For the last few years, we have spent much of September and October talking to our students about dealing with digital distractions. We give presentations to parents and educators. You'd think we knew what we were talking about. So guess what I did this weekend?
As you may or may not know, Dr. Kelly and I have both gone back to school to work on advanced degrees and yes, this weekend I had homework. I read my textbook while watching t.v., which took an hour and a half longer than it should have. I created flashcards, but kept my Facebook page open, so I constantly went there to see what my friends were saying, or reading interesting articles that popped up. And all this time I had my cell phone nearby, so I was repeatedly interrupted by daughters who had questions or needed to borrow something and others reporting weather conditions and debating politics. Needless to say, I wasn't very efficient, I didn't retain a lot of information, and everything took forever. I would give myself a "C". I got most of the work done, but I didn't do it very well.
Here's what I should have done:
- Finished my reading before or after my favorite t.v. show, not during. I could have finished it in 1/3 the amount of time and remembered a lot more of what I read.
- Closed all of the other tabs on my computer while working on my flashcards. Yes, ALL of them.
- Turned my cell phone off or put it on the other side of the room so I wasn't tempted to check it constantly.
If I had done these three things, I would have finished the work faster and more accurately, and probably have done better on my quiz the next day.
So
parents, check to see not just if your child is doing his or her
homework, but how they're doing it. And students, learn from my mistake.
Next time you complain about how long your homework takes, think - is it the
amount of homework, or the worker?
Do you have any suggestions for overcoming digital distractions? Share them below! It turns out that everyone - even Ms. Nan - could use a little help.
Many
gifted students are wildly creative, love to do puzzles, and have
intense interests, sometimes in fields that a lot of people don't
understand. Lately, some of those people have been banding together in
something called the "Maker Movement." Makers are just that - people who
like to make things: robots, electronics, 3-D printing, metalworking,
woodworking...you name it. These folks share ideas on how to create
things that interest them - sometimes ideas that lead to new inventions,
careers, and a whole lot of fun!
Make Magazine,
which launched in 2007, has been the impetus behind this movement, and
says, "Many makers are hobbyists, enthusiasts or students
(amateurs!)–but they
are also a wellspring of innovation, creating new products and producing
value in the community. Some makers do become entrepreneurs and start
companies."
Make
also hosts what they call "Maker Faire" at locations around the globe.
One of the largest Maker Faires is held at the Henry Ford Museum near
Detroit, this year scheduled for July 30-31. According to their website,
"Maker Faire is like a three-ring circus of innovation. Robotics,
electronics, rockets, food, music, fashion, science - if somebody makes
it, we'll find a place for it at Maker Faire Detroit." There have also
been Maker Faires of various sizes in Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, and other
midwest cities.
If you have a passion for creating your own fun, this might be an activity you'd like to try - you can buy Make Magazine
at Barnes and Noble, check out a Faire, and think about what you'd like
to MAKE. There are also scores of YouTube videos with examples from
other Makers, including this one, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Reimvk8D2Ho, where Joey Hudy shows President Obama how to use his marshmallow launcher and nearly gets tackled by the Secret Service.
If you end up making something cool, (or if you've already made something), share some photos! And if you launch a marshmallow at the principal - you didn't get that idea from us!
Sometimes it's difficult to remember that giftedness is just that...a gift. Sometimes it seems like a burden. After all, for parents a child's giftedness may require additional time for advocacy, extra effort to make sure you've got just the right teacher fit, and always working to make sure you child is being challenged academically. Students may sometimes struggle to find friends who understand them, might feel like the odd person out, be bored, or overwhelmed emotionally by things they understand about the world but can't do anything about. It can be difficult.
But in this season of giving remember - it is a GIFT. Having enormous potential and a brain that absorbs so much is a chance to really see and understand not just math and English but the universe. You have the ability to affect great change, if that's your goal, but you can also just take it all in and observe and meditate, if that's your thing. But it's there, and it's part of you, and when you embrace your talents and gifts you can enjoy and appreciate them more every day.
So don't let your giftedness weigh you down. Unwrap it, try it on, keep it - and don't even think about returning it. One day you might realize it's the best present you ever received.
Happy Holidays!
As some of you may know, Dr. Kelly and Ms. Nan recently journeyed to Phoenix for the National Association for Gifted Children's annual conference. Kelly gave two presentations related to ATYP, one one how the program operates, and one on how we use the Talent Search to find eligible students.
Yes, Phoenix was warm and lovely, but that's not why we went. The NAGC conference gives us our best opportunity to meet and learn from the greatest experts in the field of gifted education. We attend sessions related to the social and emotional needs of gifted students, how to discover and help more under-represented minorities, how to make our program more impactful and efficient, how to advocate for the gifted in our communities and with our legislature, and much, much more.
This year, all of the key note speeches had something to do with STEM (science, technology, engineering & mathematics) education - robotics, inventiveness, and Google Education apps. All of the speakers gave us ideas to think (and blog) about, so be on the lookout for posts that originated at NAGC and thoughts on how what we learned can be of benefit to you, our students and parents.
This conference and others like it give us a chance to demonstrate the importance of lifelong learning. Even when you're as old as we are (and you students can stop laughing now), curiosity, inquisitiveness, and a passion for learning are a vital part of not just furthering your mind and your career, but making life interesting and worth living. When you stop learning, all of the fun goes out. It's like someone has turned off the lights, and you're just stumbling around in the dark.
Keep your lights on! Make loving to learn a priority, not just in school, but every day in every way!
Fall is recruitment season and one of the busiest times of year in the ATYP office. ATYP staff are on the road for the next three weeks talking to students and their parents about Northwestern University's Midwest Academic Talent Search (NUMATS), about qualifying for ATYP, and about what ATYP is all about. We meet many gifted children and families thinking about what it means to be gifted, to get challenging curriculum in the school day, and how to make the most of educational opportunities that might be outside of their regular school.
What would you tell your friends about ATYP - besides how much homework you have? Would you talk about how interesting you find the readings? How you're thinking about math in a whole new way? What about all the friends you've made from different schools? Is your instructor really cool? The work is challenging - does it push you to be a better student? What do you know about yourself now that you didn't know before you started? Respond below!
This is what we hear most from ATYP alumni, usually after they've had a couple of years to think about it - that ATYP introduces them to new ideas about themselves and their abilities.
We recently received a letter from a former student that said, "Every day I went to your class I felt that I was not nearly intelligent enough to belong there. Nevertheless, the year spent learning from you furthered my knowledge far more than any class I have ever taken... ." Many of our students think that somehow they have qualified for ATYP by mistake, and that they are not as intelligent as everyone thinks. When they stick it out they discover hidden strengths - and weaknesses. They learn to appreciate the former, and accept or address the latter. But they come to understand their gifts, which is an important step on the road to becoming the you that you were meant to be.
Welcome back!
We know that many of you are having your first experience with ATYP homework, or are coming back from the long summer break having maybe forgotten how homework works here. We know that for some of you this may be the first time you've had any significant amount of work outside of school - and that you might not know how to deal with it.
Even though we talked about homework tips at orientation, here is a breakdown of at least some of the strategies that seem to work best.
First, let's look at what a typical schedule might look like for an ATYP student:
The student has ATYP class on Tuesday (in green) and regular school on the other afternoons (blue). Say the student has soccer practice from 5:00-6:30 Tues-Thurs (red), and a game Saturday afternoon (purplish). Piano lesson on Thursday from 3-4, and youth group Sunday evening from 5-6. You want to take Friday night off to go to a football game. You take all of those things that take up time in your week and put them into a graph like this that visually represents your week. Then you look for blocks of time where you can focus on your ATYP work. Seeing the holes helps you to create a schedule - and lets family and friends know when you need to be focusing. And notice that we've blocked off time on Sunday to go to help session.
You can fill these holes by saying "I'm going to work on my ATYP homework for a certain amount of time," or by deciding "I'm going to finish a certain amount of work" (a specific number of sections for math, or a specific assignment for English). Different strategies work better for different people. You may go back and forth until you figure out what's effective for you.
Here are some other tips:
- Try to have at least attempted all the math by Sunday, so you can get help at help session, and to have at least thought about all of the English prompts, so you can get feedback about ideas.
- Post your schedule of what you're doing where your family can see it - they can help you to be accountable.
- Reward yourself when you have accomplished what you have set out to do. Rewards can be any small thing you want - a gummy bear, ten minutes of texting with your friends, or a funny cat video on YouTube.
- Make it a goal to have finished all of your homework by two nights before class - if class is on Tuesday try to be done Sunday night, for example. That way if an emergency comes up you have extra time built into your schedule.
- Use your study period at school wisely - either work on ATYP work that is easily transportable, or get other schoolwork done so that you have more blocks of time available at home.
- English students - review all of the prompts early in the week, so you can be jotting down ideas for what to write about as they come to you. Nobody likes staring at a computer screen trying to think about what to write about. Give your brain some time to generate thoughts.
- Think about writing a really detailed outline of longer papers (weekly writings, unit essays), including selecting quotes on one day, and then working on actually writing the paper another day. Once you've got the outline done and all of those ideas have percolated, you'll be amazed at how much faster the actual writing goes.
- If you get stuck, move on and come back! For math students, skip the problem that is giving you trouble and come back to it when you finish that section. For English students, re-read the material that the prompt comes from and then go to something else. Give yourself time to process!
- Check out the resources in your book - there are a lot of them! For math students, you have access to online videos and help on homework problems. There are also answers in the back of the book for odd numbered exercises. For English students, there are sections on how to start writing, how to create an outline, how to write thesis statements, etc.
- English students should start on your revisions now! Waiting until the last minute causes much grief and takes a lot longer. Doing revisions now will help you learn from the comments that the teacher has made on your papers. Then you won't have to make those same corrections over and over.
- If
you continue to struggle, ask for help! Teachers, parents, other
students, and the ATYP staff all have ideas that might work for you. We
are here to help you figure it out! Utilize the contact information given to you by your teacher.
Communication is the key to solving homework issues, and getting your homework done on time is the key to being successful in ATYP. We want you to have fun and learn from your assignments - not be anxious about them. So talk to someone and come up with a plan that works for you!
We spend a lot of time - both here on our blog and in our classrooms - talking about "habits of mind." What are "habits of mind?" Usually we mean things like study skills, confidence, persistence,
determination. When asked how you develop these skills, we recommend trying something you find really difficult, and sticking to it. And keep sticking to it.
Most of us like to find things that we're good at and develop those skills until we're even more fabulous, which is great. It's how you become exceptional at something. But if this was a talent you were really good at to begin with, then becoming great, even if it's a lot of hard work, might not be the type of activity we're talking about. Try something you suck at. Seriously.
If you're not very musical, or lack hand-eye coordination, try learning to play the piano. If you're not athletic, take up tennis. Lack the human translator gene? Learn to speak Italian. Or German. Or Vietnamese.
Here's the difficult part. Keep trying. Even if you know you're not good, even if the people in your family cover their ears whenever you get close to the piano, even if the other tennis players laugh, just keep going. Because you might never good at these hobbies, and that's okay. The point here is to work on getting better, and knowing that sometimes better is good enough.
Even when you're doing something that you have a natural gift for, eventually you're going to hit a point where it's not as easy, where you have to dig down deep. When you've spent time trying to improve a skill that doesn't come easily, you've built up the muscles in your brain that will help you work through when something gets tough.
So that's your second assignment for this summer - find something you stink at. And go be stinky at it. If people laugh at you, tell them you're developing a smell.
