Synopsis
More
than ever today, it is essential that we look at all students individually to
try to understand their strengths, abilities, interests, and motivations.
By Kathryn P. Haydon
"Motivating,
inspiring, and hard." These are the words that my former student
turned entrepreneur, Nicolas LeBrock, used to describe his recent venture into fashion design. What these
words mean to me is that kids want to be inspired and they want to work hard,
if the work uses their abilities and is meaningful on an individual
level. Often, we as adults need only to point out their strengths and
allow them to prove their greatness to themselves. It is unfortunate
that, more often than not, they need to look outside of school for these
opportunities to be inspired and encouraged.
One
of the main things that fuels my teaching and work with families is seeing
students apply the creative light inside of them. Every child has
strengths that need to be discovered and put to use. Imagine my joy when
I learned recently that a former student, Nicolas, age 15, had started his own
fashion line and was running a small business to sell his clothing!
Creative
Approach to Summer
Last
summer, between his 8th and 9th grade years, Nicolas’s parents wanted him to do
something educational. His mom, Linda, asked, "What would be
interesting for you to do to keep you engaged in learning this summer?"
Since he didn’t want to attend camp, Linda suggested that she give Nicolas a
micro-loan so that he could start a business. He lit up at this idea and
decided that he wanted to screen print his drawings onto t-shirts and other
clothing items. He researched and found wholesale t-shirts, built his own
website, created products, and began to sell them online. Nicolas told
me, "I really like fashion. There are a lot of clothing companies
but I wanted to make something different. I wanted to do my own thing."
Linda’s
US$100 micro-loan to Nicolas grew from there by his own reinvestment. "My
mom helped me start out, and as I progressed I started to make some more money,
saved it, and invested it back into the business to make more shirts and
clothes," explained Nicolas. He tapped into his network and
collaborates with a classmate who is a photographer to take product photos so
they can market through Instagram and Snapchat. He even got some shirts
into the hands of a famous BMX biker who is going to promote them on social
media.
Creative
Strengths Not Understood at School
Nicolas
is, and always has been, a kid brimming with creative strengths. However,
these strengths—as often happens, anecdotally and according to a half century
of research (Amabile, 1989; Beghetto, 2010; Davis, 2004; Goertzel et al. 2004;
Kim, 2008; Torrance, 1963; among others)—are not frequently leveraged in the
classroom.
Many
creative thinkers don’t thrive in school, and it’s not because they have a
learning problem. In fact, it’s often because their very strengths—the ability
to make complex connections and think differently; a desire for deep meaning;
their sensitivity, intuition, and internal motivation—aren’t activated in a
one-size-fits-all, standardized approach to education. Often, these
strengths are misinterpreted as deficits because of a poor fit with "the
system," which causes further struggle and disillusionment.
Applying
Creative Learning
In
his early childhood years through third grade, Nicolas did well in the
hands-on, multi-disciplinary classes at his small progressive school. His
depth of thinking shone behind his eyes, and we his teachers loved that.
However, when he matriculated to a different upper elementary school that
practiced test-based teaching, he became disengaged. His mom, Linda,
said, "There was lots of memorization and the learning was not connected
to any bigger picture. This approach and environment were killing his spirit."
Concurrently,
Nicolas was an engaged student in rigorous but creative classes at Ignite
Creative Learning Studio (the precursor to Sparkitivity).
This contrast showed that his creative thinking ability and inclination toward
original thinking was not being nourished enough in the regular school day.
So,
we began to apply creative learning principles to school subjects. To
give Nicolas a new entry point into math, we connected him with a professional
video game developer and mentor. They worked together on coding to
explore math concepts, and in the process, he was introduced to web design and
programs like Photoshop that allowed him to apply his original ideas and design
talents. He soon got a summer internship at an architecture firm where he
learned Sketch-up, and was able to further develop his skills. By approaching
a traditional subject (math) in an untraditional way (coding), Nicolas
discovered all sorts of avenues through which he could channel his creativity
and high motivation to do meaningful, rigorous work. Ultimately, this led
to his current initiative creating an “underground clothing company,” as he
calls it.
Using
Strengths Leads to Future Vision
More
than just an adjunct activity, Nicolas’s entrepreneurial venture has influenced
his future vision, his perspective on school, and his self-knowledge. "I
learned that when I get into something I keep going and I don’t stop until I
succeed. That’s my mindset in soccer, and I applied it to this because I
want to do well and have a future," he said.
According
to a longitudinal study that followed children through to adulthood to measure
creative achievement, conducted by E. Paul Torrance, ". . .having or not
having a future image that they were in love with was a better predictor of
adult creative achievement than indexes of scholastic promise and attainment in
school" (Torrance, 1983, p. 73). Torrance went on to say, "My
experience and research have increasingly made me aware of the dreadful
importance of falling in love with ‘something’ –a dream, an image of the
future. I am convinced that the driving force behind future accomplishments is
the image of the future of people" (Torrance, 1983, p. 72).
Torrance’s
statement applies universally, as it did to this particular student.
While Nicolas would “much rather make designs and draw all day” he has realized
that “to succeed more I need to stay in school.” Because of his work, he
has learned about colleges that focus on design and even did an early college
tour to one of them. He could see himself in such a creativity-focused
environment. This vision has motivated him keep his GPA up, and it has
given him additional motivation to slog through the hard work that might have
seemed not worth doing in the past.
Said
Linda, "He needed to find a place where he could be rewarded and not
punished for being who he is. Through his business, he has recognized
that there is a way in the world where he can use his creativity."
More
than ever today, it is essential that we look at all students individually to
try to understand their strengths, abilities, interests, and motivations
(Haydon & Harvey, 2015). As parents, teachers, or mentors, if we can
draw these out and make a connection, the course of a child’s life can change
in a positive way. As is almost always the case in such a success story,
Nicolas’s mother clearly saw and acknowledged his creative strengths even when
teachers didn’t see them. She found ways to support her son’s desire to
learn in a way that he could truly think and be creative. "Creativity
is the highest form of mental functioning," said Torrance (Millar, 2004,
p. 57). When a kid starts a business based on his interests, the truth in
this statement becomes self-evident.
Sources:
Amabile,
T. (1989). Growing up creative: Nurturing a lifetime of
creativity. Williston, VT: Crown House.
Beghetto,
R. A. (2010). Creativity in the classroom. In Kaufman, J.C. & Sternberg, R.
J. (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of creativity (pp. 447-463). New
York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Goertzel,
V., Goertzel, M. G., Goertzel, T. G., and Hansen, A.M.W. (2004). Cradles
of eminence. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press.
Haydon,
K. P., & Harvey, J. (2015). Creativity for
everybody. New York: Sparkitivity.
Kim,
K. H. (2008). Underachievement and creativity: Are gifted
underachievers highly creative? Creativity Research
Journal, 20:2, 234-242.
Millar,
G. (2004). The making of a Beyonder. Bensenville, IL:
Scholastic Testing Services, Inc.
Torrance,
E. P. (1963). The creative personality and the ideal
pupil. Teacher College Record, 65, 220-226.
Torrance,
E. P. (1983). The importance of falling in love with
“something”. Creative Child and Adult Quarterly, 8, 72-78.
Kathryn
P. Haydon Column: Sparkitivity igniting
bright minds
Kathryn
P. Haydon writes, speaks, and consults to support an educational paradigm based
on student strengths and creative thinking. She is a keynote speaker and
specialist for families, schools, and educational organizations
nationwide. Kathryn co-authored Creativity for Everybody (2015) and
Discovering and Developing Talents in Spanish-Speaking Students (2012); writes
for publications on education, creativity, and parenting highly creative and
gifted children; and is a published poet. As a former teacher, Kathryn
founded Sparkitivity to engage “square peg” students and to support the parents
and educators who want them to succeed. She holds a Master of Science in
Creativity, Creative Problem Solving, and Change Leadership from the
International Center for Studies in Creativity at State University of New York,
and a Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University.
This
article first appeared on the Sparkitivityblog.
Copyright
2016 Sparkitivity, LLC. All Rights Reserv
Photo
provided by Jeune Dieu
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