Why gamified learning works so well for gifted children — from raisinglifelonglearners.com by Colleen Kessler
Excerpt:
The gamification of learning can be critical for gifted children in particular, who often struggle to stay focused, engaged, and challenged in a traditional educational environment. Gamification can be so effective in gifted education because the learner forgets they are “working” and instead feels they are “playing.” It allows the gifted brain to relax into the “flow” of learning, and more effectively use their intellect for problem solving and creativity.
Also see:
Addendum on 4/27/22:
Homeschooling our gifted children: The power of artful questions — from raisinglifelonglearners.com by Colleen Kessler
Examples of artful questions for learning:
From DSC:
Perhaps we should post those types of questions up on the walls of many board rooms and conference rooms around the nation…or have it be a slide in a presentation…or…
Homeschooling surge continues despite schools reopening — from apnews.com by Carolyn Thompson
Excerpt:
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic ushered in what may be the most rapid rise in homeschooling the U.S. has ever seen. Two years later, even after schools reopened and vaccines became widely available, many parents have chosen to continue directing their children’s educations themselves.
Homeschooling numbers this year dipped from last year’s all-time high, but are still significantly above pre-pandemic levels, according to data obtained and analyzed by The Associated Press.
K-12 education in America is like quickly moving trains that stop for no one.
From DSC:
A family member struggles with spelling — big time. This causes her major amounts of anxiety in school.
Another family member had some learning disabilities and reflects back on school with some bad memories.
Another family member struggles with social graces and learns at a much different pace than her peers — the move to her education being (predominantly) done via homeschooling has helped significantly.
A friend of mine has Dyslexia. He recently said that school was hell for him.
Another person I know doesn’t understand his daughter’s learning disabilities — at all. He’s asking a fish to climb the tree and yells at his daughter when she doesn’t produce like the other kids do. Her school is for college-bound learners, and there’s always pressure to maintain the school’s “blue-ribbon” status (i.e., sorry if you don’t fit in…but please board the train anyway, as it’s about to depart).
These people and stories about their educations got me to reflect on all the people who went through the school systems in the United States (over the last few decades) that didn’t work well for them. In fact, not only did the systems not work well for them, they were the sources of a great deal of pain, anxiety, depression, anger, frustration, and embarrassment. Instead of being a place of wonder or joy, school was a painful, constant struggle to get through.
For those who can keep up or even excel at the pace that the trains travel at, school isn’t that much of a problem. There are likely different levels of engagement involved here, but school is manageable and it doesn’t cause nearly the stress for someone who struggles with it.
For those with learning disabilities, I’d like to apologize to you on behalf of all the people who legislated or created rigid, one-size-fits-all school systems that didn’t understand and/or meet your needs. (Why we allow legislators — who aren’t the ones on the front lines — to control so much of what happens in our school systems is beyond me.) I’d like to apologize on behalf of all of the teachers, administrators, and staff who just accept the systems as they are.
Please help us reinvent our school systems. Help us develop the future of education. Help us develop a more personalized, customized approach. For those who are working to provide that, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
To everyone working within Pre-K through 12th grade, help us offer: More voice. More choice. More control. The status quo has to go. School should not be a constant source of pain and anxiety.
I Grew Up Believing I Was Dumb. A College Education Behind Bars Healed That Wound https://t.co/PsUZ2LyOxa via @MarshallProj
— Paul Czarapata (@pczarapata) April 21, 2022
Seeing the possibilities, I finally took a chance. I studied English, political science and finite math, and each class I passed deepened my confidence and self-love.
This growing self-love was key to my academic development. Growing up, I didn’t experience much real love, outside of my mother and a few family members. I most often encountered the kind of false love expressed through violence and monetary possessions. College changed the way I thought about myself and others. I worked hand-in-hand with men from all backgrounds to complete assignments, and even taught other students. Before I knew it, I was getting A’s on my essays and solving quadratic equations in math class.
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When people question why it’s important to educate prisoners, I remind them that to see change, we must support change. We must give individuals the opportunity to see themselves as more than the harm they’ve caused, more than what was once broken within them.
Christopher Blackwell
Also relevant/see:
5 Tips for Educators From The Superintendent of the Year — from techlearning.com by Erik Ofgang
Superintendent of the Year Curtis Cain advises educators to keep alive the spirit of innovation that emerged during the pandemic and to remember how important the work they do is.
Excerpt:
Keep Alive the Spirit of Innovation
“The brain, once stretched, never returns to its initial size,” says Cain of the ways that schools have changed. His advice to staff in his district and beyond is to keep alive the spirit of innovation that was born in the pandemic.
“The needs of students have absolutely become more complex and more nuanced. And in many ways more urgent than they have been in the past,” he says. “So we’re going to have to keep having the ability to demonstrate a willingness to sit at the table, to problem solve.”
