The Cool Photography Upside of Social Media

After watching 60 Minutes (again, old person) a couple of weeks ago, I was going to blog about Joel Sartore's photos for National Geographic. With what he calls the Photo Ark, he is attempting to photograph every living creature on Earth, to establish a visual record of every species before many of them become extinct. @joelsartore features amazing photographs which are certainly worth a look, and his goal is certainly a great topic for discussion. But then I thought, "What else is on Instagram?" and I was off down the rabbit hole.


As a non-millenial I was under the impression that Instagram was where you went to see your friends' vacation photos or to check out which purse one of the Kardashian's was carrying. And while that may still be true, I discovered dozens of photographers who are worth following, with pictures to make you think, feel, and brighten your day.

For instance, @macenzo (Dirk Bakker) is an account devoted to architectural photography. The patterns, shapes, and colors he captures are sure to make you look at the world in a completely new and different way.

@nationalparkservice is just what it sounds like - the Instagram account of the National Park Service, full of the glory of nature at its finest. Animals, trees, mountains, lakes, waterfalls, you name it - and all completely stunning. A visual representation of what a beautiful place we are all lucky enough to live in. Plus, you know, otters.

And if you want to look at something fun, you should check out @thiswildidea. Theron Humphrey takes photos of his coonhound, Maddie, that are sometimes fun, sometimes thoughtful, and always entertaining. If nothing else they should put a smile on your face and remind you why dogs are man's best friend.

Whether you're into photography or not, all of us could use reminders of the beauty that's around us. Enjoy some photos, and then open your eyes to the world. Sometimes we get so caught up in homework, activities, and the stress of day-to-day that we forget to breath. Maybe pictures of someone else's dog doing yoga will help.

All of this leads me back to my original thought, when I was watching 60 Minutes, which was "social media is not all bad". We tend to think of it as a place where people bully one another, yell a lot, and generally just not get along, or where we develop a lot of anxiety and angst because our lives don't look as perfect as someone else's. A lot of good can be found on these platforms, good that we can look for or contribute to. Don't be caught up in the negative! I invite you to comment with some of your favorite Instagram links so we can all follow along. 

Author John Green, Rock Star

I don't know about your house, but in our house author John Green is a rock star. His books are devoured, his quotes memorized (my favorite, he doesn't mind paying taxes for schools because "I don't like living in a country with a bunch of stupid people"), and his videos binge-watched. My oldest daughter, Kaitie, actually writes scripts for one of the Vlog brothers channels, Sci Show Kids. So to say I was excited to see him profiled on 60 Minutes is a bit of an understatement. For students, you should know that 60 Minutes is a show watched by old people like your parents, usually on a network channel at a preset time every week. Yes, we are dinosaurs.

I know that many of our students are familiar with Green's work, books like The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down, but what you may not be familiar with is his struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder and his mental health issues. This is an honest and open interview about deeply personal concerns that are often stigmatized by our society. Hopefully it instructs all of us about the reality of mental illness.

For gifted kids who frequently struggle with anxiety and depression - because no one's perfect, and you shouldn't be expected to be, and sometimes you feel like you don't fit in, and sometimes the weight of other people's expectations can be overwhelming - hearing a grown man talk about how hard it was a teenager, and how it can still be difficult now to deal with these issues, can be eye opening. Yes, it's hard to hear that some people at 40 are still in this fight, but you can also see that he has a wife and family who love him, and no one can argue about his level of success. You can have a mental illness and do the things you want to do in this life. And you don't have to be alone when you do it.

Besides the personal stuff, what I also enjoyed were the interviewer's questions about teenagers and Green's rapport with them. Personally, I think a big part of the draw is that he speaks to, and about, today's adolescents with respect. He doesn't talk down to kids, and he doesn't condescend to them. In answer to a question about that relationship, Green said, 

Well, I think sometimes teenagers maybe don't have the language to talk to us in ways that seem compelling to us. And maybe that makes it easy for us to dismiss them or think of them as less intellectually curious or intellectually sophisticated than we are. But I don't think that's true at all.

It's nice to know that there are other people out there in the world who think young people are as smart as we do!

I invite you to watch the entire interview at the link below. You can also see a second part to the interview on 60 Minutes Overtime, where he gives writing advice. Even if you weren't a fan before, I'm guessing you will be by the time you're done watching.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-fault-in-our-stars-author-john-green-on-reaching-young-adults-and-dealing-with-mental-illness-60-minutes/

THE FIRST WEEK OF ATYP - by Zoe Folsom

Today's guest blogger is Zoe Folsom, a former ATYP student and current grader and office assistant. We are happy to have her on board!

I remember a confusing blend of excitement and terror on my first day of ATYP. Finally, a class with other students like me! A class I would find challenging! However, the very reasons I found ATYP exciting were the ones scaring me. The summer homework comprised more writing than I did in a year in middle school English. Not only that, but the class had students from all over the Kalamazoo area, none of whom I knew. Sitting down to my first class (six years ago), I couldn’t help but wonder: am I really cut out for this?

I have good news: my doubts were unfounded. I successfully completed all four available years of ATYP’s English program, and I consider it the most powerful force yet in shaping who I am as a person, and my intellectual interests. That doesn’t mean, of course, that the whole thing was a breeze, so I have some tips for staying calm and prepared as students embark on their exciting new journey:

First, understand that everyone in the class is just as overwhelmed as you are. Though it doesn’t seem so, there’s a great advantage to ATYP students being overwhelmed together: you can help each other. ATYP is not like other classes where all of the other students come to you for help with their homework, and you have little peer support. I met hilarious, kind, and fascinating people in my classes. Even if you feel like a bit of an outcast in public school (I certainly did), ATYP is a fantastic opportunity to meet like-minded peers, and to receive assistance from them when you’ve gotten three different answers on a math problem on three different attempts, or when Shakespeare seems to be writing gibberish.

Secondly, realize that ATYP teachers know how exceptionally demanding their classes are. I spent years pretending that things hadn’t come up, that I wasn’t overwhelmed, and that I didn’t desperately need an extension on one of my assignments, in the interest of being “a better student” for my teachers. What I discovered over time is that honesty is always the best route to being a better student. Teachers understand that life happens, and they’ll gladly work something out with you! ATYP doesn’t want students to break down; if you find yourself confused or in need of assistance, know that the ATYP staff wants nothing more than to help you.

Finally, and most importantly, take a moment to be proud of yourself! You’ve proven ambition, intelligence, and bravery by deciding to enter the ATYP program. Don’t forget that as classes kick into gear. There might be moments in which you start to regret it; in those moments, remember the excitement of opening your ACT or SAT scores and knowing you had made it. Think of all you’re gaining that you wouldn’t in a public high school setting. Even though you’ll have to work for your success, you’ve already proven you have the intellectual skillset required. With the help of your amazing peers and incredible teachers, ATYP doesn’t need to be as stressful as it might seem right now. Skill is a matter of practice, and ATYP classes are no exception; with practice, you’ll wonder why you were ever scared.

Remembering Dr. King

Today is April 4, 2018. 50 years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was only 39 years old.

Of course, many of our students have learned about Dr. King in school and have read or heard his famous, "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered at the March on Washington in 1963. The words he spoke that day, the dream that America's black children and white children would live together in harmony, have become the symbol of the Civil Rights Movement. But they aren't the only meaningful words imparted by Dr. King, who thoughtfully discussed many of the most important issues of his day - and of this day, because some things just haven't changed that much.

This quote, "Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction. The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically," actually sums up in two sentences much of the theory that lies at the heart of ATYP. 

Our job here is not just to teach you algebra or sentence structure. It is not just to let you go faster through the curriculum because your highly functioning brain makes that possible. We actually want you to think deeper about the material: Is this correct? Is it true? Why does this happen? Does what I'm learning matter? How does what I'm learning relate to the past? To the present? To the world around me? 

These questions assume that you can think critically - but what does that mean? What are critical thinking skills? Have you learned to:

Observe                                         Analyze

Interpret                                         Reflect

Evaluate                                        Infer

Explain                                          Problem solve

Make decisions                             Apply standards

Seek information                           Reason logically

Predict                                           Make connections

If you don't learn these skills, how do you function as an adult? How do you participate in our democracy? As part of an informed electorate? Very little of what anyone can teach you is more important than developing these abilities and putting them to work in the real world.

A good education teaches you facts. A great education teaches you to question. Thinking intensively and critically will make you a better student and a better person, and by being better people we will honor Dr. King and his vision.

Square Pegs, Round Holes

Many years ago, long before Sex and the City, Sarah Jessica Parker starred in a television sitcom called Square Pegs. It was a funny look at high school students trying to fit into cliques to be popular, and it was fairly groundbreaking in the early 80's for its look into how teenage culture really worked (according to t.v. writers who were not teenagers). Square Pegs was a comedy, but it made a valid point - kids spend a lot of time trying to fit in, worrying when they don't fit in, and trying to determine whether or not fitting in is even important to them. And for gifted kids...multiply these issues several times over.

Gifted students struggle to fit in, in many cases way before high school, for several reasons. First, many gifted children are highly sensitive - both physically and emotionally. Both the typical roughhousing and play and the drama and angst of childhood relationships can be overwhelming, causing them to sometimes prefer their own company. And this can be okay, as long as when they do want a friend, they have someone they can talk to and be themselves with.

Second, advanced abilities can make it difficult to connect to same age peers. For instance, at the age of 7 our daughter liked to play the board game Payday, because she loved to count money and calculate interest. She didn't understand why other second graders didn't want to do that for fun. Finding other kids who give them someone they can relate to and have fun with is important, and that other kid may be older or younger than they are. The key is a common interest - dinosaurs, Dr. Who, bugs, you name it - that gives them a jumping off point to a relationship.

Third, asynchronous development (intellectual, social, and emotional needs, as well as executive functioning, can all be on different levels) can also make it difficult for the gifted to connect with others. If you think like a 10-year-old, but frequently behave like a five-year-old, it may sometimes be that neither the 10-year-olds or the five-year-olds quite know what to make of you. Even with common interests this can be a difficult path to navigate.

Fourth, being called out in class, attending advanced classes, and garnering extra attention might sound great to some adults, but can lead to annoyance, resentment, and sometimes bullying by other students. Not only does this make for difficult interactions both in and out of the classroom, it can make some children start to deny their giftedness in order to fit in. If you notice that a kid is starting to shave off the sides of their own square peg in order to fit better into that round hole, you and the teacher might want to have a discussion about how to make those unique abilities more of a plus than a minus.

Lastly, giftedness is not just an academic or intellectual trait, it's part of who that child is. It can impact how they think, talk, and behave in ways that other children and, frankly, other adults, may not understand. Or know how to deal with. What other people might find discomfiting may just be part of a child's way of seeing and dealing with the world, and then the question becomes, is this the child's problem, or is it someone else's? 

Everyone wants to have friends, to have a social group where they are accepted for who and what they are, and where they can trust others to love and support them. And while it is part of relationship building to compromise and negotiate how those friendships will work, your square peg should not have to work too hard to fit into that round hole. If your child frequently feels alone and left out, talk to them about what's important in relationships, and about finding true friends, not just about feeling popular or part of the in- crowd. If they need help, work with them to find extracurricular activities and events where they can meet kids with whom they have more in common, and be there for them when the outside world is harsh. Home should always be a place where their square peg always fits just right.