HOW TO WRITE EFFECTIVELY #2 - ARE YOU A PLOTTER OR A PANTSER?

How do you plan a long car trip? Do you like to know where you’re staying every night, and every stop you might make along the way, or do you just like to get in the car and drive? In other words, when you write do you like to plan, or do you like to fly by the seat of your pants?

The truth is, you might want to be a pantser (and you might learn to be later), but right now it is likely best if you try the plotter method. It is too easy at this stage to just start writing about something, accidentally take a sharp left turn, and end up nowhere near where you want to be. So try making a plan, otherwise known as an outline.

(I had a student years ago who liked to pants it when he wrote. If the prompt said “describe the Death Star” he would start, meander, spin around twice, and end up writing about an X-Wing Fighter. It was not effective, and he learned how to do better.)

How detailed you want to be is up to you, but the more details you can add, the more writing your journal or essay becomes a matter of connecting the dots. At the very least, your outline should include: your general thesis, your supporting arguments (including the citations you plan to use), and any original ideas you have for the conclusion.

It may feel like outlining is a waste of time, but in reality, getting lost is the waste of time. Doubling back, ending up at a dead end, and going in circles can take hours. So if you are trying to be a good writer AND effective with your time, this is one of the first strategies you should try.

Bonus outlining tip: Try color! 

My daughter liked to color-code her outline; each argument had its own color – say green – and every point within that argument would be a different shade of green (jade, turquoise, lime, etc.) This works well if you are an extremely visual person, and/or if you are writing something longer, like a multi-page essay, where you have more than one point to make for each specific argument. It’s not for everyone, but if your brain gets happy at the thought, give it a try.

Until next time,

Ms. Nan

THE ART OF WRITING EFFECTIVELY – COOKING UP THE BEST IDEAS

Many of you know that part of my job here at ATYP involves working one-on-one with students who need assistance with executive functioning, be it time management, organization, or planning and prioritizing. Historically, the biggest problem facing students has been time management. ATYP homework being lengthy, plus students with a number of extracurricular activities, could equal situations where figuring out how to fit in all your homework took some practice. But usually, we could determine a system that worked.

Post-pandemic, student issues seem to be shifting, especially for English students. The jump, for students who have not had to produce a lot of writing in school, is higher. The gap, between what was expected at school and what ATYP expects, is greater.

How do we bridge that gap so students can produce quality work in a reasonable amount of time?

I will be posting a series of blog posts with a number of tips, suggestions, and ideas drawn from my experience as an ATYP English parent, from ATYP alumni, from professional writers, and from my own experience as an English major in college and a sometime writer now. As I always tell students, try one or two new techniques every week, then keep what works, throw out what doesn’t, and then try something else. Don’t stop trying – you never know what might make the difference for you.

I know that many of you are going to read some of these tips and think, “Oh my gosh, that’s just more work.” And it might seem like it at first, but when you string them together you will hopefully find that they do in fact save you time because the time you spend in front of your computer or with a pen in your hand will be more effective.

1.     Give your ideas time to marinate. Or rise. I don’t know about you, but I am not very good about getting a topic and being able to sit down and write about it immediately. My brain needs time to stew things over. Many other writers work this way, which is why we take three years to prepare you for the AP exams, which require you to do just that: read a prompt, decide how to answer it, and write your response in 30-45 minutes. That is not a skill most 7^th or 8^th graders have.

So, when you get home, the evening after you have class, read over your ENTIRE homework sheet carefully, including the prompts for any journals or essays. Maybe write down the prompt in your own words to make sure you understand it. If you’re not 100% sure what it asks, don’t worry about it quite yet. The whole idea of this exercise is to give your brain time to think.

Now your brain can use the time when you’re doing other things – playing basketball, riding the school bus, eating a snack – to ruminate about the prompts and how you might want to approach them. Professional writers guess that up to 80% of what they write has been coming together in their head before they pick up a pen or touch a single key. If you’ve been spending a lot of time sitting in front of a blank screen, waiting for an idea to come to you, this strategy can be a lot of help.

It's like baking a loaf of bread. You’re going to read the recipe (your prompt), you’re going to mix together the ingredients (think about some ways you might want to answer that prompt, including quotes or citations that were meaningful to you), and then you’re going to let that dough rise. Let it really come together. If ideas come to you, be sure to jot them down so you don’t forget. Now you can put it all in the pan (write up the ideas that came to you) and see how you do.

2.     What to do if you can’t figure out the recipe. If you’ve had the homework sheet for 48 hours and still are not sure how what a prompt is asking, this is the time to ask the instructor, a tutor, or another student in your class about the prompt. Many times a five minute email or text can save you hours of stress and anxiety. The key is to not wait until the last day to know that you don’t know.

Give these a try! Be sure to say in the comments what works for you!

Until next time,

Ms. Nan

P.S. Many of the ideas here come from authors all over the world interviewed by host Dan Simpson on the podcast Writer’s Routine. You can find out more at https://writersroutinedotcom.wordpress.com/about/

If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you

 ATYP has adopted a new slogan this year, “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you,” a quote attributed to CoreBarreFit co-founder Fred DeVito. Many of you may be wondering what appropriate challenge is, and how ATYP works to create an environment where appropriate challenge is the norm that changes the way students learn and think.

When I think of a challenging curriculum, I think of Lev Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development. This theory, which is generally accepted by education professionals, asserts that learners have three zones: The Comfort Zone, what they already know or can learn easily on their own; The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), what they can learn with assistance, either with the guided scaffolding from knowledgeable instructors or with technology and tools; and The Impossible Zone, what is currently beyond their understanding (some refer to this as the Anxiety Zone, since it may make learners uncomfortable to wade into an area where they are not ready to go).

Gifted learners already have a larger than normal Comfort Zone, and many can teach themselves easily (it’s why ATYP students do so well on the ACT or SAT – they have already taught themselves a lot). Our goal is to widen that Zone of Proximal Development, to provide just the right level of growth and challenge so that they continue to expand their knowledge base. For some students, that line between the ZPD and Anxiety is blurry, and many students have to work to overcome the discomfort of being in what is unfamiliar territory, especially for gifted learners who rarely encounter material they don’t understand and who also frequently struggle with the internalized expectation that they should already know everything. And be perfect at it.

Teaching for High Potential, a publication of the National Association for Gifted Children, has a great article this month (August 24) on “The Art of Optimally Challenging Students.” Nancy Hertzog asks, “What are the conditions needed in our classrooms to invite children to go further? How do we scaffold students’ learning?” She recommends four components in an optimally challenging approach:

1.       Strong and positive relationships with and among students and teachers. This is at the core of ATYP’s philosophy. Our instructors want students to be able to express themselves, debate amongst each other, and learn how to question everything. You may find it very different from your traditional classroom.

2.       Introduce tools and materials that provide clearer conceptual frameworks and greater depth of understanding. We do this in ways that might seem basic – using college-level textbooks in our English classes, for example – and ways that may seem foreign, like the “Building Thinking Classrooms” approach that Ms. Koch uses in her geometry and precalculus classes. All of our tools and materials are chosen with research and intentionality.

3.       Encourage autonomy to “figure it out.” As we discuss every year at orientation, this can be tricky. Because yes, a student’s first step should be to try to “figure out” what they don’t know. Think it through. Give it your best shot. Be brave, and okay with making the occasional mistake. And then, if you still don’t understand a question or an assignment, reach out to a friend, your grader/tutor, or your teacher. It’s perfectly okay if it takes you a while to get a handle on where your line is for “I think I’ve got this” and “Help!”

4.       Plan for small- and large-group discussions. No one learns in a vacuum here. What you believe and understand about English, math, and computer science will be tested. You will keep some of what you know, you will add to it…and you might let some of it go. But you will all be on the journey together, and much of it will revolve around discussing literature and exploring math as a group. And the joy of finding groups of like-ability peers is another foundation of ATYP.

How will this challenge change you? Over the course of the year, you might see the creation of new executive function skills. You might make new friends. You may discover a new author, a favorite theorem, or unexpected coding skills. Hopefully you will also find new confidence in your abilities and an understanding of how leaving your comfort zone and taking on something difficult can lead to new rewards.

Until next time,

Ms. Nan

LEARNING FROM OUR MISTAKES

Sometimes when things don’t go as planned, it’s hard to deal with the situation. It’s frustrating. It’s annoying. It makes you grit your teeth and say “ergh.”

Sunday was like that.

Students and families who went online to watch Part 2 of Dr. Kelly and Ms. Nan’s presentation on how to improve executive function skills had trouble getting into the virtual meeting. The system asked some people to provide a password – even though we did not set up the meeting to require a password.

Then when we tried to show a clip from a great YouTube video on procrastination, the video would not play correctly. And the sound faded in and out.

And there was some confusion on Ms. Nan’s part about who was supposed to talk about which sections in the presentation, which made the first slide or two she discussed a little…discombobulated.

Some days, some projects, some events, are just a lesson in frustration.

What should students take away from this experience?

• Everyone has moments when things just don’t go their way. Even adults. You might think, as a kid, that you can’t wait to be a grown up because life is bound to be easier, but obstacles and mistakes happen to us old folks, too. So be prepared for this reality.
• No matter how much you prepare, sometimes things happen that require you to think on your feet. This is known as cognitive flexibility and is an executive functioning skill. Flexible Thinking “refers to the ability to shift attention mid-task, thinking about things in a new or different way, adapting to changes, adjusting in problem solving, and incorporating new information into plans or ideas” (https://www.theottoolbox.com/executive-functioning-skills/#:~:text=Shift-,Cognitive%20Flexibility,information%20into%20plans%20or%20ideas).

Another way we showed flexibility was shifting gears and putting closed captioning on the video (thanks for that suggestion, Abe!) so that people could read the text of the video when they couldn’t hear it. Being able to change course and adapt to what is happening around you is an essential life skill. And yes, we were talking about executive function and using an executive function skill at the same time. We should get bonus points for that.

• The person you’re working with is your partner. When things go wrong it is a time to work together to find solutions, not get angry and cast blame. We could have been mad and yelled, but we came together as a team to do the best we could to deal with the issues. While Dr. Kelly presented, Ms. Nan answered emails for people struggling to get in. While Ms. Nan spoke, Dr. Kelly made sure we knew who was online with us. We didn’t take our frustrations out on each other, because nobody wins in that situation.
• If you have perfectionistic tendencies, you want to have a lot of control over every situation. You want things to go “just right.” But sometimes you just have to do the best you can with what you have to work with. Many people think that doing everything really well is the key to success, but one of the biggest keys to success is grit. And one of the fundamental traits of grit is perseverance. “To persevere means to start and continue steadfastly on the path towards any goal you set and frequently this factor alone is the difference between failure and success” (https://www.sacap.edu.za/blog/applied-psychology/what-is-grit/).

If you really want things to be perfect (and Sunday was a far cry from perfect), and you see things going off the rails, you may be tempted to just give up. To quit. And we could have done that. We could have just said, “This is too hard, we should just cancel.” But, instead, we persevered. We showed grit. And hopefully we set a good example for all of you. 

So was Sunday difficult, annoying, and frustrating? Yes. Is there a good chance that we got off that call and indulged in a lot of chocolate or ice cream or both? Definitely yes.

But the world didn’t end. We figured things out. Hopefully we learned from some mistakes. And maybe you learned from our mistakes. Which means maybe Sunday wasn’t so bad after all.

Until next time,

Ms. Nan

BREATHE IN...AND BREATHE OUT...OVER SPRING BREAK

NEXT WEEK IS SPRING BREAK!

It could be that you are really excited about spring break, or it could be that our suggestions to "rest and rejuvenate" are actually adding to your stress. Gifted students, who generally like to exercise their brains, soak in new information, and challenge themselves, frequently struggle to turn off their thoughts and actually relax.

And the thing is, everyone's idea of what actually is relaxing is different. For instance, I like to read, or cook, or take a walk with a friend. My oldest daughter loves to be outside in nature, and my youngest daughter loves to take long baths and spend quality time with her cats. Each person's recharging technique is unique to them.

With that in mind, here are some tips on fun things you might consider doing (either on spring break or just on a random Saturday) to destress:

• Deep breathing
• Meditation (regular or guided; there are plenty of free apps for this)
• Go outside
• Listen to music, any music that helps you unwind. Bonus points if it makes you dance.
• Exercise. Any exercise is good; consider yoga for that extra mind/body balance.
• Take a hot bath. Add music and bubbles to your bath if necessary.
• Laugh (comedy specials, funny cat videos, a goofy movie)

Those are fairly common suggestions. These three might either be a little harder or require a bit more thought:

• Organize

What? You don't understand what organizing has to do with relaxing? Think about it. How much of your regular daily life do you spend looking for things? How much homework have you lost? Where did your favorite pair of socks go?

Even an hour spent decluttering your backpack, closet, desk, or bedroom can help make your post-vacation weeks less stressful. If you spend an extra hour creating a system that keeps you more organized (think color coding, to-do lists, file folders, etc.), you will create even more breathing room for yourself when classes restart. This is a short-term project with long-term benefits, and spring break is a great time to tackle it.

• Try something new

Is there a craft, hobby, or activity you've always wanted try, but haven't had the chance? Would you like to learn to cook, knit, or play the guitar? Set aside the time to try something new. I like to cook to relax, but when I really want to give my mind a break I research recipes and create dishes from around the world. And YouTube and Instagram are great for teaching yourself a new skill. One of my daughters learned to crochet just by watching videos!

• Take a break from your digital devices

This one can be HARD! Set your phone, laptop, or tablet aside and find fun things to do that don't involve a screen. More and more studies show that digital devices add to stress for children, teens, and adults, so if you need to turn everything off, even if it's just for a few hours, do it. And then keep track of how you feel when you are slightly less connected. If not being attached to a device makes you itchy, restless, or irritable, you may need a longer detox. This may be a time to try the deep breathing, meditation, or yoga.

One thing you can do to stay off your device is play a board game, do a crossword puzzle, or a watch a movie with friends or family - and don't allow any phones during this activity. Make a game out of it - the first person to grab for their phone pays a penalty! You can play for candy, quarters, or bragging rights.

If you'd like more great ideas on "Stress Relief That Works," you can visit this article at the Huffington Post.

Now go! Have fun!

Until next time,

Ms. Nan

DEVELOPING FLEXIBILITY (NO, NOT THAT KIND!)

Students are used to seeing emails, reminders, and blog posts from ATYP regarding executive function. Usually we are talking to students about things like time management, organization, and task initiation because these are areas where middle schoolers are still developing and, hence, where they frequently struggle. But today we’re going to visit the issue of flexibility, an area where many people – adults, teens, and children – could use some help, and give a very specific example of how we came up with this topic.

First, I want to acknowledge Amy Sippl at lifeskillsadvocate.com, who has some great ways to contemplate and talk about flexibility and flexible thinking. Why is flexibility important? According to Amy, flexibility is “our ability to change our behavior to different contexts or stimuli in our world.” What happens if we don’t have this ability? We do the same things repeatedly (sometimes making the same mistakes), we can’t change direction, transition between tasks, or even hear different opinions. In other words, we get stuck.

How can parents and teachers help teach flexibility as a skill?

• Model listening to different sides of an argument.
• Discuss different strategies for solving problems, be they math problems or life problems.
• Read stories or books with characters who show flexible thinking/behaviors (or discuss how a character is inflexible and how that might be having a negative impact).
• Play games, especially strategy-based games like “Risk” or “Ticket to Ride,” where the ability to change direction or adapt quickly helps you win.
• Go on adventures that are new for the whole family or class; everyone having to be flexible at once levels the playing field.
• Try deep breathing or other mindfulness activities if the need for flexibility creates some anxious moments!

                                            foothillsacademy.org/community/articles/cognitive-flexibility

Why the focus on flexibility this week? As some of you may or may not have heard, WMU has been dealing with an episode of hacking in its computer systems, forcing many of the data and digital storage systems that Dr. Kelly and I typically use to become, well, unusable. In other words, it has been very hard for us to do our jobs. We have had to re-think old systems, recreate files, and select new projects that do not involve the computer. In some ways, this is similar to what we had to do during the pandemic shutdown, when there was a lot of reinventing the wheel on an almost daily basis. And this reminded us of a simple fact: flexible thinking can be hard. It’s tiring. Occasionally it invokes, if not temper tantrums, grumpiness. But…not being flexible these last couple of weeks would have meant a complete inability to run the office and help students in all the important ways that we do.

So when you’re analyzing your executive function skills and thinking about which skills you might want to focus on developing, don’t leave flexibility off your list because you think it doesn’t matter. Flexibility can be a critical skill in school, work, and life. Take time to practice, learn to go with the flow, and get unstuck!

Until next time,

Ms. Nan

EXECUTIVE FUNCTION REVISIT

 

Congratulations! You’ve made it through the halfway point of the year, and hopefully you’ve settled into a routine and started to figure out how to make life in ATYP work for you.What? You still struggle to start your papers? You’re still losing your math homework? You still don’t know what to do first?

Welcome to the world of Executive Function…or dis-function, depending on how you look at things.

If you think back to orientation, you might remember a discussion about executive function skills as part of the presentation. Every year, an informal survey of our families would probably find that 5% start with an understanding that their student has some type of executive function deficit. These tend to be either the families of students who have some type of recognized neurodiversity issue (ADHD or Asperger’s, for instance), and families of students with a history of “the dog ate my homework.” By recognizing that they have skills to develop, these students and families frequently come prepared to put in some extra work.

Another 25% or so of our families might think, “Well, we don’t think there is an executive function concern here, but we will stay alert and see if anything pops up.” By keeping their eyes and ears open for problems with things like task initiation, organization, and sustained attention, they can help students tackle these issues and address them as they arise. These are not always fun conversations, but they can keep a small concern from spiraling out of control.

Then there are the other 70% of families who think “My child does not have any executive function issues, work has never been late, they don’t lose things, we always have time to do homework and go to the zoo and go to the movies and play five sports. It will be fine.” These families are often in for a rude awakening because the fact is almost everyone – students, parents, instructors, staff – has some executive function strengths AND some executive function weaknesses. It’s just a matter of time before you have to figure out which are which, and how to work with both.

Accepting you have some growing to do is less daunting if you understand the following fundamental truths:

• Having an executive function weakness – in any area – does not make you a bad person, or less intelligent, or broken in some fashion. It may mean that your brain hasn’t fully developed yet and you’re still catching up, or it may mean that you could use some practice or coaching to improve. If you were a soccer player who was a great passer and shooter, but needed help to improve your footwork, you probably wouldn’t think twice about it. You want to be a great soccer player, but you also want to be a great student. Sometimes that requires work.
• Many executive function issues don’t show up until put to the test. A student who has never had trouble prioritizing projects or activities may suddenly find that this is a concern when there are more items to juggle, and this frequently happens in middle school when students have multiple teachers or as work becomes more challenging. This is a fairly typical developmental issue; it just looks scarier when the more challenging work happens all at once – like at ATYP.
• Everyone has executive function domains where they are stronger and where they are weaker, just like everyone has talents and gifts in some areas, and “not so much” in others. For instance, I am good at planning and organizing, but I am not very flexible. It is okay to be great and not-so-great in different domains, as long as you shore up your weaknesses so they don’t become an obstacle to success.
• You continue to develop executive function skills until young adulthood, which means you have a lot of time to grow into the skills you need. Don’t freak out if goal-directed persistence isn’t your thing at 12; it might definitely be your thing at 22.

Highly gifted children sometimes underachieve or struggle because executive function concerns aren’t addressed. It doesn’t have to be that difficult! Talk to your instructor or to me if you think this is an area where you could use some help.

Until next time,

Ms. Nan

P.S. You can find previous blog posts on executive function on December 7, 20202, and February 18 & 25, 2021 if you want to read more!