for High Potential,
which won the Legacy Award in 2011. She is president-elect
of the Kentucky Association for Gifted Education (KAGE) and
webmaster for The Association for the Gifted, a division of the
Council for Exceptional Children (CEC-TAG).
Tracy is married to John Inman, and they have two sons, Jake
and Zach. She can be reached at 270.745.6323 ortracy.inman@
wku.edu. Tracy Ford Inman has taught on both the high school and
collegiate levels as well as in summer programs for gifted and
talented youth. Associate Director of The Center for Gifted Studies
at Western Kentucky University (WKU) in Bowling Green, KY,
Classifying Giftedness in the Age of the Common Core
By Maurice D. Fisher
While listening to great musicians such as the violinist,
Nathan Milstein, I wonder how and when they were classified
as being gifted. Certainly no ability tests such as the StanfordBinet or Wechsler would have predicted the enormous musical
performance abilities of these individuals. Or would these tests
have predicted the achievements of some of the great scientists,
such as Einstein, Feynman, Darwin or Hubble? Or in literature, the
geniuses of short story writing like Katherine Anne Porter, Eudora
Welty, and Flannery O’Connor? The specific type of giftedness
these individuals developed would not have been predicted by
standardized intelligence tests, including the Cognitive Abilities
Test widely used in many gifted programs.
Giftedness in the areas of humanities, literature, mathematics,
the sciences, technology, and leadership must be more clearly
defined and categorized. This more rigorous categorization would
enable teachers and parents to do the following: (a) accurately
identify the types of giftedness which children exhibit at younger
ages; and (b) provide more effective education programs directed
to each gifted child’s interests and abilities.
Because of the need to evaluate large numbers of students for
gifted and other specialized programs, standardized ability tests
have become the most convenient way for accomplishing this task.
Criteria for admission are usually set at the higher performance
levels on these tests (95th percentile or higher), and this information
is supplemented with grade level achievement results, practical
accomplishments, and teacher recommendations. However,
the pressures for making public education more rigorous and
diversified during the last 20 years are causing this standardized
test method of identification to become obsolete. Educators of the
gifted must produce a more refined approach that goes far beyond
using one or more standardized test scores.
Too many demands are being placed on the following
programs by over-reliance on standardized tests for student
selection: Advanced Common Core Curriculum, STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Math) Education, Highly Gifted
and Self-Contained Education, Advanced Placement Courses,
International Baccalaureate Programs, Magnet Schools, and
Innovative Charter Schools.
Multiple Intelligences
In 1983 Howard Gardner’s book, Frames of Mind: The Theory
of Multiple Intelligences, demonstrated how human abilities can be
systematically classified into seven types of intelligence, thereby
creating a break from traditional conceptions of intelligence
previously established by Alfred Binet and David Wechsler.
Gardner provided extensive empirical and theoretical evidence for
his Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory, and he gave further support
in subsequent books such as Creating Minds (1993) and Leading
Minds (1995).
The impact of MI theory upon American education has
been both controversial and positive. The primary controversy in
the public schools has been the result of historical resistance to
change, complicated by the intelligence test movement under the
influence of Lewis M. Terman in the early part of the 20th century.
This entrenched conception of intelligence has caused many
educators to say that the MI theory unnecessarily complicates the
educational process. Instead of concentrating upon two major
abilities -- the verbal and mathematical areas -- teachers must
focus on seven abilities in order to validly apply Gardner’s theory
in the classroom. Many educators also argue that using MI theory
7
causes a “dumbing down” of the school curriculum in the name of
multiculturalism. Gardner focused on answering these and other
criticisms in his book, The Disciplined Mind (1999).
One of the positive aspects of using the MI theory in the gifted
classroom is that it opens up the educational process to a wider
range of human abilities and accomplishments than previously
addressed by many schools. But most important, it addresses the
reality of human development and existence. There are indeed
more abilities than those usually concentrated upon in the public
schools through the traditional verbal and mathematical curriculum
models.
I am convinced that Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences theory is
the “road to take” in both general and gifted education (with certain
modifications) because it addresses the reality of human abilities
and achievement better than other current theories of intelligence
(Willard-Holt & Holt, 1998; Fisher, 2000). The greatness of
human accomplishments has been clearly expressed through
the Verbal, Logical Mathematical, Musical, Bodily-Kinesthetic,
Visual-Spatial, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Naturalist areas
of thinking and action. These areas of MI apply to domains of
literature, poetry, humor, writing, speaking, mathematics, logical
reasoning, scientific research and thinking, philosophy, music,
theatre, sports, dance, comedy, painting, sculpture, architecture,
psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, personality theory, meditation,
analysis of the human condition, existentialism, politics, business
and military leadership, the observation and classification of
nature, and environmental issues.
Among the gifted individuals who represent a particular type
of intelligence are (Fisher, 2000):
Verbal Linguistic: John Updike, William Styron, Clifton
Fadiman, James Michener, Ray Bradbury, Elie Wiesel, Barbara
Tuchman, Jorge Luis Borges, Albert Camus, C.S. Lewis, William
Faulkner, Virginia Woolf, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mark Twain, Charles
Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Austen, William Shakespeare,
W.H. Auden, Wallace Stevens, John Keats.
Logical Mathematical: Stephen Hawking, B.F. Skinner, Jean
Piaget, Bertrand Russell, Edith Hamilton, Albert Einstein, John
Dewey, Neils Bohr, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Sir Issac Newton.
Musical: Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Itzhak Perlman, Isaac
Stern, Aaron Copland, Vladimir Horowitz, Sir Thomas Beecham,
Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong.
Bodily Kinesthetic: Julie Andrews, Lauren Bacall, Marlon
Brando, Sir John Geilgud, Sir Laurence Olivier, John Wayne,
Spencer Tracy, Vivien Leigh, Woody Allen, Dick Gregory, Bob
Hope, Cal Ripken, Jr., Yogi Berra, Vince Lombardi, Satchel Paige.
Visual Spatial: Ben Carson, Richard Feynman, Georgia
O’Keeffe, Buckminster Fuller, Dorothy Parker, Winston Churchill,
Frank Lloyd Wright, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Vincent van
Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet.
Intrapersonal: Annie Dillard, Alan Watts, Norman Cousins,
Jean-Paul Sartre, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Thomas Merton,
Martin Buber, Carl Jung, Nikos Kazantzakis, Mohandas K.
Gandhi, Anne Frank, Sigmund Freud, Henry David Thoreau.
Interpersonal: Colin Powell, Gloria Steinem, Elizabeth Dole,
Henry Kissinger, Abigail Van Buren, Nelson Mandela, Mother
Teresa, Norman Vincent Peale, James Baldwin, Margaret Mead,
Golda Meir, Charles de Gaulle, Helen Keller, Martin Buber, Dag
Hammarskjold, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Winston
Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Sigmund Freud, Booker T.
Washington.
Naturalist: E.O. Wilson, Robert T. Bakker, Annie Dillard,
John McPhee, Jane Goodall, Ashley Montagu, Carl Sagan, Edward
Abbey, Konrad Lorenz, Lewis Thomas, Rachel Carson, John
Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Aldo Leopold, William Faulkner,
John Muir, Mark Twain, Jack London, Charles Darwin, Herman
Melville, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson.
It should be emphasized that many individuals have high
abilities in several areas. For example, John Steinbeck was a gifted
writer (Verbal intelligence) who was also a systematic observer
of nature as demonstrated in two of his books [The Log from the
Sea of Cortez (1941) and Travels with Charlie (1962)]. He was
obviously high in Interpersonal intelligence as shown in these
books and others that he wrote where his superb interviewing and
reporting skills provided the background for his excellent writing.
What are some of the benefits of engaging in a Multiple
Intelligences analysis of gifted individuals? Here are a few which
indicate the potential for awakening children’s curiosity about a
particular area of study and stimulating teachers and parents to
learn more about individuals:
1. Provides a guide for studying a wide range of gifted
individuals in each area of intelligence.
2. Identifies individuals who are worthy of more detailed study
through their quotations and related bibliographic references.
3. Allows students and teachers to set up studies of particular
types of intelligence based on the common threads of ideas and
personalities included under each intelligence.
4. Demonstrates how individuals such as, Albert Einstein,
Bertrand Russell, Winston Churchill, and John Steinbeck can be
gifted in many areas.
5. Enables students who are gifted in a particular ability to
identify role models for study and assessment.
6. Works effectively as a part of a Multiple Intelligences and
quotations based curriculum.
Types of Minds in Gifted and Talented Education beyond
Multiple Intelligences
The public schools today place a high emphasis on educating
students to be analytic thinkers who can break down problems into
their basic units, refine and reorder these units, and reconstruct
them into rigorous solutions to a problem. This type of thinking is
fundamental to Western and other aspiring technological societies
in all areas including mathematics, the sciences, and humanities. It
is also the basis for the engineering approach to solving problems
as emphasized in STEM education programs (Roman, 2011;
Roman & Myers, 2013). Unfortunately, teaching large numbers
of students to think in an analytical manner has not been very
successful, as demonstrated by low performance on subject matter
tests and the apparent lack of interest in developing rigorous
problem solving skills. Educators of the gifted can overcome
some of these obstacles to developing analytical thinking by first
knowing what types of characteristics gifted children demonstrate
at an early age (primary level) and designing a curriculum that
enhances analytic thinking.
I refer you to the latest book by Joan Smutny and S.E.
von Fremd: The Lives of Great Women Leaders & You (2014,
Royal Fireworks Press). This book shows the level and range of
giftedness among women thinkers and doers in mathematics and
science, space exploration, society and culture, government and
politics, the arts, and leadership. Here is my original discussion of
the book that appeared in the Fall 2014 issue of Gifted Education
8
Press Quarterly:
Good books require good readers. This is why I highly
recommend the inspiring and well-written gem of a book
by Joan Franklin Smutny and S.E. von Fremd: The Lives of
Great Women Leaders & You (2014, Royal Fireworks Press).
Teachers, parents, and both female and male students in gifted
classrooms should read this masterpiece on women who have
made important contributions to Math and Science, Society
and Culture, Government and Politics, and the Arts. The final
chapter addresses the issue of finding one’s way to become a
leader. One example of the women pioneers discussed in the
Math and Science chapter are Amelie Noether who developed
a mathematical theorem of symmetry in nature with the laws
of conservation of energy and matter. Her work was strongly
supported by Albert Einstein for its originality and importance
to physics, and remains as one of the foundations of modern
physics. The chapter also describes the role of women in the
NASA space exploration program from the original Mercury
13 (who were eventually excluded from the space program)
to Sally Ride’s and Kathryn Sullivan’s space shuttle voyages.
Sullivan was the first American woman to spacewalk.
To hold this book in your hands is to possess a goldmine of
inspiration for current and future generations of gifted girls
and women. In the Introduction the authors say: “If you are
a girl or young woman who wants to do what you’ve always
dreamed but who thinks you cannot, this book is for you. If
you think your ideas for education and career are unrealistic
and impossible to achieve because other people have told you
so, this book is also for you. If you live in a place where you
cannot find anyone or anything to show you how you can create
a new life, you will find in this book the footprints of women
leaders who faced even greater challenges. You will discover
what actions you can take to make your life your own and to
have a life that makes you happy.” (Introduction, p. 1).
In order to focus upon specific types of gifted minds, I present
the following cognitive and social-emotional categories for teachers
to search for and develop. These categories exist independently of
test data and the Common Core Curriculum, since most have been
a part of ability and achievement for thousands of years. It should
be emphasized that our conception of giftedness in Western society
has its origins from over 2,500 years in Greek intellectual culture.
at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away (2014). One
of the terms she uses throughout the book is “The Ethos of the
Extraordinary” which has specific applications for identifying and
teaching gifted individuals who are outstanding thinkers.
Here are a few of the specific types of analytical thinking that
gifted students might show potential for accomplishing:
1. Empirical Reasoning. This is the type of problem solving
that Jean Piaget studied in young children through their working on
Pre-Operational and Concrete Operations problems. Teachers need
to study Jean Piaget’s work (Flavell, 1963; Phillips, 1969) in great
detail to learn about identifying children who are very advanced in
solving problems through analytical thinking.
2. Logical-Deductive Problem Solving. This is a function of
training the mind to use formal steps in solving specific problems.
The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, founded an entire system of
logical proofs (syllogisms) used by academics and scientific
thinkers from medieval to modern times. Philosophy departments
still offer courses that cover Aristotle’s formal system of logic.
But Piaget again demonstrated in the 20th century that logical
thinking was a natural part of the adolescent’s developing mind by
conducting research on what he called the Formal Operations stage
of development. Gifted students who have the ability to reason by
using logical sequences of thought are in great demand in all STEM
areas.
From studying Piaget’s theory and research (Fisher &
Fisher, 1981), parents and teachers will learn that children spend
considerable amounts of time refining the ability to think, but
they must have extensive problem-solving experiences to expand
this ability to its potential. Piaget should have received a Nobel
Prize because he meticulously described and analyzed the thinking
processes of infants, preschoolers, older children, and adolescents.
But he is difficult to understand because he used a unique vocabulary
and some highly abstract concepts.
How can Piaget’s research findings and concepts be applied to
raising and educating today’s gifted children?
Both the home and school environments should be designed
to stimulate gifted children to develop at their own unique rates. In
addition, these environments should constantly challenge children
to advance to progressively higher levels of thinking and behavior.
Some of the recommendations for achieving these educational
goals are as follows:
-- Respect preschool children’s unusual ways of explaining
events, since these explanations usually indicate normal mental
development. Offer alternative explanations but don’t force them
on the children.
-- Be sensitive to the importance and seriousness of infant
and children’s play activities. For example, the infant engages
in important mental activities when repeating simple behavior
patterns, such as dropping a spoon on the floor over and over again.
In this case, he learning about important concepts involving the
relationship between cause and effect, and that different means
(varying the manner in which he drops the spoon) can lead to the
same end or goal (spoon hitting the floor). Preschool and elementary
school children’s play activities are serious business in relation to
their overall mental development and cause them to engage in new
problem-solving activities that increase their understanding of the
physical and social environment.
-- Provide children with the most open and stimulating
environment possible by using good books, toys, and games.
-- Encourage frequent conversations and verbal interactions
Gifted and Talented Areas of Reasoning and Performance
Analytical Thinking
“What is the hardest task in the world? To think.” Ralph
Waldo Emerson, 1803-82 (essayist, philosopher, leader of the New
England Transcendentalist movement). From ‘Intellect’ in Essays:
First Series (1844).
“Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and
terrible; thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions,
and comfortable habit.” Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970 (British
philosopher).
As discussed above, this is the fundamental type of thinking
emphasized by Greek philosophers over 2,000 years ago (Herman,
2013; Lavine, 1984). All major intellectual accomplishments
in the Humanities, Mathematics, Sciences, and Technology are
based upon analytical thinking. Professor Rebecca Goldstein of
Harvard University has written a very fine book that discusses
how Plato and Socrates have influenced all aspects of Western
civilization and thinking processes over the last 2,500 years: Plato
9
interact.” Gerald Holton. From Dyonesians, Apollonians, and the
Scientific Imagination, 1978.
between children and yourself.
“The question which we shall attempt to answer in this book
may be stated as follows: What are the needs which a child tends
to satisfy when he talks? This problem is, strictly speaking, neither
linguistic nor logical; it belongs to functional psychology, but it
should serve nevertheless as a fitting prelude to any study of child
logic.” Jean Piaget, 1896-1980 (developmental psychologist,
philosopher). The Language and Thought of the Child (1923).
3. Mathematical Thinking. This is the most advanced type
of thinking which involves manipulating abstract symbols to
solve problems. The Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins
University was originally started by Professor Julian Stanley in
1979 for mathematically advanced students. It should be noted
that the most recent winner (August 2014) of the prestigious
Fields Medal in mathematics was a woman, Maryam Mirzakhani,
a Stanford University professor of mathematics. She is the first
woman to win this award, which is equivalent to a Nobel Prize in
mathematics. Professor Mirzakhani said the following: “This is a
great honor. I will be happy if it encourages young female scientists
and mathematicians . . . I am sure there will be many more women
winning this kind of award in coming years.” (Stanford University
news release, August 12, 2014). The award was given for her work
on understanding the symmetry of curved surfaces.
“That women can do mathematics is evident from the
individuals mentioned above [e.g., Sophie Germain, 1776-1831
and Sonya Kovalevskaia, 1850-91]. We could augment this with
an extensive list of women who have been active in more recent
times, from Grace Chisholm Young who played a key role in
refining the advanced theory of integration during the early years
of the twentieth century; to Julia Robinson, solver of Hilbert’s
tenth problem; to Emmy Noether, one of the twentieth century’s
most accomplished algebraists. Attitudes that women cannot do
mathematics are groundless.” From The Mathematical Universe
(1994) by William Dunham.
“Tales of Ramanujan’s youth reveal a boy content to camp
out on the pial of his house and work at mathematics, outwardly
oblivious to the raucous play of his friends out on the street. Often
wrapped up in mathematics, he was oblivious . . .” Description of
the Indian mathematician, Ramanujan (1887-1920), when he was
a precocious public school student in India. From The Man Who
Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan (1991) by Robert
Kanigel.
”The real problem is not whether machines think but whether
men do.” B.F. Skinner, 1904-90 (experimental psychologist). From
Contingencies of Reinforcement (1969).
4. Inductive Scientific Analysis. The ability to conduct valid
scientific studies based upon making systematic observations and
inferences is a highly sought after aptitude in all technological and
industrial societies. A student who is gifted in this area of Analysis
could become a successful scientist in many cutting edge fields
related to physics, astronomy, cosmology, biology, genetics, and
medicine.
“What is meant by genius in science? What are its
characteristics? Can one understand it, or is that a contradiction in
terms? I am not speaking merely of ‘creative’ people, nor of men of
‘high attainment.’ I am aware of the large amount of literature on
creativity, and of some fine studies of men of genius in the arts or in
political affairs. But I do not find them very helpful for understanding
the life or the work of a Fermi or an Einstein, and even less for
discerning how his personality and his scientific achievements
Invention-Innovation: Practical Problem Solving in
Technological, Business, Military, and Medical Fields
Individuals with this type of giftedness have a broad
understanding of the Analytical Thinking areas discussed above,
and know how to use deductive reasoning, mathematics, and
induction to solve difficult problems. Harry Roman (2009, 2014)
has discussed how to educate gifted students to become innovative
problem solvers and inventors by using information from his
experiences as an engineer and the study of great inventors, such
as Thomas Edison.
“I think that only daring speculation can lead us further and
not accumulation of facts.” Albert Einstein, 1879-1955 (theoretical
physicist). From letter to M. Besso, 1952.
“If we would guide by the light of reason we must let our
minds be bold. “ Louis Brandeis, 1856-1941 (U.S. Supreme Court
Justice).
Creative Thinking in Education, the Humanities,
and the Arts
This is the area originally studied by E. Paul Torrance (1970).
His work was very influential from the 1960s through the 1980s,
and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking are still used today to
measure creative thinking. Torrance was also the founder of the
Future Problem Solving Program International. Some of the areas
of creative giftedness that need to be served in the public schools are
these: Verbal-Speaking and Story Telling Ability, Fiction Writing,
Visual Arts, Musical Composition and Performance, and Dance.
R.E. Myers, a former student of Torrance, has recently published
a book that encourages creative thinking in the gifted classroom:
Giving a Lift to the Gifted: Ideas and Essays for Helping Teachers
Inspire Higher Thinking in the Creative Classroom (2014). In
addition, Judy Micheletti has written three books on applied
creativity for elementary and middle school gifted students. Her
latest one is entitled, SNIBBLES3 (2014).
“A writer is someone born with a gift. An athlete can run. A
painter can paint. A writer has a facility with words. A good writer
can also think. Isn’t that enough to define a writer by?” Cynthia
Ozick, 1928- (author).
“Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history
is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation
at a standstill. Without books, the development of civilization
would be impossible. They are engines of change, windows on
the world, ‘lighthouses’ (as a poet said) ‘erected in the sea of
time.’ They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the
treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print.” Barbara
Tuchman, 1912-89 (American historian). From Authors League
Bulletin (Nov.-Dec. 1979).
“Life itself is a quotation.” Jorge Luis Borges, 1899-1986
(short story writer, essayist and poet).
Human Interaction Skills
This type of giftedness is very important for society because
it involves the development of Leadership, Team Work, Ethical
Behavior, Interpersonal Skills, and Self-Analysis. Unfortunately,
schools offer few programs in these areas for gifted students
who show potential for being outstanding leaders and who are
concerned with applying ethics to business, science, technology,
10
Lavine, T.Z. (1984). From Socrates to Sartre: The phi
losophic quest. New York: Bantam Books.
Micheletti, J. (2014). SNIBBLES³: Serving up a STEAMing
hot cup of creative problem solving challenges. Manassas, VA:
Gifted Education Press.
Myers, R.E. (2014). Giving a lift to the gifted: Ideas and
essays for helping teachers inspire higher thinking in the
creative classroom. Manassas, VA: Gifted Education Press.
Phillips, J. (1969). The origins of intellect: Piaget’s theory.
San Francisco: Freeman.
Roman, H. (2009). Energizing your gifted students’ creative
thinking & imagination: Using design principles, team activities,
and invention strategies —A complete lesson guide for upper
elementary and middle school levels. Manassas, VA: Gifted
Education Press.
Roman, H. (2011). STEM—science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics education for gifted students:
Designing a powerful approach to real-world problem solving
for gifted students in middle and high school grades. Manassas,
VA: Gifted Education Press.
Roman, H. (2014). Invention, innovation and creative
thinking in the gifted classroom: Activities & design challenges
for students in middle & high school. Manassas, VA: Gifted
Education Press.
Roman, H. & Myers, R.E. (2013). STEM to STEAM
education for gifted students: Using specific communication arts
lessons with Nanotechnology, Solar, Biomass, Robotics, & other
STEM Topics. Manassas, VA: Gifted Education Press.
Smutny, J.F. & von Fremd, S.E. (2014). The lives of great
women leaders & you. Unionville, NY: Royal Fireworks Press.
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales (SB5), Fifth Edition
(2003). Rolling Meadows, IL: Riverside Publishing.
Torrance, E.P. & Myers, R.E. (1970). Creative learning and
teaching. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co.
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition
(2003). New York: Pearson Education.
Willard-Holt, C. & Holt, D. (1998). Applying multiple
intelligences to gifted education: I’m not just an IQ score!
Manassas, VA: Gifted Education Press.
and so forth.
“What you always do before you make a decision is consult.
The best policy is made when you are listening to people who are
going to be impacted. Then, once policy is determined, you call
on them to help you sell it.” Elizabeth Dole, 1936- (presidential
candidate, former director of the American Red Cross).
“I’m really glad that young people missed the Depression and
missed the big war. But I do regret that they missed the leaders
that I knew . . . They brought us together and they gave us a sense
of national purpose.” Ann W. Richards, 1933-2006 (Governor of
Texas, 1991-95).
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”
Margaret Thatcher, 1925-2013 (Prime Minister of Great Britain,
1979-90).
Conclusion
These broad categories of giftedness represent an attempt to
focus upon areas that are parallel to the development of different
types of gifted minds. The standardized test approach is too narrow
for identifying the variety of gifted students who attend our public
schools. The Multiple Intelligences approach is a good start in the
right direction, but it does not go far enough in identifying areas of
giftedness that need to be properly served by the Common Core,
STEM education, and other innovative education approaches. As
I indicated at the beginning of this article, the types of giftedness
encountered in society and the schools need a more practical and
detailed system of classification and education. Such a revised
system will lead to more widespread acceptance of gifted education
programs, and more effective identification of gifted students.
References
Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAt), Form 6 (2001). Rolling
Meadows, IL: Riverside Publishing.
Fisher, M.D. (2000). Multiple intelligences in the world:
Quotations and bibliographies for the study, understanding and
application of verbal, logical mathematical, musical, bodily
kinesthetic, visual spatial, intrapersonal, interpersonal and
naturalist intelligence. Manassas, VA: Gifted Education Press.
Fisher, M.D. & Fisher, E. M. (1981). How do children
think? Some answers from Jean Piaget. In The Early Education
Connection: An Instructional Resource for Teachers and Parents
of Preschool and Kindergarten Children (pp. 38-50). Manassas,
VA: Gifted Education Press.
Fisher, M.D. & Fisher, E.M. (Eds.) (2009). Heroes of
giftedness: An inspirational guide for gifted students and their
teachers – Presenting the personal heroes of twelve experts on
gifted education. Manassas, VA: Gifted Education Press.
Flavell, J. H. (1963). The developmental psychology of Jean
Piaget. New York: Van Nostrand.
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple
intelligences. New York: Basic Books.
Gifted Education Press Quarterly. Fall 2014 Issue, Vol. 28,
No. 4. Manassas, VA: Gifted Education Press.
Goldstein, R. (2014). Plato at the Googleplex: Why
philosophy won’t go away. New York: Pantheon Books.
Herman, A. (2013). The cave and the light: Plato Versus
Aristotle, and the struggle for the soul of western civilization.
New York: Random House.
Maurice D. Fisher is the publisher of Gifted Education Press and
Gifted Education Press Quarterly. He obtained his doctorate from
the University of Virginia in educational psychology and gifted
education. His email address is [email protected].
11
Addressing and Assessing 21st Century Skills
for High-Ability Learners
By Dina Brulles and Karen L. Brown
Matthew is a talented mathematician. His computational
skills are excellent and his content knowledge is extensive but he
lacks the skills that allow him to gain a deep, more conceptual
understanding of math. Matthew relies on algorithms learned to
solve the problems he encounters. He has limited experience in
problem-solving for creative solutions. He does not work well as
a member of a team and struggles when collaborative effort is
required. Matthew lacks a 21st century skill set.
Angela is a go-getter. She loves the dynamics of team interaction
and is the most confident when engaged in collaborative problem
solving. She is considered an out of the box thinker, one who sees
possibilities and can develop strategies to achieve them. Angela
is not considered a scholar; her knowledge base is strong but not
nearly as extensive as Matthew’s. However, Angela possesses the
skill set of the 21st Century learner. She holds a golden ticket, the
soft skill set, that makes her invaluable in her current and future
classrooms.
Figure 1
Each category noted here is further articulated by several
specific objectives. Each objective includes:
1. A teacher-developed description of the objective written
in student-friendly language
2. Key terminology used for developing the skill
3. A brief video clip showing students demonstrating the
objective in the classroom setting
(See Figure 2.)
Introduction
The phrase, “21st Century skills,” has become the hot
educational buzzword in recent years. Teachers and administrators
recognize the importance of developing these skills that help build
depth and complexity into the general curriculum. Indeed, the
same skills have been foundational to gifted education instruction
for decades.
What has been the mainstay for instructing gifted and talented
students in the past is presently considered “best practice” for all
students. This bodes well for our gifted students! As teachers learn
to help general education students develop these skills, the gifted
students in their midst benefit because the methods become part
of the general instruction in all classrooms. This article describes
how one district’s gifted education department developed an
online student self-reflection tool and system for measuring what
matters: the process of learning from a student’s perspective.
This self-reflective thinking and learning process carries across all
domains, content areas, grade levels and higher levels of thinking.
Figure 2
Making the Intangible “Tangible”
21st Century skills are the means through which students
gather, develop, and utilize information in all subject areas at all
grades. Teachers may wonder, “How do I teach students to think
creatively or function collaboratively in a group?” For many
educators the skills feel intangible, and therefore, their ability to
specifically address and promote these skills remains vague as well.
For students to self-reflect with accuracy the objectives must
be clearly defined and articulated. The categories in this tool
include the following:
• Critical thinking
• Problem solving
• Collaboration
• Self-direction
• Creativity
(See Figure 1.)
Background & Purpose Behind the Tool
Embedding 21st Century skills and learning outcomes into
daily instructional strategies has long been a priority in gifted
education. The question remains, “How do we know students are
developing these skills?” How do schools measure collaboration,
self-direction, creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving?
And how do these skills impact learning? Students’ ability to selfreflect becomes critical in the process of effectively developing
these skills. Students must understand what the skills mean and
look like and be aware of how to use them in the learning process.
The process of self-reflection must be modeled and shared on
multiple occasions and in different contexts for students to fully
develop an understanding of the skills. Continual self-reflection
allows students and teachers to identify areas in which the student
are developing and those areas that remain a struggle. As these
12
skills are often connected to students’ proficiency in a subject area,
it is possible that students would perceive themselves as strong
problem solvers in one area and not in another. For example, Kayla
is an excellent history student but struggles in science. When
thinking about her ability to think critically, she feels confident
in this ability in history but not in science. This confidence is
reflected in her self-assessment. Identifying discrepancies of
this nature are invaluable to teachers for providing instruction,
scaffolding learning activities, and developing supportive
curriculum to further enhance student achievement.
areas. For example, a teacher might be interested in looking at
her data by gender to see if there is a discrepancy in the manner
in which boys vs. girls perceive their abilities to collaborate or
problem solve.
Figure 4
How it Works
Administered quarterly, the self-reflection tool yields
valuable data that can inform instructional practices. Each
category provides students an opportunity to share evidence that
supports their responses. In the implementation stage, teachers
instruct students in the indicators and terminology needed to
fully understand the objectives being assessed. With this focus,
students learn to self-reflect and self-assess, and teachers learn to
embed 21st Century skills into all areas of instruction and prepare
students for specific performance-based assessments.
When using the tool students self-assess in each of the
five areas. Each component is broken down into five to eight
measurable objectives. Given that the assessment is completed
on a quarterly basis, students and teachers have access to data
showing students’ perceptions of learning as it relates to the 21st
Century skill set on multiple opportunities. The tool includes a
rubric with descriptors, related terminology, and video prompts
that enable students to gain a clear understanding of the various
components of the 21st Century skill set. This offers both teachers
and students a discussion focus when addressing the topics. A brief
video clip of students engaging in the performance of the objective
is also available to support student understandings.
Students measure their confidence levels in using these skills
on a Likert scale with indicators from “Never” to “Always.”
Students are encouraged to provide evidence in support of their
self-assessment for each of the objectives. (See Figure 3.)
Figure 3
Most educators today agree that data driven instruction is
considered best practice and helps to ensure that, as educators,
we are addressing the specific needs of our students, not merely
teaching a curriculum.
Evaluating “How” Students Learn
Why is it so important to focus on the process of learning in
addition to the content? Content knowledge is acquired through
the strategies and processes students use. When strong learning
processes are in place, students can literally acquire any content
within their challenge levels.
Supporting students in identifying and understanding how
they learn and then developing structures through which they can
evaluate these learning processes provides students the opportunity,
understanding, skills, and ability to advance their knowledge
base. The self-reflection process provides data upon which future
learning can be built. The goal is to provide students and teachers
with information that can be used to drive the instructional process
in all content areas.
Following each self-assessment opportunity the data generated
is shared with teachers through a variety of analytics, which allows
teachers to view the data from multiple perspectives. (See Figure
4.) Data can be viewed from an individual student perspective,
from a class perspective, as a grade level, and as an overall school.
Data is also shared by objective and component area to allow staff
members to analyze skill development within specific component
13
On their own, students are rarely able to improve upon what
they do not perceive as an area of weakness, but their teachers
can assist in this process by helping them recognize where they
need to develop. Matthew, the mathematician, will have difficulty
acquiring collaborative skills and creative problem solving if he
remains unaware of this need. Through the self-reflective process
he is able to identify the 21st Century skills in which he excels, as
well as those that present challenges. With his teacher’s help, he
can develop the skill set through strategically designed activities
and assignments that build and foster these skills. Though Angela
possesses a strong collaborative skill set, she could greatly
enhance her learning by developing her ability to think critically,
which would in turn enhance her creative problem solving skills.
Supporting Angela in defining the aspects of critical thinking will
help her enhance her overall skill set. Teachers can more readily
address these areas when they can examine evidence of their
students’ perceived abilities.
Figure 5
Embedding a Self-Reflective Learning Process
Teachers can help students attain these 21st Century skills
by developing their self-reflective processes through regular
instruction. The varying levels of complexity within the lesson
extensions in which many gifted students often work can help
develop the self-regulation skills needed for self-reflection.
Knowing this, teachers can build in learning activities that require
reliance on these higher-order thinking skills. For example,
teachers can incorporate learning activities that require students
to synthesize and analyze supporting and contrasting information
and data, correlate new information with background knowledge,
seek and analyze trends, and so forth.
Attention to these skills affects the process of learning rather
than the specific content being learned. They are skills that, when
well developed, enhance and elevate the level of understanding
in whatever content area is being studied. Encouraging a selfreflective process with our students not only enhances learning but
also helps prepare students for lifelong learning.
As teachers, we want to accustom students to using and
reflecting on these 21st Century skills to strengthen and support
desired learning behaviors. When teachers develop a strong
understanding of these skills, they naturally embed them into
instruction. In so doing, teachers typically begin emphasizing
specific terminology related to the skills, which helps students
derive a more thorough understanding of the content they are
learning.
Posters highlighting skills, objectives, and related
terminology provide a visual that teachers can refer to in the
classroom to reinforce their students’ understanding and skill
development (See Figure 5).
The skills described in this section assist students in learning
how to manage their time and attention, set and complete goals,
and monitor the efficacy of their efforts. These skills become
critical for students working on challenging lessons, whether they
are working independently, with a partner, or in a group. The lists
shown here provide specific objectives for teachers to emphasize
for this purpose.
goals, identifying human and material resources for learning,
choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies,
and evaluating learning outcomes” (Knowles, 1975, p. 18). Of
primary concern in this definition of self-directed learning is
that the learner takes the initiative to pursue a specific learning
experience and the responsibility for completing the learning goal.
These skills can be explicitly taught.
Teachers can emphasize the following objectives when
teaching students to develop their abilities for self-direction:
• Set challenging, achievable goals and identify and access
the resources necessary to achieve the goals.
• Manage time and resources in an efficient manner to
achieve goals.
• Review progress and learning experiences to resolve
problems that may be interfering with achieving goals.
• Ask others for feedback and seriously consider their ideas
when revising work.
• Be determined to find answers or solutions to problems
and monitor their commitment to their goals using a
variety of techniques to stay on task.
• Identify and describe the criteria and performance
standards for quality work.
• Identify strengths and weaknesses of student work in clear
terms and identify areas for improvement.
• Reflect to set new goals and effectively incorporate
information learned from successes and struggles.
These objectives allow students to create and keep to a
schedule, monitor progress, and produce quality work. They also
help students build independence and strengthen the ability to
persevere when working on challenging projects.
Problem solving
A major goal in education is to help students learn in ways that
enable them to use what they have learned to solve problems in
new situations. Problem solving has been described as “cognitive
processing directed at achieving a goal when no solution method
is obvious to the problem solver” (Mayer & Wittrock). Problem
solving is a process that involves reasoning, decision-making, and
thinking critically.
Teachers can emphasize the following objectives when
Self-direction
Malcolm Knowles defines self-directed learning as such, “In
its broadest meaning, self-directed learning describes a process by
which individuals take the initiative, with our without the assistance
of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning
14
• Participate in the group discussion and assess how well
they are working together.
teaching students to build their abilities to problem-solve:
• Carefully analyze all the characteristics of a problem
Critical thinking
Thinking is not driven by answers but by questions. Extending
learning requires students to think critically as opposed to simply
answering a question. Richard Paul, Director of Research and
Professional Development at the Center for Critical Thinking,
defines critical thinking as, “ . . . thinking that analyzes thought,
that assesses thought, and that transforms thought for the better
. . . It’s thinking about thinking while thinking in order to think
better.” This process improves the ability to solve problems.
Teachers can emphasize the following objectives when
instructing students on how to build their abilities for critical
thinking:
• Identify the most important parts of the information being
studied.
• Use multiple strategies for evaluating the reliability of
different kinds of sources.
• Use subject area knowledge and personal experiences to
make connections and draw inferences between content
areas.
• Clearly explain an opinion on a topic in speaking and in
writing and give good reasons for it.
before beginning to solve it.
• Identify important information needed to solve complex
problems.
• Anticipate different kinds of problems in complicated
projects and think of ways to solve the problems before
they happen.
• Use the strategies and tools learned along with subjectarea knowledge to solve problems.
• Reflect on problem-solving processes, evaluate the
learning process and make changes when necessary.
The ability to problem solve is critical for students working
independently on learning activities that are abstract and openended. Open-ended lesson extension activities, particularly those
in the higher Depth of Knowledge (DOK) levels, necessitate
that students monitor their process and make adjustments when
needed. Redirecting their efforts helps them refine the quality of
their work, further develop their ideas, and scrutinize the purpose
of the activities.
Collaboration
The ability to collaborate effectively represents more than the
ability to cooperate on a team or in a group. Cooperation is nonengaging and does not move the thinking of the group forward.
Today’s students must be able to collaborate. Collaboration leads
to a merging of ideas that are no longer owned by individuals but
shared like a Google Doc in which the final outcome represents
the combined understandings and efforts of all. These skills are
not learned in a textbook or shared via a lecture. These skills
represent the way we learn, the very process we go through to
acquire knowledge.
When students work collaboratively to solve problems, they
share knowledge and develop skills that can lead to deeper learning
and understanding. Collaborative learning has resulted in higher
student achievement, higher self-esteem, and higher motivation
for all students across all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.
On Edutopia, Monique Devane explains, “Individual work can
be a great way to master content, but group work empowers and
enables a student’s cultivation of resilience.” When working
collaboratively, students see each other as resources where they
can test their own theories, determine if they are on the right track,
and develop habits of mind. Keep in mind that students need
guidance to learn how to collaborate effectively.
Some high ability students face challenges when working
with peers. These students may benefit from developing strategies
for working collaboratively with others. They may also need to
learn how to listen, how to take turns talking, and how to monitor
themselves and others when working with peers.
Teachers can emphasize the following objectives when
teaching students to develop their abilities of collaboration:
Students working at more complex levels rely on the ability
to think critically; this involves analyzing information and
supporting their methodology. They often rely on previous learning
experiences and consider prior knowledge when completing the
learning activities. The ability to accomplish this requires that
they discern and evaluate relevancy when synthesizing material.
Teacher attention toward developing this ability helps students
self-direct and problem-solve when analyzing information at
deeper levels.
Creativity
To foster and nurture the growth of creativity, E. Paul Torrance
advises us to “encourage curiosity, exploration, experimentation,
fantasy, questioning, testing, and the development of creative
talents” (ERIC Digest #484). These processes should be inherent
in all aspects of learning and in all subject areas.
Teachers can emphasize the following objectives when
helping students develop creativity:
• Use knowledge and skills in the subject matter to generate
possible ideas.
• Seek out new experiences without worrying about what
others think or whether mistakes will be made.
• Have confidence in one’s ability to determine if ideas are
worth pursuing.
• Add the necessary concrete details to an idea to make it a
successful product or performance.
• Use language in meaningful and novel ways to move,
inspire, entertain, inform, and persuade others.
• Actively contribute to the group by participating in
Creativity abounds in high ability students. However, the
propensity to expand on creativity has the potential to deter
students from their learning goals. When students stray too far
from the learning objectives, the lessons can become more of
an unrelated enrichment activity rather than an extension of the
objective. We want to instill the goals of creativity and mastering
discussions. Accept and perform all required tasks. Help
the group set goals and direct the group in meeting goals.
• Share ideas and contribute information appropriate for the
topic and encourage other members to share their ideas.
• Balance listening and speaking. Take into account other
people’s feelings and ideas.
15
learning objectives in all of our students, while also ensuring
mastery of the curriculum standards we need to address.
Adapted from the forthcoming Engaging and Challenging
All Learners: Differentiating Instruction for High-Ability Students
in a Mixed-Ability Class, Grades 5–12 (working title; expected
publication fall 2015). Copyright © 2014 by Susan Winebrenner,
Dina Brulles, and Karen Brown. Used with permission of Free
Spirit Publishing Inc. www.freespirit.com.
Torrance, P., & Goff, K. (1990, January 1). Fostering academic
creativity in gifted students. ERIC Digest. Retrieved October 23,
2014, from http://www.ericdigests.org/pre9216/academic.htm
Winebrenner, S., Brulles, D., & Brown, K. (in print for fall
2015). Engaging and challenging all learners: Differentiating
instruction for high-ability students in a mixed-ability class,
Grades 5–12 Copyright © 2014.
Dina Brulles is the Director of Gifted Education at Paradise Valley
Unified School District in Phoenix, Arizone and also the Gifted
Education Program Coordinator at Arizona State University. Past
President of the Arizona Association for Gifted and Talented
and past vice-president of SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs
of the Gifted), Brulles serves on SENG’s Editorial Board and
on their Diversity Committee as well as on the NAGC’s Equity
and Diversity Committee. She assists schools in developing
gifted programs and training teachers in gifted education. She coauthored The Cluster Grouping Handbook: How To Challenge
Gifted Students and Improve Achievement For All and Teaching
Gifted Kids in Today’s Classrooms by Free Spirit Publishing, and
Helping All Gifted Children Learn: A Teacher’s Guide to Using
the NNAT by Pearson Assessment.
Strengthening Skills and Moving Forward
This article describes how one school district is embracing
the lofty goal of addressing and assessing students’ abilities
to incorporate 21st Century skills into the learning process. By
increasing both teachers’ and students’ awareness of how to
integrate these skills, we move closer toward developing students’
abilities to work at deeper and more complex levels. Students
become more adept at using and transferring these critical learning
practices when guided on how the skills impact their understanding
of the content they are learning.
Don’t wait to get started! Teachers do not need a systemic,
school-wide approach to develop their students’ abilities to
self-reflect on how they incorporate and use 21st Century skills.
Emphasis on the learning processes as articulated here starts with
the teacher. Discussing and describing these skills and what they
look like in classroom instruction begin the process. Allowing
students to self-reflect on their learning processes further develops
their abilities and advances their capabilities in all areas.
Karen L. Brown is the Gifted Program Mentor for Paradise
Valley Unified School District and has taught and facilitated
gifted education courses at Arizona State University since 2010. As Gifted Program Mentor, she works extensively with cluster
teachers within the district as well as gifted specialists and selfcontained gifted classroom teachers to ensure that the instruction
and curriculum provide the appropriate level of challenge and
support for gifted students. Brown is certified in Elementary
Education, Special Education, and has earned a master’s degree
in Gifted Education. In 2009, she received National Board
Certification.
References and Resources
Knowles, M. (1975). Self-directed learning: A guide for
learners and teachers. New York: Association Press.
Mayer, J.D. & Wittrock, M. (1996). Problem-solving transfer.
In Handbook of educational psychology. New York: Simon &
Schuster Macmillan
Supporting Creative and Critical Thinkers:
Accessing the Arts and Higher Order Thinking Skills in Early
Childhood and Elementary Classrooms
By Stephen T. Schroth and Jason Helfer
Alejandro and Brigit teach in an early childhood learning
center. Like many teachers who work with young children, they
sometimes feel overwhelmed by various demands and mandates that
have become part of their day: Core Content Standards, periodic
assessments, planning calendars, pacing guides, and others. As a
result, Alejandro and Brigit worry that they do not always spend
enough class time addressing the needs of the more able students in
their classrooms. Meeting for coffee one day shortly before school
began for the year, Alejandro and Brigit discussed their concerns.
After catching up on their summer activities, the two discussed
improvements in their classroom practices they wanted to institute
for the upcoming school year. Both determined that providing the
children they serve with more opportunities to engage in creative
and critical thinking was a top priority, but they were unsure about
how they wanted to do this. Brigit suggested that each teacher
review his or her class lists at home, and then explore materials
each might have to determine what the next steps for each should
be. Agreeing to meet again the following week, Alejandro and
Brigit went home to determine how each would like to proceed with
his or her class.
Introduction
Early childhood and elementary teachers often play vital roles
in developing the creative and critical thinking skills of the students
with whom they work (Smutny & von Fremd, 2009; Tomlinson,
2003; Treffinger, Selby & Schoonover, 2013). A myriad of
16
sometimes conflicting demands placed upon teachers, however,
coupled with never-ending school reform initiatives sometimes
makes it seem impossible for teachers to engage their students
in the practices they know will best develop these skills (Cuban,
2010; Fullan & Boyle, 2014; Ripley, 2013). Teachers, especially
those who work with young gifted learners, wonder how they can
provide an equally challenging educational experience for all their
students, one that will build the critical and creative thinking skills
they know are vital for future success (Feldhusen & Treffinger,
1980; Smutny & von Fremd, 2011; Tomlinson, 2001; Treffinger et
al., 2013). Teachers of young gifted and talented children often ask:
How can I best develop creative and critical thinking skills in all
students? How do I respond to administrators and others who want
me to focus chiefly on struggling learners? Am I doing a disservice
to the children who struggle if I address critical and creative
thinking skills? What are some activities that will address the needs
of gifted learners and also benefit all learners? Fortunately, a variety
of approaches can be used in any classroom that will assist teachers
in building the critical and creative thinking skills of all learners.
Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have adopted
the Common Core State Standards (Ravitch, 2010; 2013). This
initiative has been hailed by some as raising the level of performance
for all students and making the transitions of students who change
schools easier and more predictable (Koretz, 2009; Ravitch, 2010).
As the Common Core State Standards movement coincided with
a push for better performance in academic subjects encompassing
or related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM), many school leaders and policy makers have emphasized
these areas over all others (Drapeau, 2014; Payne, 2008; Ravitch,
2013). The reception of the Common Core Standards, which did
not include participation from the majority of classroom teachers,
colleges of education, and gifted education specialists, has been so
poor that several states have changed the name of the standards in
an effort to deflect criticism (Payne, 2008; Ravitch, 2011; 2013).
Implementation of this initiative has led to literature and the arts—
creative writing, dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts—being
ignored in too many places. This problem is especially acute for
those who come from households less likely to be able to support
such investigations without assistance from the school or for those
who can easily handle the additional challenge (Davis, 2008;
Schroth & Helfer, 2008a).
The approach that ignores or eliminates the arts from the
schools is misguided insofar as it ignores the value of critical and
creative thinking skills, the need for familiarity with the mainstays
of our culture, and the realization that quantity does not always
equal quality (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Kohn, 2000; Noguera,
2003). Bettelheim suggested that exposure to fairy tales provides
one of the best types of education because they nourish children’s
minds, teach them about their essence, relieve their anxieties, and
kindle their hopes in dealing with the vagaries of life (Bettelheim,
1976). Torrance also supported sometimes engaging children in
flights of fancy and famously identified four creative thinking
skills: fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration (Torrance,
1987). Fluency involves generating many ideas that might provide
solutions to problems, while flexibility demands the ability to come
up with different types of ideas and to change existing ideas to
better suit certain needs (Torrance, 1987). Originality requires that
ideas generated be unusual or one-of-a-kind, while elaboration
demands that problem solvers add details to or extend ideas to
different uses (Torrance, 1987). Instructional activities that engage
students in these types of thinking build the types of skills children
need for success in later life (Schroth & Helfer, 2008b; Smutny &
von Fremd, 2009).
The Common Core Standards can be used to encourage and
indeed support exposure to and study of the arts if teachers are
judicious and selective in the literature and art that they use with
children. Engagement with literature and the arts develops the
critical thinking, reading, writing, and speaking skills so valued
by the Common Core Standards. Additionally, familiarity with
the concepts and language of the arts permits students to make
connections between disciplines that augment and assist creativity,
comprehension, and critical analyses (Botstein, 1998; Greene,
2001; Payne, 2008). Administrators, parents, and teachers must
ensure that gifted children are exposed to and conversant with
literature and the arts as a means to develop their critical and
creative thinking skills (Smutny & von Fremd, 2009; Schroth
& Helfer, 2009; 2013). Doing so will assure the development of
critical and creative thinking skills of young children, including the
gifted, in ways that are developmentally appropriate for all.
This article will examine two appropriate instructional
strategies for young learners, Creative Problem Solving and
Guided Investigations. An understanding of each of these is crucial
to appreciating why creative and critical thinking must play a
vital role in the classroom. First, the article will examine how to
use Creative Problem Solving with young children to assist their
explorations with music. Next, it will look at how to employ
Guided Investigations to engage with the arts to enhance gifted
children’s knowledge, understandings, and skills undergirding the
Common Core State Standards; teachers can then take and expand
upon these. Finally, the article will conclude with an analysis of
how actions that build creative and critical thinking skills support
the Common Core Standards regardless of errors that may have
occurred in their adaptation and implementation.
Creative Problem Solving
Alejandro teaches third grade and has noticed that his students
lack the levels of creativity and imagination children expressed in
the past. His students, for example, insist that they need realistic
props when engaging in imaginary play, and when he provides
assignments that permit a certain degree of latitude, such as those
in creative writing, they often respond with blank stares. This
disappoints Alejandro, especially since over half of the children
he serves have been identified as gifted, while the remainder are
considered high achievers using the criteria in place at his school.
Although the students in his class continue to do well on districtand state-generated assessments that measure their proficiency at
tasks delineated by the Core Content Standards, Alejandro knows
that success in the future will depend on much more than mastery of
simplistic and superficial regurgitation of knowledge, so he wants
to provide his students with a richer educational experience.
As Alejandro searches for ways to enable his students to build
their critical and creative thinking skills, he speaks with Mrs.
Fonville, his school’s gifted resource teacher. After discussing the
situation with Alejandro, Mrs. Fonville suggests that he consider
using Creative Problem Solving (CPS) tools with his students, as
these have a strong research and practice base in helping learners
to understand challenges and opportunities, generate ideas, and
develop effective plans for solving problems. Alejandro is intrigued,
especially since CPS can be used by students on their own or in a
group, and develops both creative and critical thinking skills in
17
harmony. After Mrs. Fonville shares some CPS materials with him,
Alejandro takes them home to study and prepares activities for his
students that utilize some of the CPS tools.
Suitable for use with almost any age group, CPS has an
extensive tradition of theory, research, and practice that makes it an
ideal way to build creative and critical thinking skills (Treffinger,
1995; Treffinger, Isaksen, & Stead-Dorval, 2006; Treffinger &
Parnes, 1980). CPS is suitable for use with every age group and
can be used with any subject area (Treffinger, 1995; Treffinger
et al., 2006). Long recognized as being especially suitable for
use with gifted children, CPS can be used as part of pull-out
programs, in special classrooms, or as part of the general education
program (Schroth, Collins, & Treffinger, 2011; Treffinger, Selby,
& Schoonover, 2013). The use of CPS is predicated upon certain
beliefs, including the following:
• All people possess creative potentials;
• Creativity can be expressed in many areas or subjects in
an infinite number of ways;
• Individuals’ interests, preferences, or styles affect the
ways in which creativity is manifested;
• Although all can function creatively, the extent to which
they are creative will be demonstrated to different levels
or degrees; and
• All can make better use of their creativity and increase
their creative accomplishments through training or
instruction (Treffinger, 1995; Treffinger et al., 2006).
Not every person will make creative breakthroughs of great
significance, of course, but all can be more creative in their daily
lives (Treffinger et al., 2006; Treffinger, Selby, & Schoonover,
2013).
Treffinger et al., 2006).
Framing Problems entails generating as many varied and
unusual ways to frame the problem as possible, and then creating
a specific statement that will invite creative ideas (Isaksen et al.,
2011; Treffinger et al., 2006).
Generating Ideas involves devising many possible solutions or
approaches to a problem and has but a single state (Isaksen et al.,
2011; Treffinger et al., 2006). Generating Ideas emphasizes an open
search or exploration for new ideas, a process that may include,
but which is not limited to the tool of brainstorming (Isaksen et
al., 2011; Treffinger et al., 2006). This search asks participants
to generate as many ideas as possible (Torrance’s fluency in
thinking) with many of these demonstrating new perspectives or
varied solutions (flexibility)—ideas that are innovative and unique
(originality) (Isaksen et al., 2011; Treffinger et al., 2006). After this
is done, those using Generating Ideas attempt to focus their thinking
by identifying those ideas that have exciting or appealing potential
to refine, develop, and apply (Isaksen et al., 2011; Treffinger et al.,
2006).
Preparing for Action includes exploring ways to transform
promising options into workable solutions and preparing for
successful implementation of these to tackle the problem at
hand (Isaksen et al., 2011; Treffinger et al., 2006). Preparing for
Action involves two stages: Developing Solutions and Building
Acceptance.
Developing Solutions involves applying deliberate strategies
and tools to analyze, develop, and refine promising possibilities
which are transformed into promising solutions by this process
(Isaksen et al., 2011; Treffinger et al., 2006).
Building Acceptance consists of considering ways to build
support for promising solutions, as well as to decrease or overcome
potential resistance to these (Isaksen et al., 2011; Treffinger et al.,
2006). Building Acceptance also involves the planning of specific
ways to implement and evaluate the promising solution’s results
and overall effectiveness (Isaksen et al., 2011; Treffinger et al.,
2006).
Components and Stages
CPS exists as a six-stage process model, which has been
organized into three separate components (Treffinger, 1995;
Treffinger et al., 2006). These six stages may be used in conjunction,
or one or more may be used separately to develop certain skills
or tackle a specific task (Treffinger et al., 2006; Treffinger et
al., 2013). The three CPS components are Understanding the
Challenge, Generating Ideas, and Preparing for Action (Treffinger
et al., 2006). One, two, or all three of these components can be used
as part of a CPS exercise (Treffinger et al., 2013). A variety of tools
exist that assist with each of the stages and these too can be used as
part of a comprehensive process or individually (Isaksen, Dorval,
& Treffinger, 2011; Nassab & Treffinger, 2000).
Understanding the Challenge encompasses investigating
a wide-ranging goal, opportunity, or challenge, and working at
clarifying, focusing, and articulating one’s thinking in a way
that will set the principle direction for future work (Isaksen et
al., 2011; Treffinger et al., 2006). The three stages that comprise
Understanding the Challenge are Constructing Opportunities,
Exploring Data, and Framing Problems (Isaksen et al., 2011;
Treffinger et al., 2006).
Constructing Opportunities asks participants to consider
possible opportunities and challenges facing them and to identify
constructive goals to pursue, stating those goals broadly and briefly
(Isaksen et al., 2011; Treffinger et al., 2006).
Exploring Data involves considering what is known about
the situation and determining what knowledge is needed to better
understand the matter, focusing on examining many sources of
data from as many perspectives as possible (Isaksen et al., 2011;
CPS in Action
As Alejandro’s class reads Louis Sachar’s Holes, he becomes
aware that many children have viewed the film of this work and are
intrigued by the differences between the two. In an effort to kindle
this curiosity, Alejandro and his students decide to make a new
version of the film, using iMovie and other tools. Before beginning,
Alejandro wants his students to develop a script to ensure that the
process results in a film that is faithful to the book, yet not a mere
retelling. To assist with this process, Alejandro decides to use two
Creative Problem Solving tools to help his students think creatively
and critically about Holes, Attribute Listing and ALoU.
Attribute Listing is a Generating Ideas tool that can assist
Alejandro’s students in more fully understanding the characters
about whom they will prepare a script. Attribute Listing first
asks participants to list the main qualities of an object, task, or
creation. They can then change, modify, improve, or enhance
these characteristics. Indeed, it is advisable to generate multiple
characteristics for each character because the Generating Ideas
component encourages students to produce as many potential
concepts as possible. For example, when considering Camp Green
Lake, the setting for Holes, Alejandro’s class devised the list of
attributes identified in Table 1.
18
as possible. For example, when considering Camp Green Lake, the setting for Holes, Alejandro’s
class devised the list of attributes identified in Table 1.
As part of her planning process, Brigit talks with Mrs.
Fonville about ways that she can increase opportunities for her
students to engage in creative and critical thinking activities while
also allowing them greater exposure to the arts. Mrs. Foneville
suggests that Brigit consider using Guided Investigations with her
class, as these will permit all of her students to engage in activities
that are rigorous, respectful, and relevant, while permitting
Brigit the opportunity to differentiate instruction to account for
differing readiness levels, interests, and learning profiles among
her students. Excited by this prospect, Brigit reviews some of the
materials that Mrs. Fonville has loaned her, and begins planning a
unit that will have her students examine music in a meaningful way.
Table 1.1.
Table
Problem: How to Improve Camp Green Lake
Part or Component
Characteristics or Attribute
Ideas for Improvement
The location
Isolated
Barren
Far from town
Express bus
Bicycles
Roller skates
The terrain
Flat
Arid
Treeless
Desert landscaping
Drilling for a well
The layout
Spartan
Tents
New buildings
Connected by shaded
walkways
The daily routine
Dig one hole a day, 5 feet by
5 feet
Arts and crafts
Baseball
Basketball
(Sachar, 1999).
DuringDuring
the process
of process
compiling this
list, Alejandro encourages
students to participate
and
the
of compiling
this list, all
Alejandro
encourages
all
students
to participate
andandrecords
responses
records
their responses
using chart paper
markers sotheir
that these
may be usedusing
at a laterchart
time.
paperAfter
andhis
markers
so
that
these
may
be
used
at
a
later
time.
students have used Attribute Listing to generate multiple characteristics for each
After his students have used Attribute Listing to generate
character, Alejandro
introduces ALoU
the classcharacter,
as a means ofAlejandro
focusing their thoughts.
ALoU
multiple
characteristics
fortoeach
introduces
ALoU
the class
as a means
focusing
their features.
thoughts.
ALoU
stands for to
Advantages,
Limitations,
overcome of
Limitations,
and Unique
The Advantages
stands for Advantages, Limitations, overcome Limitations, and
Unique features. The Advantages phase asks the students to rate and
rank the various attributes of each of their ideas, helping them to
see which concepts have the greatest support. Next, the Limitations
stage asks the group to consider drawbacks or shortcomings to
each of the choices, and to determine whether this affects their
earlier ranking of their ideas. Once this is done, the students decide
whether there are ways to overcome these limitations that alter
the rankings. Finally, the class examines each of their options to
determine which have unique features that might permit good plot
developments to occur if used.
By using these tools, Alejandro’s students were able to devise a
script that was based upon Holes, yet differed from it in significant
but plausible ways. Through working with the Creative Problem
Solving process, Alejandro’s third graders engaged in authentic
creative and critical thinking, and produced something original.
The Creative Problem Solving tools are an ideal way for children
to interact with each other and work on projects that stretch their
thinking. CPS can be used with all students, with most students,
with some students, or with a few students depending upon their
academic skills and needs (Smutny & von Fremd, 2011; Tomlinson,
2001; Treffinger, Young, Nassab, & Wittig, 2004).
Guided Investigations
Brigit works with a diverse group of twenty first grade
children, five of whom are identified as gifted. Like most first grade
teachers, Brigit understands the centrality of teaching reading but
is alarmed by her district’s emphasis on this to the exclusion of all
other subjects except mathematics in the wake of the adoption of
the Common Core State Standards. Brigit is concerned that many
of her students do not have access to the arts and seldom engage
in activities requiring creative and critical thinking. While she is
upset that this limits the curriculum of her gifted students, she is
also upset that other students who might struggle with reading or
math do not engage in higher order thinking skills. Determined to
provide all of her students an appropriate level of challenge and
access to the full curriculum, Brigit begins to look for ways to more
fully incorporate creative and critical thinking skills within her
classroom activities.
Guided Investigations (GI) rely on the teacher playing an
active role in student learning. Simply put, teachers guide children’s
progress. GI assist children in investigating matters that affect
them, their families, and their communities. Central to any guided
investigation is the classroom teacher. Teachers are best able to
guide the investigations of students in balancing development and
disciplines to assure maximum learning. The GI model is supported
by classic concepts of learning theory, such as Vygotsky’s Zone of
Proximal Development (ZPD). The ZPD is the distance between
a child’s independent problem-solving level and that same child’s
level of potential development at problem solving when working
under an adult’s guidance.
Using the GI model, teachers ascertain what a student’s
independent problem-solving level is and then provide that student
with the supports and structures necessary for him or her to work at
the next level. For example, a native English speaker working on a
problem regarding the volume required to fill a bottle must expect
to do most of the work, but a classmate, because of his or her
English Language Development (ELD) level may need assistance
that a native-English speaker would not. Within GI, teachers are
not expected to help a great deal initially, but instead hang back,
allowing the student to manage as much as possible on his or
her own. When a student’s attempts go askew, however, expert
teachers raise questions rather than helping the student directly.
They ask the student to explain how he or she progressed through a
particular step of a problem and to describe what happened—how
an answer was arrived at or how one answer deviates from another
attempt. The truly exemplary practitioner even manages to use this
situation to transform the student from an extrinsic to an intrinsic
motivational source. Rather than praise the student for getting the
correct solution after it is solved, the expert teacher discusses how
difficult the problem is before it is tackled. GI assists teachers
in meeting student learning needs through curriculum that both
challenges and supports them directly. (Adler, 1998; Bransford,
Brown, & Cocking, 2000; Brisk & Harrington, 2007; Bruner, 1960;
Dewey, 1900/1990; Hughes, 2003; Perkins, 1992; Schroth, 2007;
Smyth, Collins, Morris, & Levy, 2000; Tomlinson, 2003; Ward,
1980.)
Differentiating Guided Investigations
Students learn best when they are provided with a moderate
challenge. When tasks are far too difficult for a learner, that learner
feels threatened and will not persist with thinking or problem
solving as a self-protection mechanism. Conversely, tasks that
are too simple also suppress a learner’s thinking and problem
solving; rather than learning, such a learner drifts through school
unchallenged by and indifferent to the learning process. Either
19
situation is problematic, especially for those students for whom
school represents the sole connection with learning. Schools
that are interested in decreasing the time students spend with
inappropriate tasks seek to have teachers differentiate instruction
so that the needs of all learners are met.
Differentiation involves adjusting the complexity of content,
the processes used for instruction, and the products students create
to afford each learner an appropriate challenge. Differentiation
presents such a compelling model for classroom modification
of instruction because it is deep, profound, and multifaceted. It
provides a configuration that novice teachers can use to set up their
practice, yet also offers a challenge for competent veteran teachers.
Differentiation asks teachers to determine the readiness and needs
of each student and then to provide that student with instruction and
activities that are appropriate, cogent, and beneficial. Classroom
teachers are, of course, the experts regarding the children in their
care. Teachers who examine any set curriculum will understand
that parts of it may need modification to best meet individual or
group needs. Some suggestions for how to ensure a successful
change in the provided curriculum are detailed below. (Tomlinson,
1999; Tomlinson, 2001).
modification of that sequence of instruction. For each learning
activity, a GI has been devised that allows students to interact with
the material in meaningful ways. Students in a given classroom
may have needs based upon their readiness levels, interests, or
learning profiles that require the modification of a particular GI.
Teachers should feel free to modify the process of instruction or
the products created to best meet the needs of the children they
serve. Suggestions for differentiating the GI are provided for each
learning sequence. Other modifications may be made as the teacher
sees fit. During the planning of the lesson, teachers should be
mindful of the resources that children may need and have these
available during the lesson (e.g., internet access, access to the
library, art supplies).
During the lesson, teachers should have students read Marcia
Brown’s Cinderella, either alone or together (Brown, 1954). A
discussion should follow ensuring that students understand the
content. Next, students must have the opportunity to read through
and brainstorm a plan of action regarding how to turn this text into
a libretto. A student’s plan of action should be premised upon a
time frame set by the teacher or student in conjunction with the
teacher. During the work time, the teacher should assist only when
necessary.
Elements of differentiation
No single formula produces a differentiated classroom. Instead,
a few key ideas guide the practitioner who seeks to differentiate
instruction. Tomlinson suggests these principles:
1. Teachers focusing on the essentials;
2. Teachers attending to student differences;
3. Teachers using ongoing and diagnostic assessment to
guide instruction;
4. Teachers modifying content, process, and products;
5. All students participating in respectful work;
6. Teachers and students collaborating in learning;
7. Teachers balancing group and individual norms; and
8. Teachers and students working together flexibly (pp.
9-14).
These ideas are designed to assist students who learn in
different ways and at different rates and who bring various
talents and interests to school feel comfortable and valued. In
their planning and instruction, teachers must address the student
traits of readiness, interest, learning profile, and affect. Readiness
refers to students’ “knowledge, understanding and skills related to
a particular sequence of learning.” Interest concerns events and
subjects that spur learners’ curiosity and evoke their passions.
Learning profiles relate to learning style, intelligence preference,
culture, and gender. Affect concerns students’ social and emotional
response to themselves, their work, and the classroom as a whole.
Finally, classroom elements such as process, product, and learning
environment are also concerns of differentiation. These refer,
respectively, to how a student makes sense of information, ideas,
and skills; the assessments or demonstrations of what a student
knows, understands, or is able to do; and the operation and tone of
the classroom. In the successful differentiated classroom, student
traits and classroom elements will be linked to achieve the optimal
learning situation for each student (Tomlinson, 1999; Tomlinson,
2003).
Assessment
Adequate assessments of student learning must be put in
place so that student outcomes can be measured. The GI have
been structured in such a way that the product possibilities listed
at the conclusion of each Investigation can be used for assessment
purposes. While each GI can “stand alone,” one way of affording
children the opportunity to demonstrate their growth is through
collecting children’s work in a portfolio. This is a simple but
effective means of assessing student learning and growth.
Rewards
Interacting with great works of music can make a tremendous
difference on student learning. Students are exposed to the creative
process at its highest level, are initiated into the world of music,
and provided multiple avenues to demonstrate their understanding
of the concepts and principles studied. Differentiation offers
many benefits to students and teachers as a means of ensuring that
every learner receives the appropriate level of instruction. Careful
preparation and management on the part of classroom teachers can
assist the implementation of guided investigations at a school. Most
importantly, classroom teachers can instill in a school community
a true sense of excitement for the initiation of a new program.
Differentiation demands what is best of the profession: planning
with imagination, assessing with insight, and teaching with verve.
The teacher who differentiates is never finished, is never satisfied
with a student’s progress, is never done creating, but instead is
engaged in a constant quest for excellence and improvement. Such
a challenge is rare, and the rewards invaluable.
Planning & Implementation
Before beginning implementation of any lesson, teachers
should contemplate what student characteristics might require
20
Guided Investigations in action
Brigit decides that her class will study Rossini’s Cinderella,
an opera that is appealing to young children. As part of their work,
Brigit’s students will engage in two Guided Investigations. The first
GI will have students write a libretto, the second will have students
stage the libretto. Each task is respectful and authentic, although
they are differentiated based upon varying student readiness
levels. For the group writing a libretto, Brigit emphasizes that it is
want to expose their charges to more than simple regurgitation of
facts will embrace these types of activities, as they permit students
to grapple with real issues and problems, the type that will truly
ensure college and career readiness (Tomlinson, 2003; Treffinger
2004; 2006).
important to be able to summarize or rework ideas from an extant
story, in this case Brown’s retelling of Charles Perrault’s classic
tale (Brown, 1954). She consequently asks students in this group to
read Cinderella with her and to construct a script that would deliver
the central ideas of the story by using a variety of operatic forms
(aria, duet, trio, ensemble, chorus). For the group staging a libretto,
Brigit also asks them to consider the setting of the story. This
group will pay special attention to parts of the story that describe
the place, the scenery, the costumes, lighting, and other time and
place information (e.g., time of day, season of the year). Through
these activities, both groups will engage in the concept of narrative,
while also learning about an important musical form.
Although the two groups will be working on separate
investigations, Brigit will be able to coordinate a certain number
of lessons for both. To assist students, Brigit will do the following:
1. The teacher selects a children’s book to model how to
develop a libretto with the class;
2. She or he reads the story with students to familiarize them
with the characters, plot, and setting;
3. As a group, students writing the libretto will, with the
guidance of the teacher, deconstruct the story into acts
and scenes;
4. As a group, students writing the libretto will, with
the guidance of the teacher, decide how to select the
appropriate operatic forms for a particular scene;
5. As a group, students writing the libretto will, with the
guidance of the teacher, write the text for the scene in the
appropriate operatic style (e.g., an aria if only one character
is speaking about a particular emotional state of state of
being, a duet/ensemble if more than one person is in a
scene and the scene is more than a passing conversation,
a recitative if one or more than one individual is speaking
but their interactions are not central to the plot);
6. At the conclusion of this activity, students staging the
libretto should review the other group’s work and design
costumes and setting;
7. The teacher should select students to portray a character
and perform the libretto;
8. If desired, Brigit should have a library of books from which
small groups can create their own libretto after having
seen the process modeled in whole group instruction.
Students who are able to work independently should be
encouraged to do so, but for other children, working in a larger
group with the teacher is perfectly acceptable.
These Guided Investigations provide the children in Brigit’s
classroom with opportunities to build their creative and critical
thinking skills through real-world applications that result in
authentic products.
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Conclusion
All children, especially those who are gifted, need exposure
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While many teachers of gifted children are forced to use CCSS,
which were adopted without approval of or input from classroom
teachers or gifted education specialists in colleges of education, it
is still possible to create experiences that support these vital skills.
Both Creative Problem Solving and Guided Investigations provide
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for students (Treffinger et al., 2004; Schroth, 2007). Teachers who
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Stephen T. Schroth is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood
Education at Towson University in Towson, Maryland. A teacher,
coordinator, and literacy coach for the Los Angeles Unified
School District for almost a decade, he holds a PhD in Educational
Psychology/Gifted Education from the University of Virginia,
where he studied with Carol Ann Tomlinson and Carolyn M.
Callahan. The author of multiple books, book chapters, articles,
and other publications, Schroth has served as a past chair of the
Arts Network of the National Association for Gifted Children. His
research interests include perceptions of giftedness, differentiated
instruction, diverse learners, and the arts.
Jason A. Helfer is the Assistant Superintendent of the Illinois
State Board of Education. Prior to this he spent over a decade
in higher education, before which he was a teacher in Evanston,
Illinois and for the Grapevine/Colleyville Independent School
District in Texas. Helfer holds a PhD in Curriculum & Instruction
from the University of Illinois, and has authored a series of
curricular materials for the Lyric Opera of Chicago (with Stephen
Schroth).
Please address correspondence to:
Stephen T. Schroth
Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education
Towson University
Hawkins Hall 107-B
8000 York Road
Towson, MD 21252
[email protected]
(410) 704-4292
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Creating a Writing Community: Fostering Multiculturalism in the
Gifted High School Creative Writing Classroom
by Elizabeth Brown
“No one has yet fully realized the wealth of sympathy, kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child.
The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure.” –Emma Goldman
Introduction
Quality education is multicultural education. Multicultural
education should not be a “luxury” or an “afterthought,” but it
must be viewed as a necessary and integral component, that
which ensures both academic and career success for all students,
regardless of race, gender, and socioeconomic status (Gay, 2004).
The most crucial time to focus on a multicultural-based education
for children is in grades K-12 due to the processes of knowledge,
the awareness of the self, the growth and development, and the
road to academic success that need to start and continue to develop
fully in these fundamental years for every child (Gay, 2004).
Creative writing is one of the best subjects in which to freely
adopt and utilize a multicultural approach in the classroom. It
cannot be stressed enough, therefore, that the subject of writing
offers an excellent forum with which the students’ stories, essays,
poems, and other genres may address multicultural awareness and
its needs and issues within schools and the society at large. The
creative writing classroom for gifted high school students must be
such a place. Students’ experiences and their subsequent writing are
important markers of growth and development within the human
experience – an experience that is more universal than we might be
aware. The teacher can create a multicultural writing community
by addressing the physical space of the classroom, monitoring
the classroom’s psychological environment, acknowledging the
students’ varied life experiences and backgrounds, and fostering
respect. Similarly, the teacher must focus on self-directed learning
where possible, use collaborative writing and group projects, and
implement journal writing. All of these criteria are of the utmost
importance in facilitating a community within the writing workshop.
Finally, a focus on love of the writing craft and imagination will
aid in offering a multicultural-based creative writing classroom
and a community for our gifted high school students. This article
will introduce and discuss these aspects as well as serve as a model
for teachers of the subject. It will ultimately help gifted high school
student writers pursue their passions or directions in life.
environment needs to be mutually inclusive. Utilizing “circles”
for seating arrangements creates a feeling of equality between the
students and facilitates greater ease in discussions of writing and
reading of students’ creative work. Furthermore, schools need to
be concerned with integrating tenets and aspects of the students’
home cultures in their curriculum and the physical environs of
their classrooms (Fettes, 2007). By making sure the classroom is
serving all of its students’ needs, the creative writing teacher will
enable his or her students to feel comfortable. This is especially
true for adolescents due to the tremendous growth they are
undergoing physically and emotionally. In the words of Author
Toyomi Igus:
“Any child who tries to express himself in any way
should be respected for that. Any words they write, or
creative things they do to share themselves with the
outside world, should be encouraged. Teenagers have to
be courageous. It is difficult to open yourself up to people
and the outside world. Try to express yourself to them
and know that what you say is valuable.” (Nuwer, 2002)
Gifted students often possess more acute sensitivity regarding
the sharing of their feelings and personal thoughts, so comfort
should be a major concern for the teacher of gifted students.
Psychological Environment
The need for a psychologically safe and supportive atmosphere
for all class members is of paramount importance. In fact, a
successful multicultural writing community cannot exist without
taking into account the nature of the psychological environment
that exists within the class or workshop. The teacher must be a
model of acceptance and respect for his or her students and their
writing. For example, when the time comes to workshop student
writing, the teacher must explain how the writing workshop will
be run. Additionally, the teacher should explain and give examples
of how and what feedback should be given to allow for quality
control during the workshop The students can provide feedback
and comments (at least two positive comments first, followed by
at least two comments concerning areas for improvement) for their
peers’ writing. This allows each student to receive feedback from
each of his or her peers; all students receive feedback as well as
offer feedback. This helps to foster community and equality within
the class environment. With practice, the students become adept at
giving pertinent and useful feedback to one another, all the while
improving their writing and sense of community.
“To teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls
of our students is essential if we are to provide the necessary
conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately
begin.”—bell hooks
Physical Space
“When entering the classroom, the teacher must do so
with the purpose of creating community”—bell hooks
One of the first and easiest ways to begin to foster a
multicultural community in the high school creative writing class
is by addressing the physical environment of the room or space.
Creating a writing community in consonance with the physical
space will aid the students in feeling at ease and functioning
at a higher level academically and communally. The physical
Acknowledging Students’ Life Experiences and Backgrounds,
and Fostering Respect
Because the United States is growing more diverse every day
and “increasing access to technologies that link us to others around
the world, today’s children will grow up more connected than
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Relevancy-Oriented Learning, Goal-Directed Learning, and
Self-Directed Learning
The importance of all three of these components—relevancyoriented learning, goal-directed learning, and self-directed
learning—cannot be emphasized enough in the creation of
a writing community that is multicultural in philosophy and
approach. Beginning with relevancy-oriented learning, it is crucial
to recognize and take to heart this sobering fact:
. . . many ethnically diverse students do not find
schooling exciting or inviting; they often feel unwelcome,
insignificant, and alienated. Too much of what is taught
has no immediate value to these students. It does not
reflect who they are (Gay, 2004).
As teachers, we cannot have our students’ educations failing
to offer relevance and substance. We need to provide learning
that gives them “cultural relevance, self-affirmation, selfunderstanding, and self-empowerment” (Ford, et al., 2005) The
learning environment must be “familiar and friendly...one that
provides cultural similarity and responsiveness” (Gay, 2004).
The writing teacher must encourage active, participatory
learning that will stimulate intellectual creativity and critical
thinking. The creative writing classroom and workshop lend
themselves well to this type of adaptation, as active learning
through writing and workshopping occurs naturally. Focus needs
to be placed on content that engages and celebrates the cultures
and contributions of all ethnic groups. “Diverse ethnic, racial, and
cultural groups and individuals have made contributions to every
area of human endeavor and to all aspects of U.S. history, life,
and culture, even under times of great oppression” (Gay, 2004).
Writing and literature are no exception. Great African-American,
Asian, European, and Latino writers need to be represented in
the creative writing classroom. These works aid in instilling the
idea that diverse groups are not “dependent” or “helpless victims”
who have made limited contributions to literature (Gay, 2004).
Students can read and write about these great writers, and, in
time, feel that they can also achieve the same by virtue of their
experiences and talents. Creativity flows when there are no undue
limitations placed on the students’ writing process by the teacher,
or by the students themselves.
The teacher will need, therefore, to take into account the
different learning styles and be prepared to offer a variety of
suggestions and methods with which to reach the diverse learning
styles that might be present in a creative writing class at any given
time. Creative writing is not a “one size fits all” subject matter, so
teachers need flexibility and awareness in their teaching practices
and repertoire. The creative writing teacher will find it helpful
to keep the following criteria in mind when creating writing and
reading assignments for his or her gifted high school students in
order to be aware of relevancy and multicultural issues (Steiner,
2001):
• Strong Characters. Look for books and writing assignments
that will keep ethnic and gender diversity in mind.
• Authenticity. Writing prompts, assignments, and reading
should foster accurate representations of the cultural attitudes,
feelings, and perspectives of any given culture or group.
• Interconnections. Look for books, readings, writing exercises,
and writing assignments that will bring diverse people
together in realistic ways and ones that reflect universal
similarities of all cultures.
• Historical representation. Have writing assignments,
ever before to their counterparts in other countries” (MacMillan
& Kirker, 2012). Teachers must acknowledge and celebrate each
student’s unique life experience. Encouraging all class members
to participate in discussions by expressing to each member that
he or she has something important to say or contribute will aid
in successfully creating a multicultural experience. Additionally,
both the teacher and the students need to have respect for one
another. Class members need to feel that they are valuable and
encouraged; their views and goals need to be validated. If the
teacher can foster and model these behaviors, he or she will have
an easier time getting the students to follow suit. The classroom
must become a place of democracy where everyone “feels a
responsibility to contribute...this is a central goal of transformative
pedagogy” (hooks, 1994).
Both “student learning and teacher transformation need to
be at the very heart of multicultural education” (Fettes, 2007).
The teacher must be “culturally competent” and not adhere to
previous pedagogical philosophies or mindsets that do not take
diversity into account. The reluctance and often times absence of
“multiculturalism in gifted education curricula has proven to be
a hindrance and inhibitor of learning for many students of color.
American public schools . . . often shortchange both students of
color and white students of educational experiences where both
can learn about different racial and cultural groups” (Ford, et al.,
2005).
Journaling
In the words of writer and academic bell hooks, “ . . . .a feeling
of community creates a sense that there is shared commitment and
a common good that binds us . . . [O]ne way to build community in
the classroom is to recognize the value of each individual voice”
(hooks, 1994). As emphasized above, this is the heart of creating a
sense of real community for all students within the creative writing
classroom. Another important way of achieving this is to recognize
and implement journal work. Journal writing can help achieve both
awareness and celebration of differences and diversity in a wide
array of areas, including language, religion, culture, race, gender,
and special needs. The teacher should encourage students to write
and record their life experiences and then share these entries with
one another. This will help them feel comfortable with their peers.
Most of all, it ensures that no student remains “invisible” (hooks,
1994). Collaborative Writing
The high school gifted writer is not only developing his or
her identity as a writer but also as a member of society. Therefore,
the creative writing classroom must reflect the makeup of society
itself. It is necessary to foster collaborative projects in the creative
writing classroom. This allows students to work together as peers
and equals in learning and creating. The teacher must value and
promote collaboration by fostering open discussions with active
participation during lectures and workshops. The teacher may find
that putting students with partners or in small workshop groups
will be beneficial. Similarly, the teacher can give occasional
group writing exercises to promote cooperation and collaboration.
Finally, reading students’ works aloud or performing or acting out
their writing or scenes can also be a fun exercise in promoting
community.
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prompts, and reading examples that dispel misconceptions by
reflecting truths.
• Balance. Continually strive for a balance of diversity in
literature, reading assignments, and writing exercises, so all
members can relate to classroom activities.
• Become proactive. Read and recommend quality multicultural
literature to students, teachers, librarians, curriculum
committees, administrators, and parents (Steiner, 2001).
Once the students feel their classroom experience is relevant,
the teacher should focus on goal-oriented and self-directed
learning. Only by seeing relevance can these next steps be taken
by the students. Having students identify their learning and writing
goals is helpful to stimulate curiosity as well as ambition and
writing progress. By actively visiting their progress in obtaining
their goals, the students will feel they can reach them. For instance,
one student may have a goal to write ten poems during the
academic quarter and another may want to write a children’s book
or a collection of stories. If both the student and teacher regularly
check in on how the student is progressing, the student will be
motivated and encouraged to complete his or her writing project.
Similarly, having writing buddies and small groups that check
on each other’s’ writing progress will not only aid in promoting
students’ writing completion but will undoubtedly form bonds and
community within and beyond the classroom.
Students with goals of their own should be encouraged, if
ready, to pursue self-directed learning or working with a writing
mentor. By actively fostering autonomous and self-directed work,
the creative writing teacher will help teen writers become actively
involved in their learning and writing process. Preparing them to
be responsible for their own learning prepares young authors for
both the college experience and the professional world. Having
students identify their goals and then seek advice, support, and
help, if and when they need it, can go a long way toward preparing
gifted high school writers for what is to come.
reaching out to their students. “Good multicultural education
fosters schools that re-imagine their communities and teachers
who will dedicate their lives to bringing that vision into being .
. . good education, in this interconnected world, is multicultural
education” (Fettes, 2007). The task of the creative writing teacher
is to provide a multicultural climate in the writing classroom. This
is absolutely crucial for the gifted high school creative writing
teacher. High school students stand on the threshold of adulthood.
Some may not have been fortunate to have a multicultural writing
community or multicultural education before. They need and
deserve this experience before they cross that threshold to become
our nation’s future.
In summary and closing, the following is a list of Twenty
Reasons Why We Need Multicultural Writing and
Multicultural Literature (Steiner, 2001) for our students:
1. They provide opportunities for all children to see themselves
in both their writing and literature.
2. They foster development and positive self-esteem.
3. They strengthen the significance of personal heritage.
4. They help raise personal aspirations.
5. They provide a means for everyone to learn about people all
over the world.
6. They recognize and value the contributions of all people.
7. They broaden understanding of history and geography.
8. They cultivate respect, empathy, and acceptance of all people.
9. They help build a global community.
10. They prevent people from feeling isolated.
11. They allow differences and promote harmony.
12. They provide a multitude of opportunities to discuss
similarities and differences.
13. They promote social consciousness of people afflicted with
social problems.
14. They help overcome denial and fears of differences.
15. They provide daily opportunities to talk about diversity and current events.
16. They promote positive actions to rectify unjust behaviors and
events.
17. They blend easily into themes of study found in schools.
18. They provide the needed balance of literature representative of many cultures.
19. They offer a good option for locating well-written literature.
20. They prepare us for the future. (Steiner, 2001) QUOTE?
Love of Writing
Instilling a love of writing, an affinity for the writing process,
and a profound joy in the art of creation cannot be overlooked
in the quest for building a writing community. Without this most
fundamental element, the true essence of what a teacher is striving
for is not realized. Students need to be informed and encouraged
as they develop. They need to be given opportunities for the
future. Some ways to provide these are to bring in guest writers
and authors to talk to the students and read from their works. The
guest writers should be diverse ethnically, culturally, and reflect
both genders. Students should have workshops and classes in all
the various genres of creative writing to broaden their knowledge
of the craft and to try their hands at the many ways to create
and tell stories. Finally, having outlets for students to share their
writing within the school, neighborhood, or community will aid
in continuing to create relevance, goal-oriented learning, and selfdirected learning, as well as to foster community. Students will
flourish when given an opportunity to have their writing published
in a classroom journal, a school-wide writing journal, a school
blog/website, or a writing competition. This will foster readiness
and propel the young writers forward in their creative pursuits.
Imagination
Multicultural education calls upon teachers, schools,
administrators, and communities to use their imagination in
Conclusion
Every student is a wellspring of creativity just waiting to
put his or her lasting mark on the world. Teachers must inform,
encourage, and inspire their students in order for this to happen.
Creating a sense of community for all is integral for learning
and creativity. Without a multicultural awareness and a thorough
implementation of it in the creative writing classroom, gifted high
school students will not reach their full potential as writers or
individuals. Teachers need to ultimately make the focus of their
creative writing classrooms about the universal human experience.
After all, this is what draws us together; both in our writing and in
the time we share with one another on this earth.
“To speak a true word is to transform the world.”
–Paulo Freire
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References
Fettes, M. (2007). Imaginative multicultural education: Notes
toward an inclusive theory. In K. Egan, M. Stout, & K. Takaya
(Eds.), Teaching and learning outside the box: Inspiring imagination across the curriculum ( pp. 126-137). New York, NY:
Teachers College Press.
Ford, D., Moore, J., & Harmon, D. (2005). Integrating
multicultural and gifted education: A curricular framework.
Theory into Practice, 44 (2), 125-137.
Gay, G. (2003/2004). The importance of multicultural
education. Educational Leadership, 61(4), 30-35.
hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to trangress: education as the
practice of freedom. New York, NY: Routledge.
MacMillan, K., & Kirker, C. (2012). Multicultural storytime
magic. Chicago: American Library Association.
Nuwer, H. (2002). To the young writer: Nine writers talk
about their craft. New York: Franklin Watts.
Steiner, S. (2001). Promoting a global community through
multicultural children’s literature. Englewood, CO: Libraries
Unlimited, Inc.
Elizabeth Brown is a published writer, violinist, producer,
and professor of writing and the humanities. She also teaches
creative writing at The Center for Gifted. Her website is www.
elizabethmbrown.com
Spread Newspapers Around: Students Acting! The Invaluable Role
of Modern Theater Class in a STEM Environment
By Leah A. Kind
All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely
players.
This line of William Shakespeare’s, itself often redrawn and
refashioned to suit different intended purposes, perhaps never
rings as poignantly as during high school. Students speak of
trying on a particular personality or character, as they desperately
seek for what TRUE player dwells behind the mask. The years
between junior high and secondary education exist for many
students as their own personal time of remaking. Students exit
one wing in adolescence, rush behind the curtain as they take up
or cast off whatever masks and accoutrements they desire, and
emerge at the opposite side, maybe as an entirely new character.
This paper seeks to explore the relationship between creativity in
the Modern Theater classroom (as taught by myself at the Illinois
Mathematics and Science Academy [IMSA]—a residential public
high school for highly gifted STEM students) and its benefits to
and creative application of the students across all their classes.
And, naturally, I do not here intend to advocate for or claim the
absence of such challenges to students in their STEM-focused
coursework. Rather, I seek to show the highly beneficial and often
unique challenges experienced by these students within a different
type of class. As many schools move, or are forced to move away
from the arts and humanities, my experiences with this course
have solidified even more the understanding of just how crucial
these types of classes can be.
Modern Theater at IMSA is an English Department
elective—available only to second semester juniors and seniors.
As is the case for all our English courses, it is a one-semester
class. By that time, students have progressed through the core
of required classes—been asked to read, analyze, speak, write,
present, argue, and interpret. They are expected to have achieved
a certain level of comfort and mastery with these essential skills.
My Modern Theater class combines examination and analysis
(through discussion and formal essays) of several pivotal post1950’s texts (Beckett, Miller, Pinter), with some fundamentals
of stagecraft and acting (ranging from body-position awareness
and projection) and performances (informal classroom acting
opportunities, formal and graded monologues and group scenes).
All students have several opportunities to direct during the course
of the semester. In my classroom, improvisational theater also
factors in heavily.
In a way, as STEM students in a science and math-focused
atmosphere, drawn to IMSA purposefully for the exposure to
challenging STEM classes and myriad research opportunities,
these students already have to act within the English classroom.
(I, of course, will sometimes be speaking in broad generalizations,
as we have many students who both adore and thrive within the
requirements of English courses! As Modern Theater student
Dennis puts it: “IMSA is STEM-focused. Still, I think many
students here, myself included, consider themselves somewhat
better-rounded than that”). Students at IMSA are highly
motivated, highly goal-oriented, and highly focused; their focus is
for their science, math, and engineering-based courses. And then,
suddenly, they sign up for the Modern Theater elective course….
and the challenges become completely different.
So what does the Modern Theater classroom offer these
students? For one, the course allows students a creative outlet
which demands a type of focus so unlike their other courses it
is frequently referred to as “much needed breath of fresh air”
(emphasis mine). I have long believed that our students, who are
amazingly driven and so intelligent, benefit from their humanities
courses not just on the basis for the content and the skills those
courses offer, but also for what they lack: the specific rigors of
math and science. At a school where students double up math
and/or science classes in many semesters, humanities courses
allow them a sanctuary in which their right-brain is called into
full account.
Students seemed to feel this way because of the different
atmosphere within the Modern Theater classroom. Often,
students can find themselves in highly competitive situations—
as many smart students enjoy some level of intellectual tussling
with each other. But in MT class, (and I do take a measure of
professional pride in this) students often spoke of how they felt
highly comfortable with each other because of the atmosphere
created within the classroom. As not one of my students has
ever been a classically trained actor (nor do I expect them to be!)
they all have the same performance-based fears and trepidations
on Day 1. This anxiety-based camaraderie quickly fades into an
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environment of comfort and safety—where students are not afraid
to take chances. As Amy, who was a junior when she was enrolled
in the course, says:
At first, I think we were all thrown out of our comfort
zones, but eventually we all got comfortable with each
other. That comfort and supportive environment we
created allowed us to act freely and perform with more
confidence. In that class there was no stress and all my
worries seemed to get stuck at the door when I walked
in. It was extremely beneficial for me because Modern
Theater became my mini break from reality, a sort of
oasis filled with laughter.
I view Amy’s use of the word “oasis” as quite striking. An
oasis is both a place of safety, but also one of restoration—a haven
from the “stress and…worries” and pressure faced by the students
in their other coursework. She went on to say:
As we grow up, it seems that we neglect our imagination
more and more. Now, the only imagining I do on a daily
basis involves calculus and imaginary numbers. When
I had modern theater, it was a break in my day when I
could use my imagination freely, and be as outrageously
creative as possible.
This should not be misconstrued as saying that Modern
Theater is an easy class, a chance for these gifted science and
math kids to just relax and goof around. What I am stressing is
that the challenges and new experiences they face in the MT
classroom provide both a type of respite from their usual expected
brain functioning and give them practice with an entirely new set
of skills which will serve them well as intelligent, free-thinking,
motivated young people.
As in all their courses, students are encouraged and expected
to take chances in Modern Theater, with some major differences.
Here, the gulf between the payoffs and the failures can be immense
and immediate—your audience laughs (or doesn’t) when they are
supposed to, or a line is flubbed and the skit falls short. There is no
lag time in finding out if something has been successful or futile
as might be the case with a submitted essay or exam. Students
find themselves “exposed” in an entirely new and different way.
There is not a lot to hide behind when giving a monologue or
performing a scene (save for an acting partner!) And, even though
the majority of our performances during the semester took place
in our classroom (which I now absolutely love to think of as an
“oasis”!) the students were on display and “on stage” in a very
complete way. Ultimately, they had to come to rely on each other.
As Maureen relayed:
There are little to no opportunities/assignments for
public speaking in the science and math classes at IMSA.
I felt out of practice when I started Modern Theatre class.
Initially, I was challenged with getting comfortable with
my fellow classmates.
While the students did a wide range of performances through
the semester, ranging from improvisational games, scenes,
memorized group performances, all the way to monologues, most
frequently they were not on stage alone, and had to find ways
to work together. In many classes, when students are tasked
with a group-activity one member might more easily skate by
without doing much work, or, just as frequently, one person might
end up with the lion’s share of effort. This less-than-desirable
amount of input is much more difficult to attempt when the
directed outcome is a performance, and the expectant eyes of the
classroom audience are fixed upon them. Thus, the expectations
of participation in Modern Theater (which I purposefully reiterate
on Day 1) often motivate students to take more ownership of their
own involvement in the course than they might otherwise do.
Conversely, students who I had in previous classes who were
highly intelligent but just on the more introverted side often found
amazing ways to express themselves on stage. One such student,
Alan, showed such natural presence and ability on the stage, I
constantly found myself asking him if he had done any acting
before. He came alive on the stage with an energy and passion that
I had never seen in any other classes—delighting his audience
with interpretations and impressions. Indeed, students speak of
the way that MT imbues them with new types of confidence—
allowing them to try, and sometimes fail, but to enjoy the entirely
of the process. Early in the semester, when students were called
upon to perform or engage in an activity, there was still that
moment of charming self-consciousness, a laughing hesitation.
As the semester went on, student eagerly put their hands up,
begged to be called upon to act, and bemoaned the end of class or
wrapping up of an activity.
Interestingly, the chance to not be themselves came up again
and again as a source of enjoyment. Students truly relished the
chance to become a character—the power (and freedom!) of
acting. As Luselena described:
At times, different situations pushed me outside my
comfort zone such as yelling or playing a more aggressive
character that is not entirely my personality. Although
at times it was a challenge to be creative or portray the
character assigned, the class was extremely beneficial in
my growth as an individual.
Luselena, now a senior, is a petite, quiet, and highly intelligent
student who is constantly described as “sweet” and “demure.”
Being able to break from that persona and be someone more, as
she puts it, “aggressive” allows her both freedom to become a
character with traits which are totally foreign to her, but also the
security to take on the characteristics of this character within the
safety of the classroom (and to leave those traits there as desired!).
Another trend, perhaps not surprising, was the
immense preference that students had for performing, writing,
and improvising comedic pieces. At the heart of these choices,
I suspect, is the fact that it is often easier to please a teenaged
audience through humor, and that the humorous pieces and skits
were more fun for them to prepare and perform. However, I
discovered that their preferences did not indicate that there was
a lack of ability for writing or performing more somber or tragicomedic pieces. In fact, perhaps due to the fact that they so often
leaned towards humorous pieces, when the class was prompted
to script and perform serious pieces, the results were immensely
moving for the class. Students spoke of the great ability of their
classmates to emote, to imagine realistic dramatic scenarios and
render them for the stage, and to connect with the audience. This
served as another way to push students from their comfort zone,
although I found a small bit of pedagogical pleasure in pointing
out to my students that they now were so comfortable as to
consider humorous acting to be their “comfort zone” in Modern
Theater class, and were now being compelled to move beyond
that.
Students also spoke of the wide range of skills that Modern
Theater demanded of them. Beyond those mentioned already—
students were also challenged to comment critically on their
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classmates’ performances. I considered this to be a highly
crucial and beneficial aspect to the class, because it helped to
teach many of the drama fundamentals holistically. After an
individual or group performance, I turned to the class to ask for
both positives about the scene, as well as areas that they would
suggest for improvement. Thus, basics such as the way an actor in
a multi-person scene has to “cheat” their body ¾ to the audience
in order to appear to be having a discussion yet still be visible
and audible, projection, facial expressions, even gestures or foot
placement—all these elements could be suggested to the actors
by their classmates—the impact became much more permanent.
Equally important was continued practice in giving and receiving
constructive and productive feedback to each other—a necessary
act, but one not often utilized in other courses. As Karin stated:
It was definitely beneficial to be in such a supportive
classroom, and made me feel much more comfortable with not
only being in front of a classroom, but taking constructive criticism
as well. I’m incredibly self-conscious about other people reading
what I write and watching me perform, but modern theater sit
downs with directors and classroom feedback has helped me a lot.
In a typical classroom, students (in the form of the class)
are often the subject of the critique—written or verbal—and
thus model their own practice on the instructors they view. Now,
because I often stepped back and invited them to provide their
feedback before I said anything about the performances, students
were forced to find ways to express themselves first. I stressed
the constructive criticism aspect in an attempt to head off any
unnecessarily harsh or cruel comments, but I found that on the
whole, students were wonderfully able to police themselves,
vetting out the best commentary for their classmate-actors. These
skills and abilities will absolutely be called upon in the future—as
the applications for being able to provide and accept productive
feedback are myriad.
Beyond the powerful value of the course content (I’ve
consciously neglected discussing the readings and analysis done
of the foundational works read, which is another crucial facet
to the course) the ways that students speak about what they will
utilize from the course in other disciplines demonstrates the
wide-ranging impact the course has upon them. Again and again,
students cite the way that the course has prepared them—often to
their own surprise—for other areas of their academic endeavors.
For whatever reason—the cosmic alignment of the right
group of kids at the right moments—both sections of Modern
Theater I taught in the Spring of 2014 excelled in improvisational
theater. Many (although not all) had never heard of the popular
show “Whose Line is it Anyway?” which meant that most of
them went into improvisational situations with no preconceived
notion of what they should be doing. I devised a multitude of
improv acting situations. In some, I would arrange four chairs
in non-random arrangements (a circle, two facing two, two by
two, etc.) and place students in the chairs, and then give them a
scenario (you’re kindergarten kids, you’re four workers in a lab,
you’re on a city bus) and let them have at it. Sometime I would
do “object reveal” improv with props—where I have would have
two students start a scene (one of you is being interrogated by
the other, you just bought a present for them, and so forth) with
an object under a box. When I said “reveal!” they could see what
was under the box, but had to incorporate it into the movement of
their scene. I also often introduced a new character, emotion, or
situation, to teach them to adapt to the change. Sometimes I would
give them an opening line, or a line they had to incorporate into the
scene at some point. I tried to give them enough different types
of improvisational games that it never became a stale activity.
After a few stumbling attempts, everything just clicked, and the
students started to constantly request these improv days. Besides
the enjoyment and talent that the students demonstrated, they also
were learning valuable skills through these activities. Modern
Theater encouraged a sense of comfort in not only acting, but
simply putting yourself in a vulnerable position. Improvisation
encouraged adaptation and quick thinking—skills called upon in
all disciplines. Students also described how their knowledge bank
grew through these activities. Maureen explained:
We performed on a daily basis in the class and I feel that
this “desensitized” me to the pressure of presentations. I felt
very practiced and comfortable to public speaking when I had to
present for IMSAloquium [students present on year-long research
projects] in April. I know that I have and will continue to use
some of the skills that I learned in modern theatre in the future.
(insert mine)
Students saw the value of their classroom experiences went
beyond just a successful performance that day.
Many other students also cited how MT class and
improvisational exercises served as “problem solving” practice
for them. As Luselena described, “Modern Theater showed me
I was still capable of being creative and the different activities
in class still provided me with problem solving situations with
different paper topics, improv skits, and directing a group of my
peers in a small play.” Karin agreed, citing the new comfort she
found in exposing her work, and how many classes these skills
would be utilized within. “Being more comfortable with other
people seeing my work is definitely something I can use in any
class, from English to science to math.”
I hoped that students realized the wide-range of applications
in which these newly acquired and honed skills could be used. For
them to use language like “problem solving” in the same breath as
“creativity” in describing various activities, it demonstrates that
their approach to the activities may have still been one that was
guided by their STEM atmosphere, but was also one in which they
were able to make the necessary adjustments in order for the most
successful outcome. One of my students, Omair, acknowledged
that the requirements of Modern Theater class went beyond his
experience, and, initially, his comfort zone. “Thus, these unique
challenges required unique ways of resolving them, which meant
I was forced to dig deeper and explore other realms of creativity
and problem solving—realms that I was not at all familiar with.”
If students are able to use their academic approaches to help
tackle the problems I put before them in Modern Theater, I also
fervently believe that they can use the skills gained in class for the
problems they’ll face not only as STEM students, but as active
professionals within a wide range of careers. Omair concurred:
Taking a step back and making interdisciplinary connections,
this way of thinking can definitely be used across the board in all
the various academic settings. By that I mean that these skills can
not only be used in a class like Modern Theatre, but also in science
or math classes. By doing so, it would allow students to not only
view a problem from one angle, but rather from multiple different
angles to get the whole scope of what one is dealing with. I honestly believe that this push to engage the rather
“untouched” areas of thinking in STEM-driven students will
directly lead to the creation of not only well-rounded students, but
28
also well-rounded individuals that are ready and willing to serve
as active citizens of society.
And, if I can continue to help facilitate that sort of thinking,
engagement, and action in students, I consider my task to be a
successful one.
The first half of my title refers to a Paul Rudnick play I
Hate Hamlet, in which the ghost of John Barrymore encourages
a television actor to take on the role of the melancholy Dane.
But it is also indicative of the sometimes very (metaphorically,
emotionally) messy atmosphere that can come from a course
in which students are pushed not just to think critically and
analytically, but also, creatively. There were class days in which
we had multiple failures, but courageous attempts. And then
there were days in which everything the students attempted came
together, and they were able to complete a complex task with
purpose and pride—giving them new abilities to take beyond my
classroom, and beyond school. Although the Shakespeare quote
I cited earlier implies a sort of artifice in how we approach life,
I believe it can also be viewed as a way in which individuals
can approach challenges, deftly displaying the nuanced dance
between creativity and problem solving.
Leah Kind teaches at the Illinois Mathematics and
Science Academy, where she has been a member of the
English Department since 2010. Prior to her work at
IMSA, she taught at North Central College in Naperville,
Illinois, and Northern Illinois University. She has a Ph.D.
in Victorian literature, and has published in the George
Eliot—George Henry Lewes Studies journal, as well as
completing numerous conference presentations on both
English and American literature and pedagogy. She is also
a coach of IMSA’s Speech and Debate Team. In 2014, she
earned her National Board Certification in English Language Arts.
Patricia Polacco and The Three C’s:
Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Curriculum
By Jerry D. Flack
Author’s Note
I have long been a fan of Patricia Polacco and the remarkable
picture books treasury she has created. In the 2004 Illinois
Association for Gifted Children Journal (IAGC), I wrote
extensively about Dr. Polacco’s life experiences and her body of
work up to that time. The focus for the 2004 IAGC Journal was
underserved gifted students. I particularly emphasized Patricia
Polacco’s connection to that theme in an article titled, “Patricia
Polacco: The Twice-Exceptional Student Who Succeeded.” In
the 11 years since the publication of that manuscript, the authorillustrator has significantly expanded her repertory of stories of
gifted yet learning disabled persons. She salutes the resiliency and
great productivity of highly creative students who face difficult
challenges and yet manage to succeed in remarkable ways. She
also continues to create picture books about great teachers who
guide gifted youths with learning disabilities. In this same timespan, Patricia Polacco has continued to build upon her favorite
themes of family love and the richness of diversity in a democratic
society. She has also charted new ground in biography, history,
and contemporary social issues. Patricia Polacco did not publish
her first picture book, Meteor! until she was 41 years old. She has
never looked back or slowed down. To date, she has published
well over 60 new titles, virtually all of which remain in print. A
re-examination of her body of work fits well with the themes of the
IAGC Journal 2015 – The Three C’s: Creativity, Critical Thinking,
and Curriculum. The major focus of this current tribute to Patricia
Polacco accentuates her post-2004 inventive accomplishments
as both artist and storyteller. Even so, special books such as The
Keeping Quilt, Thank you, Mr. Falker, and Pink and Say – are
revisited because of their direct connection to newer titles in
Dr. Polacco’s oeuvre. It is a special pleasure and a privilege to
introduce such an exceptionally creative artist to parents, teachers,
and mentors who themselves may have been students when the
IAGC Journal 2004 was first published. For this privilege, I
especially thank the extraordinary editor, Joan Franklin Smutny.
Jerry D. Flack, November 01, 2014
Introduction
Patricia Polacco is one of the most creative and prolific
author-illustrators in the field of children’s literature today. She
creates wonderful picture books about a seemingly endless
range of valuable topics in subject disciplines that are as diverse
as reading, writing, storytelling, history, art, science, and social
studies. She continues to champion multiculturalism, diversity, and
current events that are closely aligned to curriculum benchmarks
in today’s schools. Further, her characters demonstrate remarkable
critical thinking and problem solving skills that are very much in
keeping with today’s learning standards for gifted and talented
youths.
Patricia Polacco successfully mines her own experiences
with uneven intellectual development as springboards that
simultaneously honor the heroic educators presented in picture
books such as Thank you, Mr. Falker and Mr. Wayne’s Masterpiece.
In both of these highly autobiographical picture books, the authorillustrator reveals her terrible struggle with dyslexia as a student.
From her grandmother, Polacco learned how to be a wonderful
storyteller and on her own she developed her exceptional artistic
gifts. But childhood was still extremely painful for a shy girl
who was very gifted, but simply could not read. In her first
autobiography, Firetalking and in its newly-created update, Still
Firetalking (see below), Polacco describes her childhood anguish.
I had difficulty reading. Math was and still is almost impossible
for me. I knew that inside I was very smart, but at school I felt
stupid and slow (p. 13).
29
A crucial irony of Polacco’s life as a gifted student afflicted
Polacco, Patricia. Fiona’s Lace. New York: Simon & Schuster,
2014.
Family is a very special touchstone found in much of
Polacco’s writing. The Keeping Quilt is perhaps her most enduring
work as well as her penultimate family story. She digs deep into
her own heritage to fashion a chronicle about immigrants, family
solidarity, and changing times. The story begins when the artist’s
maternal great-grandmother emigrates from Russia to the United
States. Anna arrives in New York City with few possessions,
chiefly her dress and a red babushka (headscarf). As she adapts
to her new land and outgrows her clothes, her mother fashions
a quilt from her dress and fragments of clothing that belong to
her beloved family: Uncle Vladimir’s shirt; Aunt Havalah’s
nightdress. Anna’s babushka becomes the border of the quilt.
Through new generations the quilt becomes a symbol of love and
life in a single family. It serves as a tablecloth for dinners to begin
the Sabbath. Anna’s husband proposes to her while sitting on the
quilt spread out as a picnic blanket. It functions as their wedding
huppa and serves as the infant blanket into which they wrap their
first child. The family quilt serves again as a tablecloth for Anna’s
98th birthday celebration, and warms her as she spends her last
moments on earth. Down through each generation of Patricia
Polacco’s family the quilt is used for just such special occasions.
The artistic design of the book is unique. Until 2014, The
Keeping Quilt was Polacco’s only book with horizontal (as opposed
to vertical) cover and pages (perhaps to suggest the format of a
family scrapbook) and her characteristic bursts of color are saved
alone for the original quilt fabrics. All the people and events are
rendered in sepia tones, perfectly capturing the characteristic look
of family photographs of a century past. The Keeping Quilt is a
superb introduction to both family storytelling and genealogy for
children.
The original edition of The Keeping Quilt ended with the
heirloom quilt serving as a huppa or wedding tent for Polacco’s
marriage and as a soft, welcoming blanket for the birth of her
own first child, Traci Denise. The 25th Anniversary edition of The
Keeping Quilt begins three years later when the author wraps her
second child, baby son Steven John, in the family quilt. Traci
Denise and Steven John used the family quilt as a tablecloth for
birthday celebrations and as a cape for super heroes in their dressup play. Years pass until the quilt serves as a mourning blanket
when Patricia’s mother dies.
Polacco describes how she created the original edition of
The Keeping Quilt and how she took the quilt with her all across
America as she visited schools and shared the individual stories
each colorful icon the quilt reveals. Again, the family quilt served
as a huppa for both the author’s children’s marriages. As with
so many cloth heirlooms the keeping quilt became increasingly
fragile. Polacco’s daughter and son secretly took digital
photographs of every inch of the family quilt or talisman and
passed the photographs on to the author’s sister-in-law who with
her quilting group created an exact replica of the original family
treasure that was presented to Patricia on her birthday.
In a bittersweet passage Polacco relates how she placed the
original quilt in the hands of the curator of the Mazza Museum
at the University of Findlay in Findlay, Ohio where it is now
protected and viewed by thousands of museum visitors. The
new quilt continues to serve Polacco’s family at sad times when
a member of her family dies, a joyous wedding huppa, and best
of all, to serve as a swaddling cloth to warm the very newest
with accompanying limiting exceptionalities is that as an
elementary and middle school student she could not have read,
unaided, her most beloved books such as the Lincoln-inspired
Pink and Say and the more recent title, Just in Time, Abraham
Lincoln.
Patricia Polacco’s classic and more recent tales fit several key
categories that include family ties or genealogical stories, history
and biography, autobiography, children engulfed in horrific war
times, twice-exceptional (2e) students, great educators, humor and
tall tales, creative picture books of childhood joy, contemporary
social issues that address brave new territories, plus holiday stories
straight from the heart.
One of the great virtues of Polacco’s writings that accentuate
prejudice and hostile environments for today’s youths is that she
does not preach. She inspires. Indeed, a collection of Polacco’s
picture books that showcase great educators would serve a
graduate class in education as well as any college text. Polacco
reveals both the philosophies and every-day strategies of superb
teachers, administrators, and mentors. Moreover, she shows the
ways and means to combat both prejudice in general and bullies
in particular.
Autobiographies
Polacco, Patricia. Firetalking. Katonah, NY: Richard C. Owen
Publishers, Inc., 1994.
Polacco, Patricia. Still Firetalking. Katonah, NY: Richard C.
Owen Publishers, Inc., 2014.
Still Firetalking is an updated edition of Polacco’s photoautobiography Firetalking which is just one of 31 “Meet the
Author” volumes for young readers published by Richard C.
Owen Publishers, Inc. This valuable collection of author memoirs
includes similar profiles created by children’s literature super stars
such as David A. Adler, Lois Ehlert, Cynthia Rylant, and Jane
Yolen.
Amazingly, in just 31 pages, Patricia Polacco shares her
cherished family heritage, her childhood years in both Michigan
and California, her often troubled educational experiences, her
contemporary life in a small Michigan village, plus a special new
focus upon the most recent three generations of her family. She
also devotes considerable insights into her work habits, especially
sharing with readers how she creates a brand new book. Still
Firetalking is filled with past and current photographs of her
personal life and colorful images of the book covers of her classic
titles and her newest picture books.
Students who read and savor the verbal and pictorial content of
Still Firetalking will swear that Patricia Polacco wrote this book
especially for them. The author is a great storyteller and she uses
this gift to joyously welcome readers directly into her own life on
a very personal level. Reading Still Firetalking is akin to having
one’s own special day with a gifted and productive author and
artist.
Family or Genealogical Tales
Polacco, Patricia. The Keeping Quilt. New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1988, 2013.
Polacco, Patricia. The Blessing Cup. New York: Simon & Schuster,
2013.
30
generation of family.
As with the original, the 25th Anniversary edition of The
Keeping Quilt features beautiful and highly detailed charcoal
drawings of the artist’s family, accompanied by Chagall-like
drawings of flowers, animals, and silhouettes in brilliant colors.
The contrast is both symbolic and beautiful.
The Keeping Quilt begins with the consummate storytelling
voice and beautiful artwork of Polacco as she narrates the first
years after her great-grandmother Anna emigrated to America.
Although free of the vicious pogroms carried out by the czar’s
cruel soldiers, Anna still misses both her Russian homeland and
the absence of some of her most beloved extended family.
Now, more than a quarter century after Patricia Polacco
shared Anna’s immigrant story and the genesis of her family’s
treasured, storytelling quilt, she revisits Anna’s early years in a
glorious picture book, The Blessing Cup, that is both a prequel and
companion to The Keeping Quilt.
The Blessing Cup opens while Anna is a young girl living in
a small Jewish village in Russia along with her papa, mother, and
younger sister, Magda. Polacco weaves both history and Russian
Jewish observances into her narrative. At each Shabbat, Anna and
Magda ask their mother to tell them about the miraculous tea set
that is present at special family gatherings. Years before, Anna’s
mother Rachel received the storied tea set as a wedding gift from
her beloved Aunt Rebecca from faraway Minsk. An accompanying
note informed Rachel that the tea set is magical.
the 1989 earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area. The cup is
no longer whole, yet its division into two (equal) parts allows the
author-illustrator to share the treasured family artifact equally with
both her daughter and her son so that both of them can pass on the
powerful magic of the cup to their own families.
In an artistic design mode that is similar to The Keeping Quilt,
The Blessing Cup features meticulous details in charcoal with
brilliant uses of vivid colors reserved for the tea set as a whole, the
blessing cup, and Anna’s babushka.
Fittingly, Patricia Polacco won the Sidney Taylor Book Award
in 1988 for The Keeping Quilt and again received the same honor
in 2014 for The Blessing Cup. The Association of Jewish Libraries
bestows this honor upon the creator of the best book of the year
for juvenile readers.
Millions of readers have learned of the hardships as well as
the great joys of Patricia Polacco’s Russian and Ukrainian Jewish
maternal ancestors in her genealogically-based keepsake books,
especially The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup. Her readers
also know of her father’s Irish Christian roots from contemporary
stories such as My Ol’ Man and Rotten Richie and the Ultimate
Dare. However, not until now has this remarkable creator of
children’s literature shared a genealogical story celebrating her
Irish ancestors. Fiona’s Lace is a tribute to her paternal Irish greatgreat-grandmother Fiona.
Fiona’s story opens in a small, poor village, Glen Kerry, near
Limerick in Ireland. Fiona and her younger sister Ailish wait every
day for their Da’s homecoming from his job in the textile mill that
is the sole employer of Glen Kerry’s residents. Supper is a special
treat for two reasons. Their mother is considered to be the best
cook in their village and family meals are greatly enriched by the
grand family stories their Da shares with them nightly.
At her mother’s knee, Fiona learns how to make lace and she
quickly becomes known for her exceptional lace-making skills.
Hard times hit Glen Kerry when the mill closes. Fiona’s family
joins a great many others who must emigrate to America where
the adults pay back the cost of their passage as servants for rich
families. Fiona’s parents, Annie and Mick, choose to settle in
far-off Chicago, Illinois. The Atlantic crossing was especially
daunting and harrowing. Fiona passed the long days making what
seemed to be miles upon miles of fine Irish lace.
Having little material possessions or wealth, Fiona’s family
first lived in a small flat in what was then a Chicago tenement at
120 DeKonen Street. Both parents were forced to take on second
jobs to try to escape from permanent impoverishment. Fiona’s gift
of lace-making allows her to earn money from clothiers who used
intricate lace to adorn the fine clothing of rich women. All the
while, Fiona’s family yearns to purchase a farm in what seemed to
be a promise land: Michigan.
A disastrous Chicago fire threatens the family’s dream as well
as their very lives. In the smoke and confusion of the conflagration,
Fiona and her sister Ailish become separated from Mum and Da.
The girls escape the fire with little besides their lives, but that
“little” is crucial to the family legend of Fiona’s great gift and her
ingenuity and braveness. Fiona carries a bolt of lace in her hands
and her scissors draped around her neck. In a “Hansel and Gretel”
manner she leaves a trail made up of pieces of her finest lace for
her parents to follow to reunify the family. Even as the family is
reunited, Ailish cries that Fiona’s magnificent lace has been ruined
by dark smoke from the conflagration. But, Mum and Da cherish
the miracle of Fiona’s trail of lace and Da tells Fiona that future
Anyone who drinks from it has a blessing from God. They will
never know a day of hunger. Their lives will always have flavor.
They will know love and joy and they will never be poor.
Sadly, the counterpoint to the richness of Anna’s shared family
love and celebration of their faith is the viciousness of the czar’s
menacing soldiers that reaches its most critical point when all Jews
are ordered to leave Russia. Anna’s family begins the sad task of
packing their few possessions and begins an arduous trek that
will hopefully take them to America. During this forced exodus
from their homeland, Anna’s father becomes extremely exhausted
and seriously ill. A kindly and compassionate doctor provides a
safe haven for Anna’s family and begins the rehabilitation of her
father. He also uses his medical skills to fit Anna for eye glasses
and purchases the precious passage tickets and papers that will
allow her family to reach America.
Out of profound gratitude for all the things the doctor has
done for Anna’s family, her mother gives him the much beloved
tea set along with its special promise: to give those who drink from
its cups God’s blessings. She keeps just one cup from the set in
order that her own family can continue to share in the miracle of
drinking from the tea set.
Ultimately, Anna’s family reaches America where her father
immediately gains work as a tailor in New York City. Later, the
family moves to the small farming community of Union City,
Michigan (where Polacco now resides). Throughout all their lives,
Anna’s family continues to drink from the cup that brings God’s
blessings. The single cup from the original tea service becomes
known as the “Blessing Cup,” and like the family quilt it is passed
from mother to daughter on each recipient’s wedding day.
In an end note, Polacco recounts how her family has shared
in the miracle of the blessing cup as a priceless family heirloom
through several generations. She concludes with a bittersweet
note. The precious blessing cup was broken into two pieces during
31
generations will always keep the treasure of her soot-covered lace
as a testament to her remarkable problem solving skills.
In a final commentary, Polacco notes how true Da’s prophecy
turned out to be. Each new generation of the Hughes Family
continues to cherish Fiona’s lace.
The central events of Fiona’s Lace will capture the imagination
and respect of all. Younger readers may need help with terms such
as “spark” that doubles here for courtship and especially words
derived from Irish storytelling and fairy tales that include “Kissing
the Blarney,” “Sprookers,” “Pooka,” and “Banshee Screeches.”
The artist’s signature expressive faces and exuberant visual
storytelling are here, as always, for her fans. The Irish background
of Fiona’s Lace allows her to go further with the green hues of her
color palette than she has ever done previously.
who researched the real-life Crosswhite Family both before and
after the Civil War and who uses her research about Marshall,
Michigan’s critical role in the historical reality of the Underground
Railroad to enlighten present-day social studies students.
Just in Time, Abraham Lincoln is the author-illustrator’s first
book of history combined with fantasy, especially time travel.
Two middle-school boys, Michael and Derek, incorrectly believe
that a trip with their grandmother to a dusty, musty old Civil War
Museum in Harper’s Ferry will be boring. After all, isn’t history
just a lot of tiresome old stories? Moreover, what will they do to
kill the hours of boredom when their grandmother rules out any
use of their many electronic devices such as iPods, cell phones,
and video games? HISTORY IS BORING Michael and Derek
proclaim. But, they are in for a surprise.
After a night spent aboard an Amtrak Limited, Michael,
Derek, and their Grandmother disembark at Harper’s Ferry, West
Virginia and make their way to a Civil War Museum headed by
a most unusual director. He shows the boys both Confederate
and Union soldier uniforms, historic photographs by Mathew
Brady, and some of the weapons of war such as guns, canons,
bayonets, and cannonballs. Mr. Portufoy, the museum’s curator,
escorts the boys to a special room where they can actually try on
genuine soldier uniforms from the year 1862. Once outfitted, the
boys are escorted through a special museum door and everything
changes. They are no longer contemporary youths and they are
most definitely not in an old, dusty museum. Michael and Derek
have traveled back in time to Antietam one day after the bloodiest
battle of the Civil War. In addition to their Union Blue uniforms
they have but one other possession, a gold watch given to them by
Mr. Portufoy.
They meet Mathew Brady, General George McClellan, and
Abraham Lincoln who have come to Antietam to mark a major
victory for the Union Army. The boys experience the horror of the
battle field that had so recently been nothing more than pastoral
acres of corn. After the Battle of Antietam 23,000 soldiers, many
just boys, lay dead or wounded. In the narrative, it is crucial to the
success of the time travel that the boys return to Harper’s Ferry
at a given hour. To fail to do so will place their very lives in great
jeopardy. They need to pass through enemy lines to be safe. Their
rush to safety is exhilarating.
A crucial part of the story also has the boys in a face-to-face
discussion with Lincoln who sadly wonders if he can ever win the
war and save the Union. Although cautioned by Mr. Portufoy not
to reveal anything of their present-day lives, Derek is so moved by
President Lincoln’s self doubts that he shares his lucky penny with
Lincoln’s portrait upon it as well as the date that amazes Lincoln:
2007. Michael also tells Mr. Lincoln that a black man will one day
be president of a unified nation.
In an afterword, Polacco, discusses in some detail the critical
importance of the horrific battle of Antietam. She outlines the
battle strategy of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and the
supposed “winning” plan of action waged by General McClellan.
Her vivid artwork is action-packed, yet also somber in the face
of such an enormous loss of life among the combatants of both
armies. She demonstrates special skill in her portrayal of Abraham
Lincoln. He evidences both compassion for the young boys on
the battlefield as well as melancholy feelings about his awesome
responsibility to the Union and to history.
Clara and Davie opens on a chilly and snowy Christmas Day
in 1821 when Clara Barton was born on her family’s farm in North
History, Historical Fiction and Biography
Polacco, Patricia. January’s Sparrow. New York: Philomel Books,
2009.
Polacco, Patricia. Just in Time, Abraham Lincoln. G. P. Putnam’s
Sons, 2011.
Polacco, Patricia. Clara and Davie. New York: Scholastic Books,
2014.
January’s Sparrow, at 94 pages, is Patricia Polacco’s
longest picture book and it is one of her greatest achievements
in the genre of historical fiction. It is also a perfect companion
to her memorable and enduring Civil War story, Pink and Say
(see below). Whereas Pink and Say chronicles the lives of two
teenage soldiers set in the deep South Confederacy during the
Civil War (1861-1865), January’s Sparrow begins in 1847
and chiefly chronicles the lives of a single family of slaves, the
Crosswhites, who flee brutal servitude in Kentucky and travel
to freedom on the Underground Railroad. January’s Sparrow is
chiefly narrated by Sadie, the youngest member of the Crosswhite
Family. By revealing a harrowing story through the eyes of the
youngest member of a runaway slave family, the author-illustrator
personalizes the heroic story for young readers. Here is no dry
historical recitation of the facts of how the Underground Railroad
operated; rather, it is a brave account of one slave family as
courageous “passengers” bound for freedom in Canada. The
depth of emotions the Crosswhites experience ranges from the
unbearable cruelty of owners and masters of slaves in Kentucky to
the joys of living free in Marshall, Michigan where former slaves
can work openly, their children may attend public schools, and
even have white children as best friends. Yet, there is the everpresent specter of abominably cruel slave catchers. Rarely have
Polacco’s words and images been more powerful and dramatic.
The narration and dialogue are riveting and the over-size visual
spreads have an intense immediacy.
As with Pink and Say, the virtues and evils of white people as
well as the courage of African Americans are detailed. Michigan
was a free state at the time the plot of January’s Sparrow unfolds,
but federal laws then dictated that runaway slaves could be brutally
reclaimed from free states. Moreover, white citizens who came to
the rescue of runaway slaves faced stiff financial penalties. Slave
owners believed white people who helped escaping Southern
blacks were guilty of aiding and abetting the theft of their
“property.”
Polacco gives credit to the truth of this harrowing saga to
attorney and middle-school teacher Mary McCafferty Douglass
32
Oxford, Massachusetts. She was the youngest of her parents’ five
children. Dolly and Sally Barton were her two older sisters and her
two older brothers were Stephen and Davie. From the beginning,
a unique bond was fused between the baby Clara and her loving
brother Davie. Davie took charge of the young Clara’s education
and she adored his attention. Davie taught Clara how to climb
trees, sit bareback on a horse, chase summer fireflies, and play in
the winter snow. He taught her to love animals and all the beauty
the natural world offered such as meadows of wildflowers.
Early in her life Clara discovered that she had both a rare gift
for caring for all the farm animals plus a special way with flowers
and all the beauty of the natural world. She adored Davie and
loved to help with farm chores in both the barn and in the garden.
However, as well as her gift for healing and caring for God’s
creatures, she also learned in her earliest years that she could not
enunciate words as others did. Clara had a lisp. When Clara meant
to say horse the resulting sound came forth as “horth.”
Davie was initially Clara’s only champion. Her older sisters
cruelly punished her because they believed her lisp was a direct
result of being lazy. The ridicule young Clara suffered even
from members of her own family caused her to become ever
more reclusive except for her devotion to Davie. He recognized
that despite or regardless of her lisp, Clara was an extraordinary
miracle worker with animals. She could nurture and heal infant
and sick animals like no other person.
When Clara attained school age, she was made to go to the
local school by her older sisters. There, Clara was ridiculed and
tormented whenever she tried to speak. Davie once again came to
Clara’s rescue. He convinced their Pa that Clara should be home
schooled. With her home as her classroom, she quickly became
gifted in reading, mathematics, science, and geography. As Clara
grew older, an awareness of the miraculous skills she possessed
extended beyond her family. She healed and cared for both humans
and animals. Her gardens were the envy of neighbors. She became
a self-taught healer by reading medical books she borrowed from
the town library.
The most dramatic incident in her childhood was when her
beloved brother Davie broke both of his legs in a fall. Clara
understood more than anyone else the crucial steps to firstresponse healing. The local physician marveled at the care she had
given her critically injured brother. She also knew that even though
Doc Reynolds set Davie’s broken limbs, he confided in their Pa
that Davie’s chances for survival were slim. For the succeeding
days, weeks, and months through three long years, Clara tended to
Davie’s care. Miraculously, she healed Davie to the point where
he could walk on his own again. Upon taking his first steps, Davie
expressed his gratitude and told young Clara that she would one
day become a very great lady.
In her ending “Author’s Note,” Polacco relates just how
correct Davie’s prediction was to become. Clara was a Civil War
nurse known as “The Angel of the Battlefield.” She became a great
healer and a spokeswoman for expert medical care for people all
over the world. In 1881, Clara founded the American Red Cross.
In her closing words, the author-illustrator of Clara and Davie
relates her own family connection to Clara and Davie Barton.
With her signature gift for storytelling, Patricia Polacco writes
of a brother and sister relationship that is tender and heartwarming
for young readers to enjoy. She again reveals the story of how
courageous people with disabilities can ultimately triumph. Her
illustrations capture the beauty of New England, especially rural
scenes in the nineteenth century; her portrayal of the four seasons
is magnificent. Verbally and visually, Patricia Polacco once again
shares history with readers that they will not soon forget. Clara
and Davie is a truly special book.
Children Engulfed in War
Polacco, Patricia. Pink and Say. New York: Philomel Books, 1994.
Polacco, Patricia. The Butterfly. New York: Philomel Books, 2000.
Polacco has written two extraordinarily powerful picture books
about innocent children who are caught up in the terrible events
of cruel wars. Pink and Say is based upon still another story from
Polacco’s own rich family heritage, but it holds none of the joy for
life found in such books as The Bee Tree or My Ol’ Man. Indeed,
it is perhaps the bleakest, yet the most powerful book she has ever
created. Two youths, Sheldon Russell Curtis or Say (Polacco’s
great-great grandfather) and Pinkus (“Pink”) Aylee, an AfricanAmerican ex-slave, are both 15-year-old Union Army soldiers
separated from their units in rural Georgia. Say has been left for
dead when he is rescued by Pinkus and taken to the latter’s home
to be cared for by his mother, Moe Moe Bay. A blessedly peaceful
interlude allows Say to recuperate as Pink (who, contrary to the
laws of the time, had been taught to read by his master) reads
to him and Moe Moe Bay from the Bible. Say is embarrassed to
be illiterate, but he is proud of the fact that he personally shook
the hand of Abraham Lincoln just prior to the Battle of Bull Run.
Both Moe Moe Bay and Pink are privileged to touch the hand
that shook the hand of Mr. Lincoln. Their tranquility is quickly
shattered when Confederate marauders murder Moe Moe Bay
and Pink and Say are captured and sent to Andersonville, the
notorious Confederate Civil War prison. Because he is black,
Pink is hanged immediately. Although nearly half the prisoners
at Andersonville died of starvation or infectious diseases, Say
miraculously survives and returns to his family farm in Ohio at
the end of the war. He passes the story of Pink and Moe Moe Bay
on to his family, always with a handshake so that his progeny can
touch the hand that shook the hand of Mr. Lincoln just as Pink and
Moe Moe Bay did. Polacco’s art has never been stronger nor her
storytelling as emotionally powerful as it is in Pink and Say. The
book is a masterpiece that personalizes history, racism, and the
horrors of war in a manner of excellence rarely seen in the world
of children’s picture books.
The Butterfly is cut from the same cloth as Pink and Say. It is
a tragic story, drawn once again from Polacco’s extended family
background that tells of young people caught up in the cruelty of
wars they did not themselves make. The gender, age, and specific
wars are changed, but the themes of youthful terror, courage, and
friendship in times of darkness in the world remain the same. The
Butterfly is set in France during the Nazi occupation of World War
II. Young Monique awakens one night to see what first appears to
be an apparition sitting at the foot of her bed, but is in reality a girl
her own age who has been secreted away in the family’s basement
by Monique’s mother because she and her parents are Jews in a
dark time when to be discovered would mean almost certain death.
The ghostly pale little girl, Sevrine, and Monique become friends
and playmates, but are young and innocent enough to be unaware
of the dangers of being seen by strangers. One night a neighbor
does spy the two girls playing in light cast by an open window,
an event that necessitates the frantic escape of Sevrine and her
family from Monique’s basement. Both the slow, idyllic hours of
33
The Junkyard Wonders is based on events that the young
Patricia Barber (Polacco) experienced in a Michigan elementary
school. “Special Students” reported to Room 206 on the very first
day of school. Cruel and insensitive bullies gave Room 206 a
derisive label. Room 206 was the school’s “Junkyard.” Incredibly,
the “special” kids in Room 206 were blessed with a wonderful,
life-affirming teacher, Mrs. Peterson. On the very first day of
school, Mrs. Peterson reads aloud the multiple definitions of
“Genius” from a mammoth dictionary. She exhorts her students
to copy these definitions (which she writes on the chalk board), to
review them daily, and to memorize the true meanings of being a
genius.
Mrs. Peterson is a remarkable teacher with a treasure chest
filled with creative teaching strategies that daily build the pride
and self-esteem of each student and simultaneously foster group
cohesiveness. Despite repeated teasing and bullying by other
students, Mrs. Peterson transforms the “Junkyard Kids” into the
“Junkyard Wonders.”
One special day, Mrs. Peterson takes her class on a field trip
to the town’s real junkyard. There, she encourages her students to
find other people’s cast-offs which the “Junkyard Wonders” can
refashion as brand new treasures: art sculptures, simple machines,
a quirky musical machine, and a model airplane that needs love,
care, and a bright new beginning. Mrs. Peterson counsels her
students about the real meaning of their field trip. “Forget what the
object was…imagine what it could be!”
Back in their classroom, the students fashion science fair-type
projects that ultimately dazzle the tormentors and bullies in their
school. Tragedy greatly impacts these special students of Room
206, but with the loving guidance of Mrs. Peterson, the “Junkyard
Wonders” ultimately triumph.
In a final heartwarming note, Polacco takes readers 25 years
beyond the special year of the “Junkyard Wonders” in order to
reveal just how uniquely special these cast-off youths became in
their adult lives.
childhood play and the frantic escape of the Jewish family are well
paced in Polacco’s accomplished storytelling. One example of the
fine artwork and superb design of the book is evidenced on the
book’s cover jacket. The front cover, created in delicate colors,
reveals an innocent child, graceful irises, and a beautiful butterfly,
but they give way to the all-consuming Nazi flag in blood-red and
black which engulfs the back cover depicting in cruel grays and
browns the menacing face of an enemy soldier. The author’s notes
provide revealing information about the French Resistance as well
as her family connection to the story. She discloses that her greataunt Marcelle Solliliage, Monique’s mother, was a member of the
French underground. She also relates that Sevrine survived the
Holocaust (although tragically her parents did not) by successfully
escaping to Switzerland and then moving on to England for the
remainder of the war. Today, she lives in Israel and remains friends
with Polacco’s aunt, the child Monique in the story.
Exceptional Children
Polacco, Patricia. The Lemonade Club. New York: Philomel
Books, 2007.
Polacco, Patricia. The Junkyard Wonders. New York: Philomel
Books, 2010.
The fifth-grade year begins joyously for best friends, Traci
and Marilyn. They are inseparable both in school and in nonschool explorations. They also are very fortunate to have a loving
and compassionate teacher, Miss Wichelman, who greatly values
every single student in her classroom. She encourages her students
to have hopes and dreams: “If you dream it…then you can BE it!”
She gives her students extra-tart lemons, but teaches them how
to make lemonade that is sweet and delicious. Traci and Marilyn
do exhibit teasing and bullying from older students, but they
resolutely stand shoulder-to-shoulder in a show of mutual support.
As the school years moves onward both anxiety and sadness
impact the lives of Polacco’s two fifth-grade heroines. Marilyn
begins to lose weight and energy and Miss Wichelman has the
sad duty to inform her class that “Marilyn has cancer…leukemia.”
But, there is hope. Marilyn undergoes chemotherapy to kill the
cancer cells in her body.
In a wonder-filled antidote to teasing and bullying, Miss
Wichelman’s entire class demonstrates extraordinary love and
support for Marilyn when she returns to school following her
chemotherapy regimen. ALL of Miss Wichelman’s students shave
their heads so that Marilyn will not feel alone. Marilyn’s teacher
and classmates have taken sour lemons and have made sweet
lemonade. A particularly strong bonding – The Lemonade Club –
develops when Miss Wichelman discovers that she also has cancer
just prior to her impending marriage.
Patricia Polacco provides an afterword – complete with
photographs – that is especially joyful and life- affirming. Her
message is emphatic! With hope, love, and faith everyone can
make lemonade.
Long before “mainstreaming” was both a philosophy and
a school practice let alone a recognizable name, students who
exhibited a plethora of disabilities were grouped together in
“Special” classes where they remained all day and all year long.
Moreover, such students were thus categorized because of their
observable disabilities. The gifts and talents of the special students
were almost always totally ignored.
Extraordinary Teachers
Polacco, Patricia. Thank you, Mr. Falker. New York: Philomel
Books, 1998.
Polacco, Patricia. The Art of Miss Chew. New York: G. P. Putnam’s
Sons, 2012.
Polacco, Patricia. Mr. Wayne’s Masterpiece. New York: G.P.
Putnam’s Sons, 2014.
Thank you, Mr. Falker is one of Polacco’s grandest salutes
to teachers and their enormous potential to change the lives of
students. As previously noted, the book is autobiographical. The
core theme that knowledge is sweet and that it is found in the pages
of books is taken from her earlier work, The Bee Tree. Trisha loves
school at first, but as reading becomes more critical for academic
success with the passing grades, she falls farther and farther
behind her peers because of her dyslexia. Classmates laugh at her
inability to read as Trisha cries and wishes she were back in the
loving and accepting arms of her grandmother. When she moves
to a new state and school, her hopes soar that all will be different
and that she will be able to read letters and numbers just as all
the other children do. But, her dreams are soon dashed and she is
more miserable than ever. Then, in fifth grade, the school’s newest
teacher arrives and recognizes both Trisha’s prodigious artistic
34
gifts as well as her learning disabilities. Mr. Falker convinces her
that she is not dumb and with the help of a reading specialist, he
turns her life around. The book is dedicated to the real Mr. Falker
(George Felker, 1933-1998) whom Polacco met again 30 years
after her wonderful school year as his pupil. Polacco’s paintings
brilliantly convey anticipation, joy, anguish, and a sense of wonder
on the faces of Trisha and Mr. Falker. Thank you, Mr. Falker is
a compassionate and triumphant book that should be required
reading in every program for prospective teachers just as it should
be read aloud to all students every school year.
The Art of Miss Chew is another of Patricia Polacco’s picture
book tributes to superb educators. The author/artist also signals
her legions of fans that bullying behaviors are not the exclusive
province of students. Even teachers can be bullies!
Trisha spends a summer vacation in Michigan with her artist
grandmother. It is a very special time in the heroine’s young life.
She comes to know more than ever that she wants to become an
artist. The time of summer dreams fades and Trisha returns to her
California middle school to face a double blow. She receives a
failing grade on her first timed test. Her learning disability again
surfaces to sink her hopes and dreams. Trisha also learns that her
new school has no classes in art.
Mr. Donovan, Trisha’s classroom teacher, recognizes Trisha as
a twice-exceptional gifted student. He accommodates her learning
disabilities by giving her untimed tests and he petitions the high
school art teacher, Miss Chew, to cultivate Trisha’s artistic gifts
in special twice-weekly classes. From Miss Chew Trisha learns a
whole new language – the language of art (e.g., negative space).
Trisha’s confidence rises. Thanks to Miss Chew’s remarkable
teaching and mentoring, Trisha’s innate artistic talent blossoms.
And Mr. Donovan’s classroom adaptations and accommodations
to combat Trisha’s dyslexia greatly expand her reading power and
academic success.
All too soon, however, Trisha’s school year is placed in
great jeopardy. Mr. Donovan must take a leave of absence when
his father in Ireland suddenly dies and he is replaced by Mrs.
Spaulding, a substitute teacher, who is a first-class bully. First, she
eliminates all un-timed tests and Trisha is once again faced with
repeated academic failures. Further, Mrs. Spaulding believes that
no failing student should be allowed to waste time in high school
art classes. She promises to put a stop to Trisha’s classes with Miss
Chew and initiates a campaign to do just that.
Fortunately, Mrs. Spaulding has underestimated Miss Chew’s
dedication to her students. Indeed, Trisha is invited to submit her
original art work to the Spring Art Show. Further, Mr. Donovan
returns and both he and Miss Chew secure for Trisha the special
teaching and guidance she needs to succeed in school academically.
Polacco closes this fine teacher tribute by noting that for Trisha
(Polacco’s alter ego) her initial participation in the Spring Art
Show was one of the defining moments of her life.
Mr. Wayne’s Masterpiece joins the growing Patricia Polacco
library of picture books that feature great teachers, especially
those who had a profoundly positive impact on the author in her
formative K-12 school years. Polacco’s heroic educators change
the lives of the students they teach. Mr. Wayne joins Mr. Falker
and Miss Chew in battling less enlightened educators who are
short-sighted and isolate or even punish students with learning
disabilities who are simultaneously gifted in non-academic
disciplines such as drama, art, and dance.
Mr. Wayne’s Masterpiece salutes two teachers. Trisha loves
her language arts teacher, Mr. Tranchina, yet she is mortified when
he asks his students to read their compositions aloud before the
entire class. Patricia, with the guidance and tutoring of teachers
such as Mr. Falker and Miss Chew, has learned to love reading
and writing but she suffers from severe stage fright. “Mr. T”
understands Patricia’s fear of public speaking and introduces her
to the school’s drama teacher, Mr. Wayne, who is busily directing
his class in a public performance of his original play. Made aware
of Trisha’s formidable artistic gifts, Mr. Wayne invites her to use
her creativity and talent to paint the scenery flats for the class play.
Trisha’s mother is excited for her daughter. She loves
performing in plays herself. However, this encouragement only
makes the young heroine’s school-life emotions more precarious.
Her stage fright is an embarrassment during drama class and now
she is going to disappoint her beloved mother who sees Trisha’s
participation in a school drama as a “cure” for her shyness.
Mr. Wayne’s “masterpiece” is an original play titled Musette in
the Snow Garden. As Patricia paints the scenery flats for Musette,
she listens carefully to the on-stage actors rehearse their lines. In
a short time, Trisha has learned all the play’s speaking parts. Even
though she is not a cast member of the class drama, she grows to
love the creative dramatics exercises Mr. Wayne uses with all his
students. When Mr. Wayne eventually discovers that Patricia has
memorized every single line of the play, he gives her the brand
new responsibility of being the cast prompter.
Disaster surfaces when the family of Trisha’s classmate who
plays the lead role of Musette moves. Suddenly, Mr. Wayne has
to find another actress to play the heroine of his “masterpiece.”
Both he and Trisha’s classmate try to persuade her to fill the
now vacant starring role. Again, the specter of Trisha’s terror of
speaking or acting for a real audience arises. One-to-one, Mr.
Wayne patiently coaches and encourages Patricia to overcome her
great fear of speaking in front of others. Her beloved mother also
helps her prepare for the drama class opening night. The school’s
auditorium is no longer vacant. Every seat is occupied. When
her opening lines surface, Mr. Wayne gently pushes Patricia onto
center stage with the positive words, “Remember, my Musette, let
the play take you.”
Providentially, Trisha speaks Musette’s opening lines. She
forgets her fears and she is on fire. She is no longer the stageshy Musette. She is the sensational Musette. The drama rapidly
unfolds and Trisha and her classmates receive a standing ovation
and multiple curtain calls. When the final bows are taken and
the stage curtains are closed, Mr. Wayne approaches Trisha. He
reminds her that he told the drama class that they were performing
his masterpiece, Musette in the Snow Garden. Then, he surprises
Patricia by noting that he now has a brand new masterpiece. “It
is you, Patricia. You showed courage and grace. You stood up to
your fears! Tonight, you are my masterpiece.”
In her afterword, Dr. Polacco notes that Mr. Wayne’s
confidence in her stage presence has served her well all the rest
of her life. Today, as a famous creator of children’s literature, she
speaks to auditoriums filled with hundreds, even thousands, of
students and teachers.
The illustrations that chronicle the story of Trisha’s fears and
how she overcame them are brilliantly colorful and ebulliently
portray the story’s heroine, her drama class, and her hero, Mr.
Wayne.
With Mr. Wayne’s Masterpiece, Patricia Polacco sends forth a
message of hope and courage to all students who suffer the fears
35
of public speaking and performances. It is a perfect formula for
enhancing self confidence.
One day, Gramma and Paige go for a walk and meet up with
a large round man who sells colorful balloons filled with helium.
Paige joyously chooses a large red balloon which comes with a
string that she ties to Bun Bun. She lets Bun Bun and the balloon
sail to the ceiling when she releases them in Gramma’s house. But
Gramma warns her not to release Bun Bun and the big red balloon
outside the house or they may float far, far away. Inevitably, this is
exactly what happens and Paige is heartbroken that Bun Bun has
sailed away beyond her vision, perhaps even up to the stars.
Of course, no tale so tender ends on a sad note. Jubilantly,
a somewhat frazzled and soggy Bun Bun returns to Gramma’s
weeping willow tree where it is snagged on a low branch. Gramma
rescues Bun Bun and dries and mends a few scars that result from
the bunny’s grand adventure in the sky. When Paige awakens the
following morning, she and Bun Bun are reunited. Every living
thing in Gramma’s home is thrilled with the special reunion. Even
the homey goldfish behaves excitedly.
The illustrations are wonderfully colorful and ebullient. The
animals and Bun Bun seem to all be tumbling. The motion in the
richly hued spreads are especially fitting to accompany the story
the artist narrates. With the exception of Bun Bun’s unplanned
solo flight into adventure, every image radiates the great happiness
that sometimes only children, kitties, dogs, a pet squirrel, and a
lively goldfish can totally appreciate.
Stories of Young Childhood Joy
Polacco, Patricia. G is for Goat. New York: Puffin Books, 2006.
Polacco, Patricia. Bun Bun Button. New York: G.P. Putnam’s
Sons, 2011.
G is for Goat is a rollicking and delightful look at the
celebration of goat keeping and these special creatures, especially
in their world of playfulness. The text is simple, as exemplified by
the letters “J” and “K.”
J is for Jump,
What kids do with such joy.
Kids are goat children
Like our girls and boys.
With her trademark colorful folk art of girls in peasant clothes
and animals that frolic and gambol on her home farm, Polacco
introduces children to the amazing world of goats – kids, nannies,
and billys, Nubian and other breeds. The author-illustrator
highlights not just the lives of goats but many other farm and
wild creatures from good-humored rabbits to singing blue birds to
slow-waddling ducks. Readers learn that goats do not always mind
their “P” s and “Q” s.
Laugh-Out-Loud Stories
Polacco, Patricia. The Graves Family. New York: Philomel Books,
2003.
P is for Push, when goats just won’t go.
Q is for Quit when goats just say no.
Polacco, Patricia. The Graves Family Goes Camping. New York:
Philomel Books, 2005.
An end note reveals that Patricia Polacco shares her current
Union City, Michigan homestead with a family of goats.
The farcical adventures of the Graves Family represent two of
Patricia Polacco’s funniest stories. These twin volumes describe
the bizarre Graves family who move to Union City, Michigan in
an attempt (so far fruitless) to find an accepting community in
which to live and be happy.
The vast majority of the author’s holiday books focus upon the
winter holidays of Hanukkah and Christmas. However, Polacco’s
The Graves Family is a perfect book to celebrate Halloween and
The Graves Family Goes Camping is a send-up of fireworks and
the Fourth of July.
The Graves Family is a slightly scary and delightfully
gruesome picture book that is loads of fun. Even as it produces
giggles and chills, the author provides a life lesson or moral to
accompany her trademark storytelling and colorful, high-spirited
artwork. Here the message is that differences are more than just
OK; they are a cause for rejoicing. One dark night Doug and
Shalleaux Graves (Read “Dug” and “Shallow” Graves!) arrive
in Union City with their five children. The first thing they do is
paint the old house in which they take up residence blood red on
the outside and pitch black on the inside. Dr. Graves, an amateur
entomologist, allows his rare collection of spiders from around
the world to happily roam free throughout the household. Another
family pet is Phoebe, a Venus flytrap with an insatiable appetite.
The nearest neighbor children, Sara and Seth Miller, attempt
to welcome the Graves Family, especially son Hieronymus, to
Union City, but acclimation to their new home town is not easy
for the family Graves. Mrs. Graves’ gastronomic oddities and her
disastrous and riotous initial appearance at the Union City Garden
Few creators of picture books for young readers have
celebrated the bonds between young children and grandparents as
often and as well as Patricia Polacco. Some of her finest works such
as When Lightning Comes in a Jar and Thunder Cake celebrate the
very special appeal of inter-generational stories. Bun Bun Button
is a simple story of the love between a very wise grandmother
and her granddaughter – Paige Elizabeth Darling – that soars and
will be loved by preschool children in many repeated readings.
Many of the grandparents in Polacco’s intergenerational stories
are ever so slightly eccentric and their grandchildren love them all
the more for being so.
Paige Elizabeth Darling revels in the times she spends with
Gramma, whether they are baking cookies, making beds, or
feeding the kitties and dogs. The most special of happenings occurs
when Paige, Gramma, and Gramma’s menagerie of animals – five
kitties, two dogs, a pet squirrel – all gather together in Gramma’s
big blue overstuffed armchair, and cuddle and read. Even a lively
goldfish joyously watches these precious events from the security
of his watery bowl. Indeed, Old Blue Chair is a character in the
story. It soaks up so much love from all who sit in it that it is a
secret miracle.
One cheerful night Gramma goes to her calico chest and
fashions a plush toy bunny that she places beside Paige’s pillow
as the child sleeps. Paige is ecstatic when she discovers her new
love that she quickly names “Bun Bun Button.” Gramma has even
created a pocket in one of Bun Bun’s ears that is just the perfect
size for Paige to insert a finger so she can hold and protect her
newly beloved bunny, even as she sleeps at night.
36
Club Tea party alarms some villagers. Dr. Graves’ hair-growing
tonic made from hair shed by house cats is yet another oddity.
Then, Christopher Joel, the celebrated editor of the phenomenally
successful magazine, Ladies Lovely Home Companion, arrives in
town and chaos reigns supreme. The pace of the book is frenetic
and every illustration is a comic delight as is the hilarious story
line. This is a slapstick picture book that is very funny, ingeniously
illustrated, and with the added benefit of a worthy message to
savor. The continuing adventures of the Graves Family send them
on a camping trip that is filled with most unusual creatures and
decidedly weird scenery. To complicate matters, the citizens of
Union City are counting on Dr. Graves to stage the Fourth of July
fireworks for their village. Can the family survive their adventures?
Can Dr. Graves still stage the summer holiday pyrotechnics? The
Graves Family is Patricia Polacco’s version of Charles Addams’
deliciously macabre New Yorker magazine cartoons of the Addams
Family (Gomez, Morticia, Lurch, Thing) of decades past. Both
visits with the Graves Family are among Polacco’s most garish
artistic send-ups.
home and Grandfather is busy making the farm ready for selling.
The new person in their lives is a large, older woman named Kay
Lamity which Richie quickly notes sounds just like “Calamity”
and that means “Disaster.” To make matters even more saddening
for Trisha and Richie’s final Christmas at the family farm, they
have no ready money to spend for holiday gifts. Kay Lamity, to
their astonishment, echoes the exact same sentiment that their
beloved grandmother always used. “You know, they’s gifts, and
they’s gifts.” The former are tantalizing presents such as dolls and
train sets seen in shop windows and that come with dollar signs.
The latter – presents from the heart – are gifts of love that flow
from hearts left wide open and cost nothing in their purchase.
Is “Calamity” just a very large woman with a great big heart to
match or is she a genuine Christmas miracle? Polacco leaves
young, wide-eyed readers the special privilege of drawing their
own conclusions.
The presence of a warm, early 1950s pastoral Michigan
Christmas is the nostalgic setting for Gifts of the Heart. There are
snow drifts and starry nights on the farm and colorful parades and
visits from Santa Claus in the nearby rural village. This lovely
pean to childhood anticipation and the true meaning of giving
holiday love to others is a beautiful new entry in the Polacco
Hanukkah and Christmas library that includes such other gems
as The Trees of the Dancing Goats, Welcome Comfort, and An
Orange for Frankie.
Holiday Stories
Polacco, Patricia. Christmas Tapestry. New York: Philomel
Books, 2002.
Polacco, Patricia. Gifts of the Heart. New York: G. P. Putnam’s
Sons, 2013.
Multiculturalism and New Directions
A unique wall hanging more than 60 years old brings forth
miracle upon miracle in Christmas Tapestry, Polacco’s lovely
ecumenical homily joining Christmas and Hanukkah and Christians
and Jews in a story of supreme faith. Nothing has gone as Jonathan
Jefferson Weeks had hoped for and planned. His Baptist minister
father has been transferred from a flourishing Memphis church to
a run-down Detroit parish. Still, after months of hard work, the
family and the growing congregation finally have the old church
ready for a beautiful Christmas week when a terrible winter storm
strikes and severely damages the sacristy wall where the image of
Jesus was to be painted in time for Christmas services. On what
first appears to be an ill-fated bus trip to inner-city Detroit to collect
Christmas decorations for the church, Jonathan and his father
discover an exquisite hand-woven tapestry that will perfectly
camouflage the damaged part of the church wall. Waiting at a bus
stop in the freezing cold, they meet and befriend a lonely, elderly
Jewish woman who shares her hot tea and cookies with them. The
chain of events that unfolds would be beyond belief except for the
fact that Polacco adds an afterword telling readers of two different
ministers who document the same story 30 years apart. She has
only changed the location to her native Michigan. Both Christmas
and Hanukkah are about miracles and rarely has such an interfaith holiday story been so poignantly beautiful. Polacco creates
magic with snow in her paintings and in the well-nigh holy faces
of the characters. The tapestry itself seems to come to life in her
exquisite paintings. Christmas Tapestry is a remembrance of life,
love, sharing, and faith. It’s astonishing!
It is going to be a bittersweet Christmas for Trisha and Richie.
Their beloved grandmother, their Babushka, has died and their
grandfather is going to sell the farm that has been the setting for
so many previous Hanukkah and Christmas holiday celebrations
of love. It will be their final Christmas at the farm. There is also a
strange, new person who cooks, cleans house, and cares for them
as their mother has very long days of work a lengthy distance from
Polacco, Patricia. Bully. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2012.
Polacco, Patricia. In Our Mothers’ House. New York: Philomel
Books, 2009.
Over the past decade or more, the hugely popular Patricia
Polacco has vigorously battled student and adult bullying in her
hundreds of school visits and in her colorful and dramatic picture
books that well serve students of all ages and grade levels. Two
of her most recent books are devoted to multiculturalism, the
cruelty of bullying and prejudice, plus the continued celebrations
of family and diversity.
Lyla, the gifted protagonist of Bully, seemingly has it all.
She is pretty, academically talented, and a superb gymnast, but
she faces a problem virtually all students dread. Her family has
recently moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and Lyla must
begin her sixth-grade year in a brand new school. She is quickly
befriended by Jamie, “a short round boy with rosy cheeks and
a big smile,” who is also a brand new student. Lyla and Jamie
quickly realize that their new school is ruled by cliques that are
most obvious in the “pecking order” of lunch room seating. The
“geeks” and “nerds” eat together as do the rowdy athletes. The
apex of this social strata consists of the school’s three cheerleaders,
Gage, Kenyon, and Maeve, who daily occupy the Celebrity Table.
Gage is also used to winning all the important academic prizes
among her classmates.
Time passes and Jamie and Lyla become fast friends
who spend hours together with Lyla’s younger brother, Jack,
discovering their new city and their common interests. Jamie is a
technology whiz kid who helps Lyla and Jack program brand new
cell phones and laptop computers plus create their own individual
Facebook pages.
Lyla soon eclipses Gage as the sixth grade’s shining academic
star at the same time that she is elevated to the fourth spot on
37
the school’s cheerleading squad. She is happy to be invited
to join the most charmed social circle in the school, but she is
concerned about leaving Jamie behind. She becomes even more
suspicious of the rightness of her fit with the Celebrity Table trio
when she discovers that her fellow cheerleaders – Gage, Kenyon,
and Maeve – spend much out-of-school time posting vicious and
cruel verbal and visual insults on the walls of the Facebook pages
of their less popular classmates. Worse, the trio of the school’s
most popular girls exercise their electronic or online bullying and
teasing anonymously and with complete impunity.
The plot does thicken as the school year progresses and Lyla
dares to leave the Celebrity Table clique. Facebook vengeance is
her unjust dessert. Lyla and Jamie survive the sixth-grade bullying
but not without paying the high price of disillusionment.
Polacco’s colored-pencil and marker illustrations may at first
appear somewhat simplistic, but she has the facial mannerisms and
bodily gestures of sixth-grade bullies and their victims perfectly
nailed. Another virtue of Bully is the illustrator’s portrayal of a
student body that represents a vibrant panorama of races, religion,
and ethnicity. Sadly, some readers will immediately recognize the
same bullies and victims among their own classmates.
In her end notes, Polacco talks directly to students about the
specific dangers of the newest form of bullying: cyber cruelty.
Bullies can perpetrate vicious attacks on fellow students and be
almost virtually sure that their cruelty cannot be discovered or
halted. School officials find themselves in difficult and precarious
situations. Even if school administrators do punish cyber bullies,
the parents of such students may counter with threats of lawsuits
claiming that their children’s First Amendment Right of free
speech is being violated. Current newspaper and Internet news
stories reveal that depression and even suicide among adolescents
has risen in the past few years. The most likely culprit? Anonymous
Facebook bullying.
Bully may be a picture book seemingly created for students
in the upper elementary grades, but Lyla’s story and Polacco’s
message serve as superb catalysts for discussions that focus upon
cyber cruelty committed or sadly experienced by students of all
age and grade levels.
Patricia Polacco creates picture books for many varied
audiences. Bun Bun Button is an example of her stories for the
very young as is her sole alphabet book, G is for Goat. Other
titles such as In Our Mothers’ House and January’s Sparrow are
directed toward middle-grade or even older readers and deal with
more mature and sometimes controversial subjects such as slavery,
racial prejudice, and non-traditional families. Three of Polacco’s
favorite themes are to be found in the pivotal story found In Our
Mothers’ House: the vital (even reverential) importance of families,
multiculturalism, and tolerance for ALL of God’s children.
In Our Mothers’ House is essentially a memoir of a very
special and unique family that is narrated by an African-American
girl who is the first of three children adopted into the family
created by two Caucasian women, Marmee and Meema. Three
years pass and the two mothers adopt an Asian-American son.
Three additional years pass and Millie, a redhead, joins the family.
As they grow up, the three children of this remarkable family note
that their two mothers are each unique themselves. Meema is short
and stocky and of Italian descent. She is a pediatrician and loves
to sew for her family. Marmee, a paramedic by profession, is tall
and thin and she is a “jack of all trades.” She can fix anything. She
is also a great organizer and the mother who assigns family tasks
and makes sure they are completed satisfactorily for the well being
of all. Both mothers love to laugh and fill their home with music,
dancing, and an extraordinary abundance of love.
The family with two mothers live in the family-oriented
neighborhood wherein multiculturalism is a given. The family is
often at its happiest when they all gather by the family hearth, eat
popcorn and apples, and all tell stories. The children’s playroom is
sunny and filled with their legion of toys and costumes for dressingup games. Marmee and Meema join in the fun of dressing up in
original costumes for a favorite holiday, Halloween. The costume
parade is joyous and marred only by a neighbor, Mrs. Lockner,
who turns her back on the family and slams shut her door in their
faces.
When all three children come down with the flu both mothers
use their medical career skills to make them well again. An added
surprise is the addition of two new puppies, “Miso” and “Wasabi”
to the family. A very special tree house is built by the children’s
two mothers with the aid of friendly neighbors on Woolsey Street
in Berkeley, California that is christened “Thistle House” and is a
joy for all the neighboring children.
Holidays are particularly special as a virtual parade of
grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins fill the house with music,
joy, and particularly great ethnic foods. One highpoint for the
three adopted children of In Our Mothers’ House is the annual
block party organized by Marmee. Except for the Lockners, who
condemn a family headed by two mothers, all the other families on
Woolsey Street joyously participate in the proceedings. The block
parties accent games as well as delicious foods that trumpet a
miniature microcosm of the United Nations. Later, the children see
their mothers in dresses for the first time when the annual school
tea party is hosted by Marmee and Meema and their daughters.
Time passes and the children grow to maturity, leave home
to attend universities, and eventually have heterosexual marriages
performed in the glorious backyard of their mothers’ home. The
narrator notes that “from the day we entered our mothers’ house,
they prepared us for the days we would leave it.”
The art Polacco provides for In Our Mothers’ House has a
warm, homey quality to it. Spectacular bursts of color accentuate
the special joy of holidays and events the children grew up
with such as Halloween. Christmas, and the exuberant Woolsey
Street block parties. As she has so often done in previous books,
Dr. Polacco creates positive portrayals of multiculturalism and
diversity.
The author-illustrator handles the public disapproval of a
family headed by same-sex parents well. When Mrs. Lockner is
especially cruel and mean-spirited, Marmee and Meema explain
to their hurt and confused, adopted, and multi-racial children that
people, particularly adults, often act out of fear of people they do
not understand. But, they assure their children that “different does
not mean wrong.”
In Our Mothers’ House is one of Patricia Polacco’s bravest
and most important books.
Extensions
The library of Patricia Polacco’s picture books is extensive
and may be shared with gifted students, including twiceexceptional (2e) youths who must confront such exceptionalities
as the distinguished author-illustrator did for at least the first 14
years of her life. The vast majority of Dr. Polacco’s more than
60 picture books remain in print and are available in standard
38
print format from both local and online book stores and in school
and public library collections. Educators can work with media
specialists to collect a substantial number of Polacco’s oeuvre in
hard-copy format for classroom author studies. Parents may want
to request selected Polacco titles for library and book store story
hours. The colorful word choice and joyous storytelling found in
the author’s books make them perfect for Read-Alouds at home,
in public libraries, or in school.
Note that the immense range of Patricia Polacco’s library of
picture books can serve multiple age groups. Titles such as G is
for Goat and Bun Bun Button may appeal to young readers (or
listeners) just as her more mature titles such as In Our Mothers’
House and Bully can be shared with students in middle school and
even high school classrooms.
A Patricia Polacco collection can additionally fit well with
many, varied subject disciplines and topics. At a minimum, some
notable curriculum connections include the following. Please
note: Complete bibliographical information on reviewed Polacco
titles are found throughout the manuscript. Other books referred to
in passing such as many of the titles noted below are cataloged in
“Additional Titles” at the end of this manuscript.
1-(800)-326-4090. Postal: 195 South White Rock Road, Holmes,
NY 12531.
Internet Access
Online biographical and autobiographical information about
the past and present life and work of Patricia Polacco can perhaps
best be found at her personal web site: <www.patriciapolacco.
com>. Her web site is comprehensive and includes facts about
the author’s latest books, schedules of school and library visits,
“Author Information” sharing, and special links for teachers. Dr.
Polacco’s home address is provided for student or classroom letter
writers: Patricia Polacco, P.O. Box 68, Union City, MI 49094.
The suggested email contact is Traci Polacco: <traci.babushka@
gmail.com>.
Student searches of the Internet yield electronic riches such
as the Web addresses for the author’s Facebook page, a video
interview with the author about banned books – including her own
titles – and the Wikipedia or free encyclopedia “Patricia Polacco”
pages.
On-going and Culminating Activities
Students can enlarge their vocabulary bank by reading
books by Patricia Polacco as well as critical reviews of her titles.
Some of the words students may encounter include “Immigrant,”
“Emigrate,” “Icons,” Prodigies,” “Gourmet,” and “Ecumenical,”
plus ethnic language terms that include “Babushka,” “Huppa,”
and “Spookers.” Direct students to build alphabetically-arranged
dictionaries or glossaries of words that are new to them. Students
should note the spelling, pronunciation, and definition of all new
words and the books where they are first encountered. Students
will experience even greater learning by writing sentences that
incorporate newly discovered vocabulary. Ask students who
have read many of the author’s genealogical stories to define the
much-used word “babushka.” The word is a noun in the Russian
language that has not one but two separate definitions. A babushka
is a headscarf, tied under the chin, and often worn by elderly
peasant women. However, a second translation of the word refers
to a grandmother. Both uses of the word are correct.
Using the information or new knowledge provided on
Internet sites devoted to Patricia Polacco, encourage students to
write to the author-illustrator as individuals or jointly compose a
classroom letter. Sample questions students might want to ask Dr.
Polacco include the following:
Do you have a personal favorite title among your vast
library of beautiful picture books? If so, which one of your
books is especially precious to you and why is it so highly
favored?
A great many of your characters are drawn from your
own family, friends, neighbors, and educators or mentors who
helped you succeed in school. You have written two of your
most famous books in which Illinois’ greatest hero, Abraham
Lincoln, is featured. Why have you chosen to honor President
Lincoln? Hint: One possible answer regarding the author’s
interest in President Lincoln may be found in Still Firetalking, her
photo autobiography.
Dr. Polacco, in Still Firetalking, you describe your expertise
in alternative careers that include the restoration of religious
icons and art history. You could have been a great success in
many arenas. Why did you choose to primarily devote your
professional life to creating picture books for youths?
Literacy Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair
Storytelling Thunder Cake, Ginger and Petunia, Emma Kate
Multiculturalism, Ethnicity Chicken Sunday, Just Plain Fancy
Science (Astronomy) Meteor!
Science (Animal Behavior) John Philip Duck, For the Love of
Autumn
Invention The Junkyard Wonders
History January’s Sparrow, Just in Time, Abraham Lincoln
Biography Clara and Davie
Autobiography Still Firetalking
Technology Bully
Current Events & Sociology In Our Mothers’ House
Drama Mr. Wayne’s Masterpiece
Genealogy The Blessing Cup, Fiona’s Lace
Geography The Butterfly (France), Rechenka’s Eggs (Ukraine)
Art The Art of Miss Chew
Yet another alternative for sharing many of Patricia Polacco’s
best titles is via audio and video formats. Spoken Arts share
Dr. Polacco’s belief that literature and language arts are basic
to learning achievement. For more than 50 years, the mission
of Spoken Arts has been a commitment to provide schools and
libraries with creative adaptations of the very finest in children’s
literature. Spoken Arts has created DVD editions of 12 of Patricia
Polacco’s most popular picture books including The Keeping
Quilt, Thank you, Mr. Falker, and the most recent addition, Just in
Time, Abraham Lincoln. These audio-visual adaptations represent
an especially fine means to present a dozen of Polacco’s greatest
works to twice-exceptional students who cope with the author’s
very own disability, dyslexia. Parents, librarians, and educators can
locate details about the Spoken Art editions of Patricia Polacco’s
works by using the following contact information. Electronic:
Spoken Arts <http://www.spokenartsmedia.com>. Telephone:
39
Just in Time, Abraham Lincoln. Encourage students to add many
more locations across the nation and around the world that have a
Patricia Polacco connection.
G is for Goats is Patricia Polacco’s sole alphabet book.
Students most often encounter the 26-letter English language
alphabet in ABC books, but books need not be the only way to
use this handy and most useful rubric. Boost creativity by urging
students to fashion alphabetical tributes to Patricia Polacco and
her vast treasury of beautiful books. Students may work solo or
with others to create Monopoly-type board games that feature 26
squares based on titles, characters, and settings from the talented
creator’s many books. Twenty-six fortune cookies, alphabetically
ordered, may reveal the same number of distinctive Jeopardy-like
questions about Dr. Polacco’s extensive literary works.
Imitation is not stealing or cheating. According to the classic
proverb, it is “the sincerest form of flattery.” After creative and
talented youths of all ages have become familiar with the life work
of the esteemed author-illustrator, Patricia Polacco, encourage
them to create their own picture book story about their own
families, the richness of diversity in any society, a favorite holiday,
larger-than-life characters, and countless other themes and subjects
using many of the artistic materials (e.g., colored markers and
pencils) and styles (e.g., folk art) that Dr. Polacco utilizes. When
their masterpieces are complete, challenge these students to enter
their compositions in the Torrance Legacy Creativity Awards.
Find information on this exceptional competition via the Midwest
Torrance Center for Creativity at The Center for Gifted, a Northern
Illinois University Partner using the following options. Electronic:
<http: www.centerforgifted.org> and info@centerforgifted.
org. Postal: 1926 Waukegan Road, Suite 2, Glenview, IL 60025.
Telephone: (847) 901-0173.
Further induce students to take a page from one of Dr.
Polacco’s most recent volumes, Mr. Wayne’s Masterpiece. Using
the techniques of creative dramatics and television talk shows,
encourage pairs of students to portray a program host and Dr.
Polacco as a potential celebrity guest. Each team studies Still
Firetalking and Internet sites devoted to the author. Student
partners create questions for the actor portraying the interviewer to
address to the companion actor pretending to be Patricia Polacco.
Using either answers directly received from the author via print
and electronic communications or answers found at Internet
sites devoted to the guest author, each team “broadcasts” their
celebrity interview in either small groups or before the entire class.
(Remember Trisha’s fear of public performances!) If possible, film
these creative and imaginative interviews and send the results to
Dr. Polacco at the Union City, MI address shared above.
Invite student use of Internet resources such as Amazon.com
that feature both professional and customer reviews of books
written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco. Ask students to note
vocabulary and writing styles utilized by book reviewers. Based
on examinations of such literary criticism, direct students to write
their own review(s) of a new or recent book(s) by the authorillustrator.
Recently, Universal Studios has created two new theme parks
– “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” – based on the novels by
J. K. Rowling. Give creative students a nudge. Can they design a
theme park based on the works of Patricia Polacco? Which titles
might be especially ripe for adaptations via theme park rides and
sites? Students can draw pictures or even build scale models of
the many venues in a proposed Patricia Polacco live entertainment
experience. Hint: In Still Firetalking, Dr. Polacco describes how
she purchased an old farm house in her home community of
Union City, MI and converted it to a “haunted” house based on
her book, The Graves Family. She further writes that she portrays
Mrs. Graves on Halloween when nearly 3000 children and their
families from at least five surrounding counties visit the Graves
House.
It is virtually impossible to think of another children’s
literature author-illustrator who has so often featured her family
and especially her family genealogy in a large library of picture
books. Her first genealogically-based picture book is the muchhonored The Keeping Quilt that celebrates her maternal Russian
and Ukrainian Jewish ancestors. Her most recent book, Fiona’s
Lace, similarly honors her paternal Irish Christian roots. Ask
students to pool their knowledge of Patricia Polacco’s ancestry from
the many books they collectively read. Then, using genealogical
forms found in library books devoted to the subject of family roots
or free family tree guides found on the Internet, challenge classes
to construct a Patricia Polacco family tree of both her ancestors
and the two newest generations that succeed her.
An alternative to the creation of a family tree for Patricia
Polacco might be a world map that signals locations revealed in
her autobiography, Still Firetalking, plus locations depicted in her
family and genealogical tales. Union City, Michigan and Oakland,
California are vital locations in the author-illustrator’s own life
as are Australia, England, France and Russia. Her superb picture
books highlight many unique stopping places. The Butterfly
unfolds in Choisy-le-Roi, France; The Blessing Cup keepsake
originally comes from Minsk in Russia. Fiona’s Lace cites
Limerick, Ireland; January’s Sparrow takes place in Marshall,
Michigan; and Harpers Ferry, West Virginia is the key location in
Conclusion
Patricia Polacco is an author-illustrator whose works belong
in any curriculum for gifted, talented, and creative students for
many reasons. She is a superb role model of a twice-exceptional
individual who is incredibly gifted and who has triumphed over the
adversities of extremely severe learning disabilities. Secondly, she
has shared her superb storytelling ability to entertain children as
well as to inform them about history, ancestors, family traditions,
religion, culture, nature, a love of learning, and the value of
hard work. Thirdly, Patricia Polacco has communicated values
to today’s young people through the characters and situations in
her wonderful picture books that will help them make a world
community of the future that will be truly democratic, completely
tolerant, and uniformly respectful of all of God’s creations. Her
books herald the dignity and effort of hard work and project a
profound love for learning. In her writing, she honors truth and
justice, believes in fairness and complete tolerance, takes pride in
family, respects the past, and shows why kindness to every person
and creature on God’s great earth is paramount. Patricia Polacco’s
greatest gift as an author and artist is that she is an extraordinarily
compassionate and caring human being with loving messages well
worth sharing with young people everywhere all the time.
Additional References
Polacco, Patricia. Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam
Affair. New York: Philomel Books, 1996.
_____. The Bee Tree. New York: Putnam, 1993.
40
_____. Chicken Sunday. New York: Philomel Books, 1992.
_____. Some Birthday! New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991.
_____. Emma Kate. New York: Philomel Books, 2005.
_____. Thunder Cake. New York: Philomel Books, 1990.
_____. For the Love of Autumn. New York: Philomel Books, 2008.
_____. The Trees of the Dancing Goats. New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1996.
_____. Ginger and Petunia. New York: Philomel Books, 2007.
_____. Welcome Comfort. New York: Philomel Books, 1999..
_____. John Philip Duck. New York: Philomel Books, 2004.
_____. When Lightning Comes in a Jar. New York: Philomel
Books, 2002.
_____. Just Plain Fancy. New York: Bantam Books, 1990.
_____. Meteor! New York: Dodd, Mead, 1987.
Jerry Flack is Professor Emeritus of Education and President’s
Teaching Scholar at the University of Colorado. He is a reviewer
of children’s literature for various publications, author of 10
books as well as numerous articles on creativity and curriculum
development. He is the 2003 recipient of the E. Paul Torrance
Award from the National Association for Gifted Children.
_____. My Ol’ Man. New York: Philomel Books, 1995.
_____. An Orange for Frankie. New York: Philomel Books, 2004.
_____. Rechenka’s Eggs. New York: Philomel Books, 1988.
_____. Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare. New York: Philomel
Books, 2006.
Tolkien and Gifted Students:
Blending Creative and Critical Thinking
By Adam Kotlarczyk
In “The American Scholar,” Emerson warns against letting
books become tyrants. As education “reformers,” political forces,
and other special interests continue to pull modern teachers in
so many different pedagogical directions, Emerson’s warning is
increasingly powerful. Books tyrannize, Emerson says, when we
use them passively by simply absorbing information from them,
rather than actively by catalyzing our own thinking and actions
with them. In effect, he claims that books are not something
simply to be learned, memorized, or analyzed, but should
help us to create. Today’s gifted student, her schedule usually
overflowing with work and co-curriculars in an environment often
hyperconscious of grades, may be more susceptible to “book
tyranny” than others, and may even seek to impose it on herself:
“Just tell us what this book ‘means,’ teacher, and whether it will be
on the test.” Learning is thereby reduced to information collection,
a subordination further simplified by the preponderance of online
study guides, summaries, and ready-made essays that are just a
Google search away.
In the English classroom, the evaluation, analysis, and
synthesis of writing a paper start to move students toward a model
of learning in which they engage high-order thinking skills and
don’t just collect information, but these assessments stop short
of actual creation. Analyzing symbolism in “Young Goodman
Brown” is not the same as writing an original short story
containing symbols. Creativity deserves its own place atop the
taxonomic heap, as anyone who has created a lesson plan probably
can attest. It can be difficult, however, to encourage creative and
critical thinking simultaneously in the classroom. Even in English
departments, where creativity is often valued more than it is in
other disciplines, creative activities can be relegated to wholly
separate classes – a creative writing course, for example – while it
is nearly abandoned in others.
But it isn’t impossible to blend creativity and critical thinking
in the curriculum. In fact, following Emerson’s thinking, critical
thought can (and, I would argue, should) facilitate creativity.
I recently designed and taught an elective course at the Illinois
Mathematics and Science Academy that attempted this sort of
blending of critical and creative thinking; the unique subject
matter of the course helped enable merged learning to take place:
the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Tolkien himself serves as a model of a blended style of critical
and creative learning. Of course, most know him primarily for his
creativity – The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings – but it wasn’t
until he was in his forties that he first earned major recognition
for his fiction with The Hobbit. Before that – and indeed, long
afterward – his critical side prevailed: he was a professor of
English and Anglo-Saxon at Leeds and Oxford, and his best
known publication was a long, analytical piece dissecting the Old
English poem, Beowulf.
“Books,” Emerson wrote, “are for nothing but to inspire,”
and Tolkien seemingly took that to heart, with the ancient texts he
taught and analyzed in his discipline often inspiring his own work.
Many of the character names and personalities from The Hobbit,
for example, are inspired by the Old Norse poem “Voluspá” Durin,
Balin, Nain, Dain, Bifur, Bofur, Thror, Thrain, and Thorin, to
name just a few (Tolkien & Anderson, 2002). Some of the plot
can be attributed to Tolkien’s bewilderment over an “elvish” name
– “Gandálfr” (an Old Norse compound of “Wand” or “Staff”
and “Elf”) – appearing in a list of dwarf names (Shippey, 2000).
Likewise, in much of The Lord of the Rings we see the influence
of Tolkien’s critical study of Anglo-Saxon verse, particularly
Beowulf. From the names in Rohan like Theoden (from AngloSaxon þeoden, or “king, leader”) to the arrival of Aragorn at
Meduseld (which closely mirrors the arrival of Beowulf at Heorot)
to the overall theme and mood of lamentation, the Geat’s influence
is evident (Tolley, 2012).
41
Tolkien’s diverse creative and critical writings are highly
suitable for a rigorous gifted English curriculum. Don’t be
fooled by the few lingering protests that his work is not “serious”
literature. While there always may be those who think, as famous
critic Edmund Wilson once wrote, that The Lord of the Rings is
“balderdash” and “juvenile trash,” that prejudice is quickly being
outpaced by the high opinions that have put Tolkien in high school
and college course catalogs across the country and world, from the
University of Chicago to the University of Cambridge. This isn’t
to argue, of course, that Tolkien should supplant the traditional
classics, but only that his work is a worthy supplement to them
– and an excellent way to spark creativity and engage critical
analysis in students.
As any teacher can attest, it helps to have subject matter in
which students are already interested. And whatever you think of
Peter Jackson’s film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings and The
Hobbit, they have grossed billions (yes, with a “b”) at the box
office and given us a Tolkien film in six of the last fourteen years,
making Tolkien a household name to students if he wasn’t before.
But, as Carol Jago (2004) writes, “Selecting literature for your
class isn’t a matter of finding books that students like. It’s about
teaching stories that make them think” (p.59). In Tolkien’s writing,
we’re lucky to have both.
and suggest that gifted students really need even more outlets for
their creativity. Instead of the 8.5 by 11 scribbles I was expecting,
I received scrolls, parchment, 3-dimensional efforts, even a map
that was hand-sewn from scraps of cloth—the people inhabiting
that world hadn’t invented paper, the self-analysis informed me.
The other analyses were no less thoughtful.
Language
Of course, most maps require labels, and labels require
language. So the map assignment bridged to their second creative
assignment, in which they created the rudiments of a language. We
often discussed the influence of languages, especially Old English,
on Tolkien’s work. Again, creativity begins with critical analysis.
We studied Old English briefly, enough for them to be able to
translate (with the use of crib sheets) a short passage from Beowulf
and some of the Old English poem fragment “The Wanderer” –
a piece from which Tolkien borrows Aragorn’s “Where is the
horse and the rider?” chant in The Two Towers (2012, pg. 497).
We didn’t focus on memorizing vocabulary (I always provided
glossaries and crib sheets of declensions and conjugations) so
much as understanding structure and syntax, principally the use of
conjugations, inflections, and declensions. But we didn’t stop with
this understanding, as a traditional foreign language class might.
In an end-of-year course survey, one student commented “This
class has taught me more about the fundamentals of language than
probably all my previous English and French classes together.
Creating a language definitely teaches you so much more than
just studying for it.” I believe that creating their own languages
compelled students to consider anew many of the elements and
rules of language.
In the first language creation assignment, each student
created an alphabet (with pronunciations), basic inflections
(plurals and present tense verb conjugation) with the option to
Maps
Creativity as a learning tool has to begin with critical
thinking, and my class on Tolkien was no exception. We began
with the relatively simple exercise of analyzing his maps. We tried
to understand what these representations of space teach us about
cultures and cultural differences. Focusing on Thror’s map from
The Hobbit (usually at the beginning of the book), we contrasted
it to the map of the Wilderland (usually at the end). Thror’s map
is the product of a dwarvish (as Tolkien would say) culture, while
the Wilderland map likely is the product of Bilbo’s hand, by and
for hobbit culture. With Thror’s map covered in runes, there are
obvious linguistic differences, but it’s also worth discussing with
students that even the orientation of Thror’s map, where up is not
north but east is different in dwarvish culture. The difference in
scale may also be telling. Bilbo’s map, concerned with a larger
world outside the Shire, shows a much broader scale, while
Thror’s is focused, almost obsessively, on the Lonely Mountain
and its immediate surroundings – leaving no doubt as to what is
the center of the universe of the expatriate dwarves. The labels
of Thror’s map likewise tell us that it is the product of a culture
hyper-aware of its past: “Here of old was Thrain King under
the mountain,” says one label; “Here was Girloin Lord in Dale”
says another (emphasis mine). The past tense shows us a culture
seemingly past the zenith of its influence.
Once we’ve discussed how much a map can reveal about the
culture that produced it, I challenge the students to create a map of
their own fictional place. My only requirements are that it have both
physical and political features, at least six of which are labeled.
I also require a brief (approx. 250 word) self-analysis in which
the student explain choices in scale, size, and style. I allow either
hand-drawn or computer-generated maps. The only safeguard I
put in place is to forbid maps that resemble real places (or, since
I work with high school students, body parts). I wasn’t sure what
to expect from this assignment with gifted students – would they
think it silly? Could they come up with something original, or
would it be a bunch of Hobbit clones? The results amazed me,
write additional inflections for things like gender, honorifics, or to
indicate possession. I encouraged students to look to Appendix E
of Return of the King or to consult Ruth S. Noel’s The Languages
of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth (1980) for inspiration. I warned them
only to keep it simple at this point, for example, by using mostly
the Roman alphabet – Old English is a good model. Still, some
invented entirely new alphabets (this isn’t recommended; it
creates headaches in later assignments). Students also completed
a vocabulary of about 35 words. For some of these terms, I asked
for specific words translated from English (see Table 1.0 for an
example), but for others, students chose which words they wanted
to translate from English to their invented language, with the
only requirement being a mix of different parts of speech. In our
analysis of languages, we noted that they all had some words that
were unique and not easily translated, so I also asked students to
create one word that did not have a direct equivalent in English.
Like their maps, this unique word would tell us something about
the culture they were creating.
In their second language assignment, students expanded on
this concept, taking their language and developing a basic syntax.
English sentences (like this one) favor subject-verb-object. But
Latin was often subject-object-verb, and Welsh even uses verb-
42
Critical Analysis and Creativity
Peter Jackson’s films have rekindled public interest and
provided a great opportunity for English teachers to capitalize on
Tolkien’s name recognition and popularity with students. Units and
courses centered on his work provide an ideal ground for analysis
and creativity. Because of his career and publications, Tolkien is an
ideal subject around which to build a pedagogy that blends critical
and creative thinking. His critical writings like “The Monsters and
the Critics” (on Beowulf) and “On Fairy-Tales” provide models
and are worthy of study as essays (or informational texts, as
they’re called by some), while his creative works provide subjects
for analysis in themselves. And, if Emerson is to be believed, they
provide the inspiration to springboard students into their own
creative pursuits.
But this technique need not be limited to studies of Tolkien.
Indeed, it is limited only by the creativity of teachers themselves
and the constraints placed on them by others. Creative assignments
can blossom from any area of literature from which key identifying
elements can be analyzed and synthesized. One might, for example,
in studying the verse of Whitman, analyze and discuss his use of
free verse, his use of cataloging lists, his themes of democracy,
beauty, and the cycles of life and death. And one might also ask
students to create their own free verse pieces modeling his themes
and techniques. Creativity as a product of critical thought demands
that students understand, analyze, and apply the ideas of the texts
they read. Properly implemented, creativity is a high-order – and
maybe the highest – manifestation of critical thinking.
subject-object. Students also had to create two idioms – expressions
unique to their language that tell us something about the values and
mindset of the people who speak it. Finally, in this assignment,
students were asked to translate some basic English sentences, the
vocabulary of which I’d already asked them to complete in the
required words of the prior assignment, into their own language.
This provided an outlet to test the rules of grammar and syntax they
were developing.
Creative Writing
The final creative assessment of the course is perhaps the most
obvious: creative writing.
Because fiction writing is only part of the creative engagement
of the course, students learn it in a fairly limited way, producing
only one short story. This story comes near the end of the semester,
providing a capstone to the earlier creative projects by asking
students to intertwine their language and map assignments, as their
story takes place in the world they’ve created.
Because the course is not purely a creative writing course, we
provide a lot of peer support and feedback. For crafting their stories,
students are divided into small groups of about three or four and
named their “Inkling” groups after Tolkien’s peer-sharing group
of the same name, which included C.S. Lewis. They convene in
the last ten or fifteen minutes of class to discuss and workshop
characters, plots, and progress on stories.
The writing is scaffolded by brief lessons and practice in
character creation and peer review of plot points. And, like
the creative activities of making a map or a language, it is first
grounded in a critical analysis of the quest story. We start with
W.H. Auden’s six elements of a quest adventure, from his essay
“The Quest Hero”:
1. A precious Object and/or Person to be found and possessed
or married.
2. A long journey to find it, for its whereabouts are not
originally known to the seekers.
3. A hero. The precious Object cannot be found by anybody,
but only by the one person who possesses the right
qualities of breeding or character.
4. A Test or series of Tests by which the unworthy are
screened out, and the hero revealed.
5. The Guardians of the Object who must be overcome
before it can be won. There may be simply a further test of
the hero’s arête, or they may be malignant in themselves.
6. The Helpers who with their knowledge and magical
powers assist the hero and but for whom he would never
succeed. They may appear in human or in animal form.
(1968, p.44)
We discuss the degree to which The Hobbit and The Lord of
the Rings fit Auden’s formula. Students also enjoy a discussion
on high vs. low fantasy, noting particularly how in high fantasy,
the hero almost never wins his goal through direct combat or
force. Although the story assignment itself is very short – my
recommendation is in the neighborhood of five pages – I encourage
the students to provide an outline, treatment, or summary of a more
epic plot into which this short story fits. This enables them to create
stories with more befitting themes, like power politics, the birth
and death of nations, the end of the world, good vs. evil, etc. At the
same time (and almost paradoxically), I encourage them to keep the
story itself simple, as it is in many myths (or, as Joseph Campbell
argues, in all of them): a simple journey and return home.
Works Cited
Auden, W.H. (1968). “The Quest Hero,” in N.D. Isaacs &
R.A. Zimbardo (Eds.), Tolkien and the critics: Essays on J.R.R.
Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Notre Dame, IN: University of
Notre Dame Press.
Emerson, R.W. (2000). “The American Scholar,” in B.
Atkinson (Ed.), The essential writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson
(pp. 43-59). New York: Modern Library.
Jago, C. (2004). Classics in the classroom. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
Noel, R.S. (1980). The languages of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth.
Boston: Houghton.
Reader and educator guide to The Hobbit and The Lord of
the Rings. (2012). Boston: Houghton.
Shippey, T. (2000). J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the century.
Boston: Houghton.
Tolkien, J.R.R. (2012). The Hobbit. Boston: Mariner.
—. (2012). The Return of the King. Boston: Mariner.
—. (2012). The Two Towers. Boston, Mariner.
Tolkien, J. R. R., & Anderson, D. A. (2002). The Annotated
Hobbit: The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin.
Tolley, C. (2012). Old English influence on The Lord of the
Rings. In J. Allard & R. North (Eds.), Beowulf and other stories:
A new introduction to Old English, Old Icelandic and AngloNorman Literatures (pp. 38-62). Second Edition. London:
Routledge; New York: Longman.
Wilson, Edmund. (April 14, 1956). “Oo Those Awful
Orcs!” The Nation. Downloaded August 1, 2014. http://www.
scifiwright.com/2014/03/oo-those-awful-orcs/
43
Adam Kotlarczyk earned a Ph.D. in American literature and has
taught English at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
since 2009; prior to that, he taught college composition and
literature. Adam works to design curricula that adhere to the
Emersonian principle that education should seek less to drill than
it does to create. He uses his knowledge of American literature
to design interactive lesson plans emphasizing experiential and
problem-based learning. He enjoys finding new and engaging
ways to approach traditional American literature. Adam also
initiated and coordinates the English Department’s Award for
Excellence in Expository Writing, and founded an IMSA group to
participate in National Novel Writing Month.
More Than Just a Video Game:
Tips for Using Minecraft to Personalize the Curriculum
and Promote Creativity, Collaboration, and Problem Solving
by Cathy Risberg
JT had been looking forward to this year at school as being
the best year ever. So it was a very good sign for how the year
would progress in his 4th grade classroom when his teacher gave
him the “thumbs-up” in September. JT would be given class time
to use his iPad to share what he had created at home in Minecraft.
And during this class sharing time, as he went through all the
steps involved with imagining, planning, and building in Minecraft,
JT exhibited a new sense of confidence in speaking in front of his
class. There was no doubt that JT’s passion and expertise for
Minecraft helped him to overcome any earlier hesitancy he felt in
communicating with his peers.
It’s hard to describe the excitement that JT and his parents
felt when he was allowed to share his love for Minecraft or the
sense of encouragement they all felt knowing that JT’s intense
imagination, curiosity, and creativity were being supported in the
classroom.
Like JT, so many other gifted students, their teachers, and
parents have all discovered that Minecraft is more than just an
incredibly engaging and enjoyable video game. It is, as current
educational research concludes, a highly effective classroom
tool for personalizing the curriculum and promoting creativity,
collaboration, and problem solving.
dismiss because there are no instructions which makes it a bit
difficult at first to readily figure what is actually going on within
the game (Commonsense Media, 2014).
How Minecraft is Changing Our Classrooms
That’s exactly what happened to me when I first learned about
Minecraft by watching my then young grandson play it with such
extraordinary focus. As I watched him play, I could see how
children would love this game. This love of the game by so many
players, according to Keith Stuart, author of The Guardian online
article, “Minecraft at 33 millions users – a personal story” can be
attributed to the fact that it “is utterly malleable.” Stuart writes
that Minecraft is more than a game – it is a “tool, a gamified design
application – an imaginative conduit that stamps only a fraction of
itself onto individual’s projects” (Stuart, 2013).
Yet, even though I could see how frequently I found myself
invited into a discussion of Minecraft with my grandson, I
certainly had no idea that this video game would ever end up in
our classrooms. Nor did I envision the fact that it could ever be
responsible for changing how our students learn.
Perhaps the reason I could not envision the impact of
Minecraft in our classrooms was that I really didn’t understand the
whole purpose of it or feel too drawn to learn much about it. All I
knew was that my grandson was having a lot of fun with it – hours
of fun! That’s simply all I saw.
But my feelings towards Minecraft changed quickly this past
spring. I came across an article by John Keilman in the Chicago
Tribune on how teachers in classrooms across the U.S., including
Quest Academy in Palatine, IL, were beginning to successfully
incorporate Minecraft into their classroom curricula. Keilman
describes how “ . . . more and more teachers are tapping its
creative power to educate students in everything from history to
engineering to biology” (Keilman, 2014).
This creative power of Minecraft has been harnessed at
one Los Angeles school, the New Los Angeles Charter School,
where 7th graders have been building their own civilizations and
inhabiting them – thanks to the endless creative capabilities and
building options available in Minecraft. According to Anthony
Perez (with Jed Kim), author of the article, “Minecraft blowing
up the classroom; educators say the game can teach everything
from math to genetics,” these students have been creating their
What Is Minecraft?
If you are anything like I was a few years ago, when you
hear the name Minecraft, you might have a vague awareness of
its popularity but not know much else about it. So here is a bit of
information from Common Sense Media about Minecraft that will
equip you with basic knowledge – and allow you to talk with your
own children or students about Minecraft.
According to Common Sense Media, Minecraft is “a sandboxstyle game with open online play (that) fosters creativity. There is
no story or any commentary and each player is on his/her own. The
focus of the game is on discovery and creativity. Both are needed
as players build structures from materials obtained from the open
landscape that seems to extend endlessly in all directions.”
While players all have an avatar, avatars do not speak but
spend all of their time building and collecting useful materials.
If playing in the Survival Mode instead of the Creative mode,
avatars also must defend themselves from attacks from monsters.
Minecraft is a deceptively simple game that adults frequently
44
the use of Minecraft could be administrative or teacher resistance
to the use of video games in general in the classroom. No one
will disagree that it is essential to listen to and understand the
perspective of educators who might hesitate in approving the use
of video games in schools, yet it is equally important to share with
every school the current research that supports the use of video
games to promote student learning.
According to the New York Times article by Nick Bilton,
“Disruptions: Minecraft, an obsession and an educational tool,”
“research has shown video games can have a positive impact on
children.” Bilton writes that, “A study by S.R.I. International, a
Silicon Valley research group that specializes in technology, found
that game-based play could raise cognitive learning for students
by as much as 12 percent and improve hand-eye coordination,
problem-solving ability, and memory” (Bilton, 2013).
As JT and his parents discovered, it often is a student’s
enthusiasm and personal request to the teacher that makes a
difference in whether or not Minecraft will be welcomed as a
potential educational tool. It certainly was most fortunate for JT
that his teacher was open to allowing him to demonstrate to his
peers how he used Minecraft at home. Hopefully, a brief time
for students to share their Minecraft creations can be the first
step towards the use of this video game in the classroom as an
educational tool.
2. Student Fascination/Obsession with Minecraft
Another barrier for Minecraft use in the classroom could be
the potential for some students to want to rely on Minecraft as their
main project tool. This can be addressed by teachers requiring/
encouraging students to cycle through a variety of options for
presentations/projects. One parent, Rob Patrick, interviewed
for Menachem Wicker’s Deseret News National article, “Could
Minecraft help kids get smarter?” commented that “His grade
three teacher told us how tired he is of every boy in class doing
their presentations or projects on Minecraft” (Wecker, 2013).
An additional perspective on dealing with the extreme
Minecraft focus is offered by MIT’s Director of Teacher Education,
Professor Eric Klopfer. He shared this advice with parents and
teachers: “While the game is clearly good for kids, it doesn’t mean
there should be no limits. As with anything, I don’t want my kids
to do any one thing for overly extended periods of time. Whether
Legos or Minecraft; having limits is an important part of learning”
(Bilton, 2013).
own economies and trading systems--in fact, creating all aspects
of a civilization. In addition, teacher Dan Thalkar (interviewed in
the same article) indicated that students have learned about power
structures in societies by staging a coup against one player who
had been attempting to exert too much control in his group.
So what do teachers think about this less-than-traditional
approach to teaching history? Teacher Dan Thalkar commented
that “Minecraft is useful in the classroom because you can use it
for pretty much anything you want.”
He attributes Minecraft’s versatility to the open-ended
sandbox design aspect of the game which is allowing him and
other teachers at his school to use Minecraft “to teach concepts in
math, science, and the humanities.” Teachers at New Los Angeles
Charter Schools have also discovered that Minecraft can be used
to “teach scale, breed virtual bees to teach genetics . . . create
electrical circuits and complex machines.”
The endless possibilities of Minecraft do not just end with
the curriculum. In fact, what is most impressive about Minecraft
is its ability to teach students how to be successful learners. “
‘Part of what it creates is habits of mind, kind of a sense of how
to be a learner . . . ’ said Linda Polin, a professor of Education
and Psychology at Pepperdine University who researches how
students learn through video games.”
Another teacher, Joe Levin, who co-founded TeacherGaming,
LLC, found Minecraft so useful and popular with the students at
the private school where he teaches in New York that his company
created a school-friendly version of Minecraft, MinecraftEdu,
which is currently used to stimulate learning and develop creativity
and problem solving in 1,700 classrooms around the world (Perez,
2013).
Tips for Getting Started with MinecraftEdu to
Personalize the Curriculum
Understand the Benefits
According to James Drzewiecki, author of the online
Education World article, “Why educators should use minecraft
in the classroom,” MinecraftEdu is a game modification, referred
to as a mod, which truly makes Minecraft classroom friendly. It
allows teachers to “incorporate their own curricular content and
run a custom server for each of their classes” (Drzeweicki, 2014).
Here are just a few of the many benefits for students when
teachers use MinecraftEdu in the classroom:
Freedom to create – students can push their imaginations to the
limit to become “creative in ways not possible in the real world.”
Development of critical thinking/problem solving skills –
students must tap into these skills to move forward with their
constructions and acquisition of vital resources needed to survive.
Facilitation of communication/collaboration skills– students
often need to rely on others for help in order to survive in this very
social game. In this way, a positive classroom climate is built and
teamwork develops organically as students work together in an
imaginary world where each person’s unique skills and abilities
are recognized and appreciated.
Start with Essential Skill Building: Use Minecraft Survival
Skills to Strengthening Executive Functioning Skills
Deep down every gifted student, like JT, wants to succeed and
do well while still having fun at school. Yet, many students face
challenges with setting goals, long-term planning, organizational
skills, and sustaining effort and attention. And as every teacher and
parent knows, extreme frustration is felt by everyone--students,
teachers, and parents--whenever a child feels overwhelmed with
what needs to be done.
Even though there are tutors, academic coaches, and books to
help with teaching these essential life skills, it is worth considering
how Minecraft, might just be able to be the answer to strengthening
every gifted student’s executive functioning skills.
That’s what Patrick Elliot, writes in his LearningWorks
for Kids online article, “Minecraft, executive functioning and
ADHD.” He includes the following tips when using Minecraft to
teach or strengthen executive functioning:
Address the Barriers
1. Administrative/Teacher Resistance
Although it is easy to build enthusiasm for the benefits of
using Minecraft as an educational tool, it also is important to take
a look at the obstacles that might exist. One important barrier to
45
1. Set strict play time rules – This reduces the chance for
video game addiction, reinforces proper planning and
sustained attention.
2. Set some goals – These might be basic goals like
collecting mined materials, building a workbench,
constructing shelter. Elliot stresses the importance of
discussing all the steps needed for each goal and the
need to focus to achieve the goal before nightfall--when
monsters arrive.
3. Set bigger goals – Bigger goals could include exploring
uncharted lands or traveling deep into a tunnel. When
setting bigger goals, a discussion of the benefits of good
planning, focus/attention, and breaking tasks into smaller
steps in achieving the goals will increase the likelihood
of success.
4. Re-create something from the real world – Pick
something to create that is available at home or online.
This will make it possible to easily check the accuracy of
the virtual creation. Create a list of the materials needed,
pick a place to build it, and start building.
interviewed Sara Grimes, “an expert in children’s media culture
at the University of Toronto, who shared, ‘ . . . it’s the elemental
requirement for creativity – you need to build from scratch to
survive your first night (in Survival Mode) – that provides the
main clue to the game’s appeal.’ ”
Hall also included this comment from Grimes: “But I think
the really cool thing about Minecraft . . . there’s an invitation to
be creative and an invitation to be customizable and an invitation
to engage at that level that’s much more accessible and much more
on the surface” (Hall, 2013).
And students who already possess a high level of personal
creativity and intuition are rewarded, according to the article,
“Playbook: Minecraft,” found online at Learning Works for Kids.
For these students, “the backward approach to item creation
rewards intuitive and creative players with tools, weapons,
furniture, items and dozens of other objects they can use in their
world” (LearningWorks for Kids, 2014). In the world of Minecraft
– this is a significant and confidence building reward.
Common Sense Media says this about the creative potential
of Minecraft: “The experience is wholly compelling for those
with a creative itch. Mining resources from the earth and turning
them into easily usable materials employed in the construction of
nearly anything the player can imagine is enormously satisfying”
(Commonsense Media, 2014).
This sense of satisfaction is repeated in the words of a dad
who has seen Minecraft in action in the comfort of his own home.
In talking about the impact of Minecraft for his two sons, one of
whom is living with autism, writer, Keith Stuart, says, “Everything
(in Minecraft) is about personal creativity . . . it bends – unlike so
much else in their lives – to their will” (Stuart, 2013).
Elliot makes the case that by using Minecraft to strengthen
executive functioning in students, students will soon see “the
benefits of goal- directed persistence and preparation” (Elliot,
2014).
By seeing these benefits, while having fun playing Minecraft,
gifted students, especially those who are 2e (twice-exceptional –
gifted with learning differences, including ADHD), will hopefully
move from simply fighting for survival in the classroom--whenever
there is a lack of planning, focus and organization--to thriving,
succeeding and reaching their true learning potential.
Encourage Students to Build Complex Structures and Create
Videos to Develop Creativity and Foster Collaboration
It is this incredible flexibility of Minecraft – and its popularity
– that has led to the building of a variety of structures from the
simplest of buildings to mechanical computers that actually
work. Scott Smith, in his article, “Could Minecraft be the next
great engineering school?” describes how “Players can build
houses, castles and caverns, but also edifices of Pyonyang-scale
immensity and absurdity, like sky-high apartment towers, huge
working beatboxes, recreations of favorite buildings in painful
detail or giant abandoned strip malls.”
In terms of video creation, Smith comments that “Minecraft
has become a kind of massive open online course (MOOC) all on
its own . . . Part of the proliferation is due to user-created video,
particularly on YouTube, where a quick search (in 2012) yields
7.5 million mentions. Video podcasts, recordings of buildings in
progress and most importantly, walkthroughs, or videos of players
demonstrating how to master levels or particular construction
techniques, keep the global Minecraft horde digging and trying to
impress or teach one another . . . ”(Smith, 2012).
By creating walkthrough videos to teach, players of Minecraft
are both learning on their own and putting into practice the skill of
collaborating to share knowledge and creativity--an essential skill
for 21st century learning.
Consider the Role of Blended Learning in Personalizing the
Curriculum with Minecraft
Some schools, described by Ross Brenneman in his online
Education Week Teacher article, “Betting big on personalized
learning,” are discovering that adopting a blended learning
approach works well, especially utilizing the classroom station
model under which different groups of students work on different
projects. By adopting this model, not only can the curriculum be
personalized but more teacher interaction is encouraged and the
use of “student experts” is promoted (Brennenman, 2014). And
in the process, student creativity and problem solving can be
encouraged when Minecraft is utilized as a classroom station for
specific curriculum units.
Tips to Promote Creativity, Collaboration, and Problem
Solving
Provide Students with Opportunities to Be Creators
Every Day
Teachers and parents can be assured that when they encourage
their students and children to leverage the creative possibilities
inherent within Minecraft that they will be encouraging deep
learning through what looks like and is “child’s play.” Researchers
who have studied the use of video games in the classroom all
acknowledge the benefits provided by the inherent and highly
creative nature of Minecraft.
According to Joseph Hall, author of the article, “Minecraft
game being hailed as a teaching tool,” many leaders in the field
of educational media see the creative potential in Minecraft. He
46
Give Your Students a Chance to Problem Solve on a Global
Platform and Learn How to Code
In addition to developing creativity and fostering collaboration,
Minecraft promotes problem solving on various levels from the
most basic. This problem solving happens whenever players figure
out how to build simple structures--just like the ones built by the
two early elementary students who recently talked to me about
their absolute love of Minecraft and all the building they get to do
while playing it.
Yet, as students develop their problem solving skills, Minecraft
also allows for players to move way beyond the building of simple
and even complex structures such as their own home or their
school. With Minecraft, students can become involved globally in
the real-time collaborative re-design of public spaces and learn the
complex skill of coding--all while they become deeply engaged
in learning that is more fun than work to any true Minecraft fan.
The re-design of public spaces is the focus of a project that
Minecraft creator Mojang has developed “in cooperation with the
UN Habitat called Block by Block, which will engage Minecraft
players in an effort to redesign 300 different public spaces over
the next three years in locations such as Nairobi’s Kibera slum”
(Smith, 2012).
While the existence of this global application of Minecraft is
certainly an attention-getting bit of news to anyone not familiar
with the potential of this game, the fact that students can now learn
to code and receive college credit is also quite surprising but true.
According to Klint Finley, author of the online Wired article, “New
Minecraft mod teaches you code as you play,” . . . thanks to a
“new tweak to the Minecraft game, called LearnToMod,” students
can learn programming basics at the same time this educational
add-on helps them to create tricks and tools that will help them
accomplish their Minecraft goals.
Available in 2015 to the general public, LearnToMod has been
tested by 150 students and has the potential for being an effective
pathway for leading more students into the world of computer
programming. ThoughtSTEM, the creators of this educational
add-on, started a class for avid Minecraft players who ranged in
age from 8 to 15 after realizing that . . . this video game could be
harnessed to teach the players to “code their own modifications to
Minecraft . . .”
Besides offering this new tool to the whole world, the
ThoughtSTEM team is also planning to make available, for an
additional fee, an online course that will enable any student – like
the students who tested LearnToMod – to earn college credit at
UC San Diego (Finley, 2014).
So, parents and teachers can relax a bit over the outrageous
number of hours that their children and students spend on
Minecraft. They can be assured that Minecraft truly does matter
and is teaching our students valuable life lessons like the one JT
shared with me: “I have learned that sometimes you want to give
up but you can’t because you need to persevere to accomplish
what you want or need to do.”
community, along with my grandson’s passion and excitement
over Minecraft, have reminded me of what we already know and
don’t always put into practice. As educators and parents, we need
to slow down, sit down, pay attention, and listen closely to our
children and our students. They are the inventors, creators, and
leaders of tomorrow’s world getting an early start in realizing their
dreams by learning valuable skills in Minecraft.
And as students like JT and my grandson continue to play
Minecraft, they are envisioning, building, and collaborating in
ways that clearly demonstrate that Minecraft is more than just a
video game. It is the current educational game-changer that can
help every teacher personalize the curriculum for our gifted and
2e students and promote creativity, collaboration and problem
solving.
Resources and References:
More Than Just a Video Game: Tips for Using Minecraft
to Personalize the Curriculum and Promote Creativity,
Collaboration and Problem Solving
Resources
Blocklandia (a family-friendly server for kids): http://www.
blocklandia.com/
GamingEdus (created by teachers from Toronto, Canada):
http://www.gamingedus.org/who-we-are/
MinecraftEdu for Education: http://minecraftedu.com/
Minecraft on Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/mcma/
minecraft-classroom/
MinecraftEdu on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MinecraftEdu
Official Minecraft Wiki: http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/
Minecraft_Wiki
References
Bilton, Nick. (September 15, 2013). Disruptions: Minecraft,
an obsession and an educational tool. The New York Times.
Retrieved on September 14, 2014 from: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.
com/2013/09/15/minecraft-an-obsession-and-an-educationaltool/
Brennenman, Ross. (June 18, 2014). Betting big on personalized
learning. Education Week Teacher. Retrieved on October 1, 2014
from: http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2014/06/18/gp-iredell.
html
Common Sense Media (2014). Minecraft game review.
Common Sense Media. Retrieved on October 29, 2014 from: https://
www.commonsensemedia.org/about-us/our-mission#about-us
Drzewiecki, James. (2014) Why teachers should use Minecraft
in the classroom. Education World. Retrieved on October 4, 2014
from: http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/benefits-minecraftclassroom-students.shtml
Elliot, Patrick. (February 10, 2014). Minecraft, executive
functioning and ADHD. LearningWorks for Kids. Retrieved
on September 5, 2015 from: - http://learningworksforkids.
com/2014/02/minecraft-executive-functioning-adhd-howminecraft-can-help-with-adhd/
Finley, Klint. (August 18, 2014) New Minecraft mod teaches
you code as you play. Wired. Retrieved on October 26, 2014 from:
http://www.wired.com/2014/08/learntomod/
Hall, Joseph. (May 31, 2013). Minecraft game being hailed
as teaching tool. Toronto Star – Insight. Retrieved on September
Conclusion
Now that JT has had a chance to share some of his Minecraft
creations and accomplishments with his teacher and his classmates,
he wants to study global warming and space exploration.
Fortunately, he will be able to experience real-world project-based
learning in both of these areas of intense personal interest. Thanks
to the help of Minecraft and its various STEM partners, JT is
considering working with his local community to address recent
and recurring problems with flooding. That’s a pretty ambitious
and impressive goal for a 4th grader.
These immediate plans of JT to make a difference in his
47
Stuart, Keith. (September 5, 2013). Minecraft at 33 million
users – personal story. The Guardian. Retrieved on October 29,
2014 from: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/sep/05/
minecraft-33-million-users
Wecker, Menachem. (May 29, 2014). Could Minecraft help
kids get smarter? Deseret News National. Retrieved on October
27, 2015 from: http://national.deseretnews.com/article/1498/
Could-Minecraft-help-kids-get-smarter.html
23, 2014 from: http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2013/05/31/
minecraft_game_being_hailed_as_teaching_tool.html
Keilman, John. (April 28, 2014). Video game ‘Minecraft’
finds a home in schools. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on October
26, 2014 from:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-0428/news/ct-minecraft-education-met-20140428_1_minecraftthrones-legos
LearningWorks for Kids. (2014) Playbook: Minecraft.
LearningWorks for Kids. Retrieved on October 15, 2014 from:
http://learningworksforkids.com/playbooks/minecraft/
Perez, Anthony. (August 14, 2013). Minecraft blowing up
the classroom: educators say the game teach everything from
math to genetics. So Cal Education Pass/Fail. 89.3 KPCC.
Retrieved on October 1, 2014 from: http://www.scpr.org/
blogs/education/2013/08/14/14502/minecraft-blowing-up-theclassroom-educators-say-t/
Smith, Scott. (November 30, 2012). Could Minecraft be the
next great engineering school? Quartz. Retrieved on September
15, 2014 from: http://qz.com/32868/could-minecraft-be-the-nextgreat-engineering-school/
Cathy Risberg, M.A., is an educational consultant. As the
owner of Minds That Soar, LLC, www.mindsthatsoar.com, she
specializes in providing academic advocacy services for gifted
and twice-exceptional children and their families. She is an
adjunct faculty member for the Technology in Education program
at National-Louis University in Wheeling, Illinois. She can be
reached at [email protected]. You can also follow her
on Twitter, @illinois2e, or on Facebook at Cathy Risberg’s Minds
That Soar, LLC.
Let It Ring! Creative Music Making—
Motivating and Inspiring Musicians of All Ages to
Love What They Do and Do It Well
By Sarah Hodges Sherban
“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight
to the imagination and life to everything.” What Plato wrote
centuries ago is still true today. For our music-hungry students,
rigorous training is a must; but more often than not students are
not getting the comprehensive music education they deserve.
In new educational programming and private lessons, there
is an opportunity to address the quality and methods we use to
teach music, fostering creativity through improvisation and
composition.
to perform at a professional level. Little wonder that few music
students get to experience what is most natural to all—to create.
Classical music education traditionally is focused on
technical ability; time is not given to musical exploration until
more advanced training, often after students have been taught to
eschew creative insights. When music students only perform and
regurgitate music, how can they learn to develop autonomy in their
music making, let alone the skills to make something original? It
is more than a bit ironic that we put classical composers such
as Mozart and Bach on pedestals, often forgetting that they were
performers and master improvisers. Why are students taught to
perform or compose rather than perform and compose?
Why Creative Music Education
All too often, when children have the chance to take music
lessons, they lack the opportunity to create music. In my
experience as a private music teacher, many of my students take
lessons with me as a last ditch effort by parents to keep them
interested in playing. Perhaps a school band class was too easy,
or the music too repetitive. When students begin lessons with one
foot out the door, it is my goal to help them experience music
making—rather than music regurgitation—for the first time, when
they’ll display a genuine curiosity and excitement about learning
to play their instruments and make music.
There’s something fundamental missing in today’s music
education, from the earliest training to the pre-professional level.
But with so many challenges facing today’s music educators,
it’s hard to place blame: music teachers and administrators must
compete for scarce funding; mandated standards and testing
often get in the way of good programs; professional musicians
aren’t trained to teach; and music teachers aren’t always trained
Advocates of Creative Music Education
Two leading music educators advocating for creativity in
reforming music education using improvisation and composition
are Mark O’Connor and Maud Hickey. O’Connor is a prodigy
violinist and fiddler known for straddling classical and folk
music styles, and for developing the O’Connor method, a string
pedagogy series that trains beginning string players to improvise,
arrange and compose, while embracing traditional American folk
music. Hickey is a professor of music education at Northwestern
University and one of the few music educators today addressing
the lack of creativity in the American music system. Her book,
Music Outside the Lines, not only explains the need for integrating
improvisation and composition into the curriculum, but also lays
out specific examples of how to do so.
Mark O’Connor in his Manifesto points out that current
48
teaching methods are based on the European curriculum. He
writes, “The European educative methods these academics
imported were flawed. In attempting to churn out new Bachs,
Mozarts, Beethovens, Brahmses, and Mendelssohns, they forgot
an important fact: The European masters were not only brilliant
composers—they were also adept performers. ‘Specialization’
became the new paradigm in the classical music industry.
Academics, record companies, arts management companies,
and impresarios shoved a wedge in between composers and
performers” (O’Connor, 2011, p. 9).
Few music schools in the United States embrace performercomposer training and fewer still encourage improvisation in
classical music training. This leaves a lack of creativity in the
music education model; musicians are developing a far narrower
creative ability than would have been the norm even 300 years
ago. Hickey believes that “through music composition, the
creative intelligence can be stimulated and nurtured in music
classrooms and studios” (p 11).
He means that music teachers have a difficult time teaching it
because they don’t understand it themselves. Mark O’Connor
writes, “Teaching creativity in the early stages of string playing
has been considered one of the most difficult concepts for teachers
to comprehend. Most methods…have assumed that musical
technique and skill can be ‘taught’ but that ‘creativity’ is largely a
matter of chance” (O’Connor, 2012, p. 1).
One big problem with integrating this kind of creativity in
music-making is that many music teachers are not ready to take
this on. We seem to be trapped in a “self-perpetuating cycle...
as the music teachers themselves have never composed through
their education and therefore avoid it in the classroom” (Hickey,
2012, p. 1). Hickey writes that “there is still a long way to go
to make music composition and improvisation an integral part of
music education (preface).” This is unfortunate because, as she
points out, “making up music is as natural to children as making
up stories or games, or creating original artwork with finger paints
and crayons” (p. 1).
Learning the fundamentals of a musical instrument may
only keep certain students interested for so long. That’s why
it’s essential to balance technique with improvisation and
composition. Hickey writes, “If the value of music composition
lies, at least partly, in the idea that it may promote creative musical
thinking, then more time needs to be dedicated to problem-finding
and exploratory activities” (p. 10). If students don’t get past the
bare-bones of playing an instrument, they won’t reap the rewards
that come when one learns to actually make or create music.
Learning to play an instrument and not how to make music is like
learning to read but not how to write. Hickey explains, “Although
one might have tremendous talent to perform flawlessly a range
of technically difficult etudes on an instrument, creative thinking
in music involves producing new ideas” (p. 7-8).
One of my private flute students, a 7th grader, was thinking of
quitting music before she started taking private lessons—she was
bored with the music in school and the approach that was being
taught. When we started experimenting with free improvisation,
she lit up; it was a relief to her to play music without going through
all the traditional “steps” for a new piece. When I asked her about
her experience with improvisation, she said, “It’s fun not to have to
think about what you’re doing and still make beautiful music.” In
particular, applying improvisation to learning a piece of music can
be the link to help resolve musical challenges such as, slicing or
“chunking” measures of the music and then using the parts of that
“chunk” in an improvisation. When the “chunk” has become your
own, you can put it back into context and use it with little difficulty.
Just as one might read a novel and then write a response to it in
an English class, improvisation can help music students interpret
written classical music by trying to say it with their own voice.
Composition and Improvisation in Music Teaching
Hickey suggests introducing students to composition using
activities that explore the two questions: What is music? and
What is music composition? In her carefully structured lesson
plans, students are guided through group listening, discussions,
journaling, aural imagination, and sound exploration activities.
These improvisatory activities lead students to create their first
composition. Easy to use and complete with multiple resources
for teachers, including tiered levels and fun creativity exercises,
Hickey’s book is a great source for any music teachers wanting to
expand their horizons.
In my teaching, I use free improvisation as a fun warm-up
activity, a way to practice or interpret a difficult piece of music,
or as the first step for my students to approach composition.
Improvisation comes in many different styles. Most people think
of jazz when they think of improv; yet, free improvisation is not
limited to a single style of music. Although difficult to define, as
Derek Bailey (1992), a leading figure in the free improvisation
movement points out, “the characteristics of freely improvised
music are established only by the sonic-musical identity of the
person or persons playing it” (p.83). In other words, improvisation
can be anything and sound like anything, depending on who you
are and your abilities -- which makes it available to any curious
music student! Free improvisation is “open to use by almost
anyone -- beginners, children and non-musicians. The skill and
intellect required is whatever is available” (Bailey, 1992, p. 83).
The combination of free improvisation (music games,
exploration and experimentation) and rigorous classical training
(reading music, technical fundamentals, ensemble and performance
practice) encourage students to be fluent musicians. They learn to
improvise, listen, write, explore with their instruments, and break
down repertoire in new or interesting ways. Improvisation is a
pathway to uncovering hidden depths in written music as well as
to personal discovery.
Process Over Product
We need to shift our thinking away from aiming for a
performance “product” and instead find ways to appreciate the
process of learning music. Mastery of a musical instrument
can be achieved by aiming at a product (a performance, test, or
competition). However, mastery of musical fluency takes time,
effort, care, and practice!
Practice is one of the most dreaded words for a music
student. Can practicing be fun? If music students were given the
opportunity to explore their instruments as creative tools, take
ownership of their musical voice, and encouraged to develop
Benefits of Improvisation
Improvisation is an essential skill that needs to be practiced
and developed just as one might practice technique or intonation.
Bailey states that the problem is that “improvisation enjoys the
curious distinction of being both the most widely practiced of all
musical activities and the least acknowledged and understood.”
49
their musicianship, it would make practicing easier. Why?
Because students would be intrinsically motivated to practice.
Practice logs, timers, and reward incentives can work, but free
improvisation and composition can create a deeper intrinsic
motivation to practice.
But not only professional musicians benefit from music
improvisation. It’s common knowledge that Albert Einstein
played both the violin and the piano; it isn’t as well known that
he practiced music improvisation regularly as a tool to get his
creative juices flowing. In his book, Conversations with Einstein,
Alexander Moszkowski (1970) reported that Einstein told him,
“improvisation on the piano was a necessity of his life. Every
journey that takes him away from the instrument for some time
excites a home sickness for his piano, and when he returns he
longingly caresses the keys to ease himself of the burden of
the tone experiences that have mounted up in him, giving them
utterance in improvisations.’
Style bending performer-composer Frank Zappa said,
“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.” It is
my hope that we continue to challenge the norm in our own music
making and teaching studios, try different things, experiment
with free improvisation, and seek new ways to foster joy and a
comprehensive understanding of music.
Sources
Bailey, D. (1992). Improvisation: Its nature and practice in
music. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.
Hickey, M. (2012) . Music outside the lines, Ideas for
composing in K-12 music classrooms. New York, Oxford
University Press.
Moszkowski, A. (1970) Conversations with Einstein. New
York, Horizon Press.
O’Connor, M. (2012). 20 Points of Creativity, For the
O’Connor Method Book One. http://www.oconnormethod.
com/20 Points of Creativity 1 10 12.pdf
O’Connor, M. (2011) Mark O’Connor Manifesto, A
reemerging American classical music: Mark O’Connor Musik
International (https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1JmHgbonuhZm
I2NTkwODYtZGQwOS00NGQ1LWJhZTItOGJkOTEzOWE5N
2Q3/edit?hl=en&authkey=CJvEjKEK)
Conclusion
Creative music making can teach students to communicate,
phrase, lead, support, and explore music in a fundamentally deeper
way. Improvisation gives teachers the key to apply creativity to
music learning. Regular improvisation can make practicing more
fun, paving the way toward composing, improved sight reading
skills, and fine tuned listening and communication. Hickey draws
on a definition of music composition from John Cage, one of the
most influential 20th century composers and thinkers. He said,
“The material of music is sound and silence. Integrating these is
composing.” Hickey goes on to say, “this simple definition makes
it clear that any person is capable of composing music, and that
playing around with sound is central to this process.” (Hickey,
p.7)
When asked if playing the flute is creative, my student
answered, “Yes! You can use so many techniques to make your
music fun and creative. Learning music is the best. It is super
fun and challenging.” Free improvisation gives my flute students
an opportunity to experiment, play, and eventually look at music
in a different way. But ultimately, improvisation allows them to
develop a personal mastery and fluency that they can apply not
only to music but to everyday learning, to any class in school or
job in later life.
Sarah Hodges Sherban is an innovative musician, educator and
program administrator, currently based in New Haven, CT. She is
involved in a number of creative arts projects both as a flutist and a
project facilitator. Currently, she is the Operations Manager for the
Waterbury Symphony as well as a member of the New York-based
Sparkitivity team, nurturing children’s innate creativity through
classes and program design. Previously, she was the Director
of Education and Community Engagement for the New West
Symphony in California, where she was instrumental in building
the award-winning Harmony Project in Ventura, a program that
creates social change through music education. Sarah received
a Master of Fine Arts in multi-focus flute performance from
California Institute of the Arts and Bachelor’s of Music from
University of Colorado at Boulder, College of Music.
For more information, visit www.creativemusicwithsarah.com.
Fostering Ownership of the Democratic Election Process in the
Primary Grades Through Creativity, Analysis, and Self-Reflection
by Carol Sandberg Howe I was recently watching a talk show interview of a very
famous actor who announced that he was temporarily postponing
his movie projects in order to focus on public speaking tours at
major college campuses and other prominent venues. His topic: the
urgent need for educational institutions to make United States social
studies education a major priority presented incrementally in ageappropriate concepts at each grade level. This would include
facilitating a thorough understanding of the “nuts and bolts” of
American history and government and emphasizing each student’s
responsibility as a United States citizen to participate in every
phase of the democratic process.
While acknowledging the critical need for students in the
United States to be competitive with other countries in reading,
mathematics, and science scores, the actor further pointed out
that other world countries have been singularly united by their
unique roots of a common language, customs, and traditions
for many, many centuries. The United States, on the other hand,
has always been a “melting pot” of many ethnic backgrounds,
each with their own languages, customs, and traditions. It is
the only country in the world originally founded on the principles
of democratic self-government, a unique set of ideas, and laws
created by active citizen participation as cited in the Declaration
of Independence and recorded in our Constitution as the “glue”
that holds this country together. Without this essential foundation
50
1. What is an Election and What does it mean to “vote?”An
(election) is an event where people make a choice (vote) between
two or more people or things. The students also came to understand
that voting was much like the graphing activities they were used
to, which recorded and measured their choices (e.g.,“how many
students prefer red apples, yellow apples, green apples?” or “how
many students prefer chocolate ice cream, vanilla ice cream, or
strawberry ice cream?”)
and education as responsible citizens being thoroughly ingrained
in each successive generation, he predicts, we will ultimately lose
our national identity. I visit many classrooms throughout the week, and as an
experiment, I sometimes ask 3rd through 8th graders to write
out the words to the “Pledge of Allegiance” that most students
robotically recite every morning at the beginning of the day. I
ask them to also write the meaning of nine of the key words in the
pledge, including: pledge (my solemn promise), allegiance (my
loyalty), the purpose of the United States flag(it represents the
honor and identity of our country), republic (a country that allows
its citizens to vote, nation (a country united by similar customs
and laws), indivisible (cannot be separated), liberty (freedom),
and justice (fairness) for all. (I’m sure it’s not surprising that many
students, even in the 7th and 8th grades, do not know the words’
meanings until we review them as a lesson.) After the lesson, I
get comments such as,“Wow! Now, I know what I’ve been saying
every morning!” Similarly, I sadly find that most students in classrooms I visit
rarely understand the meaning and heritage behind the words
of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which has just been celebrated
by our country in its 200th anniversary. I briefly explain that
Francis Scott Key wrote the poem in 1814 (which was later set
to music) as he witnessed the 25-hour bombing of Fort McHenry
in Baltimore Harbor by the British during the War of 1812. He
described “the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,”
giving “proof through the night that our flag was still there.” But
he had to wait until “the dawn’s early light,” of the morning to
see if the American Flag flying above the fort “was still there,” to
signify that the British had not won the battle. The flag, though
tattered from the bombing, was still flying and is preserved to this
day for viewing at the Smithsonian Institute. Again, I received
the students’ gratitude that they now understood what they were
singing. .One United States social studies activity I found particularly
useful for promoting self-reflection, responsibility, analysis, and
creativity in the primary grades is a simulation of the democratic
voting process. There are those who have expressed the opinion that primaryage children are only capable of understanding the voting process
on the most elementary level (e.g., a class vote, which refreshments
to bring to a party, what special game or activity to play, or what
reward to receive for good behavior). But those of us who have
the privilege to work with gifted primary students know better. If
our students are actively asking “what, how, and why” questions,
they are ready to learn about the subject and to explore it in a
creative and reflective way. And we, as teachers of the gifted, are
the facilitators of that creative process; we are here to fan the flame
of inquiry and to help students keep the project on course. I chose a second grade gifted class for this project and I began
this process with a KWL chart to assess just how much the students
might already know about the election process (i.e., What I Know,
What I Want to Know, What I Want to Learn). We all know that
this can be one of the best ways to generate a class discussion that
might lead to a student-developed class project. My intent was not only to encourage my students’ interest and
curiosity but to arm them with a basic vocabulary and the steps
(process) it takes to conduct any type of election.
The following are election definitions developed by the
students during our class discussions:
2. What is a President?— and What does he do? He is elected
by the people to lead and guide the country and makes important
choices that affect the good of the people. 3. What does a Leader do? After much discussion, the students
made the connection that: a President is a leader and a leader is
like the teacher in a classroom. Leaders (teachers) must know how
to tell people to do certain jobs in order for the work to get done.
Leaders (teachers) must make the decisions that affect the class. Leaders (teachers) help people obey the laws. Leaders must be
able to communicate clearly their ideas by speaking and writing.
Students concluded that whoever was elected President of their
class would be a responsible person and have to exhibit those same
leadership qualities. 4. What is a Candidate? He is a person running for an elected
office, such as President. 5. What is a Ballot? During an election, people write the name
of the person (candidate) that is their choice for the job. 6. What is an Election Speech? It is a presentation read by the
candidate with a list of reasons why they are the best person for
the job. 7. What are Election Posters? Election posters are pictures and
words printed on large cardboard to advertise why people should
choose that candidate. 8. What are Polling Places? A polling place is a room where
people come to vote or choose their favorite candidate. It contains
ballot boxes and ballots for people to write their choice for class
president. 9. What are Election Judges? Election judges are people who
hand out and collect the ballots and watch that everyone votes the
correct way and only once for each candidate.
Expanding the students’ election vocabulary was rewarding,
but my chief goal was to help my primary students discover and
embrace a class project where students felt they had a personal
stake in the outcome by directly participating in the campaigning,
voting, and administration of their own classroom election process. Once students understood the vocabulary and the basic
processes of an election, the students creatively decided that
they would like to hold their own presidential election in their
classroom and instead of choosing only two people to run for the
office, they ALL wanted to run for Class President. Each student
would design his/her own campaign, including designing their own
personal posters to advertise, and writing and performing thoughtful
speeches on “Why I Should Be Elected Class President.” Before writing their first speeches, the students developed
a two-column chart to record what each candidate talked about
during their speech explaining “Why I Should be Elected Class
President.” One column of the chart was labeled “personal
promises or presents” to classmates; the other column of the chart
51
was labeled “helping classmates or classroom service.”
On their first speech attempt, many students listed purely selfcentered observations about themselves (e.g., “I am nice,” “I like
to play baseball,” “I like to wear nice clothes,” “I will give candy
to my friends,” “I will be your friend,” “I will give longer lunch
hours and longer recess.”).
After the first wave of more selfish, self-serving speeches by
the students, the class engaged in a long discussion to review “What
does it mean to do some type of service to help someone in the class
or meet some students’ needs or provide some service to the class
vs. their first self-centered speeches?
This was positive peer-pressure at its best—as students
evaluated each candidate on their charts—judging: how selfcentered are each candidate’s speeches? How service-serving
are their campaign promises? Were these the words of a class
leader? Then, after personal “self-reflection,” students were
asked to write a second revised speech draft and present it to their
classmates.
It was so gratifying to observe my primary students mature
both socially and emotionally--to dig down deeper within
themselves and hear their speech content evolve from purely selfcentered observations to more desirable and responsible character
observations, such as these: “I will help my teacher by keeping my
desk and aisles clean,” “I will volunteer to clean the chalkboard,”
“I will not talk in class while my teacher is explaining a lesson,
so that it will not stop the lesson,” “I will write down homework
assignments for a classmate who has been out sick, so he/she can
catch up,” and (with the teacher’s permission),“I will watch to see
that used paper and so forth has been placed in a recycle box.” “I
will organize a fund-raising event (such as selling candy bars) to
buy supplies for our classroom.”
The social-emotional development in this exercise was fourfold for each student:
The creative design of the classroom “polling place” was
outstanding. Each group took responsibility for different areas of the
voting area, including colorful posters with thoughtful pictures and
slogans; some students invented clever poems or songs; there were
colorful banners, flags, hats, and ballot boxes; student “election
judges” performed accurate counting of the ballots and the winner
was announced through a “student-designed newspaper.” Another
student group took responsibility for inviting parents to the
classroom and organizing a celebration party at the end of the
election. The entire process was deemed an “unqualified success.”
We can no longer continue to exclusively rely on traditional
“crash courses” for the upper grades in preparation for passing the
required “Constitution” test as the only effective way to carry on
our nation’s heritage. As a ray of hope, it has recently been announced that a number
of states are currently proposing a future requirement: all upper
grade students must pass the same “Citizenship” test administered
to all naturalized citizens as additional reinforcement of the
democratic process.
But what about better reinforcing our country’s heritage
during the earlier years? In all fairness, as dedicated teachers, we
know that every moment of our teaching day presents an almost
overwhelming challenge to teach the essential concepts and skills
of reading, writing, mathematics, science, and the arts, while
attending to the individual needs of our students. We also know
that teaching the basic principles and processes of United States
government and the responsibility of citizen participation deserve
the same age-appropriate repetition throughout all eight grades as
all the other subjects. We must fight to somehow “fit these lessons
in”--perhaps by linking these concepts daily with our socialemotional lessons on “following school rules, showing respect for
classmates, making wise choices, and students taking responsibility
for students’ actions.” At least it might serve as a beginning . . . .
CAROL SANDBERG HOWE is a classroom teacher in gifted
education and differentiated instruction in Chicago and suburban
schools. In addition, she has also participated in gifted programs
at National-Louis and Northern Illinois Universities through the
Center for Gifted Programs affiliated with the Midwest Torrance
Center for Creativity. She has also held several positions at WTTWChannel 11, Public Broadcasting, Northeastern Illinois University,
and has served as an editor on a number of notable magazines.
1. Stimulated by class discussion, my primary students began
to develop a maturity that reflected a sense of “self-reflection and
honesty.”
2. Students began to understand that running for Class
President required the candidate to exhibit a “strong sense of
personal responsibility, leadership, and dedication to service,”
which required a careful evaluation of each candidate’s qualities
and reliability for the job. 3. The process awakened students to what it meant to be a
contributing member of the classroom community and a deeper
understanding that “whatever behavior a student exhibits (be it
good or bad), affects all students.” 4. My students began to understand emotionally what it means
to “take a stand for something that they strongly believe in; a
greater sense of confidence and personal pride.” In other words, “I
AM a worthy person.” Additional “election campaign” dividends were delightfully
apparent as I observed how much each student’s writing skills
and speaking confidence had evolved through creating his/her
individual campaign speeches. Now that students began to “own” the election process, it was
time for them to work cooperatively in groups to creatively design
and set up a “polling place” and supervise the election process of
voting for their favorite candidate for class president: Note: no
student was allowed to vote for him or herself. 52
Connecting The Dots: c.c.c.
“Bringing Rail to Higher Education”
By Christine Ohtani-Chang, President,
Hawaiian Gifted Association
History Lessons:
Introduction
The objective of the “Bringing Rail to Higher
Education”curriculum was to develop a template for an online
gallery while collaborating with higher education and various
communities. The platform in which the art images would be
presented and developed with the assistance of the University
of Hawaii School of Architecture will utilize technology tools to
develop the lessons learned. A call for art work images would
be open to 5 levels: K-5/ 6-8/ 9-12/ University/college and
Professionals. Through this exhibit we hope to demonstrate the
creative “genius” involved in creating the image and the critical
thinking behind each image. We also aimed to use this exhibit
as a curriculum piece while developing the online gallery of the
Hawaii Gifted Association (HGA).
This year HGA is going “high tech” and streamlining the
presentation of the artwork. We are very fortunate to have an intern
student from the University of Hawaii School of Architecture who
has taken on this project and assisted in developing the gallery
platform in which the online gallery will be presented. All artists
submitting their images will be included in the online gallery via
the web site ( www.higifted.info) until 2015 when HGA will once
again have their annual call for Artists’ works. Previous to the
2014 online gallery, HGA Artists have shown their work at KCC
(Kapiolani Community College) Lama Library. Previously to that,
a small private gallery setting opened up the first HGA Show with
its featured Artist, Johan Bosgra. This year, the online “traveling
gallery” will debut at the National Association of Gifted Children
(NAGC) Convention in Baltimore, Maryland from November 1316, 2014. The online gallery will also preview at the Streetcar
Museum and B & O Rail Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
The initial idea was implemented in late 2014 in response to
the rail transit system that would lay the foundation of the online
gallery. The curriculum will be presented by a pictorial history
of images of how artists see rail and their interpretation of its
future here in Hawaii. As controversial as it is, it is the future of
the times. We bring learning lessons to the classroom to discuss
education, history, technology and a readiness from college to
career in this curricula. The visual presentation will complement
the lessons learned through team research, data collection, and
community resources.
Research included Hawaii Rails found on the island to provide
a brief background of a once known way of transportation
for those living In Hawaii (featured artist: Barbara Smida
presented her interpretation and rendition through an Artist’s
perspective).
-Oahu Rail / OR&L …
-Hawaii Plantation Village; Train Puuloa #7 located in West
Oahu; Ewa Historic Site (currently closed) that includes
village scenes, train, tracks etc.
Additional research can be found via websites focusing on
history of locomotives, rails, etc.
www.nyhistorymuseum.org
www. NTHP.org
www.MTA.org
ushistory.org/us/25b.asp
aar.org
touristrailways.org
sdrm.org/history/timeline
Heritage_railway_in_Kauai
Amtrak.com
Metrolinktains.com/i5
*** Hawaii Authority for Rapid Transit (HART) intends to
seal a time capsule to be opened in 25 years. Currently an open
invite to the general public to submit letters for the Time Capsule
commenting on their current day commutes and challenges is
being solicited marking another milestone in transportation
history.
Education/ Methodology:
The methodology for assessing creativity and visual art is not
primarily based on activity but also on the criteria of principles,
curricula, design, and technical skills. Such key thinking skills
must be blended into the curriculum by a more cognitive activity,
53
with questions and thought provoking patterns. This research
was supported by Tay (2014) in the Talents Unlimited Model
which “mirror[s] the artistic creative process, and a differentiation
strategy known as tiered assignments.” In the tiered process,
thinking skills surface throughout the lessons and within the
framework of its theory and artistic process. The Talent areas
of Productive Thinking, Decision Making, Planning, Forecasting,
and Communication all focused on higher order thinking and
help to develop thinking skills and appropriate challenges for
the artistic task that they envision. The Talents Unlimited Model
developed different perceptions and insights for the students
while also supporting the educator’s use of the TU Model in their
lesson plans. The results and differences of a student’s work were
exemplified by a more in depth understanding of the principles,
its intricacy, and originality. This mind set is a learned thought
process and once achieved, students will have a “stronger sense of
self autonomy and ability to take charge of their creative works.”
Visual images submitted for the online gallery reflect a mix of
thoughtful play and imaginative thought process on varied levels.
Of the “schools” or art groups that submitted works to the
online gallery specific attention was given to technique and skill
building of the artist within the “7 elements of art; line, shape,
color, value, texture, form and space”. Classes experimented with
different types of media and learned basic techniques. Pending
on age group, different mediums were used for projects. There
were art pieces done that were theme related or shared a common
technique offering more of a thought provoking process. This is
also reflected in some self portraits included in the online gallery.
The art educators there work collaboratively with the Honolulu
Museum of Arts.
*Torrance Test and assessment is recommended to evaluate
creativity in an individual. Torrance also has a call for submission
for annual scholarship for visual as well as creative writing skills
each summer.
or self represented; hence, quality and sharpness may vary. The
creator Phap remained attentive to this criteria and considered the
best in selection of images. Due to this factor, links and web sites
are provided to view artists’ works from their own web sites (see
collaboration list) as well.
Submission of images began on May 15th, 2014. Images
of specific groups, themes etc. were submitted to the online gallery
creator intermittently throughout the process. Due to the creator
of the online gallery and prior commitments, the deadline had to
be pushed further up, so HGA made efforts to accommodate the
timeframe and solicit entries/ registrations by the end of June.
HGA is grateful for the support of the School of Architecture
for their volunteer hours and continued work within their time
restraints.
The online gallery would remain on the web site until the
following summer when a new call for artists would start and the
images refreshed. Artists will be given an option to leave their
works online year to year, as HGA builds the online gallery.
Prospectus/ Call for Artists
Elementary to High School Students were encouraged to
submit works. Their works would NOT be for sale and any sales
will remain the responsibility of each (Minor& Parent/Guardian)
student artist and handled independently of HGA’s online gallery.
Schools and art groups were also encouraged to submit artwork
images.
University/college and professional level artists were
encouraged to participate and submit images. They had to register
and then submit a minimum of at least two jpg. images
Works at this level are for sale with 15% commission to
HGA’s Scholarship. A pricelist would also be available at each
venue should attendees be interested in purchasing. A waiver
covering liability of the original artwork (if it is exhibited) and/
or image on the registration would have to be signed. It would
remain the responsibility of each artist to conduct sales ( be it
original, reprints, images etc.) and forward the 15% commissions
to HGA.
HGA Scholarships are awarded to students, educators,
and Professionals wishing to attend or supplement, workshops,
conferences, conventions and tuition.
Implementation: Technology Tools were proposed to develop the platform for
the 2D/ 3D online gallery such as Adobe,Topaz, 123 catch, Final
cut etc. 2D Images were requested to be sent 150 dpi in jpg.
Files. All 3D files were recommended to go to www. 123dapp.
com/catch program. This digital imaginary program provides an
easy, simple-to-use process for taking several angles of one’s 3D
artwork and combine the images together producing an accurate
and clear 3D file to send for the online gallery.
The creator of the gallery was done by School of Architecture
student Phap Vu is currently working on graduating in 2015.
Recently, Phap Vu was recognized for his architectural futuristic
concepts and idealistic designs (Honolulu Star Advertiser 5/18/14
in a proposed mixed use building concept in Honolulu as a student
project). His innovative approach in presenting the online gallery
concept was creative and refreshing with a local flair that keeps
the viewer attentive throughout the time period.
Several “groups,” art clubs, communities, etc. were
approached during the process whom HGA felt may have more
of an interest in having their works represented online. HGA
was looking for a broad spectrum of age groups (elementary to
adult), ethnicities and geographic areas that would submit varied
mediums of artwork.
These Images were then requested to be photographed,
demonstrating the best of their work either professionally done
Collaboration: Entities supporting “Bringing Rail to Higher
Education” online gallery:
AHA/ Association of Hawaii Artist
www.associationofhawaiiartist.com
Baltimore Gifted Association
www.mcgate.org
Baltimore Streetcar Museum
www.baltimorestreetcar.org
B & O Railroad Museum
www.borail.org
CAL/Coastal Art League, Ca.
www.coastalartsleague.org
Creative Arts Program
www.rehabhospital.org
Cycle Manoa
www.cyclemanoa.org
DASH/Digital Art Society
www.digitalarthawaii.org
54
Hawaii Mission Academy, Ka Lama Iki
www.hawaiinmission academy.org
www.kalamaiki.org
Hga Featured Artist/ Engine I: Barbara Sumida
www.papoh.com
Hga Featured Rail Artist/ Engine II: Frank Oliva
www.frankolivaislandart.com
Honolulu Country Club Gallery
www.honolulucountryclub.comn
Illinois Association for Gifted Children
www.IAGF.org
The Salvation Army KROC Center Hawaii Art Program
www.kroccenterhawaii.org
City and County ; Kapolei Hale
www.honolulu.gov
Korean Artists Association of Hawaii/ The 23rd Korean Children
& Youth’s Art Contest (2014)
www.koreanartshi.org
NAGC & Affiliates
www.nagc.org
Plein Air Arists : Hawaii’s Plantation Village
www.hawaiiplantationvillage.org
UH School of Architecture
ww.arch.hawaii.edu
Featured Artists:
2014 Barbara Sumida www.papoh.com
2013 Warren Stenberg www.warrenstenberg.com
2012 Ann Bingham www.binghamfreeman.com
2011 Johan Bosgra www.imagekind.com
www.beachhousepublishing.com
Online Artists:
Pua Barinitos
Carter Black
www.carterblack.net
Joan Dubanoski
www.digitalarthawaii.org
Priscilla Hall
http://paintingsbypehall.blgspot.com
Sue Noon
www.artofsuenoon.weebly.com
Frank Oliva
www.frankolivaiislandart.com
Ohtani-Chang
www.digitalarthawaii.org
Rebecca Snow
www.rebeccasnowart.com
Jenee Wonderlich
www.associationhawaiiartist.com
Higher Education Rail Report” at the 2014 NAGC Convention
in Baltimore.
Source: Star Advertiser 6-18-14/Hawaii Authority for Rapid
Transit
$222.2 M. Total budget to acwuire right-of-way
properties for rail project
$861.2 M. Spent YTD
$161M. Budget Balance
213 properties needed
67 properties acquired
146 additional properties needed.
College to Career
Transportation will affect the pace at which we move more
than a million people on this island of Oahu. Currently, a
population size for communities in the West can be anywhere
from 3700 people per square mile to 12,000 people per
square mile. The density of these communities per square
mile combined with the aging of the young adult population
will make the need to commute with alternate means to work
and higher education campuses a priority.
The following findings reflect high school to university level
and beyond of those currently attending or will be entering a
college or university in Fall of 2013
18 yrs.+
75.6% (15-19 yrs/ 6-7%)
21 yrs +
71.6% (20-24 yrs / 6.9% and 25-34 yrs/ 14.1%)
Of these seeking a way to commute to other locations for one
reason or another, be it attending classes or work, some factors to
consider were:
- household with 2 or more cars
- 2 working members in household
- attending higher education Institutions, inter -campus commute etc.
HS+84.6
BA+
26.2
MA+ 8.4
(2000 census)
(Younger students may travel by car or other means providing
a door to door drop off closer in proximity due to age and parental
preference )
Future
Star Advertiser, Editorial Page; INSIGHT headlined: “RAIL
transit gets real”
As progress continues on the structure of the rail, Hawaii
Authority for Rapid Transit’s oversight of the “largest public
works project” to date continues to keep the community informed
and as well as the community being visibly aware of its growth,
column by column from west to east. Some images you see in the
online gallery have already sneaked its way into galleries here and
there from admirers of the rail. A recent call to submit a 150-word
letter to be placed in a 25 year time capsule has also appeared
in the newspaper as of June first. HGA’s themed online gallery
is working towards completion column by column, and as you
can see even editorial columns. (star advertiser/6/1/14, E1&E4)
c. As of 7-17-14 Congressional action via HR 2419; “REBUILD
AMERICA’S BRIDGES AND ROADS”
Has brought attention to funding needed in each state.
See also additional articles via Star Advertiser raising
community concerns, budgetary issues in HGA’s “Bring Rail to
Factors to consider in the future as we consider current
2012/2013 data findings:
Tech Establishments: + 5.3% Creating New jobs
31,472
Tech Wage Emp.:
+ 4%
New skills/ Education 485,548
U.S. Select Indicators and Subcategories: (The Condition of
Education 2014)
Attainment:
age 25-29
earned Bachelor +34%
2013
Economic Outcomes:
earnings w/Bachelor Degree 57%
2012
Postsecondary Enrollment
Degree Programs 57% since 1990
(projected increase of 3.6 M by 2023 compared to 2.9M in 2012)
Undergrad Degree Bachelor
55
39%
2001/02 2011/12
(1.3M to 1.8 M)
Collaboration with Higher Education:
The collaboration between the School of Architecture and
the Hawaii Gifted Association brought about a unique relationship
between several entities within the communities. The University
student who was key in bringing the creative vision of the online
gallery and the dedicated labor that was put in assisting HGA in
pulling in images and formatting them were greatly appreciated.
The particular “student intern” is a 3rd year student who balances
a job, college, and extra curricula activities within the community,
such as HGA Online Gallery. He remains instrumental in future
development, planning, as well as future presentations of HGA’s
online gallery. His partial ownership to this project will assist in
developing and furthering his career goals and building a well
rounded resume for potential firms and businesses where he would
seek employment within his profession .
giftedness, leadership, public awareness, psychology/emotions,
scholars and scholarships, talent, technology etc. We should say
the c.c.c., abc’s or 123’s of the beginning of “Rail” while we also
keep on track that we were always heading to Higher Education,
incorporating creativity, critical thinking and curriculum!
Rail will bring the “commuters” to higher education by the
very means many thought otherwise. The future doesn’t look so
negative as we create another efficient means of transportation
new opportunities, and skills to accommodate the growth in
population while moving with the future.
References
Condition of Education, 2014
Hawaii Authority for Rapid Transit (HART), 2014
Hawaiian Gifted Association (HGA), 2013, 2014
HR2419; Building Bridges and Roads Act
National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC),
Teaching for High Potential (THP) , Spring 2014
Oahu Railway and Land
Sabol, 2006
Star Advertiser, 2014
Juliana Tay, Doctoral Student, Purdue University, 2014
Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent
Development, 2013, 2014
US Census, 2010
Washington Post, 2013, 2014
whitehouse.gov/REBUILD-AMERICA
All rights reserved 2014
Conclusion:
Submission of works came from grades kindergarten through
12. The online gallery remained free (optional donation) to submit
a minimum of two pieces per individual with the anticipation of
registrations from adult population of artists. The registration
fees would cover limited overhead expenses and fund the HGA
Scholarship.
The end product was completed in June, producing two
online gallery videos (copyright 2014) one approx. 8 minutes and
the other approx. 10 minutes in length. Intentions are to have
these viewed in the museums as part of a curriculum presentation
to support this collaboration.
As we “connected the dots : c.c.c.” through the process and
of this project, HGA had the opportunity to interface with several
entities, community groups, gallery venues, professions, non
profits and alike to develop the final online gallery. The intent was
to have this perpetuate year after year and refresh the images, bring
in new participants while laying down a template or foundation
to start the HGA online gallery, all the while remaining attentive
to the cost of supply and demand . Our goals were two fold,
in that we wanted to meet the community’s need and also raise
the online gallery to a higher level with national exposure while
emphasizing issues that go beyond the themed” Bringing Rail
to Higher Education” .
We feel we have cautiously touched current issues of
concern across the board from arts, budget, career, copyrights,
demographics, development, education, government , funding,
Christine Ohtani-Chang, currently the President of the
gifted association of Hawaii, works with gifted education as a
consultant and advisor. She has done direct service to gifted and
talented students from grades K to the College level. Christine
has presented at a number of workshops and conferences as well
as chaired several conferences and gallery venues that highlighted
individuals in the visual arts. She has done fundraising and grant
writing for the Hawaii Gifted Association. Her Master’s Degree
supports her in her interest in gifted and talented research and
higher level education.
My personal experience as a parent...
By Michele Foote
I believe that all children are special, have their own unique
gifts, and are here in this world for a distinct purpose. It is our job
as parents to really see our children for who they are, love them
unconditionally, and support their gifts. During this journey of
parenthood, I’ve realized that we are still learning and that our
children have become our greatest teachers.
Children offer so many gifts – love, kindness, laughter,
empathy, compassion, curiosity, presence, and creativity. They
inspire me and bring me so much joy. I am so grateful to be a
parent. Becoming a mom has been one of my most rewarding
experiences. We do not fully know what to expect in becoming
56
parents, but what I have learned throughout the last seven
years is that the most important thing I can give my children is
unconditional love for who they are in all their moments of life. I
believe that every experience in life is a teachable moment.
I also think it’s important to let kids be kids. Kids need to
play, imagine, create, make mistakes, express their feelings, and
be themselves. I read a quote by Albert Einstein that said this:
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you
everywhere.”
It brings me so much happiness to witness my children at
play. And I am so grateful for our simple moments and adventures
together. I wake up excited to see them, grateful to take care of
them, and know that this moment right now is what life is all about.
And then, after they have spread their wings, we let them fly.
errand of grocery shopping. As we were walking into the
supermarket, I was thinking of my grocery list. My son then
looked up at the sky and said, “Mom, look at those clouds! They
are so fluffy, I wish I could play in them! “ It brightened my day
in that very moment. He reminded me, as children often do, to
enjoy the moment!
I took a nap one afternoon after my daughter’s birthday party.
I woke up to my children playing with one of their new cooking
sets. They were pretending to be Hibachi Chefs. We had just taken
them to a Japanese restaurant for dinner earlier that week. They
were smiling and giggling - each of them had on aprons and they
lined up small tables as cooking stations. One table had spices,
one table had bowls and utensils, and the other table had their
creation of miso soup. As I awoke, they were serving me soup and
appetizers. I felt so happy and grateful to witness such play and
wake up to these happy people.
One day as we arrived home from a sixteen hour drive in the
car from our spring break trip of sunshine and the beach, we came
home to cool, gray weather. As I was unpacking our bags and
everyone was just out of the car, I looked out the front window of
our house and our kids were making a “beach” in the front yard
with our beach umbrella, beach chairs, and blanket. They still had
this incredible energy to play.
Another morning before school, our kids were pretending
they were puppies. They had taken the laundry hampers from
everyone’s rooms, lined up three hampers in a row, and put pillows
across the top to make the roof. They were underneath the pillows
pretending they were puppies and eating their breakfast.
One afternoon, we were getting ready to go to the gym. My
kids came out of their bedrooms dressed in all black clothing and
said they were spies. They each then ran off to their closets or
“offices” and were making pictures of maps with codes. They
were so engrossed in their play, they had forgotten we had plans to
go to the new kids’ class at the gym.
Another evening, I was making dinner and I looked out the
kitchen window to check on our kids playing in the backyard. They
were busy running back and forth throughout the yard, pulling
together chaise lounge chairs, small tables, sticks and leaves, and
the water hose, tying jump ropes together, and carrying our small
outdoor fire pit near everything as the “cage”. They were building
a trap for any wild animals that came through our yard that night
because we had recently had a raccoon in our trash.
When given free time to play, kids will create, imagine, invent,
explore, and enjoy the moment of the day. I now try to be careful
and allow as much free time as possible in our week. I understand
the importance of play and that it is the catapult for creativity,
learning, and problem solving. When kids have time to play, they
are free of any pressures and can just be themselves. I believe,
they are not caught up in the “doing” of life that can make them
tired and irritable and drain them of their creativity. From being
super heroes to princesses or witches, they have endless energy
and imagination. My hope is that this creativity and curiosity for
learning stays with them forever along with wonderful childhood
memories.
They have taught me that no matter what you are do, try to
be in that very moment and you will experience more joy. They
inspire me. And when you are inspired, you feel excited; when
excited, motivated; and when motivated, happy. My wish is that
they continue to be inspired by whatever it is they want to do or
be in life.
Let Them Fly
A poem by Michele Foote
Morning sunshine is coming up,
Coffee brewing for that cup,
Pitter patter of feet coming near,
Giggles and giggles is what we hear,
Cuddles so sweet, we cannot stop,
Down to breakfast we will hop,
Eating our cereal, it will pop,
Giggles and giggles is what we hear,
Pitter patter of feet coming near,
Time to get dressed and start our day,
Curious of learning and time to play,
Buses and cars are zooming by,
Some are walking, some stop to say hi,
Teachers are smiling and lead the way,
Let’s listen closely to what they say,
Growing, growing, every day,
Hear your voice and find your way,
Raise your hand and ask a question,
Give a helping hand or suggestion,
Giggles and giggles is what we hear,
Pitter patter of feet coming near,
It’s time to go home, the bells are ringing,
Clubs, activities, and play time for creating,
Homework, baths, and story rhymes,
Nothing better than family time,
Giggles and giggles is what we hear,
Pitter patter of feet coming near,
The weekend is here and it’s time for fun,
Out to the soccer fields, watch me run,
Birthday parties fill us with cheer,
It’s wonderful to celebrate that we are all here,
Playgrounds are busy with kids everywhere,
The sun is shining, we could be anywhere,
Kids on swing sets, they are swinging,
Filled with happiness, we feel like singing,
Let’s swing so high and touch the sky,
Comfort them, see them, and honor them – let them fly.
Let them fly.
What my children have taught me…
My children have taught me so much, but here is what they’ve
taught me the most – the delight of enjoying the moment, the
natural curiosity and love of learning that we all have, and the gift
of creativity. When I observe my children, I find myself smiling
for many reasons. One of those reasons is that I’m reminded of
being a child myself and the excitement and dreams I had each
day. Children bring a special kind of magic to life. Whether my
children are brushing their teeth while singing in the bathroom,
taking apart their closets to build forts, sweeping the driveway
because it’s fun, going on a nature walk to collect fall leaves, or
feeding their stuffed animals before they are off to school, they are
fully in the moment and their creativity is contagious.
One Monday morning, I was taking my son to our regular
57
What Should We Be Today, Mommy?
A poem by Michele Foote
it’s our job to help guide our children toward their passions and
be careful not to push them towards our own dreams for them
because they excel in academics.
I wonder about those children who have learning disabilities,
but still have many creative gifts. These children need our
support more than anyone, so they are certain to build confidence
and pursue their dreams.
In my generation, it was considered a success to go to college
and find a job—any job as long as it had a good salary. And
the higher the salary, the more admirable the job. During this
process, I don’t think we often heard – follow your passions, do
what you love and this will bring you success in life. I believe it’s
time we say this to our children as they go through their school
experience. It’s important to take risks and find your passions.
Sir Ken Robinson said these words in his Ted Talk:
“If you are not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up
with anything original.”
I believe that if you pursue what you love from the beginning
of your career, you will have financial security and be successful
in all areas of your life. A successful individual is financially
stable, but also available to live a balanced life of professional
career, personal interests, and time for family and friends – and
genuinely happy doing it all. I always admire those that say their
work does not feel like work. We need all types of professions
to make the world run smoothly. We should teach our children to
respect each and every kind of work. I believe that success should
not be judged solely by job title, income, or social status. Life has
enough ups and downs and I think our passions are what pull us
through it all.
My opinion is that children, whether average or gifted
achievers, need to follow what makes them happy. I read a
wonderful book recently entitled The Conscious Parent by Dr.
Shefali Tsbary. In my reading, I learned that we parents have to
be whole in order for our children to be whole. Otherwise, we
can accidentally impose our unconscious selves and sought-after
dreams onto them. It is not our children’s job to fulfill our dreams
in life. We brought them into this world and they need to fulfill
who they are and their own unique purpose. I couldn’t agree
more.
As a stay at home mom for over seven years, I know for a
fact that the most creativity comes from my kids when they are
given free time to play, are having fun, are exposed to interesting
experiences or classes that not only challenge them, but engage
them.
I agree and understand that we need standards and benchmarks
such as the Common Core within our school systems across
the United States. However, it’s also important that we are not
measuring every child in the same manner. Teachers and parents
should work together to help our children strengthen their gifts
or talents, pursue their passions, and offer differentiated learning
curricula. Children spend six hours a day at school and need time
each day to focus on their passions or talents. This enables them
to discover their passions in life before spending thousands of
dollars on a college education.
My husband and I grew up in a wonderful community and
respected school district with many happy childhood memories.
However, I have some memories of being in high school and
seeing many kids besides myself half asleep at their desks. Or
we would be in class and confused by an assignment, but we were
too intimated by the teacher to ask a question. It is definitely a
What should we be today, mommy?
A puppy, a princess, a witch, or a fairy?
A super hero, a cowboy, a monster that’s scary?
A chef, a spy, a robot that’s smart?
A singer, an actor, or the Tin Man without a heart?
A scientist, a hairdresser, or maybe a doctor?
A pilot flying a big helicopter?
A gardener, a police officer, a swimmer who is wet?
A doctor that loves animals – yes, a vet!
A teacher, an astronaut, an artist at heart?
A mom who is shopping with her baby and grocery cart?
A fisherman, an architect, a fire fighter?
A designer, a lawyer, a children’s book writer?
A barista, a dentist, a pet shop owner?
A librarian, an acrobat, a philanthropy donor?
Or maybe a kid who is happy just being a kid.
Yes, that’s me and my imaginary friend named, Sid.
The importance of creativity and passion…
My biggest hope as a parent is that my children not forget
these gifts of enjoying the moment, their zest for learning, their
creativity, and their passions and motivation for life. I believe
these gifts are the keys to a lifetime of peace and happiness as an
adult. I read a quote by Julia Child that said the following:
“Find something your passionate about and stay tremendously
interested in it.”
I hope for our children to really know themselves, to follow
their own dreams, to have their own internal drive, to be kind and
pass on what they’ve learned to others. Life is precious and it’s
important to enjoy it. Life is also hard, complicated, not always
fair, fast paced, and confusing at times. I hope they know how
to problem solve and stay resilient, like a child. I hope for them
to own their feelings, be comfortable expressing themselves, and
learn from their mistakes. We are human beings and we are not
perfect and I want my children to know this. And it is often times
when life is not so perfect that we receive our greatest gifts of
creativity.
I recently came across an old Ted Talk and video by Sir
Ken Robinson, How Schools Kill Creativity. I love this Ted
Talk and find it so funny. It was recently voted one of the top
twenty Ted Talks of all time. The Talk focuses on the point that
creativity should be as important as literacy and that children have
extraordinary talents and we squander them. He references this
quote from Pablo Picasso: “All children are born artists. The
problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” It is a
fascinating talk.
I personally am in awe of the wonderful doctors, dentists,
and lawyers in this world. But we must begin to be in awe of
our creative children. The kids who love stories and enjoy music
can spend hours drawing or painting, or have daydreams of being
an actress, a photographer, a designer, or an inventor. Creativity
is unique and not something that can be taught out of a book or
memorized as information for a test or even measured by a test.
And it can only be expressed properly if given time to access and
nurture it. I have learned over my reading of several books on
gifted children by Joan Franklin Smutny that gifted kids may excel
in several areas or be profoundly gifted in one area. I believe
58
joint effort between parents and teachers for children to get the
most out of their school experience. However, if kids are asleep
in the classroom and they don’t feel connected to their teacher,
something is missing. Teachers and parents can empower children
and bring out their greatest potential.
I am so grateful that our family lives in a community with
an excellent school district—one that supports differentiation
amongst students, employs principals and teachers that not only
meet but exceed our expectations in every way. Our schools not
only teach academics, creativity, critical thinking, and problem
solving skills, but social and emotional learning and respect
for all. We are very grateful and fortunate to be a part of our
wonderful school and community. I know not every family has this
opportunity, but every school can continue to make improvements
and innovate so that our children reach their greatest potential.
I recently read a journal that addressed this need of giving
children and especially those who are gifted and creative, the
opportunity to engage in subjects outside of Common Core. They
called this time Genius Hour and I believe it is an excellent idea.
As a parent, I hope this out-of-the-box thinking will be accepted
amongst many schools. Genius Hour is a time where students
can pursue their interests by selecting a topic that intrigues them,
choose to work alone or together, thoroughly research the topic,
and present their findings to as large an audience as feasible. The
projects would not be graded but rather self-assessed and also
critiqued by adults and peers. Children then have an opportunity to
reflect on what they’ve learned and what they might do differently
the next time. This concept was based off of Google’s 20% Time,
where employees had time each week to pursue personal passions,
so long as they were of benefit to Google. I can’t imagine any
kid not being excited of this concept, which seems to support the
entire idea of education – to instill a love for learning.
I think many times we have more than one passion. This
concept may open the doors to many passions and areas in life
that kids don’t have time to explore after school with homework,
sports, and clubs. Kids these days are overwhelmed with hours
of homework after school and barely any time for play or family
activities.
I believe it is when we are alone with our thoughts and given
quiet or free time that we hear our inner voice guiding us to our
passions and our calling in life. Over the years, I have come to
learn that this inner voice is our true self. I recently watched Steve
Job’s Stanford Commencement Address. In his speech he said,
“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own
inner voice.” ~ Steve Jobs
And what an impact he made to society by following his own
inner voice. I love his personal story.
to think of rhymes that put a smile on my face as they captured
our day. And before I knew it, I had written my first children’s
book. It felt exciting.
I often found myself with my kids in the children’s section
of bookstores. It was cozy and calming to all of us. I was in
awe of these beautiful children’s books, the messages, morals, and
lessons they told, and the enthusiasm my children had for reading
together and story time. I realized that the joy I was experiencing
was being fully present and engaged in something that I love.
At first I thought to share this book with only my family as
a special keepsake, but I then realized it would be important to
share what I had learned with others. A mentor of mine and Editor
of this IAGC Journal, Joan Franklin Smutny, once said to me, “If
we cannot help one another, then what good are we?” And this is
exactly how I feel about my book experience. It makes me think
of another famous quote by Maya Angelou, “If you get, give. If
you learn, teach.”
I am blessed to be reminded of this valuable life lesson and
experience of being in the present moment. Not only did this
experience of being in the moment bring genuine joy to my life
and a great connection with my children, but opened me up again
to my true passions in life. My passions of writing and inspiring
others, helping others, and the joy I feel when I’m doing anything
that’s creative and imaginative. When you have passions, you
feel happy. And when you are happy, you make better choices
and make this world a better place for everyone to live.
I am thankful to Joan Franklin Smutny who encouraged me
and gave me insight into publishing. I was then lucky to meet my
friend, Valentina Belloni, an amazing illustrator, who accepted
my book project and brought my story to life with her beautiful
illustrations.
I hope my new children’s picture book What Should We Do
Today, Mommy?—created through this journey of motherhood—
will bring a smile to your face, and inspire and remind parents
and children everywhere to try and enjoy the present moment in
life, no matter what they are doing. Hopefully, your children will
take this lesson with them throughout their lifetime. It sounds so
simple, yet can be so difficult in our world of many distractions. I
hope this valuable lesson will have as positive an impact on your
life as it did mine.
My book may also offer some playful ideas on how to spend
the day together with your child for any new parents. Whether
walking to the park on warmer days, driving to the toy store
on rainy days, or stopping at the neighborhood bake shop for a
special treat to start the day, children remind us of the delight of
enjoying the moment.
I truly believe that every moment in life, every adventure,
and every person we meet, whether positive or challenging, is
here to teach us something about ourselves and help us grow into
our greatest potential, if we look from that perspective.
To end this article, I would like to mention a quote I recently
saw by Quincy Jones while visiting our local children’s museum.
“What a harmonious world it could be if every single person,
both young and old, shared a little of what he is good at doing.”
Quincy Jones
Whatever inspires you, whatever excites you, and whatever
makes you shine bright, just remember to always follow your
light!
How being in the present moment leads to joy and why I
wrote my children’s book…
Over the last several years, I found myself so happy in the
moment with my children. I am in awe of them – their pure
delight in every moment. They have no judgments, are not
distracted by yesterday, do not think of tomorrow, and fully
engage themselves in whatever they are doing. It is wonderfully
refreshing. From games of hide and seek to making soup in
our kitchen to visiting our favorite museums, I am constantly in
gratitude for each experience. It inspired me to begin a journal
of my daily adventures with my children. I had not kept a journal
since my childhood. I would read my journal at night and begin
59
My children’s picture book What Should We Do Today,
Mommy? is available from my personal website, www.
michelefoote.com, the publisher’s website, www.authorhouse.
com , or through your favorite bookseller or preferred on-line
retailer such as Amazon or Barnes and Noble. I welcome your
feedback. I hope my book will inspire you and bring you, your
family, and friends many moments of joy!
You Can Never Have Too Many Sparkles
A poem by Michele Foote
You can never have too many hugs or kisses,
Too many dreams or worldly wishes.
You can never have too many laughs or smiles,
Too many friends or family within miles.
978-1-4918-6492-0 (SC ISBN)
978-1-4918-6493-7 (eBook ISBN)
You can never have too many tears of joy or sorrow,
Too many shoes that will get you through tomorrow.
You can never have too many salty or sweet treats,
Too many comforts when you are feeling weak.
What Should We Do Today, Mommy?
by Michele Foote
A child is in awe of life and brings wonder, magic, and laughter
to every day. A little girl, Ashley, asks, What Should We Do Today,
Mommy? From using our imaginations inside the house on cold
winter days, walking to the park on warmer days, driving to the
toy store on rainy days, or stopping at the neighborhood bake shop
for a special treat to start the day, she reminds us of the delight of
enjoying the moment. Ashley’s enthusiasm will bring a smile to
your face and excitement for the day through the eyes of a child!
You can never have too many questions about who, what, where,
when, and why,
Too many details that teach us how to get by.
You can never have too many days of rain or sunshine,
Too many birds or butterflies giving you a sign.
You can never have too many prayers for the day,
Too many thank yous of gratefulness to say.
Michele Foote – Biography
Michele Foote cherishes warm childhood memories of growing up
in Grand Blanc, Michigan. Motherhood has brought her so much
joy and has been one of her most rewarding experiences in life.
After a few years into the journey of motherhood with her first
child, Ashley, the main character of the story, she turned her daily
journal into a children’s picture book. Ashley was born in Chicago,
where they explored the city together in this wonderful new phase
of life. Michele Foote is available for story time and speaking
engagements at your local school, library, or business. Please
contact Michele Foote at 312-371-7226 or michelefoote20@
gmail.com or through her personal website, www.michelefoote.
com.
You can never have too many adventures or experiences in life,
Too many unknowns that take courage and strife.
You can never have too many walks, runs, or bike rides,
Too many fireflies that light the night sky.
You can never have too many lyrics that you’ve said,
Too many songs or daydreams in your head.
You can never have too many forms of art,
Too many miracles that warm the heart.
You can never have too many inspirations or ambitions,
Too many pathways and roads that will teach you life’s missions.
A special thank you to Joan Franklin Smutny, a mentor and
inspiration to me. Thank you for your contributions to our
gifted and creative children.
You can never have too many thoughts or ideas that are new,
Too many chances to let everyone see you.
You can never have too many sparkles that make you shine bright,
Too many reasons to follow your light.
Follow your light.
CREATIVE UNDERACHIEVERS
CHILDREN WHO ARE TOO “OUT-OF-THE-BOX”
By Sylvia Rimm
Educators in the field of gifted education attempt to not only
accelerate curriculum for their students, but also to encourage and
expand their critical and creative thinking. They often explain this
creative approach to students as “out-of-the-box” thinking. “The
box” is an effective analogy to help children understand how to
shift their thinking and learning styles toward taking initiative
and being more original, questioning, and imaginative.
As a psychologist who specializes in gifted children, I
sometimes work with students who do indeed enjoy learning and
working “out of the box,” but instead struggle with “in the box”
assignments even when they are at appropriate challenge levels.
They say things like, “I would enjoy math if 6 plus 4 could equal
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something different each time, but we always have to put down
the same exact answer. It’s boring.” These children usually have
uneven abilities (2008a) so that they may enjoy talking, but prefer
to write little and specifically find repetitive study unpleasant
even when it is helpful for their mastery of information. Many
underachieve in school (Rimm, 2008).
Underachieving children are not always creative, and
creative children are not always underachievers. However, an
alarming number of highly creative children do not achieve to
their abilities in school. Parents of those highly creative children
frequently conclude with a certain amount of pride that “their
children have always seemed to march to the beat of different
drummers (Rimm, 2003).” Here’s a case example [pseudonym
used]:
Jack’s parents brought him to me in first grade after his
teacher referred him for Special Education. She could not
motivate him to even attempt his reading workbook assignments,
although she recognized that he was an excellent reader. He
repeatedly explained that “workbooks were too boring” for him
and refused to do them. He had also explained his boredom
problem to his father, who had told him he should do his work
but also added that, “School hadn’t been creative enough for him
either.” Unfortunately, Jack heard his father’s message as support
for his wish not to do “boring” workbooks and continued to defy
his teacher.
Jack’s IQ score was 138 and his GIFT (Group Inventory
for Finding Creative Talent)(Rimm, 1976) creativity score was
99%-ile. Reading and math scores were also 99%-ile. Jack loved
reading, talking, and computers, but did not like writing and hated
repetitious work.
A combination of parent support for teacher direction,
explanations to Jack of the rationale of importance for the
work, curriculum changes that provided more challenge, and
teacher rewards for accomplishment of the more arduous and
boring tasks of writing quickly reversed Jack’s primary grade
underachievement.
Jack continued to see me in therapy occasionally throughout
his school years. His creative needs were always crucial to him,
but he also learned to work “within-the-box” when required. He
became an excellent student and adjusted well socially.
In college, Jack first majored in physics and then changed
his major to computer science, but adventure and creativity were
always important in identifying his career goals. He completed a
nature-video photography Master’s degree program specifically
based on his science undergraduate major.
Today, Jack is an Emmy Award winning nature photographer
who works both in and out-of-the-box to make video productions
available on the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and
other media formats. He continues to “march to the beat of a
different drummer,” earns a good living, and makes a positive
contribution to society.
Both creative achievers and underachievers have been given
early messages about the importance of creativity by at least one
parent. The messages come most simply from the praise given
to them for their creative ideas, talk, actions, and/or products.
They learn that when they do something unusual or if they
have a funny or different idea, it brings them positive attention.
Creative thinking becomes a personal motivational goal, which
won’t necessarily lead to underachievement if home and school
environments cooperate to foster the creative process. They
identify themselves as creative people, and they feel creativity as
a crucial part of their persona.
An early indicator of a potential problem will appear in the
differential valuing of the child’s creativity or escape behavior
by two parents. If one parent defends the child’s behaviors as
creative, and the other parent views the creativity as opposition
or avoidance of responsibility, the seeds of underachievement can
be planted.
EARLY TELLTALE SIGNS
At elementary school level, these creative children may
be seen as achievers, although the telltale signs of creative
opposition are sometimes already visible as they were with
Jack. They often voice complaints about boring math facts or
workbooks, teachers who don’t like them, or arguments they win
with teachers! Sometimes, caring parents ally with them against a
teacher, ask for less busywork, or request unnecessary extensions
for assignments. Parent conversations with other adults that
take place within children’s hearing (referential speaking) about
the lack of creativity in schools, the inadequacy of teachers, or
the invidious comparison of routine schoolwork with the more
creative, out-of-school activities in sports, drama, or music
add to the opposition problem. One parent typically blames the
school, teacher, or other parent for the child’s occasional (at first)
irresponsibility.
As a parent allies with the child against the school, the
child learns to avoid school responsibility and to blame the
boring school curriculum or teacher for his or her problems. In
the alliance of child and parent, the child gains too much power
and becomes engaged in a subtle struggle with one or another
teacher in the name of creativity. There are good years and bad
years at first. Within this struggle are the seeds of the pattern of
determined and oppositional nonconformity. The child has begun
the march to the beat of an ever different drummer.
PRESSURES CREATIVE ADOLESCENTS FACE
Creative young people are faced with paradoxical pressures.
Their now internalized value system says to “be creative.” They
translate that to mean “don’t conform.” Achievement in school
requires considerable conformity. Peers also demand conformity
for acceptance. Conforming to teachers or friends seems
antithetical to these children’s wishes to be creative or different.
During the early adolescent years, creative underachievers can
become quite unhappy and often feel unappreciated by parents,
teachers, and peers alike.
By high school, opposition is firmly entrenched and has
become a way of life. While the parents refer to the problem as
adolescent rebellion, the teen considers him or herself as only
independent and different. The opposition that began as an alliance
between parents or one parent against a teacher, has expanded to
become opposition against one or both parents and any number of
teachers. Sometimes, the adolescent will be successful in getting
Mom on his/her side against Dad or vice versa. Either or both
parents may share in their protest against the school. The most
likely alliance group of all, however, will be an oppositional peer
group, preferably one that identifies itself as “different.” The
creative underachiever can finally find acceptance by friends who
value, most of all, nonconformity and opposition. Even within
that peer group, Creative Chris both struggles with and revels in
being “the most different.” Grades are often poor, assignments are
61
missing, and disorganization plagues the creative underachiever.
Mood swings are common, as they feel intense successes and
failures. Some search out drugs, which enhance their excitement
about feeling different.
WHAT PARENTS AND TEACHERS CAN DO TO HELP
CREATIVE UNDERACHIEVERS
Ideal home and school environments that foster both
creativity and achievement include parents and teachers who
value creativity within the limits of reasonable conformity. That
is, children are praised and encouraged to work hard and also
for unusual and critical thinking and production. The creative
thinking does not become a device or a manipulation for avoidance
of academic or home responsibilities, even when they are not as
exciting. If, in any way, creativity takes on a ritualized position
of avoiding a parent’s requirements or the school’s expectations,
creativity becomes used as “an easy way out” for avoidance of
responsibility and achievement. Here are some recommendations
for parents and teachers for the prevention and reversal of
underachievement in creative children (Rimm, 2008b):
•
As a parent, don’t, if at all possible, ally with children
against a teacher in the name of creativity. Parents
should communicate their concerns to teachers, but it
must be done carefully so the teachers or school are not
disempowered in the process, and children don’t view
their creativity as an excuse for not fulfilling school
expectations.
•
As a parent, don’t ally with children against another
parent in the name of creativity or permit children’s
creative needs to be the excuse for not doing what
the other parent requests. When one parent allies with
children against another parent, it overempowers
children.
•
Encourage creative children to be productively engaged
in at least one area of creative expression, and help
them to find audiences for their performances (Rimm,
1996). Children who are happily and productively
involved in creative arenas are less likely to use their
energy to fight authority. Whether their choice of creative
expression is art, drama, music, or science, a creative
outlet frees them of some of their internalized pressures
to be nonconformists in other areas.
•
conformity. Mentors should be achieving, creative
people who work both “in-and-out-of-the-box.”
Be sure not to permit children to use their creative
outlet as a means of evading academic assignments.
Demanding music practice or impending art show
deadlines are reasons for flexibility in academic
requirements but not excuses for avoidance of
responsibility.
•
Don’t label one child in the family “the creative child.”
It causes that child to feel pressured to be most creative
all the time and causes other siblings to believe that
creativity is not possible for them at all.
•
Find appropriate models and mentors in areas of
children’s creativity (Rimm, 2008b). Creative children,
particularly in adolescence, too easily discover
inappropriate models who may also be creative
underachievers. Appropriate models should share their
creative talent area, but must also give messages of
responsibility, self-discipline, hard work, and reasonable
•
Find a peer environment that combines creativity and
achievement. It should be one that permits creative
children to feel comfortably accepted by other achieving
and creative young people. Gifted resource programs
frequently provide a haven for creative underachievers,
provided the identification process has not eliminated
them from participation. There are many summer
opportunities for drama, music, art, photography,
computers, science, math, or foreign languages that
provide excellent creative outlets.
•
Encourage intrinsic motivation while also teaching
competition (Rimm, 2005). Children should learn to
enjoy the creative process for the joy and satisfaction of
their personal involvement. However, they should not be
permitted to entirely avoid the competitive arena. They
should experience a balance of winning and losing to
build confidence and resilience.
•
Use creative strengths to build up weaknesses.
Children don’t have to be equally strong in all areas,
but they do have to accomplish, at least minimally,
in school-required subjects so that they don’t close
educational doors for themselves. Artists who don’t
like math or creative writers who don’t like memory
work can use their creative strengths as a means of
adjusting to their weaknesses. For the creative writer,
unique mnemonic devices will often make dull memory
tasks more interesting. Artistic or unique folders,
assignment notebooks, or technology may help the nonmathematician remember to do assignments, particularly
if the artist is encouraged to share these artistic creations
with peers. Creative children can often find their own
solutions to dealing with their weaknesses, and some
flexibility and encouragement on the part of teachers will
foster their creative solutions.
•
Avoid confrontations, particularly if you can’t control
the outcomes. This is not an excuse to avoid firmness
and reasonable consequences, but it is a warning
to prevent overreaction, overpunishments, and the
continuous struggles and battles that often plague
creative adolescents’ environments. Modeling and
sharing positive work and play experiences can keep
parents, teachers, and children in an alliance.
•
Help creative adolescents to plan a creative future.
Though they are underachievers at this time, it is critical
that they understand that most creative careers are open
only to achievers. If they’re unwilling to compromise
and conform to reasonable requirements, they’re likely
to close doors to future creative opportunities.
There is a precarious balance between creativity and
oppositionality. Creative children often feel so internally
pressured to be creative that they define their personal creativity
only as nonconformity. If they’re unwilling to conform at least
minimally, they risk losing the opportunities to develop their
unique talents. If parents and teachers don’t encourage avoidance
of responsibility in the name of creativity, creative children can
channel their important talent toward productive contributions,
62
feel better about themselves, and share their creative contributions
with society.
Rimm, S.B. (2008b). Why Bright Kids Get Poor Grades and
What You Can Do About It. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press.
References:
Rimm, S.B. (1976). GIFT: Group Inventory for finding
creative talent. Watertown, WI: Educational Assessment Service.
Rimm, S.B. (1996). The arts are important for your children.
How to Stop Underachievement, 6(4).
Rimm, S.B. (2003). Marching to the beat of a different
drummer. Sylvia Rimm on Raising Kids, 14(2).
Rimm, S.B. (2005). Teaching healthy competition. Sylvia
Rimm on Raising Kids, 16(3).
Rimm, S.B. (2008a). Learning disabilities. Sylvia Rimm on
Raising Kids, 18(4).
Sylvia Rimm is a psychologist, the director of Family
Achievement Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, and a clinical professor
at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. Her books, How
to Parent So Children Will Learn and Why Bright Kids Get Poor
Grades, were both 2008 National Best Books award winners
from USA Book News. Sylvia has authored many other notable
books, including Keys to Parenting the Gifted Child, Raising
Preschoolers, See Jane Win®, How Jane Won, and See Jane
Win for Girls. She is also co-author with Gary A. Davis and Del
Siegle of the textbook, Education of the Gifted and Talented, now
in its 6th edition.
Safe Haven:
Parenting Creative Children Amidst Abundant Conformity
by Kathryn P. Haydon
Parenting: one of the hardest jobs in the world. Parenting
creative children, depending on how you experience it, can be
in the top tier of difficulty. It is well documented that there is
a societal pull toward conformity—in school, in extracurricular
activities, in thought patterns. But creative children buck these
trends. The way they think naturally does not tend to conform to
the way the world is, nor to the way the world expects children
to be. This can lead to parental embarrassment, isolation, or
downright frustration. It can also induce worry that there is
something wrong with the child when his nonconformity is
mistaken for a deficit or diagnosis. For a parent who prefers to live
with a set routine, organization, and order, a highly creative child
might seem like an enigma or a threat to the system. Consider the
experience of this spontaneous, idea-filled child and her mother,
who didn’t know what to do with the intensity . . .
but popping out of my mouth before
it got there
“KATHRYN!”
until I learned to wind those ideas
around me like a straitjacket
strapped to my chair.
Then they just sat pretty and
I trained them to be still
and shut up and
my mind went numb
with multiple choice
tests and spelling words
that I already knew.
Until I found the poetry,
and one by one the ideas
began to move again,
Raising the Creative Spirit
When I was born
I crashed into my mama.
Well, it wasn’t really me
but the ideas hovering around me
like a force field
connecting and fusing in a
continuous motion
of energy and chatter and “what ifs,”
and the sparks
would shock my mama
all day long
like sudden zaps
when you touch your car door in winter
while you’re wearing woolen mittens.
form pictures and strands,
filing or swarming onto
the page,
captured and tamed
in a way
that some could understand.
But I still crashed into my mama.
I didn’t mean to
after all day at school
with duct tape
over my mouth
they came pouring out again,
sparking and puttering and
shocking my mama and
raising her hair like I rubbed a balloon on it.
I crashed into my teachers, too,
the ideas shooting my hand up in the air
63
When my baby was born,
he didn’t cry.
His eyes were wide with awe,
and I saw the ideas
twinkling about him
like constellations.
He may have crashed into me
but I didn’t feel it, for
what’s another spark among the thousands?
Together we carve space for the ideas
so they can ignite make a fireworks show and he doesn’t have to sit in school and numb his mind
but can play with them all day long (quietly),
come home,
and
strike a match.
Map. Sit in a location for one hour. Document all the sounds you
can hear and the times you heard them. Mark the approximate
location of the sounds in relation to you on a map.” You place the
exploration on the kitchen counter. A few days later, you happen
to notice your child sitting outside in the yard mapping the sounds
of the birds, wind, and passing cars. In other words, it can be very
effective to place interesting books, items, or activities around the
house for your child to discover on his own rather than engaging
in them together or trying to direct the play.
Red RaceCar
One by one they take their places on the track.
“Children, start your engines,”
roars Ms. Bondrilka, the kindergarten teacher.
One after another
keys click
motors sputter
wheels turn.
Thirty tiny cars
begin their journey with gusto,
shouting,
smiling,
pictures of grand adventures
flooding their minds
like dangling carrots.
Four laps equal a mile,
round and round they go.
Scattered at first,
they quickly lock step,
concentric circles
steadily moving at the metronome’s pace.
“Fall into line, Johnny!” the maestra suddenly shouts,
nervously glancing over her shoulder.
But one red dot has already breached the horizon,
-
a minor note in a major scale blurring a zigzagging course,
swirling and skidding
figure eights and pirouettes,
alone;
free.
Embrace Curiosity and the Spirit of Play
If you are a parent of such a firecracker child with an
independent spirit that likes to do things her own way, whose
ideas spark from her all day long, and who thrives in exploration,
discovery, imagination, and originality, what can you do in the
home to support her and to avoid crashing into one another?
Curiosity is the fuel of creativity, a characteristic that has
shown up in lists of traits of creative people throughout time
(Davis, 2004). To nurture a creative child, it is essential to allow
for curiosity and exploration in the home. The first and easiest step
is to give the child flexibility to pursue her interests. Make sure
she has plenty of materials that she needs to create her inventions,
build structures, imagine scenes, float off to other worlds in books,
take apart electronics, or explore in nature. Ensure that your
child’s day has plenty of unstructured time for her to be home and
do these things, uninhibited by schedules, pre-planned activities,
adults, and even friends and siblings at times. These moments
or hours of self-directed exploration and discovery are precious
to your creative child, and provide rejuvenation and regeneration
especially after many hours at school.
The second step is to embrace curiosity and a spirit of play
yourself. Find your own interests and inspirations, and share these
with your children. You might share a YouTube video, a smooth
stone that you picked up on your morning walk, or a question that
you’ve been pondering. Maybe you point out a surprising shape
in the clouds, or marvel at a radiantly colored leaf. When you are
excited about a discovery or a new idea, you validate your child’s
creative spirit, demonstrating solidarity and understanding.
As noted earlier, creative children are often intrinsically
motivated to pursue their own interests, but they don’t always
appreciate being “instructed.” For example, as you are embracing
curiosity yourself you might have found a wonderful book with
open-ended, whimsical creative missions called How to be an
Explorer of the World by Keri Smith. You might think your
creative child will love doing these explorations with you. But
when you produce the book and suggest it, your child looks at
you suspiciously and says, “No thanks, Daddy, I’m going to go
outside and dig a river in the yard.” You can’t believe that your
child, who loves to do these open-ended sorts of things, doesn’t
want to join you. You might feel hurt or mad! But instead, you
decide to rip a few pages out of the book and place them around
the house. You tear out “Exploration #14” which says, “Sound
Sometimes Your Child Stands Out
Is your child the one in the class that charts his own
path? One parent accompanied her highly creative three-yearold son to a weekly Mommy and Me preschool class at a local
indoor/outdoor preschool. While all of the other children happily
participated in the activities laid out by the teacher, her child
preferred to wander the playground doing his own thing. She
sometimes felt a little embarrassed and isolated because she was
on the playground following her zigzagging child while the other
mothers and children visited in the classroom. One day, a more
seasoned mother saw her frustration and said kindly, “You know,
the qualities of independence and individual curiosity that your
son has are difficult to parent, but will serve him well in life. I’m
trying to teach those qualities to my own little boy, but yours has
them naturally.” What a vote of confidence, and a refreshing
perspective. Over the years, the mother often thought back to that
moment with gratitude especially after she’d had a particularly
difficult experience with her creative children. But how do you
64
cope with the 20 years before adulthood, when these qualities
might be quite irksome to teachers and to other children? How
do you preserve these behaviors in a world that tries to normalize
them?
Again, allowing your child freedom to be him- or herself at
home goes a long way. This provides a safe zone, and confirmation
to your child that he is all right and accepted for who he is. Here
are some ways that creative children might appear in school:
• Seem to be playing around when they should be working
at assigned tasks.
• Engage in manipulative and/or exploratory activities,
many of which are discouraged or even forbidden.
• They enjoy learning, which looks to the teacher like play
rather than work.
• They are intuitive and imaginative; enjoy fantasy; see
unusual uses in ordinary objects; are flexible, inventive,
original, perceptive, and sensitive to problems.
• They have vital energy (Goertzel et al., 2004).
lift you like a hot air balloon
over clouds
to where the sun always shines
no mist
to cover who you are
your passion
your purpose
and most of all
your joy.
Ignore the box man
and keep singing your song.”
Keep Your Child Out of the Box(es)
Sometimes it can seem like the box man is after your outof-the-box thinker. You can feel the whispers as you walk down
the street, or when you drop your child off for a class. You can
hear the scrutiny in innocent-sounding statements like, “Sarah has
quite an imagination,” or “Sam is exuberant in class.” As you
filter through the common beliefs and attitudes of how to deal
with non-conforming children, please consider the following
facts.
In a 2010 survey of over 1500 CEOs around the world,
IBM found that creativity was the number one leadership quality
leaders sought in employees (ibm.com/ceostudy, 2010).
The world is changing at a more rapid pace than ever in all of
human history. The number of life-altering inventions from the
beginning of time until the year 1900 was 10. The number of lifealtering inventions between 1900 and 2000 was 25 (Henry, 2001).
Richard Florida defined the new “creative class,” which
consists of people who have jobs that produce new ideas and
products (such as scientists, writers, and designers), or those who
employ creative problem solving in their work (such as lawyers,
high-tech workers, and business managers). Florida asserts that
in 1900, less than 10% of the U.S. population worked in creative
jobs. In 2000, more than 30% of the U.S. population worked in
creative jobs (Florida, 2012).
Students in U.S. schools today are likely to hold more than
22 jobs before they retire from the workforce (Trilling & Fadel,
2009). Many of our children will also have to create their own
jobs in order to respond to changing needs and changing times.
Do these statistics reinforce your commitment to preserving,
protecting, and nurturing your child’s creativity, even at the
expense of ridicule, or onlookers that imply that you’re doing
it wrong? Creativity is a precious commodity. We need highly
creative children to stay mentally in tact; we need them to have
creative self-efficacy (Beghetto, 2010) so that they may be
confident in employing their abilities to make unusual connections,
to be original, and to look at things differently. As they apply
these abilities to personal, community, and world problems, they
will become change agents for a brighter tomorrow.
But how to help your child gain creative self-efficacy?
Help her begin to observe and think about her thinking. Simply
defined, creativity is “the production of original ideas that are
made useful” (Gryskiewicz, 1987). It necessarily involves a
combination of divergent thinking (idea generation, imagining,
fantasizing) and convergent thinking (analyzing the ideas and
filtering them to choose the best, most appropriate solution). Any
creative act, from building a block tower to painting a picture to
discovering something new, involves these two dimensions of
creative thinking.
It has been well-documented that creative children are not
always appreciated in school; research and studies have revealed
that teachers tend to view compliant, conforming children most
favorably (Beghetto, 2010; Goetzel et al., 2004; Torrance, 1963;
Wallach & Kogan, 1965). Beghetto (2010) reports that recent
studies have found that many teachers link creativity with
“nonconformity, impulsivity, and disruptive behavior” (p. 455).
What does this mean for your creative child, and what can you
do about it?
The Box Man’s Prowl
Don’t kid yourself.
I see you lurking in that corner
eyeing me,
your straight, flat rulers and yardsticks
neatly lined in rows,
scrutinizing,
ravenous to see
how I measure up.
It’s no big secret that you’re trying to
trap me
in one of your tiny
straight-edged boxes
squish me into one dimension
like a lab rat, unworthy of your kitchen scraps.
I see your narrow spyglass
trying to follow me
as I
twirl
and sing
and paint with words
that you can’t catch
because they float and scatter
happiness like summer rain showers
and sunrays
to anyone who’s listening
and they shout
“ignore the box man
and make your rainbows anyway,
let your smile
65
Torrance (1966) defined creativity as “a process of becoming
sensitive to problems, deficiencies, gaps in knowledge, missing
elements, disharmonies, and so on; identifying the difficulty;
searching for solutions, making guesses, or formulating
hypotheses about the deficiencies: testing and retesting these
hypotheses and possibly modifying and retesting them; and finally
communicating the results” (p.6). Observe how your child senses
gaps, and goes on explorations or experiments to fill them. Point
out to him that he is doing this, and that this is creativity.
We might also describe creativity in terms of characteristics,
such as curiosity, independence, originality, risk-taking, high
energy, sense of humor, ability to fantasize, attraction to
complexity or ambiguity, artistic, open-mindedness, need for
alone time, perceptiveness, emotionality, thoroughness, and a
strong sense of justice (Davis, 2004).
When your child is in the midst of a creative act, notice the
facets of her thinking. Describe the definitions of creativity,
and communicate real-life examples of how you have seen her
employing these processes and characteristics. Share with her
some statistics and facts about the importance of creativity, and
how it is wonderful and useful for her to keep thinking the way
she is thinking. Guilford, the psychologist that catalyzed the field
of creativity with a seminal speech in 1950, encouraged people
to learn about how they think. He wrote, “. . . knowing what
you do intellectually gives you some control over your mental
functioning” (Guildford, 1977, p. 10). Being aware of their own
creativity and its usefulness, highly creative children (who likely
know that they think differently from others) will gain confidence
and strength in the expression of their abilities.
by their shadows instead of their light, they may even want to fix
them. As parents, we know our children best. Even with all of the
experts out there knocking at the door to help us, we are the ones
with the children day in and day out. Some might call us biased,
or blinded by love. But who’s better than a parent to seek out our
children’s creative strengths and support them, helping them to
grow into the best people that they can be so that they might give
their light to others? We are our children’s advocates, confidants,
nurturers. If we can provide a safe haven of creativity where they
are able to explore, discover, imagine, and pursue their curiosities;
if we can help them see their own strengths; and if we can help
them apply these strengths, we have done our job well. And we
don’t even have to be perfect at it. Good faith effort, flexibility,
and a whole lot of love are sufficient in nurturing our creative
children.
References
Beghetto, R. (2010). Creativity in the classroom. In J.C.
Kaufman, & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook
of creativity (pp. 447­-463). New York, NY: Cambridge
University Press.
Davis, G. (2004). Creativity is forever. Dubuque, IA:
Kendall/Hunt.
Florida, R. (2012). The rise of the creative class revisited.
New York, NY: Basic Books.
Goertzel, V., Goertzel, M.G., Goertzel,T.G., & Hansen,
A.M.W. (2004). Cradles of eminence. Scottsdale, AZ: Great
Potential Press.
Gryskiewicz, S. S. (1987). Predictable creativity. In S.G.
Isaksen (Ed.), Frontiers of creativity research: Beyond the basics
(pp. 305-313). Buffalo, NY: Bearly Limited.
Guilford, J. P. (1977). Way beyond the IQ: Guide to
improving intelligence and creativity. Buffalo, NY: Creative
Education Foundation.
Henry, J. (2001). Creativity and perception in management.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Smith, K. (2008). How to be an explorer of the world:
Portable life museum. New York, NY: Perigree.
Torrance, E. P. (1966). The Torrance Tests of Creative
Thinking-Norms-Technical Manual Research Edition-Verbal
Tests, Forms A and B-Figural Tests, Forms A and B. Princeton, NJ: Personnel Press.
Trilling, B. & Fadel, C. (2009). 21st century skills:
Learning for life in our times. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Wallach, M. A. & Kogan, N. (1965). A new look at the
creativity-intelligence distinction. Journal of Personality, 33,
348-369.
Radiance
“You’re a beautiful shadow,
they say,
dark cast of a tree,
branches and stems
spread regally upon the snow
and particularly stunning
on this perfectly moonlit night.”
But they don’t understand.
I am a warm sun ray
that the moon reflects
and the tree blocks
to create the elegant shadow by night and by day,
I warm the earth
I melt the snow
Kathryn P. Haydon is the founder of Ignite Creative Learning
Studio and Sparkitivity. A former second grade and Spanish
teacher, she designs innovative creative learning experiences for
schools and individual students; works with teachers to deepen
critical and creative thinking in the classroom; and has written
and spoken widely on the topics of creativity, creative learning,
and supporting creative and gifted students. She co-authored
Discovering and Developing Talents in Spanish Speaking Students
(Corwin Press, 2012), and her current research centers around
developing innovative creative learning infrastructures. Follow
her blog on The Creativity Post at http://www.creativitypost.com/
authors/list/152/khaydon
I am not the shadow, I am light.
See Your Child’s Light
Out in the world, people sometimes mistake the shadows
of highly creative children for their true identities as creative
thinkers. It’s not that they are unloved or disliked; it’s just that
sometimes even well-meaning people mistake them for something
they are not. Sometimes when people identify creative children
66
IS STEM FOR ALL? Perspectives of Black and
Latino Students on STEM Motivation
By Adrienne Coleman and Kayla Ingram
Is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
(STEM) truly for all? According to the literature, it is rare to find
gifted and talented Black and Latino Students who are engaged
in STEM (C. G. Wright, 2011; LSA, 2005; Scott, 2010; Speight
& Weatherspoon, 2009). They are virtually invisible in these
majors and careers. While Caucasians and Asians view STEM
careers as a world of opportunities, Blacks and Latinos see them
as challenging and inaccessible (The Center on Education and
Work, 2008). This results from a lack of exposure to STEM in
K - 12 education, mathematics phobias, students’ misperceptions
of what science is, lack of real-life application of science, lack
of motivation to succeed, and peer pressure that devalues high
achievement (Flores, 2007; PEW, 2005; Scott, 2010; QEMN,
2010). Black and Latino students tend to pursue familiar areas,
such as the arts or athletics where they are sure they can excel
because their role models have excelled in those areas already
(Schlesinger, 2005).
When Black and Latino students from the Illinois Mathematics
and Science Academy (IMSA), a residential high school for
students gifted in mathematics and science, were asked why a
STEM gap exists, they stated that many Black and Latino students
lack a STEM vision for themselves and have not been exposed to
these fields. This is a result of being in under-resourced schools,
being stereotyped, and being more exposed to non-STEM areas;
as evident in their comments below:
in STEM. Because a lot of kids love science
because there are no boundaries to it, you know.
You can blow up something and you can just be
yourself. So that is why I feel like, it’s not that
many of us in STEM field.
Latino Male: I think one of the big things, definitely, I think
we also touched on is the environment in which
these Hispanics and African American students
live in. There are resources in the communities
that Hispanics and African Americans that
aren’t necessarily affluent or rather more poor.
I think that definitely contributes to it just
because they can’t pursue STEM because it’s
just not a possibility. And if it is, it’s not easily
accessible. And another thing is historically, I
feel like African Americans and Hispanics have
been affiliated with things that aren’t academic,
like gang affiliations and different stereotypes
of that variety which makes it easy to go along
with the stereotypes because I’m not expected
to do anything else. So that’s definitely one
thing that I think is a big contributor because
historically they aren’t expected to do anything.
So before I came here, I came from a selective
enrollment school in Chicago so one of the
better schools in Chicago and predominately
Black and students were motivated. Their
parents were motivating them to be great and
do great things in life; but the big thing in that
school was the arts. Students were getting
$20,000 scholarships to the Art Institute of
Chicago, that’s the direction we were going.
And I think that’s what’s popular in our culture,
the arts and humanities, because that’s what we
have as a Black community; that is part of what
we give back and that’s part of how we continue
to thrive. I don’t think it has to do anything with
motivation; it’s about what we have and who we
are as a people.
Latino Female: So I think the common thing throughout what
we are going to be discussing is in terms
of information and how knowledgeable the
student is in terms of if you’re Latina you are
given, since you were young, a stereotype based
off of which race you were. I feel like that’s a
really big thing because studies have shown that
kind of changes your sense of motivation, your
priorities, so say they, “Oh Hispanics don’t do
that well in STEM education,” well if you’re
badgered with that stereotype, that start to feel
like “Oh well what if they are right,” what if you
don’t really feel comfortable in this situation
because people keep on putting you down. So I
feel like a very big component and especially in
this institution, it’s kind of the knowledge and
de-establishing the hype of stereotypes.
Black Female: I feel like our education system isn’t leveled like
it should be. A lot of what you get in school is
based on your zip code. Unfortunately a lot of
black and Latino students are in schools that
don’t provide them with enough resources or
they don’t have the budget or they are just living
in not the best environments. Going along with
us being minorities, it also hinders how many
of us are in these fields. I feel like if kids were
exposed to everything as their Caucasian and
Asian peers then, you would see an increase
Although this STEM gap exists, Black and Latino students
currently enrolled at IMSA, suggest STEM is for all. They are
motivated to engage in STEM, and they plan on majoring in
STEM as well as entering STEM careers. These 45 students
were asked “What factors do gifted and talented Black and
Latino students identify as motivating them to engage in Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) at the Illinois
Mathematics and Science Academy, a residential academy for
gifted/talented students?” The trends that all students agreed upon
include: personal drive to learn, obligation to Black and Latino
community in an effort to break negative stigmas about Black
Black Male:
67
and Latino students, and solve problems to advance humanity.
Consistent with the literature on motivation, these trends
demonstrate that these students are motivated to engage in STEM
because they feel obligated to give back to their community and
ancestry that provide them with the opportunities they have with
hopes of contradicting negative stereotypes and breaking stigmas
about their race/ethnicity. Their motivation also originates from
their personal drive to learn more of the subjects they are interested
in and this curiosity inspires them to solve real-world issues in
order to advance humanity. The factor that is new and contributes
to literature is Black and Latino students’ motivation stems from
their aspiration to solve problems in order to advance humanity.
For these students, their motivation is simply about the
acquisition of knowledge; learning and discovery of new
information impelled them to engage in STEM. They discussed
their desire to want to know everything and how there is so much
information to know as evident in some of their comments:
Black Male:
so much that is available to you. Whereas other
fields are kind of closed off.
Latino Female: I think something that has helped me throughout
my entire education, ever since I was a little
girl. I think what has helped me is that I am very
energetic. As in I can’t sit still. Whenever I do
not do anything I feel like I am worth nothing.
I feel like I always have to be doing things, I
would say I am antsy. That has driven me to
be involved in activities and when it comes to
school, learning. I can’t just sit there and waste
time so essentially what I do is get the most I
can with the time that I do have do not like to
bored I like to do things and school I like to
learn things and seek more out of it so very
curious along with antsy. So that has helped me
when I am in school to make sure I am focused
and I am doing worthy of my time and do
things right and I am learning the subjects that
I should be learning and then the curiosity has
driven me further more as a high schooler now
to make sure that I have understand what I need
to understand and learning what I need to learn,
that has helped me.
It’s not so much motivational, but I do want to
find out as much as I can. But I fell into STEM
education; there’s something unique about it that
is not really relevant or apparent in any other
aspects of learning. There’s this knowledge that
no matter how much you know, you will never
know all of it; so being part of STEM education
drives me to know. . . . It’s inspiring to know
that I’ll be finding new things possibly, but there
is always more to know.
Besides a personal desire to learn, the Black and Latino
students also are motivated to engage in STEM by their obligation
to the Black and Latino community to break negative stigmas.
These students believed that their ancestors and parents worked
hard to ensure they received a good education; thus it became
their responsibility to be successful. They also believed that
negative stereotypes exist in society that suggest they don’t value
education. Thus, the students’ motivation to engage in STEM lay
in proving society wrong and breaking those negative stigmas as
the following comments show:
Black Female: I have developed a passion for biology
specifically and for the medical field and
microbiology both. So what my motivation at
this point is just getting through whatever else
will get me to a place where I can really pursue
that passion and develop it and eventually, I’ve
always had that childish dream of “I want to
save the world with learning” so just kind of
see what the abilities I’ve been given what I can
do to help out with them so just being able to
pursue that passion and being able to see where
I can take it.
Latino Male:
Black Male:
I think that STEM still has the most unknown
attached to it. We know a lot of basic math, we
know a lot of basic scientific concepts but it’s
always evolving. And I think with a lot of other
fields we kind of hit our peak or at least it’s
not as evident when you make a change. With
reading and writing and things like that, that’s
kind of set in stone. You’re going to learn new
techniques as you grow older but if you look at
the past fifty years even a hundred years some
of the basic strategies with that stuff, it hasn’t
changed. But STEM has evolved so dramatically
and it has the potential to evolve so dramatically
and ….it is fundamental in just about everything
we’re doing because it’s so unknown. You know
if you’re going into STEM you’re going to find
some area of importance, you’re going to find
some way to apply it to your life because there’s
68
I feel like a big external motivator is to break
negative stigmas about the African American
male population; to put myself out there in a
position in which I know other young African
Americans who are younger than me can see
what I’m doing and know that they can do it as
well. And not only African Americans but other
cultures as well; especially Caucasians so they
know African Americans are just as good as
they are, and I feel like for me to be successful
I need to be in a position where I can represent
my population.
Black Female: It’s more of an obligation and not necessarily
to anyone around me, but to my ancestry. As
I have gone through my education and gotten
older, the struggle of African Americans in
America has grown more and more important to
me as a person; and I feel like the opportunities
that I’m offered no matter how good or bad they
are, they are education. The more that I am
offered these opportunities and I know I need
to do well because the people before me did not
have these opportunities, and they paved the
way to make sure I did have these opportunities.
So when I do get the chance to learn something
new, I take it as chance to take advantage and
appreciate what other people have done for me.
When I get out into the world I know that what
I’m doing was someone else’s dream. I know
that the work that I am doing and the knowledge
that I have is because someone worked for me.
Latino Male:
questions, collaborative relationships, personalized experiential
learning, global networking, generative use of technology and
pioneering outreach.” This suggests that not only are the students
interested in real life problem-solving, but also that IMSA’s
mission has contributed to STEM development and motivation in
Black and Latino students:
Black Male:
During my junior year I worked in a lab at the
University of Illinois, Chicago, doing research
on prostate cancer. I was surprised to learn that
Black men had the highest prostate diagnostic
rates. Throughout my experience I focused
my work on molecular and cellular biology. I
was reading articles and running statistical
analysis to find out why Blacks are at such a
disadvantage of prostate cancer. That motivated
me throughout the summer and the next year I
did more research and overall my lab manager,
the professor, and all others that worked with me
guided me towards STEM. That and my parents
pushing me towards hard science motivated
me to try to accomplish something that would
benefit a large amount of people.
A big thing for me is I want to be able to
give back to my community and give back to
the people who gave to me. Specifically, my
parents, I want to be able to support them when
they can no longer support themselves because
they’re old or whatever. I want to be able to
give my children, not only the same but better
opportunities. And I want to be someone who,
not only kids but anyone can look up to, I guess
going back to the role model thing. Not only do
I strive to be like my role models but I want to
be a role model, one day. I want to be somebody
that people can look up to so they can say, “I
could do that.”
Latino Female: I say that my drive would be the, like whenever
I was in middle school my mom would be like
“si se puede” which is “yes you can” “yes I can”
stuff like that and that’s always been in my head
since that time because she would be like “oh,
look at how hard your dad worked for all five of
you even me” even her, because my mom has
like carpal tunnel so she can’t really work right
now in the moment. She has I believe seven
years without working and my dad has been
working ever since they both got married. I feel
like I can do anything I set my mind to. And
my dad says the same thing, “si se puede” “you
can do that, you can see how hard I’ve worked”
and like him telling me that he doesn’t care as
much as like how hard he works or how much
his back hurts, cause he has back issues stuff,
if his back goes out or anything or that sort of
stuff, he doesn’t care for it, because he says that
he knows we will take care of him, that what I
like. To have them rest and know that we did
well. They worked so hard to get us to get to the
right path, to get us like, more out there to have
that opportunity as they did growing up.
Black Female: Seeing other people, not being able to help in
this whole health care thing, I think that’s the
outside factor that really pushes me to go into
medicine. I don’t have an idea of what I want to
do to help them right now but I know I want to
do something. So that, women especially would
be able to get good health care, while they are
pregnant and they know the right person is
taking care of their babies.
Latino Male:
This obligation to the Black and Latino communities,
especially family, has been a significant factor of motivation for
these students to engage in STEM.
An additional factor of motivation that has not been evident
in professional literature is to solve problems in order to advance
humanity. The students want to accomplish this by addressing the
vital questions of this world. The interesting aspect of this factor
is that it is consistent with the mission of the Illinois Mathematics
and Science Academy: “The mission of IMSA, the world’s leading
teaching and learning laboratory for imagination and inquiry, is to
ignite and nurture creative, ethical, scientific minds that advance
the human condition, through a system distinguished by profound
I think that STEM education is kind of, not
necessarily the content, but the way you have
to learn when you study like science, math,
technology and all that good stuff the way you
learn the connections you make, sets you up to
solve problems which is what you’re eventually
going to have to do. That’s the goal, that’s
what you do when you’re older, you solve
problems. Regardless of what those problems
may be that’s what you’re doing, you’re solving
problems. Studying STEM sets you up to solve
those problems. It teaches you how to solve
those problems. It teaches you how to think
about things at a lot of different angles. That’s
why studying STEM it prepares me with what
I want to do with my life even if what I want to
do doesn’t have to with STEM.
Latino Female: I think what motivates and what keeps me going,
especially when I get down is my willingness to
help other people and make a difference. That
is the one reason I wanted to become a doctor
is because I wanted to help people so it keeps
me going if I understand the material and I can
just accomplish at least one thing then I can help
others do it too and I can make a difference by
know that other people can do it just as well or
69
even better than me. What keeps me motivated
is the fact that I can help people examples will
be not only in the working but also in the service
trips that IMSA has even the small trips like
shoveling snow you can save some from falling
on the ice and dying. Something as simple as
that is keeps me going knowing that I made a
difference somehow. That keeps me motivated
to get better grades so that I can become a doctor
so that I can help people and that what I love
doing and I know that’s what I want to do for the
rest of my life.
STEM is definitely for all! Even though some of the literature
suggests that many Black and Latino students are not motivated to
engage in STEM; students at IMSA have disproven those findings.
So educators, if you want to motivate Black and Latino students to
engage in STEM, follow the 5-Step program below:
2. Historical and Current News/Issues
Discussion
a. In addition to using the STEM
immersion technique during
these learning experiences, the
curriculum should also include
historical and current Black
and Latino news and issues.
This allows Black and Latino
students to understand societal
perspectives
which
would
nurture their obligation to their
community and the world.
Awareness of themselves and
those around them will grow
which could entice their desire to
develop as students. Recognizing
this could increase their ability to
understand themselves: who they
are students, how they think and
learn, and what is important to
them. This process not only builds
self-confidence but promotes
resilience.
1. Early STEM Exposure
a. The earlier Black and Latino
students are exposed to STEM
learning experiences and are
consistent
throughout
their
academic careers, they will
develop the necessary skills and
eventually nurture their passion
for STEM. In doing so, they
will instill a future vision for
themselves that involves STEM
by raising awareness for it.
3. Personalized Assessment and Evaluation
a. Black and Latino Students
should be regularly assessed to
understand their strengths and
weaknesses; then personalized
evaluations should be created
to emphasize their strengths
and inform the development
of strategies to address their
weaknesses. This demonstrates
to them the importance of
collaboration by showing how
a diversity of strengths and
weaknesses can assist in solving
problems. In terms of competition,
showing some success in certain
areas will ultimately help build
self-confidence and enhance the
students’ awareness of areas that
need improvement. This enhances
the will to do better amongst
the Black and Latino students.
Furthermore, it establishes a
support system for the student
with the teacher because the
teacher will intimately know what
each specific student needs to
progress.
4. Leadership Opportunities
a. The STEM areas in which
Black and Latino students have
demonstrated strengths need to
be complemented with problemsolving activities where they can
1. IMSA as a Model
a. There are components about
IMSA’s approach to teaching
and learning that are essential
to STEM motivation for Black
and Latino students. For one, the
participants should not only be
culturally but also intellectually
diverse, allowing the students
to learn from each other due to
a variety of perspectives while
in a collaborative group. The
curriculum should immerse the
students in STEM, introducing
them to all areas. In addition, the
teaching and learning should be
exploratory in nature in order to
mold the students into inquirybased thinkers. The activities
should include realistic problemsolving elements that promote
participant collaboration and
support. The students should work
with Black and Latino mentors
engaged in STEM who help and
encourage them to solve problems
and advance humanity, further
enhancing the STEM vision.
70
lead. Then the students should
be provided with leadership
opportunities outside of STEM
and encouraged to be versatile.
This will allow them to develop
leadership skills needed to be
successful STEM leaders in a
global world.
The following tables show a comprehensive perspective of gifted
10
and talented Black and Latino students currently attending IMSA,
thoughts of why a STEM gap existed, why they engaged in STEM,
what their STEM motivation was, and how they would motivate
other Black and Latino students to engage in STEM:
Table 1
Gifted and Talented Black Male Motivation (n = 20)
Table 1
Gifted and Talented Black Male Motivation (n = 20)
Why a
Black/Latino
STEM Gap
Why STEM for Gifted
and Talented Black and
Latino Students
Gifted and Talented
Black/Latino Student
STEM Motivation
Enhances
Motivation,
n = 11(55%)
Lack of STEM
vision,
n = 6 (30%)
Enjoy STEM,
n = 5 (25%)
Lack of parental
support
n = 6 (30%)
Good at STEM,
n = 4 (20%)
Learning: Discovery of
knowledge,
n = 10 (50%)
Negative stigma
of/misperception
about Black
males,
n = 3 (15%)
STEM is a prominent,
progressive field,
n = 3 (15%)
Solve problems/to
advance humanity,
n = 9 (45%)
Solve problems/to
advance humanity
n = 2 (10%)
Money,
n = 7 (35%)
Pursuit of scientific
knowledge
n = 1 (5%)
IMSA's
Contribution to
STEM motivation
STEM is a progressive
field that leads to future
success,
n = 6 (30%)
Competitive nature of
STEM,
n = 6 (30%)
STEM
Passion/Enjoyment,
n = 5 (25%)
Obligation to Black
community/break to
negative stigmas about
Black males,
n = 4 (20%)
71
–Immersion in
STEM
–Challenge
–Diverse
Environment
–Self-awareness
Motivate
Black/Latino
Students to Engage
in STEM
More Black Males
as Mentors & Role
Models
n = 5 (25%)
Early STEM
exposure,
n = 1 (5%)
Nationwide STEM
intervention for
Black males,
n = 1 (5%)
Hinders
Motivation,
n = 2 (10%)
–Loss of STEM
enjoyment
–Realization of
not being
good in
STEM
–Competing with
other students
in STEM
Educate parents,
n = 1 (5%)
Table 2
Gifted and Talented Black Female Motivation (n = 11)
Why a
Black/Latino
STEM Gap
Negative Stigma
of/Misperception
about Black and
Latino students
n = 4 (44%)
Lack of STEM
vision for
themselves,
exposure to
STEM,
n = 3 (33%)
Why STEM for Gifted
and Talented Black and
Latino Students
Gifted and Talented
Black/Latino Student
STEM Motivation
Motivate
Black/Latino
Students to Engage
in STEM
Early STEM
Exposure
n = 3 (60%)
Enjoy STEM,
n = 6 (60%)
IMSA,
n = 11(100%)
Future success
n = 2 (20%)
Future Success
n = 8 (73%)
Lack of parent
support,
n = 3 (33%)
Solve Problems/To
Advance Humanity
n = 1 (10%)
Solve Problems/To
Advance Humanity
n = 7 (64%)
Unaware of
future STEM/
benefits
n = 3 (33%)
Parents Support
n = 1 (10%)
Personal Drive to learn
and be successful
n = 6 (55%)
There is no gap
n = 1 (11%)
IMSA's
Contribution to
STEM motivation
Obligation to Black
Community/Break to
Negative Stigmas about
Black students
n = 7 (46%)
Money
n = 2 (18%)
STEM
Passion/Enjoyment
n = 2 (18%)
Contentment
n = 2 (18%)
Good At It,
n = 1 (9%)
Challenge
n = 1 (9%)
Instilled Values
n = 1 (9%)
72
Enhances
Motivation,
n = 11 (100%)
–Immersion in
STEM
–Challenge
–Diverse
Environment
–Self-awareness
Hinders
Motivation,
n=0
Improve Curriculum
by making it more
fun and relatable
n = 1 (20%)
Improve racism in
school system
n = 1 (20%)
Educate them on
future STEM
benefits
n = 1 (20%)
Table 3
Gifted and Talented Latino Male Motivation (n = 5)
Why a
Black/Latino
STEM Gap
Why STEM for Gifted
and Talented Black and
Latino Students
Negative
Environment / lack
of community
support, focus is on
supporting family
not education
n = 3 (60%)
IMSA's
Contribution to
STEM
motivation
Motivate
Black/Latino
Students to Engage
in STEM
IMSA,
n = 5 (100%)
Lack of parental
support
n = 6 (30%)
Obligation to Latino
Community/Break
Negative Stigmas about
Latinos
n = 4 (80%)
Negative stigma
of/misperception
about Latino
Students
n = 2 (40%)
Enhances
Motivation,
n = 5(100%)
Parents are flexible
giving child
freedom to decide
future
n = 1 (20%)
Lack of STEM
vision for
themselves,
exposure to STEM
n = 1 (20%)
Gifted and Talented
Black/Latino Student
STEM Motivation
Seeks Parental / Familial
Approval, Parental /
Familial Support
n = 3 (60%)
Solve Problems/To
Advance Humanity
n = 3 (60%)
STEM is a Prominent,
Progressive Field,
Fundamental for
everything
n = 3 (60%)
Future success
n = 2 (40%)
STEM Application to
real-world occurrences n
= 1 (20%)
Solve Problems/To
Advance Humanity
n = 2 (40%)
Want to be like role
models / wants to be a
role model
n = 2 (40%)
Personal Drive to learn
and be successful
n = 2 (40%)
Competitive Nature of
STEM
n =1 (20%)
REFERENCES
Center of Education and Work. (2008). Increasing STEM
retention for underrepresented students: Factors that matter.
Retrieved from www.cew.wisc.edu.
Flores, A. (2007). Examining disparities in mathematics
education: Achievement gap or opportunity gap. The High School
Journal, 91(1), 29 – 42.
–Immersion in
STEM
–Challenge
–Diverse
Environment
– Balance the
"uneven playing
field" for
minorities
Organizational
Support / public
program to help
families
n = 2 (40%)
More Black and
Latino Professionals
as Mentors & Role
Models
n = 1 (20%)
Early STEM
Exposure
n = 1 (20%)
STEM
Encouragement
n = 1 (20%)
Demonstrate STEM
is necessary
n = 1 (20%)
Pew Hispanic Center (2005). Hispanics: A people in motion.
Retrieved from http://www.pewhispanic.org/files/reports/40.pdf.
Latino STEM Alliance (2005). The Challenge. Retrieved
from http://www.latinostem.org/about-us/lsa-overview
Quality Education for Minorities Network (2010). Spring
2010 workshop on the recruitment and retention of African
American male students in science, technology, engineering
73
and mathematics (STEM). Retrieved from http://www.qem.org/
African%20American%20Males%20Report[5].pdf
Schlesinger, R. (2005). Better myself: Motivation of African
Americans to participate in correctional education. Journal of
Correctional Education, 56 (3), 228 - 252. Retrieved from http://
www.jstor.org/stable/23282589.
Scott, A. (2010). Dissecting the data: The STEM education
opportunity gap in California. Retrieved from http://www.lpfi.org/
sites/default/files/dissecting_the_data_-_stem_ed_opportunity_
gap_lpfi_report.pdf.
Speight, S. L., & Witherspoon, K. M. (2009). An exploration of
African Americans’ interests and self-efficacy beliefs in traditional
and nontraditional careers. Journal of Black Studies, 39 (6), 888 904. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40282605.
Wright, C. G. (2011). Seeing as sound travels everywhere:
African American boys learning to see transmission through the
analysis of invented representations. Journal of African American
Males in Education, 2(1), 81–97.
as a Health Educator. Adrienne has served as an AmeriCorps
member and has been part of the United States delegation team to
assist Moldova (Eastern Europe) in addressing issues of human
trafficking and inadequate health education. Her areas of interest
include public health, social justice/diversity education and higher/
gifted education.She hopes to continue providing educational and
enrichment opportunities, specifically math and science related
for youth from underrepresented populations.
Kayla Ingram, Student Inquiry and Research Student
Kayla Seymone Ingram is an alumnus of Illinois Math and Science
Academy that graduated in May of 2014. During her senior year,
she completed an on-campus Scientific Inquiry Research project
on the motivational factors of gifted and talented Black and
Latino students engaged in Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics with the intention of complementing her advisor, Dr.
Adrienne Coleman’s, dissertation, An Exploration of the Factors
that Motivate Gifted and Talented Black Males to Engage in
STEM. Her hope is that more Black and Latino students in future
generations will participate in STEM education and excel in the
careers. Currently attending Hampton University in Hampton,
Virginia, she is studying biology and psychology to pursue her
career of being a forensic neurologist.
Adrienne Coleman possesses a Doctorate in Educational
Leadership from Argosy University and a Master of Science
Degree in Health, Physical Education and Recreation with an
emphasis in Health Education as well as a Master of Science in
Educational Administration and Foundation with an emphasis in
College Student Personnel Administration both from Illinois State
University. Currently, she is employed at the Illinois Mathematics
and Science Academy (IMSA), a three year residential high
school for gifted students, as the Multicultural Education
Specialist. She previously worked at Rutgers University as a
Program Development Specialist and at Illinois State University
The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
1500 Sullivan Road – Aurora, IL – 60506
630-907-5079
630-907-5062, fax
[email protected]
74
Episodes in Education, a Teacher Researcher’s Reflections
on Howard Gardner’s Five Minds for the Future
By Dorothy Clare Massalski
The five minds for the future, the disciplinary mind, the
synthesizing mind, the creating mind, the respectful mind, and
the ethical mind, constitute a prescient vision for the evolution
of humankind in the modern world by psychologist Howard
Gardner. I am an education researcher who has examined
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory and his concomitant
research in creativity (Creative Minds, 1993) in the development
of a dissertation on creativity with an American Indian subject
from the Dineh/Navajo Nation (2009). Gardner’s visions of the
future are anchored primarily in a western standpoint. Yet, through
his seminal work in Multiple Intelligence theory (1983), he does
provide a “spectrum” of pedagogies and cultural perspectives in
his presentation. I provide illustrations of certain aspects of the
five minds from my teaching career. This career includes students
ranging from pre-school (mostly in Montessori educational
settings), middle school students in public American schools and
American Indian reservations, and schools in developing countries
of Senegal, Gambia, and Mexico.
All my references will be to Howard Gardner’s book: Five
Minds for the Future and page numbers will refer to this book.
I use cf. to identify a paper that I have authored that further
explicates the education episode. I invite readers to review those
papers should an episode be pertinent to the readers’ situation as
well as reviewing Gardner’s book.
recent attendance at this “art camp.”
Sophia’s quest challenged her
to receive, review, and evaluate new
ideas of aesthetics and methods. She
also experienced a social culture new
to her art associations; the experience
posed questions in art that were both
tantalizing and socially unnerving.
Sophia’s summer sojourn in my
class refined her understanding of
the foundations and disciplines of art. The daily need to practice
observation, hand/eye exercises to increase her skill set is similar to
a student of the piano in practicing hand techniques. Her summer
art camp challenges were welcomed in discussions of the different
art aesthetics within history. She received encouragement through
her success in her art work through important in-depth critiques.
She observed me, her teacher, preparing for a botanic art exhibition
wherein she witnessed the cumulative effort of the disciplines of
the art as executed over a trajectory of time.
“How to Discipline a Mind” is
a section in Gardner’s book where
he declares that it is “essential for
individuals in the future to be able
to think in the ways that characterize
the major disciplines” (31). Gardner
describes these disciplines as
“gateways” to other disciplines
through their specific methods of
inquiry. His “gateway” disciplines
are the arts such as figure drawing,
playing a musical instrument, or
writing a play. The other gateway
disciplines are science, mathematics, and history. Sophia’s episode
is descriptive of a student engaged in the rigors of the disciplined
mind. Gardner himself notes that he engaged in the discipline
of classical piano studies. This rigor assisted him in applying a
disciplinary approach to his later academic and scientific work.
My disciplinary studies were in the art of ballet (Mme. Dorothy
DuPerow, Marinsky Theatre, St. Peterburg, Russia). Through the
associations of artists from many fields, I not only progressed
in this discipline as a choreographer, but extended the precepts
of a disciplinary mind to other fields (e.g. educator, researcher,
and botanic artist) while also exhibiting at the Chicago Botanic
Gardens 2007 through 2014.
The Disciplinary Mind: Marie Curie, John Keats
Individuals without one or more disciplines will not be able to
succeed at any demanding workplace and will be restricted to
menial tasks (p. 18).
“Sophia’s” pen and ink art exercise
Eggplants, sample of teacher’s exercise (the author)
Drawing with a pen is an
advanced skill for an aspiring artist.
This example of an artist exercise by
an 11-year-old student (let us call her
Sophia) in the Worlds of Wisdom
and Wonder summer program in
Chicago for the gifted illustrates
precision, control, composition,
and artistic intrigue and adventure.
Sophia, a returning student had been
on a quest since I worked with her
last summer (2013). Through the
sacrifices of her mother and grandmother, she was able to attend
an art program outside of the city, beside a lake, beneath pine trees
with many students having different backgrounds and aesthetics
in art-making. In Sophia’s evaluation (2012), I had encouraged
her to keep an artist drawing pad/journal and to try to attend art
workshops. Through the year she developed an ardor for her
work through the journal exercise. Now those pads were quietly
being shared with her fellow students, and, with timidity, selected
images were shared with me. Some of the work was from her
The Synthesizing Mind
Aristotle, Goethe
Individuals without synthesizing capabilities will be
overwhelmed by information and unable to make judicious
decisions about personal or professional matters (p.18).
The artist exercise is an example of discipline. The skills of
the hand and the eye are fundamental to an artist; even premiere
75
artists like Van Gogh, Picasso, and
Georgia O’Keeffe labored in their
draughtsmanship throughout their
careers. From the discipline, the
mind may range over possibilities
and extend the mundane into
creative expression as one can see
in Sophia’s artist exercise. Another
example of this would be composers
creating variations on a theme: I
think of Mozart or Beethoven, or
21st century Puerto Rican composer,
Roberto Sierra (classical), and Chick Corea (jazz). In the artist
workshop at the Center for Gifted in Chicago, I present a daily
artist exercise to develop the discipline of observation and hand/
eye skills. Students are encouraged to extend those activities to
include their emotions and imagination.
The CROC drawing is the crocodile from Peter Pan who is
awaiting dinner: Captain Hook. He is an example of the discipline
of squares and circles created by two students, a girl of 8 and a boy
of 10, over a period of several days. CROC extends discipline to
include emotion and humor. It also exemplifies interdisciplinary
study: the students read the original book, presented a scene
with sword fights, and studied the ecology of “Neverland”, the
mermaid lagoon, the toadstool forest, and the open ocean. The
interdisciplinary pedagogy is an element in developing the
synthesizing mind, the ability to integrate ideas from different
disciplines and perspectives, and to communicate that integration
to others.
evaluation of those solutions” (p. 69). The Pater Olympian project
was envisioned to provide these “gifted students” an experience
that would challenge them to synthesize or at least begin a habit
of synthesizing (cf. Massalski, 1990).
The Respectful Mind
Those sheltering Jews in WWII, participants in commissions
of truth and reconciliation –
Individuals without respect will not be worthy of respect by
others and will poison the workplace and the commons Whatever Cheton (pseudonym) does in the classroom or on
the playground, his classmates take notice. He has two older
brothers at the school and this notice is also applied to them; they
are a respected school family. This warm spring day, Cheton walks
with his classmates through the open air corridor that surrounds
the green courtyard in this Southwestern American Public School
and he abruptly stops. We stop also. He is listening intently and
looking. It is the nesting bird that he hears in the corner rafter.
He plots her flight from corner to the dry grasses in the garden.
She is pulling and tugging at them. Struggling actually. He slips
over the garden wall, loosens the grasses, and slips back. We wait
and watch. The mother bird flies again to the grasses and easily
lifts one up to her nest. We silently watch again and then move
on. The children recall this little episode when Cheton comes in
one day with a nest filled with hand painted eggs. They are his art
offering to decorate the school library for the book show and sale.
The idea for this art offering came from the presentation I
gave about my Slavic heritage and the making of pysanky, a very
specific pre-Christian decoration of eggs. The catalyst for this
art work came from the book by Patricia Pollacca, Rechenka’s
Eggs, that I read to the middle school classes. In it, Babuska
(grandmother) helps to heal the wing of a migrating goose
by inviting her into her home for comfort and rest. The goose
watches Babuska blow out the egg, mix her dyes, and apply the
colors onto traditional patterns that are ancient prayers for the
welcoming of Spring. The book was left in the classroom along
with several examples of these precious eggs for a week. When
time came for sharing a work of art for the library show, Cheton
presented the eggs that he had created himself. When asked about
the eggs, he replied that he followed what he learned from the
book and from my presentation. He had no tradition of pysanky
in his family; he had never seen pysanky before. He did say that
the eggs were prayers that he had made for all the birds that were
building their nests and having families. Cheton’s sentiment and
inclusion of his feathered friends in his intelligent and beneficent
expression of prayer and artful designs on eggs provides an
enlarged understanding of respect.
Howard Gardner in considering the order of developing minds
for the future recognized the respectful mind as premiere: “From
the beginning one must begin in creating a respectful atmosphere
toward others. In the absence of civility, other educational goals
prove infinitely harder to achieve”(p. 161). Cheton gave us an
example of a more inclusive respectful mind; from the beginning
one must begin creating a respectful atmosphere toward our
brothers and sisters of the natural world. Like Frank Lloyd Wright,
the renowned architect, Cheton’s respect for beauty in the natural
world is also a respected perspective: “A flower is an intangible. It may be an eye looking out on us from the great inner sea of
Pater Olympian Ballet, a text for Hellenic History
The sophomores in an “exam” school in an eastern seaboard
city endeavored to synthesize their explorations of the classical
Greek, Hellenic period, by observing and critically reviewing a
ballet crafted in their presence. The ballet, entitled Pater Olympian,
was created by the choreographer over two weeks (two acts).
During this time, the sophomores engaged in discussions with
the choreographer and dancers that included historical references,
the juxtaposition of “inferred”
period movement and music
(Beethoven’s 5th symphony),
a multitude of syntheses.
Secondary school students were
challenged to consider many
disciplines: history, art, music,
contemporary life of artists, and
consequential subjective analysis
of the ballet. This is an example
of how the several faculty
members got involved. Science,
art, music, history, and literature
provided avenues for learning
from different perspectives and required students to report through
synthesizing their experience and their information.
The faculty and artists experienced “what genuine
understanding is like. Any individual with a deep understanding
of a topic or method can think about it in a variety of ways” ( p.
33). Gardner further notes that
“Students benefit from exposure to different solutions,
different methods of arriving at solutions, and different rubrics for
76
beauty and precious beyond words.”
(Wright, 1954)
Cheton is from a family of
Great Plains American Indians. He
is participating in a Public School
Montessori program in a city of the
American Southwest. (cf. Massalski
2013) Many of his classmates come
from the neighboring Southwestern
tribes: Yaqui, Tohono O’odham
(Desert People), Dineh (Navajo) and
Apache. Cheton’s responses to the
natural world are indicative of one of the nine intelligences that
Howard Gardner has discovered through his Multiple Intelligences
theory. (Gardner, 1983 Logical/Mathematics, Linguistics, Spatial,
Musical, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Inter-Personal, Intra-Personal,
Naturalistic, Existential).
Cheton would be marked as a talent in Naturalist Intelligence
as would Frank Lloyd Wright, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry
David Thoreau. Wright evokes the genius of Emerson in this
remark from his autobiography: “ I believe that Emerson was
right when he said, ‘Beauty is the highest and finest kind of
morality.’ If you are attuned-and you love sincerely-harmony,
rhythm, and what we call beauty, instinctively what is ugly will
become offensive to you. It will come into the realm of the spirit
also. You will see how certain actions of your own are ugly, how
certain of others are beautiful.” (cf. Massalski, 2012)
Hogan (8 sided building used for community meeting and for
ceremony). As a visiting scholar, I have been invited to attend.
The question before the council concerns the 8th grade graduating
class trip. Not enough money has been collected from the various
student fund raisers of the year to cover the cost of the conceived
trip. The 8th grade class is asking the Council, many of whom
are grandparents and other relations, to decide on how to proceed.
Two options seem to be on the table: request outright the needed
monies from the council, and, to eliminate certain members of the
class from participation because of their lack of participation in
the fund raisers thereby freeing up the necessary funds.
The decision is unanimous. The Council decided that all
members of the class would enjoy the class trip together. The
necessary funds would be gained by shortening the class trip by
two days. It was a consensus decision. The elders explained that
the class was a small community in which the students would
continue to associate through school, ceremony, work, and rodeo.
The students who were not able to contribute fully to the trip
would someday be in a position to assist their classmates in other
ways. They would be mindful of this obligation because in the
Dineh way, they would seek Hozhoni, the Beauty Way, a blessed
expression of Harmony. It may be that this 8th grade year may
have been hard on these students; all cannot be told.
Yes, the 8th grade students accepted the decision by the Elder
Council and went on their 8th grade trip with an ethical lesson to
ponder into their future. A member of that Elder Council has since
served the tribe as an educator and a leader (Vice President of the
Tribe).
The Council reflected upon an ethical situation; the decision
was true to the core values of the society. There is a proviso here:
the ethical decision will be before the collective memory and there
is expectation that Hozhoni, the Beauty Way will be maintained.
The ethical mind must be exercised, as Gardner notes: “Often this
idealism becomes tempered, as adolescents enter the real world
and encounter pressures to compromise. But the ‘best workers’
and the ‘best citizens’ do not let the difficulty of the task keep them
from putting forth their best efforts” (p. 143).
Upholding Respect for the School “Home”
Cheton is an example of a young student who is confident to
create and execute his imagination within his school environment.
This is a reflection of the environment that the school provides in
the nurturing of inquiring minds, set to discipline, respectful of his
culture, and confident of a respectful response. Maria (let us call
her) is also a member of this school community. Maria provides
us with an example of respect for humankind. She has become
alert to the activity of a new boy at school: he is tall and athletic,
and like her speaks her languages and comes from her family
culture. The new boy disturbs her. He is bullying.
After several days of observation, Maria confronts the new
boy. Maria tells him that what he is doing is not acceptable in this
school. “We are a school of peace. We love each other and we
love you.” Our new boy is shocked for he stops, becomes silent,
and then tears flow. Maria takes his hand and leads him away to
the tree where the hawk has her nest, away so he can be with her
and dry his tears. Others will think that they are investigating
the nest. Maria is at “home” in her school and she respects the
environment that promotes peace. She respectfully invites the
new boy to become a member of the “home.”
A Rainbow Bridge to Cross
The research team invited into the Hogan at the Elder Council
was at work identifying Gifted and Talented students at the school.
The national definition of “giftedness” that was confined to two
intelligences (logical/mathematical, linguistics) in 1972 had just
expanded through the adoption of the Multiple Intelligences theory
proposed by Howard Gardner. For nearly 25 years, no American
Indian students were classified as “gifted or talented.” Now the
rubric had changed through the application of science and through
a change in the zeitgeist of the political climate.
The research team was exercising an ethical mind. A new
rubric and method in the discovery of human cognition and
potential was activated to reveal a truth. Funding for gifted
education that was never available became “a rainbow bridge
to cross.” Not only did monies become available for programs
to support the newly identified gifted American Indian children
but eventually, American Indian researchers in psychology would
declare that “all their students were gifted!” (cf. Massalski, 2002).
The Ethical Mind
Ecologist Rachel Carson, statesman Jean Monnet, who helped
Europe move from belligerent to peaceful institutions
Individual without ethics will yield a world devoid of decent
workers and responsible citizens; none of us will want to live
on that desolate planet (p. 19).
The Elders of the Dineh community of Shiprock on the
Navajo Reservation in Arizona are meeting in the community
77
The Creating Mind
Martha Graham, Bill Gates
The Reign of Changing Woman by Lyle “Ray”. Nelson,
Senior Capstone Project“Doom Eager” – this Icelandic term that
Martha Graham ascribes to herself when in the throes of the creative
process resonated with Lyle; it was a relief to find the words that
could identify the pathos that he also experienced. Like Martha
Graham, he was about a new thing: he is the first of his Nation to
interpret the major deity of his cosmology “Changing Woman” in
a western dance art discipline, the art aesthetic of Martha Graham.
This, he noted, is a completion of a circle: Graham had studied his
culture in her own “gestation” period, the time of his grandmother,
and now he is studying Graham technique (through a scholarship
at the Graham school in New York City his senior year), when
Graham who was working in her 90’s is the age of his grandmother
(cf. Massalski, 2009). I offer this example of the creating mind
because I wish to emphasize that patience is an important virtue
to exercise when working with students during the initial stages
of discovering and then disciplining that discovery to fruition. It
is important to provide a space and time for making connections,
searching, tinkering, and engaging in explorative conversations.
Individuals without creating capacities will be replaced by
computers and will drive away those who do have the creative
spark (p. 19).
Martha Graham, pictured in her
choreography, “Satyric Festival Song,”
inspired by the landscape and people
of the American Southwest. The
costume mimics the dance clowns of the
“pueblo” ceremonials. Martha Graham
became the “distant mentor” of a Dineh
modern ballet choreographer, my
dissertation case study subject known as
“Ray.” Martha Graham was chosen by
Howard Gardner as a Creative Mind in
the Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence domain in his research on
creativity and intelligence (1993).
Much has been written about creativity in the last decade,
including my own dissertation (cf. General Perspectives category
in the IAGC Journal 2011). What I found unique and intriguing
in Gardner’s book is his observation that “Individuals without
creating capacities will. . . drive away those who do have
the creative spark” (p. 18). This presentment, for me, implies
a purposeful act by an individual or a cohort of individuals to
recognize, yet, discourage and devalue disciplined creativity.
Indeed it seems that “drive away” would imply an energetic
obstruction to creativity and creative individuals or groups. The
influence of teachers and mentors and associated colleagues is
of great importance to the survival of the disciplines of creative
thought, tinkering, experimentations, the gestation period of the
creative period (p. 142).
My dissertation case study subject, a college student engaged
in creating his Senior Capstone Project, the dance work entitled
The Reign of Changing Woman alerted me to a passage in
Martha Graham’s Autobiography Blood Memory that defined
this gestation period for himself as it had for his “distant” mentor
Martha Graham.
“There is a wonderful Icelandic term: ‘doom eager.’ You
are doom eager for destiny no matter what it costs you. The
ordeal of isolation, the ordeal of loneliness, the ordeal of
doubt, the ordeal of vulnerability which it takes to compose
in any medium, is hard to face. You know when this thing
is coming on you. You know when you walk the streets by
the hour. When the restlessness comes, when you are sick
with an idea, with something that will not come out.” (Martha
Graham, Blood Memory p. 122)
Gambia Teacher’s College Creative Texts
The 35 teachers (more than half, men) gathered for a teacher
workshop at the Gambia Teachers College in Gambia, Africa have
no text books for their elementary school children. It is encumbent
upon us to take up this challenge: how to teach with written book
texts and without electricity for internet.
The Seracunda market provided us with some options. We
choose to use as a text a model of a jeep fashioned from milk biscuit
tin cans and spray can tops for wheels. We are asking questions
of the imagination, imagining a curriculum with a “junk art” jeep
as a text. Journalist and researcher on Kenya’s contemporary art
scene Margarett Swigert-Gacheru (2011) explains that the junk art
sculptures of Dennis Murogori “ . . . often turn out to look a lot
like masks and funny faces, but he may use broken zippers, broken
musical instruments, and even broken clocks that he collects from
all over. What’s more, nearly every one of his masks has a story.”
The assembled teachers worked to create curriculum using the
unique texts of the cultures’ “junk art” that were attractive to
the students, within their traditions, and, with the guidelines of
a progressive curriculum in line with 21st century expectations of
their students.
In the illustration on the next page, I am holding the “junk art
jeep” as we work through developing a curriculum in mathematics,
geography, sociology, and ecology.
E.O. Wilson exclaims that as “a naturalist” he will now
enter a world of “shadowy forms” and allow himself to drift
and dream and desire to be in distant places and times. He will
entertain and employ the Arts together with his scientific work
with Nature as a discipline of consilience. Wilson, like us, might
recognize that traditional Native peoples of the Americas have had
an understanding of consilience, this unity of knowledge. They
have always maintained that “plants are integral to the human
relationship with nature” (Cadato/Bruchac 1994). Further, it is
noted that “Botany is not a separate ‘field of study.’ Plants are
components of art, music, ceremony and symbolism” (Ibid). It
is encumbent as educators that we present western scientific
knowledge in a new way, as a covenant with Nature. This new
approach is the consciousness of a unity of knowledge and an
awareness to a child’s sensory attunement that botany and botanic
art studies can bridge successfully.
Final bow, Medicine Man or Shaman, Changing Woman, Spirit of
Father Sky
78
Dorothy Clare Massalski received her Ph.D. in 2009 in Special
Education (Gifted) and American Indian Studies at the University
of Arizona. She is also a certified Montessori educator and
consultant. Dorothy develops curricula for the Center for Gifted
in Chicago and for several American Indian Nations in the
Southwest. She is also active in ecological studies, in particular,
botany and botanic art. As a botanic artist, she is known by her
artist name, Sorcha. She exhibits her art at the Chicago Botanic
Garden, Tucson Desert Museum, the Tubac historical Museum,
and Raices Taller Gallery, Tucson. Responses and Question to this
article: [email protected].
The creative mind is in jeopardy of being undermined in the
future, being trumped by a rational materialistic insistence on finite
material success through products. It is important for both the
creative individual and the mentors or their associated colleagues
to especially protect these individuals during the gestation time of
creativity.
Reference
Gardner, J. (2009). Five minds for the future. Boston:
Harvard Business School Press.
79
Educational Impact on Spiritual Growth: A Case Study
By Kristy Kowalske
Participants and Methods
For this case study, I used purposeful sampling (Patton, 2002).
Preliminary discussions with the main participant, a recent high
school graduate, ensured that the participant could offer in-depth,
rich material pertaining to the subject. Based on initial interviews
with her, I conducted interviews with four former teachers from
the schools: her fifth grade elementary school teacher, her eighth
grade honors language arts teacher, her high school drama teacher,
and her high school AP United States history teacher.
The main participant was selected based on her recognition
as a spiritually gifted student. Her recognition as a spiritually
gifted student was based on teacher anecdotes and observations.
These recommendations stemmed from Sisk and Torrance’s
(2001) description of likely traits of spiritually gifted students:
uses inner knowing, seeks to understand self, uses metaphors
and parables to communicate, uses intuition, sensitive to social
problems, sensitive to purpose in life, concerned about equity
and injustice, enjoys big questions, senses gestalt (big picture),
wants to make a difference, capacity to care, curious about how
the world works, values love, compassion and concern for others,
close to nature, uses visualization and mental imaging, reflective,
self-observing and self-aware, seeks balance, seeks to understand
self, peacemaker, concerned with human suffering, and feels
connected with others, earth and universe. The main participant
was given the pseudonym, Olivia.
Background of Study
The concept of spiritual giftedness in the classroom has
gained increasing attention over the course of the past decade
and is evolving in the field of gifted education. Many influential
people have called for action to educate children in real-world
ways by promoting social capital, ethics, and wisdom (Ambrose
& Cross, 2009; Gardner, 2011; Renzulli, 2011; Sternberg, 2011).
Roeper (2008), who initiated the Global Awareness Network of the
National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), explained that
as global awareness continues to evolve, it will focus on universal
awareness. As Roeper described her past 70 years serving gifted
children, she recounted the details that led her to this conclusion,
which included compelling experiences with her students who had
pressing questions and curiosity about existence, birth, death, and
the meaning of life. They had an awareness of their intellectual,
emotional, and spiritual reality. Researchers have mirrored these
sentiments and expressed the need for nurturing the spiritual
development of gifted children (Coles, 1990; Lovecky, 1998;
Navan, 2012; Tolan, 2000).
Although these different topics do not encompass the totality
of spirituality, they do address a similar educational philosophy of
promoting the well-being of individuals and improving the overall
well-being of mankind. These topics address a need to nurture
the whole child. In order to nurture the spirituality of children
in our schools, research must be conducted in two areas: teacher
disposition and techniques to implement. There is a need to
explore teacher dispositions in order to provide the most beneficial
classroom environment for students. Researching attitudes and
philosophies of educators that nurture the spiritual growth of
students can provide great insights.
Johnson (2011) researched how educators incorporate
spirituality in the classroom. Johnson does not specifically use the
term disposition but suggests that each theme contains a number
of interrelated human capacities such as behaviors, abilities,
aptitudes, skills, faculties, potentials, roles, capabilities, and
powers. As dispositions are defined by values and beliefs, they
can be correlated with Johnson’s description of human capacities.
The following themes about the influence educators have in a
spiritual dimension emerged from Johnson’s (2011) research:
contemplative, meaning-making, self-reflective, emotional,
ethical, ecological, and creative.
Johnson (2011) described Creativity as the ultimate capability
because it allows humans to use imaginative thinking to explore
ideas. Characteristics include playfulness, humor, and imagination
to understand self, world, and others, acting innovatively and using
a variety of forms to express ideas. Educators can encourage the
use of creativity throughout curricular lessons, teach creative
processes, study creative works and individuals, and allow for
self-expression in assignments (Johnson, 2011; London, Johnson,
Arguelles, Brown, Crowell, & Donnelly, 2004). Understanding
why teachers select certain techniques to implement in gifted
classrooms and how this stems from teacher dispositions is critical.
Understanding spiritually-nurturing techniques in education is
essential for our future.
Research Questions
The research questions guiding this study were:
• What traits does a spiritually gifted student possess?
• How does a spiritually gifted student describe educators
who are spiritually nurturing?
• How does a spiritually gifted student describe educational
techniques that are spiritually nurturing?
Findings
Spiritual Giftedness
Olivia values love. She has a deep sense of compassion and
a strong concern for others. All of her teachers described Olivia
as being able to understand complex issues or seeing the “big”
picture, demonstrating Sisk and Torrance’s (2001) sense of gestalt.
She was referred to as a visionary who wants to make a difference
in the world around her. Her passion and presence work together to
create a forceful being. These traits allowed Olivia to demonstrate
her leadership skills.
Olivia feels a strong connection with others, the earth, and
the universe. She is known for “making others shine.” This
selflessness results from her desire to be inclusive. Above all
other qualities, the teachers strongly emphasized how Olivia was
reflective, self-observing, and self-aware. Along with aligning
with Sisk and Torrance’s (2001) description of self-awareness, this
trait is also found in Amram’s (2007) description of likely traits
by demonstrating knowing as a developed, refined awareness and
self-knowledge. She understands her role in situations and has a
desire to delve into history in order to comprehend how humanity
has evolved. With the death of her father, Olivia showed resilience
without becoming angry or jaded with life.
80
Perhaps due to her love of language, Olivia finds herself using
metaphors and parables to communicate. Olivia discussed the role
of visualization and mental imaging in her life. When discussing
intuition, Olivia described her ability to understand the emotions
of others in awkward situations. This may stem from her own
self-awareness and concern for those around her. She is very
concerned with the suffering of others. Olivia also has a strong
sense of equity and justice and strives for fairness in life for all
people.
In the future, Olivia plans to explore religion, medical
anthropology, and environmental studies. These fields bring
together her capacity to care and her desire to make a difference.
Amram (2007) noted that spiritually intelligent individuals
have a powerful sense of meaning in life where they experience
significance in daily activities through a sense of purpose and a
call for purpose. By pursuing these fields of study, this will allow
her to continue to explore her love of nature, where she finds her
strongest connection to a power higher than herself.
Olivia explained two important components that worked in
tandem with her beliefs. The first was the role of creativity due to its
capacity to allow a person to express oneself. This, in turn, allows
the individual to understand herself and to better understand the
world around her. The second was leadership. Spirituality helps
guide Olivia’s interaction with others and her desire to take action
in order to nurture her values. She believes that spirituality allows
people to understand their role in the world and the possibility
of impacting and connecting with others in a meaningful way,
moving individuals out of an isolationist mentality.
teachers align with Sisk and Torrance’s (2001) description of
techniques to nurture the spiritual growth of students. Three out of
the four teachers demonstrated traits found in the creative realm.
The elementary school teacher’s love of nature and training
in art therapy and counseling formed a base for her strengths.
She encouraged the students to share her passions by having
bunnies playing in the classroom, raising chickens and ducks,
incorporating art into her lesson plans, and utilizing classroom
meetings. Creativity is an important component in her own life
where she makes pottery and gives pottery lessons to others. By
sponsoring clubs such as Odyssey of the Mind, she has helped her
students develop their own creative skills. Olivia’s participation
in this activity was her favorite spiritually-nurturing experience
in elementary school. Through creative endeavors, students are
encouraged to have a sense of awe and wonder with the world
(Gafoor & Kottalil, 2011). She also enjoyed presenting plays for
the school and creating opportunities for self-expression. The
importance of encouraging character education was evident as
the elementary school teacher described the vision for the charter
school where she works and her use of classroom meetings. This
encourages sensitivity to others and understanding of self (Gafoor
& Kottalil, 2011). Overall, she shows strong evidence of her
ability to nurture kids in the emotional, ecological, and creative
realms (Johnson, 2011).
The middle school language arts teacher’s strengths were in
promoting critical thinking and encouraging the understanding
of multiple perspectives. She relies heavily on utilizing conceptbased instruction where the students are “taking a journey” with
her in the pursuit of knowledge. This type of learning environment
promotes the spiritual development of students due to the
reciprocal relationships within the learning community (Sewell,
2009). Her use of Socratic seminars and Writing Workshop allows
the students to develop their opinions and express their feelings
about complicated issues. In addition, she finds it essential that
students have the opportunity to take action with the knowledge
they are exploring. She does this through problem and projectbased learning experiences. By utilizing these strategies, she
is encouraging the use of intuition, concern with inequity and
justice, exploring universal issues, developing curiosity, and
encouraging connections between self, world, and the universe
(Sisk & Torrance, 2001). These endeavors show strong evidence
of her ability to nurture students in the ethical, self-reflective, and
creative realms (Johnson, 2011).
The drama teacher’s strengths stemmed from her creative
passions. Creative endeavors where the students were in charge of
the direction of their activities saturated her classroom. She prided
herself on allowing the students to grow, learn, think, and develop
their ideas. To accomplish this, she has to allow students time
to let their thoughts grow into meaningful actions. By providing
students with these opportunities, she is arousing imagination
in the students that assists in constructing meaning and building
connections between inner and outer worlds (Tucker, 2010). In
addition, she encourages her students to be self-reflective, to
develop a strong sense of self-esteem, and to have empathy for
other individuals. Allowing opportunities for self-expression is
at the heart of her lesson plans and units of study. Overall, she
shows evidence of her ability to nurture kids in the emotional, selfreflective, and creative realms (Johnson, 2011).
The high school AP United States history teacher’s main
strength was in helping students develop the skill to analyze their
Teacher Philosophies
The teachers identified as being spiritually nurturing made
concerted efforts to create warm classroom climates and build
a strong rapport with students. They encouraged empathy,
creativity and self-expression. In addition, understanding multiple
perspectives and focusing on the thinking process were evident.
Several teachers created an atmosphere of intense interaction
and choice in assignments. Olivia described the importance of
creativity in education:
I associate creativity and spirituality closely together
because I think creativity pulls things out of us and in
how we understand ourselves and how we understand
each other and in how we understand the world around
us. That was a great thing about elementary school
because there was so much creativity encouraged and
activities to be creative and that was great in middle
school, particularly in language arts. But I lost this a
lot in high school, and I think one of the areas where
I still had that was in theater that’s why I really love
drama because we had a chance to dream and come
up with new things and make new things happen and
live out different worlds. So that was a really great
part of high school. And, not every kid is like me. Not
every kid likes to write and likes to do theater and is
able to express themselves that way. But it was for
me, and it helped me pull out my spirituality and my
understanding of the world (Individual interview, April
21, 2013).
Each teacher demonstrated different factors that aligned
with Johnson and Neagley’s (2010) description of how educators
can spiritually nurture students. Activities implemented by the
81
own thinking processes. He pokes and prods them in class to
justify their beliefs. The ability to be self-reflective is crucial to
help students raise and reflect on universal questions and issues
(Gafoor & Kottalil, 2011). By encouraging students to explore
history using a humanistic approach, he helps them learn to explore
multiple perspectives. In order to be able to reach students in a
personal way, he makes a concerted effort to create a comfortable
classroom climate with quirky items, use of music, and a relaxing
tone where students can freely ask questions or add comments
to the daily lectures. He believes students should be treated like
humans and that the factory-like process of education needs to be
transformed. Finally, he is widely known as being a counselor
for students when they are dealing with challenging issues. By
constructing strong interpersonal relationships, educators build
safe communities that nurture spiritual development (Gafoor &
Kottalil, 2011, Tucker, 2010). Through these endeavors, he shows
evidence of nurturing students in the emotional, self-reflective,
and ethical realms (Johnson, 2011).
be able to understand their strengths and weaknesses, if viewed
through this lens. It is important to address each individual
teacher’s philosophy and passions because these become the
cornerstone for effective curriculum design and implementation.
Specific research studies could analyze teacher empathy and the
role of creativity in the classroom. Understanding how individuals
establish a warm classroom climate and build a strong rapport
with students would also be beneficial.
Assessment of student learning is necessary, but it should not
be the driving force behind our schools. We should be encouraging
each student to develop skills as a whole individual who is able to
understand his or her role in the community and world. We need
to enable students to be able to reflect on life’s journey and others’
journeys as well. Most importantly, we need to equip students to
be active leaders and citizens of the next generation (Sternberg,
2011).
References
Ambrose, D., & Cross, T.L. (2009). (Eds.) Morality, ethics,
and gifted minds New York; London: Springer.
Amram, Y. (2007, August). The seven dimensions of spiritual
intelligence: An ecumenical grounded theory. Paper presented
at the 115th Annual Conference of the American Psychological
Association, San Francisco, CA.
Coles, R. (1990). The spiritual life of children. Boston, MA:
Houghton Mifflin.
Gafoor, K., & Kottalil, N. K. (2011). Cultivating the spirit
through resilience: Vision of effective schools and mission of
caring teachers. Online Submission, ERIC, EBSCOhost (accessed
August 3, 2013).
Gardner, H. (2011). Intelligence, creativity, ethics: Reflection
on my evolving research interests. Gifted Child Quarterly, 55(4),
302-304. doi: 10.1177/0016986211421873
Johnson, A.N. (2011). Developing spirit-related capacities of
children and adolescents. In A.N. Johnson & M. Neagley (Eds.),
Educating from the heart: Theoretical and practical approaches
to transforming education (3-11). United Kingdom: Rowman &
Littlefield Education.
London, R., Johnson, A., Arguelles, L., Brown, R.,
Crowell, S., & Donnelly, J. (2004). Teaching from a spiritual
perspective. Encounter, 17(2), 28-37.
Lovecky, D. V. (1998). Spiritual sensitivity in gifted children.
Roeper Review, 20 (3), 178-183.
Navan, J. (2012) Touching the mystery: Spiritually gifted
children. Retrieved from http://www.sengifted.org/archives/
articles.
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation
methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Renzulli, J. (2011). Theories, actions, and change: An
academic journey in search of finding and developing high
potential in young people. Gifted Child Quarterly, 55(4), 305-308.
doi: 10.1177/0016986211421875
Roeper, A. (2008, January). Global awareness and
gifted children: Its joy and history. Roeper Review. pp. 8-10.
doi:10.1080/02783190701836254.
Sewell, A. (2009). Evoking children’s spirituality
in the reciprocal relationships of a learning community.
International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 14(1), 5-16.
doi:10.1080/13644360802658685
Techniques to Implement
The activities Olivia described as spiritually nurturing fall
into two main categories: those that involve creativity and selfexpression and those that require existential and critical thinking.
The importance of creativity and self-expression saturated the
experiences Olivia described as being spiritually nurturing for her.
She thrived in settings where she could explore her ideas through
writing. She spoke at great length about Writing Workshop in
middle school where she wrote short stories, poetry, essays, and
memoirs. Extracurricular activities such as Odyssey of the Mind
provided an atmosphere where Olivia could thrive and grow in a
safe environment. She described the creative process as one where
an individual needs to have a goal, encouragement, time, and
ownership. She wished that more learning experiences in schools
allowed for creative problem-solving. For Olivia, drama and the
arts provided avenues for self-expression and the exploration of
worldly ideas. In addition, Olivia described certain classroom
techniques as spiritually nurturing. Concept-based units, Socratic
seminars, and investigating influential individuals were essential
because they gave students the opportunity to voice their opinions,
learn more about controversial topics, and understand life’s
complexities.
Conclusion and Future Research Agenda
In order to promote ethics, wisdom, and morality, it is
important to study spiritually gifted students, philosophies of
spiritually-nurturing educators, and curriculum that impacts
the spiritual growth of students. Our future spiritual leaders are
sitting in classrooms across America. He may be the boy who is
able to see multiple perspectives about issues or the young girl
who is ferociously penning her thoughts on the page. It is our
role to recognize these gifts and nurture them throughout their
educational journeys. Specific research with spiritually-gifted
individuals could be conducted in a variety of settings that include
different cultures, different views on spirituality, and different
religious beliefs.
By having future teachers investigate their own spirituality,
they can better understand how this impacts the climate they
create in the classroom. There are subtle undercurrents that are
established through expectations and interactions. Educators may
82
Kristy Kowalske received her doctorate in Gifted and Creative
Education from the University of Georgia and currently serves as
an Adjunct Professor at Western Carolina University. Her case
study, for which she was nominated for the Torrance Graduate
Student Research Award: “Education Impact on Spiritual Growth:
A Case Study,” constructs an in-depth description of a spiritually
gifted individual including the individual’s views and the impact
of key educational opportunities and teachers who nurtured her
spiritual development. Sisk’s and Torrance’s work on spiritual
intelligence was used to structure the selection of participant for
the study and the outline of the case.
Sisk, D. & Torrance, E. P. (2001). Spiritual intelligence:
Developing higher consciousness. Buffalo, NY: Creative
Education Foundation Press.
Sternberg, R. (2011). From intelligence to leadership: A brief
intellectual autobiography. Gifted Child Quarterly, 55(4), 309312. doi: 10.1177/0016986211421872
Tolan, S. (2000, Winter & Spring). Spirituality and the highly
gifted adolescent. Highly Gifted Children. Retrieved from http://
www.hollingworth.org/volxiii-num2.html.
Tucker, L. (2010). Quest for wholeness: Spirituality in teacher
education. Encounter, 23(2), 1-10.
Changing Education-Thoughts about Creating and Inventing
Tomorrow’s School
By Harry T. Roman
“Education is only a ladder to gather fruit from
the tree of knowledge, not the fruit itself”
– Albert Einstein
and they have done so for many centuries. Ancient engineers did
not understand the laws of physics and such before they built
the pyramids, buildings like the Parthenon, great sailing vessels,
gothic cathedrals, and the famed Roman roads and water delivery
systems.
So how about we re-structure the academic day and have some
recitation style classes in the morning and team-based studios
in the afternoon—working on open-ended design challenges,
using multi-disciplinary thinking, and multi-faceted problem
solving paradigms? This would give them half-a-day, every day,
integrating their curriculum. Morning recitation teachers would be
involved as mentors and team teachers in the afternoon activities.
For grades 1-5, teachers would still teach distinct subject
matter as they do now. Team-based design challenges would
be conducted every month or so to start the studio inculcation
process. For grades 6-12, the full-blown morning recitation and
afternoon studio format is implemented. It might look like the
schedule below—with subject matter clusters that expand on the
commonalities between the subjects being discussed:
Introduction
All teachers and students should take an interest in how the
academic day will be re-invented as a result of the incredible
changes going on in educational technology, telecommunications,
distance learning, and hand-held devices. How do your students
see their classroom and school changing? As users of educational
technology and services, how might they want to be taught in the
future? How does this change the relationship between teacher
and student, teacher and teacher, and student and student? How
does it change the way students use educational resources and do
homework?
Make sure students engage in this topic, exploring how the
current school system came into existence and for what reasons
and motivations. Take your students back 140 years to when
public schools first came into their own. What was the world
like then? What kind of economy powered our nation? Research
and discuss questions such as these: What motivations changed
school and how did technological development contribute to these
changes? Does the business world and life after graduation serve
to motivate changes in the classroom—not to forget the impact
of a globally competitive world? What role did automation and
flexible manufacturing have upon the academic day?
Education is a very big concern for all nations. Is STEM/
STEAM just another part of the academic day, or is it meant to
be something everyone studies--integrated into the fabric of the
academic day--the backbone if you will? Where is our concept of
school headed?
-Monday: Science, Math, Music, Art
-Tuesday: History, Geography, Sociology, Civics
-Wednesday: Language Arts, Writing, Public Speaking
-Thursday: Creativity, Invention, Technology, and the Economy
-Friday: Music, Art, Design, Entrepreneurship
Art has been taught in studio format “for forever,” and art
should be integrated into design challenges too. Budding artists
should be team members, bringing their ability to visualize into
play, especially where teams are designing new products.
History oriented and language arts students are also valuable
team members, for they can provide historical expression and the
ability to communicate ideas and conceptions in both written and
oral form. History/sociology also holds the keys to understanding
how man’s natural inventive and entrepreneurial capabilities
have changed the world, impacting the fabric of our culture and
civilization. The author believes this alone is powerful motivation
for a highly integrated school curriculum.
A Future Possible Scenario for School
Why not consider a studio experience every day for all
students where they immediately apply their lessons learned,
even if they do not fully understand the entire lessons? This is not
harmful, but immensely helpful as it will inculcate within them a
healthy expression for application. Humans do this all the time,
83
“STEM is not just a part of the curriculum for the
gifted. It is the curriculum!”
- Dr. Maurice Fisher
Publisher, Gifted Education Press
becoming thoroughly familiar with how our economy
works, the role of capitalism as a powerful force for good
in the world, and how closely tied capitalism is to our
freedoms--and being creative in the first place.
Going further, this new school paradigm should attempt to
solve important problems we have at present:
1. “Math-o-phobia” is a serious concern in most schools,
with both teachers and students experiencing it. Early in
grades 1-5, students should be immersed in the “fun and
joy” of math, to experience its pervasive influence in our
lives. The use and perspective of math in all courses must
be taught by all teachers. The high paying and important
leadership jobs in the global economy are totally suffused
in mathematics. It is essential that students be immersed
in math and teachers hired and kept on staff based on
their abilities to understand and demonstrate the subject.
A student lost in math by 4th or 5th grade will never be
recovered. Therefore, grades 1-5 are crucial for retaining
a student’s interest. Teachers in the early grades must be
math competent and versatile, able to show how math is
important and highly relevant to the world
5. Entrepreneurship and new product development are the
very basis of our economic progress, and often so foreign
to the modern classroom that students have almost no
idea how new products affect them and the world. The
study of inventors, entrepreneurs, and innovators can
easily be justified as links between science, history, and
economics and would powerfully reinforce the schoolto-work linkage.
With the growing popularity of Massive Open On-line
Courses (MOOCs), why can’t students engage these resources as
regular educational activities--learning at home and having those
lessons refined via Socratic teaching methods by their teachers?
Students should also regularly experience panel discussions
among varieties of professions, looking for both similarities and
differences in how people think, create, design, and solve problems.
Why not have students attend evening seminars, along with their
parents to hear engaging, timely, and topical discussions, if for
nothing else but to get into the habit of appreciating that learning
is continuous, life-long, and not always found in a traditional
classroom setting?
Think of the huge human resources available through
businesses and professions that could be brought to bear on local
schools. This practical problem solving experience would be a
giant help in the afternoon studio activities. Can you see a place
for working world and retired people in your school? Can you
see how such interactions help students understand how working
folks are always in a state of learning, just as they are in school?
2. Creativity, imagination, and invention are natural
human characteristics. Modern brain-based research
has confirmed this. We are a species programmed to
handle and deal with complexity. Children want to make
connections between things [subjects]. Lesson plans
and curricula should be implemented that foster and
celebrate these characteristics, through independent and
team-based activities in the K-12 experience. Children
are also highly facile and need to be able to manipulate
materials and build things to express themselves in three
dimensions. There must be opportunities to do this, and
plenty of them.
“Let us think of education as the means of developing our
greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private
hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into
benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.”
- John F. Kennedy
3. STEM/STEAM should not be taught as if it were
a separate subject, not included under career and
technology education, nor in AP courses; it should not
be lumped with robotics activities after school or in any
other admixture/hybridization of subject matter. STEM/
STEAM should be the spinal column of education, an
education geared around the practical and meaningful
solution of problems, where the traditional subjects
enable this process and content taxonomy. This taxonomy
portends an end to the “pizza-pie-subject“ model of the
academic day and a major revamping of how teachers are
taught to teach. Teaching STEM/STEAM any other way
is flat-out wrong!
A Return of the One-Room School House
There is much our students can learn from each other. This is
a major reason why teams are so intricately infused into STEM/
STEAM activities and design challenges, something like the oneroom country schoolhouse of yore and not unlike the large farm
families that once characterized our past agrarian way of life. The
more advanced students can have a positive impact on those who
need some assistance; and dare I say the reverse is also quite true
if we are brave and open minded enough to accept it. The school
of tomorrow is one that will emphasize less the traditional SAT
scores and such, and embrace the powerful findings of modern
brain-based research and multiple intelligences. In short, it is not
what you know, but rather what you can do with what you know;
and this is often learned from interactions with others. In the work
world, leadership will come to be defined by how well one can
teach others to greatly leverage their capabilities.
Much can be learned from focused and structured gameplaying in the classroom. There is also a very powerful paradigm
within the context of students teaching each other. It is the kind of
learning that sticks in a special way. In classes in gifted education,
4. Education does not exist as though it were some nevernever land between childhood and the grown-up world.
It should be the conduit to productive citizenship and
employment. School-to-work is the operative term here.
The school of tomorrow should have liberal doses of
career exploration, and role models from the grownup world who are engaged during regular school hours
to talk to students and conduct classroom activities
that enlighten and enhance student understanding of
what will be expected of them. This includes students
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I have challenged young folks to break into teams to create board
games. After the exercise, I polled the students to determine their
likes and dislikes about the exercise. A constant theme emerging
from the teams was how much they learned from their classmates,
how much they learned about their classmates, and how they used
their heads to solve problems. As teachers, we have the ability
to unlock great learning lessons, life-long lessons, by how we
structure team-based projects and challenges; and we can leverage
that even further by helping our students become more familiar
with their classmates and their learning styles. Always ask
students to discuss how they arrived at difficult or unstructured
problem solving solutions. In this way the class teaches itself in
an unforgettable way.
Now let’s consider something I have observed in my many
visits to classrooms, gifted and non-gifted. It is entirely anecdotal,
not backed statistically, but it keeps cropping up, so I offer it here
for consideration as a powerful educational tool. I say, pair up the
high performers with the low performers on teams and in special
design challenges-pairing both ends of the so-called normal
distribution curve. Magical things can happen when this is done.
Here follows why I think so.
Special education kids seem to exhibit a playful fearlessness
about design challenges and similar activities, almost as if they
don’t know what they don’t know, so they have nothing to lose.
Flying by the seat of their pants has an allure. It is not a minimum
sum grade-based activity for them. Some just need a little more
time to figure it out, but they do, whereas the gifted kids, who
by strong conditioning, are looking for the “right answer” which
does not exist in open-ended design challenges. Gifted and
talented kids see the activity as just another grade-based event.
In the vernacular, “the dim bulbs glow and the bright ones dim,”
when hands-on activities are undertaken. How about a combining
of G/T and Special Ed kids? I believe there is common ground to
be explored and capitalized upon. How might they be put together
for periods of time to “teach” and influence each other?
Here are the similarities I have observed within these two
groups of kids:
- Marked differences in emotional and academic
intelligence[within each group, and between them]
- Radically different (perhaps non-rational at first thought)
learning styles
- Time to process information varies greatly
- Impatient with status quo
- Highly opinionated, likely to debate or challenge
- Like music, poetry, and writing
- Are intelligent in ways we cannot yet statistically measure
-Tend to be social outliers, yet can be overly kind and
understanding
- Animal lovers
- Socially concerned for the underdog
- Highly aware of environmental concerns
would propose for these two groups to undertake cooperatively:
- Design a robot to assist handicapped or home-bound people
- Compose and present a play about “being different”
- Create a website/clearinghouse website that would allow
for adopting or rescuing animals
- Design a solar system or attached greenhouse for the school
- Create a variety of games that could be built and used at a
school fair to generate money for charity; create a miniature
golf course
-Design low cost housing for under-developed, resource
limited countries
-Design a hospital robot that could assist nurses, deliver
supplies, and bring the doctor’s presence to patient bedsides
- Create a way for senior citizens to get their food shopping
done through a service that delivers the foodstuffs to their
door.
- Re-design the school and classrooms for the next 50 years.
“The main part of intellectual education is not the
acquisition of facts but learning how to make facts live.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes
This is not an exhaustive listing of possible design challenge
ideas, but meant to represent the kinds of panoramic design
challenges I believe these kids would jointly enjoy undertaking.
Engage your kids at both ends of the curve to develop their own
ideas for design challenges. Think of the incredible array of topics
for consideration like electric vehicles, nano-technology, special
smart phone apps to help people or be used for health diagnosis,
etc. Think big and broad for these kids; they are both very hungry.
I am convinced that design challenges and real-world problem
solving multiply student learning non-linearly, greatly leveraging
comprehension and motivation. Both types of students can benefit
enormously from self-esteem booster projects like these.
Now let’s explore some other ways to integrate the academic
day, to link and intertwine subject matter so students see how
problem solving is both inter-disciplinary and multi-dimensional.
Timelines- a Powerful Integrative Method
Nothing can provide perspective on the world as basically
an intertwined place than the study of timelines. Pick a period
of time, say 10-20 years, and examine how people, places, and
events interact to shape our world. Try wrapping this around a
specific technology like the Internet. In what ways did the Internet
affect the following:
-
Certainly this is not a hard and fast list of similarities and
I readily admit they are limited to my experiences, but I have
visited many schools in the course of 40 years in classrooms so
there is some credence to my observations.
What would happen if these two groups of students interfaced
once or twice a week at first, or maybe in special after-school
invention activities? I think this should be explored. Here are
some socially relevant, human interest design type challenges I
Economy/business sector
Science/technology
Music/art
National security/government
Society/politics
Environment
Language/lexicon/etymology of words?
How pervasive were these impacts compared to others
in recorded history, like recorded sound, motion pictures, the
printing press, the telephone, etc?
Imagine what can be learned by students who construct and
study chunks of humanity’s advancement through time. What if
teams of students were to evaluate and assess a variety of time
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Explore Science Fiction
Science fiction offers a rich landscape to explore how
technology and science and culture interact in an integrated
fashion. Some points to consider include the following:
segments? Could they identify long-term trends and emerging
interactions? What might this mean for student teams that try and
assess what future time lines might look like for technology today
like life extension, nano-technology, artificial intelligence, and
colonization of space?
-Science fiction is a literature of change
-It examines how societal change occurs
-It often predicts where society is headed
-Many great works of literature were about Sci-fi
-The change induced is often a technology driven one,
modified by socio-political concerns
Technology and the Arts
How have technological advances impacted the arts?
Empower student teams to identify and quantify as much as
possible how the following technologies have affected the arts:
-
Video/animation/special effects
Automation of stage plays
Music/sound recording
You Tube!
CDs/DVDs/HD TV
Morphing/special effects
Other
Can you see how reading and analyzing science fiction might
play an important literary role in how society evolves in the
future? Engage your students in these activities:
-Write short Sci-fi stories
-Watch Sci-fi movies and discuss them
-Identify where Sci-fi predicted our modern technologies
- Examine war as a science fiction motivator
[Civil War/WWI/WWII]
Imagine how recorded sound and motion pictures first changed
the world, and then try and determine if subsequent changes were
as or more stunning in their impact. Construct a matrix for these
technologies and populate it for a variety of potential impacts.
Examples: impact of the arts on human experience; breadth of
impact (i.e., local, regional, global); affordability of an artistic
experience; permeation of art into the lives of people; and ability
of art to affect the world.
Also, don’t forget how technology has influenced the
materials used by the world of art such as these:
Take some time to also examine how science fiction generated
its own special brand of fantastic art, in posters, books and
magazine covers, motion pictures and advertisements. Examine
how our artistic interpretations of other worlds and space itself
has changed as our technology has given us a window into other
worlds via space probes, missions to other planets, and the space
telescope. Watch some classic Sci-fi and have students compare
Sci-fi from the 1940s up until the present time. Discuss why
the cinematic representations might be so different. How did
various time periods “see and interpret” what space, science, and
technology represented to them? Study great Sci-fi artists.
- Paints/art supplies
- Sculpting and sculpting materials
- Special materials
“Education is what survives when what has
been learned has been forgotten.”
- B. F. Skinner
“The great aim of education is not knowledge, but action.”
- Herbert Spenser
“What If” Scenarios
Challenge student teams to identify and appreciate broad
change, by challenging them to research and discuss the impacts
of “what if” scenarios. I can personally attest to the value of
this strategy, as I used it throughout my engineering career with
several of my career colleagues. It proved to be an excellent way
to anticipate things that could happen in our industry and be
prepared to evaluate the impact of such happenings.
Here are some “what ifs” for your student teams to ponder.
The real benefit of such thinking lies in trying to quantify (here is
where you bring in that math) the impact on society/economy of
such events--good, bad, or otherwise.
Study Engineering/Invention
Research the field of engineering to see how engineers solve
problems, which is also very similar to how inventors solve
problems. In essence, this is the central theme of STEM/STEAM
to develop a self-disciplined way to approach problem solving,
one that involves not only the technical aspects, but includes the
socio-environmental-economic-political- legal and other aspects
of the problem. Often engineering is thought of as “designing with
constraints,” or “multi-faceted design.” As a society matures, it
gains wisdom about problem-solving and can quite literally afford
to worry about other things besides just the basic technicalities of
a design.
Student teams should look at how the integration of various
aspects of a design changes the design itself. For instance, students
might design something first from the standpoint of technology
and cost, and later re-do this design by adding environmental
constraints and comparing the initial design to this. Later, other
constraints could be added, further changing the design, and
students can evaluate the impacts, repeating this for a variety of
constraints. The more constraints one adds into the design activity,
the more likely that these designs will change.
Study case examples of how successive design constraints
-All nuclear plants are phased out
-Internet use is taxed
-People work at home via computers
-All new cars must be electric/battery powered
-Other?
Surely your students can dream up all sorts of sticky “what if”
scenarios and encourage them to do so and evaluate the impacts.
This is fantastic practice for what will await them in the business
world.
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changed such basic items in our society such as, houses,
automobiles, airplanes, trains, and so forth. Compare today’s
designs with those of 100 years ago. What motivated the
changes your students observe-what were most likely the design
constraints? What will today’s new technologies look like perhaps
100 years from now….say robots, nano-technology, artificial
intelligence, social media….etc.?
champions of this development will address the concerns in the
final design of the shopping mall. This certainly is similar to how
engineers, inventors, and architects design within constraints. Pay
rapt attention to how all of this is quantified with math!
Maybe your students can try addressing their own designs for
major development within your town/city. Are there things your
townspeople would like your students to try and address? Here
are some ideas:
Study Architecture
Architects, like engineers and inventors solve problems, but
their method is different. Architects make both a physical and
cultural statement with their designs. They tend to blend subjects:
- Possible uses for vacant land
- Re-design of dangerous intersections
- Beautification of parks and other public areas
- Use of abandoned railroad rights of way
-Art
-Technology
-History
-Engineering
-Culture
Surely every town or city has some concerns, and perhaps
working with local town leaders can be an illuminating moment
for young folks to get a glimpse into the grown-up world and how
problems are solved at the community level. Do not underestimate
how powerful this could be in showing how interconnected subject
matter is; and why integrating the curriculum is so important.
How might this impact the areas in which their works are
located?
Examine downtown areas where varieties of design abound
from different times and schools of architectural thought.
For example, how is Beaux Art design different from today’s
architectural designs, and why? How does an architect incorporate
socio-cultural concerns/themes into a design?
Look at the buildings in your school district. Are they
architecturally different? Why? Does architecture impact how
students and teachers might use a school building? Many schools
built in the 1920s thru 1950s all featured a grand stair case
entrance leading to school offices and an auditorium. By the 1960s
this had changed. One simply walked into the school at ground
level and schools were more rambling with one to two floor wings
and spread out facilities. Rather than having compact three or four
story box-like designs, the post 1960s design used more glass and
steel exterior aspects rather than brick and stone facades. Did this
mirror the way skyscrapers were being built then? What propelled
such design changes?
How would your students design a school structure today
and how might they wish to arrange its insides? Given tight city
budgets, what kinds of constraints might be reflected in a modern
school design?
“Education is the kindling of a flame,
not the filling of a vessel”
- Socrates
Student Teams-A Crescendo Learning
and Application Experience
School should, as much as possible, exemplify the real world
after school to students (often referred to as a “school-to-work”
experience). Perhaps a community form of service should be the
model for this experience. Whatever the form it takes, students
should be immersed in the adult world to see how their studies
and subject matter apply to the world of work. How incredibly
valuable would this be!
What if local businesses could “hire” student teams to try
and solve problems these businesses have. Consider a local
community grocery store that might be having concerns such as
these:
- Making it easier for senior citizens to shop at the store
or even shop
from home
- Reducing energy usage in the store
- Reducing the use of plastic bags at check-out
- Offering new specialty products at the baked goods
counters
- Speeding up the checkout process.
Working with Town Hall
There are huge and rich examples of subject integration and
the potential for integrating the curriculum right there in your
school district’s town hall operations. You may not think of town
hall as an educational context, but it certainly is, and it can be a
noisy forum at that.
Bring your classes to town hall meetings when developers,
city planners, and construction managers are presenting new
ideas for major projects for your neighborhoods. This is when
students will see how many constraints are raised by a variety of
constituencies like local residents, environmentalists, community
activists, and others. Maybe a new shopping mall is going to be
built and folks have concerns over traffic, hours of operation,
large delivery trucks, number of jobs for local residents, impact
on parking in the area, bright lights late into the evening, houses
that may have to be torn down, impact on local sewer capacity and
water drainage, and a whole host of concerns. Listen to how the
Consider the benefits to the students of having the ability to
do the following:
-
-
-
-
-
87
Address real problems, realizing such problems are
right there in their neighborhood, and not abstract
entities
Evaluate problems and reduce them to key aspects
Use critical thinking skills and integrate their subject
matter
Create/invent/innovate new products, services, and
systems--within design constraints
Present their ideas and suggestions to the grocery store
managers
-
-
-
Roman, H. T. (2014); Invention, Innovation and Creative
Thinking in the Gifted Classroom-Activities & Design Challenges
for Students in Middle & High School; Gifted Education Press.
Roman, H. T. and Myers, R.E. (2013); STEM to STEAM
Education for Gifted Students Using Specific Communication
Arts Lessons with Nanotechnology, Solar, Biomass, Robotics, &
Other STEM Topics; Gifted Education Press.
Roman, H. T. (2013); STEAM Education for Gifted
Students! Upper Elementary Through Secondary Levels.
Combining Communication and Language Arts with Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics; Gifted Education
Press.
Sizer, T. (2004); Horace’s Compromise: The Dilemma of the
American High School; Houghton Mifflin.
Sizer, T. (1997); Horace’s School: Redesigning the American
High School; Houghton Mifflin.
Wesson, K.; From STEM to ST2REAM-Reassembling our
disaggregated curriculum; Education Week (on-line), October 23,
2012.
Sharpen their writing and speaking skills
Work as a team and learn how to compromise and deal
with differing viewpoints
See math in action.
Imagine how inspiring it would be to have student teams
working in their neighborhood, or for some small companies who
have heard about your program. Students could dress up for the
visit, act in a professional manner, and get a glimpse of the grownup world. College student teams often work with Fortune 500
companies while doing their baccalaureate capstone coursework
or while pursuing advanced studies. Why can’t young, fresh
minds, in middle school/high school, do likewise?
Try this out on your PTA/PTO members and with your district.
It might greatly boost the perceived value of the education given
and elicit quite a positive response from the community. Also,
contact local businesses in your community, and don’t forget
to ask parents who have jobs in local companies that might be
interested in a program involving student project teams. You will
be surprised at the positive response.
Harry T. Roman is a retired engineer, teacher, inventor, and
author. He has published over 550 articles, papers and scientific
treatises, along with 75 teacher resource products including
books, math card games, and science kits. A recipient of multiple
awards for his outstanding service as an educator, as well as his
pioneering technological achievements and inventions, Roman
is currently an educational advisor for the Edison Innovation
Foundation, and often visits local schools to work with teachers
and students.
“With regard to excellence, it is not enough to know,
but we must try to have and use it.”
-Aristotle
Sources
Fisher, M.D. (2014, March 28). Gifted education in America:
Suggested improvements. Center for Excellence in Education.
[Web newsletter], http://www.cee.org/
Getting Students Ready for College and Career
Through Creative Thinking
By Diane Witt and Elizabeth Hahn
If you ever want to know what a creative person’s mind feels
like, imagine a browser with 2,857 tabs open. ALL.THE.TIME.
- Some eCards
environment. Education is not currently meeting the increased need
for workers who generate new ideas and are willing to take risks
to try them out. As businesses clamor more loudly about the need
for entrepreneurial thinkers, some new programs and educational
strategies are coming to the forefront.
The desire to create can be compelling – and for those who see the
world through “possibilities,” it can be powerful. Motivating and
desirable, it drives individuals to a heightened sense of awareness,
enabling them to harness their vision, think critically about the
“end game,” and taking them down a path from which there is no
escape. Some see it as a search for answers. Others see her as an
answer to the world’s woes. This is Lady Creativity.
For a number of years both business and education have
been caught up in the notion that productivity is increased mostly
by focusing on measurable skill sets that are best developed by
setting prescribed goals and objectives and adhering to them with
little deviation. Lately, there has been a recognition on the part
of business that many of these skill sets are provided through
technology or out-sourcing and that what is really needed in
their workforce is the ability to provide vision and innovation to
pace the company competitively in an always changing business
The Creativity Gap
Misconceptions about creativity in the workplace are nothing
new. The need for new ideas and ways of doing business has fueled
a search for candidates with characteristics that complement the
ever changing needs of today’s employers.
According to Adobe (2012), the gap between job expectations
and reality is changing. Only one in four Employees consider
themselves creative, and perceptions toward creativity versus
productivity have seen a shift at the executive level out of necessity.
While creativity is still considered important, it is not the driving
force in the workplace.
One study of creativity surveyed more than 5,000 people in
the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Japan. Indicating a universal
acknowledgement for the need of creativity in the workplace, the
88
study identified time constraints as the main obstacle to innovation.
All five countries expressed 47% frustration with time barriers to
their creativity, while the U.S. hit 52%. Japan ranked the highest
on creativity, while the U.S. followed in a close second, followed
by Germany, France and the U.K.
Creativity does not take place in a vacuum. It is a mix of ideas,
observations and behaviors characterized by innovation. It’s not
an accident leaders from companies like Skype, Hewlett Packard
and Google exhibit a common thread when it comes to innovation.
this article have followed that vision to solve problems, to dream
dreams that haven’t been imagined, and create pathways where
none previously existed. They learned how to harness a vision,
create something original and think critically about a desired
outcome. This kind of creativity reflects the way a young person
thinks and opens a pathway for a paradigm shift. It goes beyond
being college ready, placing the emphasis on the individual and his
or her strengths, and giving creativity another face to those who
seek to understand her.
TIME contributor and Los Angeles Times columnist Joel
Stein referred to Millennials as, “The Me, Me, Generation.” Born
between 1980-2000, Millennials grew up amidst the greatest
technological changes in a century – changes brought on by the
Great Recession. This lack of security has created individual with
enough self-confidence to weather whatever the world may bring.
Most of all, they are resourceful, with a strong sense of purpose.
(Groth, 2013).
This age group proved to be a strong and vibrant culture
willing to create the “next version of America.” Many feel a strong
need to fix something. When asked what word best defines the
DNA of their generation, 70 percent agreed, “Creativity will save
us!” (Shore, 2012).
Early Indicators Study
“Early Indicators of High Potential” was the result of a study
conducted by Vanderbilt University’s College of Education and
Human Development. It identified 320 students over three decades
who ranked in the top 1 in 10,000 in math and verbal reasoning skills.
Twenty years later, a follow-up analyzed their accomplishments
at age 38 to determine whether or not the participants had
been able to make significant contributions to society.
Out of the 320 students, 63 percent held advanced degrees, of
which 44 percent were doctorates. These professionals worked
in engineering, the arts, and in science. Many were employed
by Fortune 500 companies, hospitals and universities. One even
served as advisor to the President.
[Please see the diagram, Creative Accomplishments on
page 652 by J. Kell Harrison, David Lubinski, and Camilla P.
Benbow in their article, “Who Rises to the Top? Early Indicators,”
Psychological Science 24(2013): 648-659. http://my.vanderbilt.
edu/wmpy/files/2013/02/Kell-Lubinski-Benbow-20132.pdf].
This drive connects those with like interests, forming bonds
that can have far reaching effects into society, the economy and the
future. Emerging interests in the field of aerospace engineering,
viral biology and energy continues to attract some of the brightest
thinkers.
Divergent thinkers are another kind of creative thinker. For
a child, divergent thinking can present its share of challenges.
Many of these children have desires to make a difference in the
world, and their dreams can be larger than life, causing anguish
and frustration over an idea they are unable to let go (Lovecky,
2009). Unfortunately, divergent thinkers can be misunderstood
and labeled troublemakers because of their ideas. They can be
confrontational and rebellious toward authority on their way to
achieving a goal or vision only they may be able to communicate.
This “messy” process results in more than ideas. It may leave them
feeling isolated, disorganized and outside their peer group.
“The Innovator’s DNA” identifies five common skills that set
them apart from the rest (Dyer, Gregersen & Christensen, 2011):
1. An ability to “Associate” and make connections between
disciplines.
2. The ability to “Question” accepted rules and challenge
the status quo.
3. An ability to “Observe” and recognize better ways of
doing business with suppliers and competitors.
4. The ability to “Network” and deal with people with
different perspectives and ideas.
5. The ability to “Experiment” with untried ideas to create
a new concept.
These young Millennials are employed in positions that
demonstrate creative leadership in business and in life. They have
embraced strategies that involve critical thinking and creative
problem solving. Once they entered the workplace, behaviors
emerge that reveal networking ability. Making connections and the
need to generate ideas gives the company, team and individual the
building blocks to enhance their creativity moving from concept
to implementation.
30 Under 30 Summit
For creative thinkers, problem solving and innovation are
often as natural as breathing. Thirty young professionals under
30 met in Philadelphia last fall to take part in Forbes’ 2014 30
Under 30 Summit. Hand picked from more than 115 applicants,
these young people showcased the top of the top, representing 15
different fields. These innovators and forward-thinking Millennials
have a universal goal: “To change the world.”
Forbes created this summit to enhance opportunities for the
honorees to develop new partnerships, participate in tech talk
and create new business ideas. Among the winners were five
scientists whose vision for biology transforms the way we have
understood the science to this point. These new perspectives aim
to understand and confront the ever-growing threats in the areas of
disease, genetics and medicine.
These boundary-breaking discoveries are achieved through
multi-collaborations in related fields of virology, technology
and medical ethics. “The problems are so large they cannot be
solved in isolation. Alzheimer’s is an example of growing need
in an aging society,” said Paige Cramer, former Forbes 30 Under
30 honoree. She works as principal scientist for Merck, Sharpe
and Dohme. During her days in grad school, she discovered key
findings in the fight against this disease.
These forward-thinking, vision-oriented entrepreneurs are a
new breed of explorer, with one step in today and the other in
tomorrow. They are impacting world problems by partnering with
unlikely disciplines and creating a new standard for success.
Creative thinkers like the young Millennials interviewed in
How Creative Millennials Approach the World
The creative young people who are now in our workplace
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work long hours to achieve or contribute to a goal. High energy is
not uncommon. They have the ability to adapt to situations. They
make the best of a given situation that can resemble opposing
ideas at the same time. They combine work and play equally right
up until the end of a project. They are persistent and driven. Ideas
leap and works are destroyed to reach a higher level of originality.
They are contributors and critics at the same time. Most of all, they
are passionate and risk-takers often misunderstood in the quest to
achieve their vision. How did these young people come to be the
creative producers they are?
Looking at the experiences of several creative Millennials
provides some insight into not only how they think, but also how
they came to apply creative processes to their current lives. When
asked questions about how they think and when they first realized
they were creative, many of them mentioned the teenage years as
when they realized they had unique ways of looking at challenges
and opportunities. When considering research on the adolescent
brain, this manifestation of creative thought during those years
would be in line with the studies, indicating that the teenage
years are the time that the mind craves risk taking and novelty.
Coupled with that is the brain’s growing ability to problem solve
by applying critical thinking skills to life experiences.
Experts in the field of creativity are still debating whether
creativity must involve product development and value or if it can
just be creative thinking. But the young Millennials interviewed
here began thinking differently from their peers, and have found
ways to move that thinking into their daily lives and careers.
Steve is a young man who demonstrates creative leadership
skills both in business and as a soccer coach. He works to provide
a safe environment in which he and his customers can look at
the hard questions about their businesses and come up with
original solutions that help the businesses grow. He approaches
his high school soccer team with the same look at what the real
challenges are and provides novel ways to develop skill, vision
and collaboration in the players. These “outside the box” strategies
have kept business customers coming back and gained the soccer
team recognition in the district and state in spite of the fact that
they come from a small school and play much larger programs.
As a researcher in the medical field, Jenny knows that it
is critical to keep one’s options open. That’s why, well beyond
college, she continues to read literature to keep abreast of the latest
techniques and research in molecular genetics used to help prevent
abnormal scarring in burn victims. Critical thinking and creative
problem solving have to go hand-in-hand in order for Jenny to
define and analyze a problem as well as live with ambiguity
until she explores enough options to come up with a satisfactory
solution.
Sarah, who has an MFA and is a sculptural ceramicist, reflects
that she just recently came to understand what a college professor
said to her several years ago. His observation was, “You really
know who you are, which is odd for someone your age.” Looking
back, Sarah realizes that, even in high school, she had very specific
goals when it came to her art projects, and that she planned her
process to the point of knowing how much time she had to eat
dinner. She knew her interests were different from many of her
peers, and saved her social time for a small group of close friends.
She has an early memory of failing a third-grade spelling test, and
vowing that she would work so hard it would never happen again.
Now, in her adjunct work with college students, she tries to instill
in them openness to risk-taking and an awareness that hard work
can take them further than they believe they can go.
Frank is a mechanical engineer who specializes in building
design work, but also juggles distractions from construction issues
and work with multiple groups from architects to structural and
civil engineers. All of these groups must collaborate creatively
to help a building design come together. Frank realized in junior
high he was good at visualizing problems and coming up with
solutions. He found it possible to apply that strength to subjects
such as math and science, and even art and creative writing. He
relates that finding a skill set and applying it leads to success, but
that it is important in today’s world not to get pigeonholed into
only one option.
Scott is a third-year resident in osteopathic medicine. In fourth
grade, he knew he thought differently from his classmates. His
teacher saw the creative side of him, and gave him opportunity to
develop it. He also became involved in a creative problem solving
competition that expanded his creative skills through imagination
and development of technical skills related to innovative products
such as a moving robot. Curiosity was a trait that led him to always
ask, “What if?” This trait led him on an inquiry path satisfied by
the vast amount of knowledge and outstanding questions in the
medical field. He looks at patients with the question, “Why do you
have these symptoms?” and the understanding that this question
can lead to an underlying problem and the challenge of finding a
solution.
Anna uses daily reflection in her own practice and attention
to her first graders’ points of view to modify and refine the lessons
she teaches. She reads a lot of biographies and finds the stories
of people overcoming struggles motivating. She finds it critical
in teaching to share ideas with other teachers, and brainstorm
ways to implement their best practices in her own classroom. For
those coming into the field, she emphasizes that having new ideas
is great, but thoroughly planning how to bring the ideas to the
classroom is a must.
A striking revelation from these interviews was the
commonalities many of the participants reported. All of them
realized early, most in junior high or high school, that they thought
differently from their peers. At times, the idea could be frightening
because of the wedge it created in relationships with friends. As
they grew older, it became easier to reconcile the differences and
accept them as strengths. The confidence that was gained often
led to stronger friendships and a valuing of diversity. While those
interviewed recognized they must first bring the creative process
to their work, there was also an understanding that teamwork with
colleagues is crucial to bring multiple ideas and viewpoints to the
table.
Some additional caveats were revealed when a couple of
teachers of young adults were interviewed. It is notable that both
teachers brought to their students first-hand knowledge from having
been creative thinkers themselves, and then modeled the concept
that Malcolm Gladwell (2008) explores in his book Outliers, the
roles of training and experience in creative productivity.
Patti has taught college students and in-service teachers and
has written several books. She, too, reports knowing she thought
differently than her peers in high school. She had first-hand
experience with becoming an invisible student in class so others
would not know that she thought differently. Her desire to excel
kept her working hard to be highly successful in school. Now she
sometimes works 12-14 hours if she is feeling “in the flow” with
a writing project. She purposely keeps distractions such as phone
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calls and emails out of the picture during these creative times.
These experiences have helped her teach that creativity can be
hard work, but puts much needed fun into life.
Dan was a career officer in the military and retired as a twostar general. He reflects that in Europe, Americans are respected
for their creativity and work ethic. There is recognition that
Americans come to the table with a determination to problem
solve until the job is completed. That was a mission in his career as
he worked with American and international troops and leadership
teams to design training programs that were creative, realistic and
demanding. He also found it productive to lead by example, a
strategy that motivated and engaged others.
Assignments can be adapted to promote higher level thinking
skills in a way that boys will respond to more openly. Boys should
learn how to read critically and express their ideas. It is also
important to introduce new material so boys can encounter new
topics they do not understand.
A risk-free environment that permits boys to bounce ideas off
of one another without judgment from their peers or teacher is
necessary as they are introduced to concepts outside their scope
of understanding. Classroom situations that promote male clusters
give boys the freedom of expression not always present in regular
classrooms.
For any project, final products should have alternatives
and options. Choosing the way to convey a presentation should
be explored, with attention given to the process. Since boys
respond well to assignments that emphasize topic immersion,
their engagement in the assignment is natural. Boys tune out of
lessons earlier than girls, so connection to the lesson is part of their
training. Most of all, boys need to learn how to succeed and fail
at the same time, making it easier for them to learn determination
from that failure.
On the other hand, creatively gifted girls and women
face an uphill battle when it comes to recognizing their
abilities. Early on, young girls come to realize they are
treated differently from their peers and that a double standard
exists for them and their male classmates (Smutny, 1999).
Girls also face their share of social pressures. Many hide their
abilities rather than accept them, not realizing that their talent
is fluid and emerging. Piirto argues that girls demonstrate less
creative achievement after graduation and tend to be more
dependent due to the way they were raised. As they get older, these
girls communicate more effectively than men. Their approach to
problem solving is to examine the scenario from more than one
perspective. Women also tend to be more emotionally aware. This
accounts for their ability to care for others and process sensory
information, which is a critical part of women’s creative strength
in problem solving.
The way schools design programs to meet the needs of their
gifted elementary classes provides opportunities for male and
female students to interact together in projects and individual
assignments. Maple Ridge Elementary School in Pendleton,
Indiana combines fifth and sixth grade students in a looping class
known as “Reach 5&6”. Prospective students are assessed during
their fourth grade class to measure reading, mathematics, verbal
abilities, and spatial and nonverbal reasoning.
Meaghan gives her students open-ended projects with basic
benchmarks for success. They are given a rubric to help them
reach their solution. Part of the requirements of a recent class “float
project” was to create a state-themed float capable of rolling in a
parade around the school. No items could be purchased. Meaghan
reported boys were more likely to use vehicles of some sort, while
girls used things like roller skates, skateboards and casters.
“In general, I think the choice given to them in these matters
lends itself nicely to creativity,” said Meaghan. “We do a project
during space study where students have to create a space vehicle
that could make a hypothetical journey to a planet or moon of their
choice. Students research the destination and then, using what
they find, equip their vehicle with items necessary to make the
trip. Because it was open ended, there was a phenomenal amount
of creativity in the final designs.”
In classrooms like these, environments can be designed to
The Maker Movement
Whether as an outgrowth of the experiences of individuals
like those interviewed here or a precursor of how these young
people will influence business and education in the future, there
is a movement gaining significant traction that uses creativity
and problem-solving to create real things that can be used by a
real audience. The Maker Education Initiative subscribes to the
idea that collaborating, problem solving, exploring, tinkering and
wondering can help solve real-world problems. Maker education
advocates point out that “making” can be done with inexpensive
or no-cost items and can happen anywhere. Art supplies, fabric,
cardboard, scrap wood, sewing kits, hand tools and recycled items
can all be used nurture a “Maker environment.”
Gender Considerations in Creativity
Historically, men have dominated creative achievements in
literature, art, science and technology. Boys demonstrate strengths
in tasks that showcase their ability to use boundary-breaking
thinking. Far outperforming girls in this area, children set these
imaginary lines themselves to reinforce how they see the world
and their place in it (Chen Tsai, 2012). Since boys are more likely
to be raised to be independent, it is also more likely that they will
be drawn to careers that promote decision making. Along this line
is the ability to demonstrate potential in the area of mathematics.
The male brain is structured for greater mental imagery simply
due to its size. As boys grow, so do their brains. Their physical
size is 11-12 percent larger than a female brain. Since males are
traditionally larger in build, they have need for extra neurons to
fuel growing muscle mass. Males also exhibit a difference in
the way they solve problems. They are less talkative, more task
oriented and more isolated throughout the problem solving process
(Hensley, 2009).
Fostering creativity in boys is a process that can be supported
in the classroom. Understanding the special needs of boys can also
make it easier to connect with them and promote their strengths.
The creative brain is always searching for new ideas, and it is
no different for the teenage male. If opportunities are not available
to feed that curiosity, it can be fueled with endeavors that can be
positive or negative depending on the interest.
Young gifted males need opportunities that promote their
understanding of a lesson. They need to understand how the
information is useful and can be applied to what they know.
Teachers – especially male teachers – have the ability to reflect
creative ideas posed by the students and help them make
connections. Teachers that model a creative approach to problem
solving can demonstrate the ups and downs of risk taking, failure
and expressing different points of view without judgment.
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promote positive learning experiences that encourage success in
both boys and girls. Understanding that boys and girls play, learn,
and see the world differently can have an impact on the projects
and assignments in which they excel.
and leadership. While not all of our students will become
nationally or internationally known in their fields, there is much
we can teach them to help them become “movers and makers” that
create a positive difference wherever they’re called.
Using Standards and Problem Solving to Teach Creative
Thinking
But what about students who don’t naturally come to the
novel, innovative solution to a problem? Researcher and author
Patti Drapeau (2014) agrees with Paul Torrance that creativity can
be taught and assessed. Torrance’s work focused around four areas
that promote development in creative skill: fluency, flexibility,
originality, and elaboration. Drapeau has looked at ways those
four areas may be taught through standards and creative problem
solving. The new Common Core standards focus primarily on
critical thinking, but Drapeau shows ways to enhance the standards
with the verbs that Bloom (1956) and others associate with creative
thinking. Providing learners with choice and open-ended activities
also enhances their ability to think creatively.
Combining the critical and creative thinking skills extends
the standards’ and offers the depth and complexity that today’s
students need to become college and career ready. Additionally,
strategies taught through creative problem solving competitions
such as Destination Imagination, Odyssey of the Mind, and Future
Problem Solving help learners incorporate a range of skills into
other areas of their lives. SCAMPER (1971) is a mnemonic that
helps move thinking through a variety of approaches: Substitution,
Combination, Adaptation, Modification (minimize, maximize), Put
to other uses, Eliminate and/or Rearrange. Use of other strategies
such as visualization, brainstorming, webbing, collaboration,
innovation and technical applications are part of these problemsolving activities as well.
Assessment of creative thinking skills can take a variety of
avenues. Formative assessment using specific, individual feedback
helps to motivate and engage learners. Student growth measures
using goals and outcomes can also be specific to individual student
learning. Rubrics help to measure summative outcomes and guide
learners to the intended learning targets. Criterion-referenced and
standardized tests are available to help measure creative thinking.
All of these activities in a classroom depend on the creation of a
climate in which risk-taking is not only supported, but also actively
encouraged. Providing a number of lessons and activities in
which learner growth is the outcome in addition to the summative
assessments such as grades or state tests helps to develop students
who are eager to explore topics and novel ideas.
References
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Final Thoughts
Getting students ready for college and a career can seem a
daunting task for educators. We need to take a hard look at what
has historically proven successful in preparing learners for life.
But at the same time, we cannot overlook the new and innovative
ways of thinking about teaching that are emerging or the need for
entrepreneurial thinkers in the workforce.
Today, education should heed the proverbial warning: “Don’t
throw the baby out with the bath water.” In our field, we have on
occasion focused on ways to teach creativity and innovation, but
that teaching was often done in isolation from academic content.
Where we can actually see creative thinking, however, is in the
products that emerge from the various disciplines of the arts,
sciences, mathematics, literature, and community responsibility
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Tsai, Kuan Chen. (2013, July 30). Examining gender
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dreamers. Media Post. Retrieved October 12 from http://www.
mediapost.com/publications.
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com/education
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creativity? Retrieved October 5, 2014 from http://blogs.kqed.org/
mindshift/2014/03
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in 21st century education. Retrieved September 23, 2014 from
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educationinnovation.typepad.com/my_weblog
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Open Space Communication 11(2), 9-13.
Diane Witt is a gifted education consultant. She received her
master’s degree in special education and gifted education from
Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Diane has worked for the
Ohio Department of Education as a gifted education consultant and
more recently, for the Nantucket Public Schools and Chatham City
School system in Massachusetts. Diane assisted Family Services
of Nantucket as a counselor, providing services to gifted children,
children with special needs and their parents. She wrote the book,
Strategies for the Tech-Savvy Classroom (Prufrock Press, 2009).
Elizabeth Hahn joined Ohio Department of Education’s Office
for Exceptional Children (OEC) as an educational consultant
for gifted education. Elizabeth worked for 11 years as a gifted
coordinator, two years as a gifted teacher, nine years as a classroom
and Title 1 reading teacher, and two years as a program assistant
with the Ohio Cooperative Extension Service. She earned a
master’s degree in education from Miami University, gifted
certification from Ohio University (OU), and an administrative
specialist licensure in curriculum and instruction and professional
development from Franciscan University of Steubenville.
IB Programmes: Creativity, Critical Thinking,
Curriculum, and So Much More
By Susan Rhodes
As educators scramble to align their curriculum and
assessments with the NEW Illinois Learning Standards/Common
Core State Standards, it may serve them well to take a serious
look at the International Baccalaureate Programmes. Seven years
ago a colleague and I had the opportunity to visit IB authorized
elementary and high schools in Florida and attend IB workshops.
We were definitely impressed with what we learned and returned
to Springfield to convince others that IB is the pathway for us to
better meet the needs of the students within our gifted magnet
school and prepare them for their future world.
As of this writing, Illinois has 46 authorized IB programmes
with 41 of those programmes in the Chicago area. Outside of the
Chicago area, there is one in Freeport, three in Peoria, and one in
Springfield. There are 9 Primary Years Programmes in Illinois,
29 Middle Years Programmes, 21 Diploma Programmes, and 3
Career-related Programmes. There are a total of 1,570 IB schools
in the US and 3,931 in the world. In the United States, California
has the most IB programmes with 159, closely followed by
Florida with 154, Texas with 142, and Colorado with 99.
The mission statement of IB reads as follows: “The IB aims
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to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, and caring young people
who help to create a better and more peaceful world through
intercultural understanding and respect. As part of its mission, the
organization works with schools, governments, and international
organizations to develop challenging programmes of international
education and rigorous assessment.”
IB has created a position paper in response to the Common
Core State Standards. The Opening Statement of this paper reads
as follows:
The IB applauds the efforts of the National Governors
Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School
Officers (CCSSO) to improve the quality of education across
the United States through the Common Core State Standards
initiative (CCSS).
The IB shares with the U.S. Department of Education and its
state agencies the important goals of developing internationally
benchmarked standards and the ambition to better prepare all
students for success in college and career development.
The IB is pleased to have been selected in 2011 as one of 5
sets of standards against which the Common Core was measured
by education experts to determine its success in meeting its goals.
The IB recognizes that the implementation of the CCSS will
have a significant impact on public schools in states that adopt the
new standards. The IB is committed to supporting schools with a
range of services and academic tools as outlined in this statement.
IB programmes have been in existence for over 45 years.
On the IB website, the organization’s history is summarized as
follows:
The International Baccalaureate® (IB) was founded
in Geneva, Switzerland in 1968 as a non-profit educational
foundation. A group of talented, forward-thinking teachers at
the International School of Geneva, with assistance from several
other international schools, created the IB Diploma Programme.
What started life as a single programme for internationally mobile
students preparing for university, has today grown into four
programmes for students aged 3 to 19.
Students, parents and educators in IB schools are constantly
challenged and encouraged within their learning endeavors to
demonstrate the ten attributes of the IB Learner Profile in being:
inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled,
open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced, and reflective. These
descriptors are used over and over again in all settings at Iles
School. When I was principal, I spent over 2,400 hours (but who
is counting?) directly supervising gifted students with all of their
intensities during recess, in the cafeteria, and waiting for buses
at the end of the day. As a result of implementing the IB Primary
Years Programme, I was able to actually witness a dramatic
change in the way students and educators interacted with one
another. As educators, we get so focused on the academic side
of the school’s curriculum that we rarely think about the other
important attributes of learning. These attributes are not inherent
and they need to be deliberately taught and communicated. These
attributes need to be imbedded within the fabric of the school
setting. It doesn’t happen overnight but it does happen.
I have seen gifted students who have come to Iles School
in third and fourth grades wearing their “protective armor”
who constantly “challenge for power” and look for a “battle”
to fight. After about a semester, they realize that people are
cooperatively learning and playing together at Iles School and are
“open-minded” when presented with new ideas. The “protective
armor” begins to disappear and the “challenges for power”
transform into meaningful contributions. When Iles students talk
with one another, they use the vocabulary of the ten attributes
within their own communication. This is a sign of success! A
quick digression; we could add another “C” to creativity, critical
thinking, and curriculum, and that would be “communication.”
So many times, the lack of effective communication skills get in
the way of reaching our goals. Iles students are taught how to ask
good questions, to be good listeners, and to reflect upon the ideas
contributed by others rather than only concentrating on what they
are going to verbalize.
At Iles School the learner profile is visualized as an umbrella
for all learning that takes place. At the elementary level, the
written curriculum consists of six transdisciplinary units of
inquiry taught throughout the year at each grade level. In the
very beginning of the Iles IB Journey, the entire faculty worked
together to develop the school’s Programme of Inquiry to align
with standards, integrate technology, and develop an effective
scope and sequence. Once the POI is in place, grade level teams
continually work with the school’s IB curriculum coordinator in
revising, teaching, and reflecting upon the units of instruction
throughout the year.
Developing the POI is an arduous task. It takes a couple of
years or more. Every teacher and administrator is expected to
attend an IB workshop and visit an IB school to learn and see
the many facets of IB (Large districts can save travel costs by
having a consultant come on site to conduct the IB workshops).
Upon reflection of the Iles IB Journey, attending the workshops
strengthened the relationships of the faculty and created long
lasting memories. When educators travel together, you always
learn something new about your colleagues. Strong relationships
are crucial when it comes to working together to take on new
challenges.
The workshops are intense and model the inquiry-based
thinking that educators are to facilitate for their own students.
The workshops are definitely not “sit and get.” The workshops
cause confusion and discourse. They are messy. We would get
together for dinner in the evening and try to make sense of what
we had experienced throughout the day. We didn’t always have
one correct answer to put into a box. We had deep discussions
about the process of learning.
Many tears were shed as we worked towards our authorization.
We wanted to reach our goal but were unsure as to whether or
not we were on the right course. I am reminded of a Dr. Sylvia
Rimm presentation that I heard many, many years ago. Dr. RImm
was discussing how we build self-confidence within our gifted
children and get them more comfortable with taking risks. She
asked the audience members to recall a personal achievement that
they are especially proud of achieving and to think about what
went into that achievement. She asked if there was uncertainty
and self-doubt along the way. Audience members agreed that
those components were present. Dr. Rimm went on to explain
the importance of “struggle” in our endeavors in order to build
the necessary self-confidence to take on more challenging tasks.
She discussed the importance of having gifted children “struggle”
with their learning in order to build the critical self-confidence
that they will need to be successful in their future.
I believe that this message is just as true for gifted adults.
The staff at Iles School was very “comfortable” with our gifted
magnet school curriculum. When we were in the initial decision-
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making process of whether or not to embark on the IB journey,
some staff members told me that we were a good school, we had
good test scores, and that this IB journey would be good for a
school with low test scores. I totally disagree. All of us struggled
on this journey and all of us became stronger as a result. We had
to experience inquiry-based learning and be reminded how our
students struggle. We had to re-assess how much “struggle” is
needed in order to learn. Critical thinking involves “struggle.” It
is difficult. There were times when we doubted whether or not we
would become an authorized world school.
This journey has paid off when it comes to embracing the NEW
Illinois Learning Standards/ Common Core State Standards. Iles
teachers are confident in the knowledge that their units of inquiry
are aligned with the standards. Their classroom assessments have
been developed as a result of developing their IB unit planners.
Through the required reflection process, revisions are a continuous
process. Teachers think through the essential knowledge students
are to gain and then create an inquiry-based learning environment
that is transdisciplinary.
I am not a big fan of measuring success solely through test
scores, but that is the game schools are forced to engage in. With
Iles School being a gifted magnet school, state test scores have
not provided Iles School with an effective evaluation measure
of student growth in the areas of reading and math. Since the
implementation of the Primary Years Programme, Iles School
did realize a significant improvement in their state science test
scores. I attribute that improvement to all staff members being
involved in the development and implementation of the school’s
Programme of Inquiry. The entire faculty took a critical inventory
of what students were and were not learning at each grade level
and made the necessary adjustments.
In my mind, there is no “magic” involved with implementing
the Primary Years Programme. Schools that are successful in
the implementation of the IB programmes are paying attention
to all of the details involved with a sound educational program
and they maintain that focus. Curriculum development goes far
beyond aligning test questions to standards. Teachers within an
IB programme are not teaching alone within their own classroom.
Teachers are accountable to their grade level colleagues and
the school’s POI through implementation of the unit planners,
meeting regularly with the IB coordinator, looking at student
work, and making necessary revisions through the reflection
process. Teachers are expected to attend additional IB workshops
after authorization to deepen their understanding of inquiry-based
learning and share their successes with other educators.
It has been my experience as an educator that we are not
always willing to invest in a process that is going to take several
years to implement. I get the impression that we are so hungry for
a quick fix that we have our staff members go off in many different
directions to try to “fix” different pieces. Conversations tend to
focus on the “outputs” of learning such, assessments, student
work, and test scores. The IB experience is thorough. It makes
everyone go through the entire curriculum development process
so everyone has an understanding of the essential knowledge
that we want students to gain and what learning outcomes are
expected. It is important to start at the very beginning. What is
our mission and focus as a school? What is our language policy?
How do we value the “mother tongue” language of our students
(Iles School has over 30 different languages spoken in the homes
of its students)? What do we want students to learn? How do
students learn? What is our assessment policy? How will we know
that students have mastered a concept? Can we improve upon
this learning process? The development and implementation of
a strong POI builds self-confidence in both teachers and students
through its rigorous demands.
I realize that I have a somewhat different experience than
others since my views are from the experience of being principal
of a gifted magnet school. I do need to mention that there is often
a misunderstanding about IB programmes at the elementary and
middle school levels. Since the IB programmes were initially
developed at the high school level, people mistakenly assume that
the IB primary and middle year programmes are only for gifted
students. It is important to clarify that these programmes are to
be implemented within a school for ALL students. Iles School
happens to be a school already developed as a gifted magnet
school. The essential element of inquiry-based learning strives to
meet the needs of ALL learners.
I do strongly believe that the needs of gifted children are best
met when they are able to learn with their intellectual peers all
day, every day. I also understand that this is not always possible.
When this setting is not possible, I believe that the IB programme
provides opportunities for gifted children that are not always
present in a regular school program. The IB programme requires
students to learn a foreign language. Iles students study Chinese
and its culture for one hour a week in grades one through five and
one and one-half hours a week in grades 6-8. Schools may select
the foreign language for students to study. Iles School made the
decision to study Chinese as a means to prepare students for their
future. The language spoken by the most people in our world is
Chinese. It made sense to us that in order for our students to be
globally competitive, they should have an understanding of the
Chinese culture.
Community service is another requirement within all four
IB programmes. Students are expected to research a topic, take
action to make a difference, and then reflect upon that project.
Fifth grade students work in small groups with a mentor who
provides them with a learning opportunity to research a local
issue and create and implement an action plan, one that utilizes
the learner profile attributes that they have developed since they
entered Iles School in first grade. This Exhibition Project is an
example of authentic assessment.
The curriculum developed at Iles School is filled with
learning that involves creativity and critical thinking skills. I
encourage you to look at the Iles School web site at http://www.
sps186.org/schools/iles/ and view the teacher pages—read the
newsletters and look at the photos of student work—to give you
an idea of a program that is meeting the needs of gifted children.
Upon entrance at Iles School, students maintain their own online
electronic learning portfolio that their parents can also access.
During student led conferences, the electronic portfolio is studied
by the family and used to discuss the children’s learning. Students
are able to communicate to their parents their learning strengths
and areas where they need to improve. Through this process, they
gain responsibility for their own learning.
Other “c” words that come to my mind as I conclude (no,
conclude does not count, neither does count) my description
of the IB journey and its programmes are these: cohesive,
comprehensive, cooperation, community, and challenge. IB
breeds success because the entire learning community is engaged
in all aspects of the learning process. IB prepares our students for
95
Susan Rhodes is a recently retired principal of a gifted magnet
school for 430 students in grades 1-8 in Springfield, Illinois.
Her professional experiences include being a classroom teacher
for grades 5-8, gifted resource teacher, school board member,
professional development consultant, district math and gifted
coordinator, adjunct college faculty member and is PresidentElect for IAGC. She is a survivor of raising two gifted children
and enjoys working with parents and teachers to advocate for
their gifted children.
the future. And even though testing is a game schools must play,
students will do well on mandatory tests without being confined
by them.
REFERENCES:
http://ibo.org/school/search/index.
cfm?programmes=&country=&region=&find_schools=Find
October 30, 2014
http://www.ibo.org/iba/commoncore/documents/
IBCommonCorePositionStatement.pdf; October 31, 2014
http://ibo.org/history/ October 31, 2014
http://ibo.org/myib/digitaltoolkit/files/pdfs/learner-profile-en.pdf
October 31, 2014
http://www.sps186.org/schools/iles/ October 31, 2014
POETRY
Winners of the
Torrance Legacy Creativity Awards 2014
Poem by Kathryn Haydon*
Dear Teacher,
Hidden
by Angelina Goo-Yun Chan
Long Grove, Illinois
The speed of sound
can’t catch the trains running on the
tracks of my mind
twisting and switching in a three dimensional orb,
fusing rapid connections
on rails lubricated
with creativity.
Propelled by dramatic force they steam ahead
and I can’t get them to wait
for your words to board.
It may always seem
that the grassy shades of emerald are never enough
to spark the imagination of the sky so that its
canvas of cerulean
can never change
into the hopeful color of misty tangerine,
but in the early mornings
when you can only see a speck of periwinkle
covered by the light of the stars,
there is always the hope
that daylight will come soon so the forest
will awaken
and while the sun rises
and gives off its rays of light
it does not take long to realize
that what your memories have seen are not the
same
as the others have,
so as you breathe in the sunshine the stars have
already disappeared into the brightness,
but you are still there waiting for a sign
of understanding.
*See author’s article, “Safe Haven: Parenting Creative
Children Amidst Abundant Conformity”
96
Under the Willow
by Marlene Schaff
Lake Forest, Illinois
Silver ropes hang Swish softly
As a gentle breeze winds through them Where sunshine filters through the branches
The grass is long and soft under me
Here I rest
By the babbling stream
A cool, fresh musical afternoon A soft zephyr brushes my face
Washing a feeling of peace over me My mind floats upward
Far above the mortal world
Into one of daydreams and imagination
Sweet sunny meadows and cool, shady forests Skies and lakes a perfect blue
I lie, sprawled
In the sweetness of summer idleness And my dreams drift through the silver Up into the endless blue sky.
Response to “The Roots of California Photography”
Film by Lauren Dauber
Frankfort, Illinois
Tints of golden and green overtake the streaked sun.
Sunsets of lemon and peach summon the merciful night
Rugged shorelines and smooth sands contrast as do a bloodthirsty lion
and a delicate butterfly.
Hatred is overtaken by serenity in the molten-like deserts.
Rapids collide, but disturb no one, for they add peace to the day.
Tributaries connect and swirl turbulently in the decorative mountains.
Insects perform their dance as they dart amongst the bursts of flowers that long for more spacious
housing.
As you pass through this society, You begin to sense a border between judgment and calmness.
Violence, soaken tears, and seeped
blood is gone.
.,
The grace of the Californian mountains.
97
What Matters Most
by Alexandra Trouilloud
Norwood, New Jersey
When the day is done,
the sun recedes into the west.
In the fleeting moments
before the moon takes its place in the night sky, the dwindling light says good night.
It shoos away the opportunities of today, and bows out to let dreams flutter in.
It bitter-sweetly reminisces
on the little pleasures of the day, and, in the last lingering ray,
it shines faith into the sleeping heart that it will rise again.
When the world goes dark,stars begin to peek through, like little blessings,
marking each little goal accomplished and each dream that was born.
The sun is new each day, but what matters most
is to make it shine brighter still, every single morning.
From an Atlas of a Not So Difficult World
by Adelyn Tan
Singapore
(first half of poem)
I am reading this poem,
late, in the snug familiarity of my bed,
with gentle night-light and sable night sky, stars swimming beyond the glass,
warm breaths fogging up the panes. I am reading this poem,
curled on a beanbag in a library with her by my side, breaths stirring against my skin,
like the winds of time, of change, taking me away from here. I am reading this poem,
in a room that is abound with remembrance and days gone by, where the bedclothes are heaped, fresh and
steaming with warmth, with the same freedom that the open valise speaks of,
a journey ending in success, a triumphant flight. I am reading this poem,
as the underground train screeches to a halt, and before heading up the stairs,
toward the love that life has bestowed on me. I am reading this poem,
by the glow of the laptop screen, where the headlines flash and flicker,
for once, joy is splashed across the monitor. I am reading this poem in a waiting room,
of meeting eyes and crinkling smiles, more friends than strangers, without fear. . . .
98
Personal Legacy
by Gabriel Lau
Chicago, Illinois
(first and last verses)
New life is a tree that grows toward the light of day
From rocky ground, rugged soil, and silent d esperation,
Old roots planted many times in foreign lands.
I didn’t want to learn English
Except to talk to others and cease being a ghost.
To strive to love oneself is to learn to love others,
A fountain that refreshes the thirsty and exhausted.
To understand oneself is to understand others,
Being friendless, a stranger in strange new lands.
One must be a friend to oneself,
So as to find the friend in others Among faces and crowds.
...
To be bold as a red dragon is intimidating,
Fuming smoke and fire towards its enemies,
Heavy of breath, crushing foes from its weight,
Spiked and horned, spitting poison—
Thus in my strength I push my way forward to prosperity
Against all odds.
One’s boldness leads from sharp turns to daredevil crossroads,
Encountering intersections within oneself where
Two armies meet toward each other’s destruction.
A third force, which is courage, turns the tide of the battle.
To know one’s own fears and overcome them is bravery of the highest order,
More than waging war against any villain in the world,
For we are often our own villain, And yet—
God is within us,
The one who helps you help yourself.
99
An Ode to Sight, a Lament for Eyes
by lnhwa Kang
Seoul, South Korea
(first two verses and last three verses)
Lightly flitting, side by side,
Wandering, bright and curious eyes,
Shifting glances, coy warm gaze,
Peering gaily through nights and days,
Stumbling, stoic, heavy lashes,
Pressing darkness without flashes
Enveloped with care, shrouded in shade,
A world without, doomed to fade,
...
Then finger and wrist, and rigid thumb,
I felt the art with her as one,
I sensed her smile, a spreading peace,
Together we felt the art beneath.
We left that day no longer apart,
United through the world of art,
Though her eyes were helpless to see the light,
I cherished the sight of that darkest night.
We returned often to that stone man,
Holding gently to his hand,
Eyes closed tightly to the world of light,
100
101
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Illinois Association for
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