All good workers do as they’re told. That’s not initiative; that’s following directions. Initiative in leadership is finding new ways to do more. In leadership, one has to find creative new paths to accomplishing objectives and goals. For this reason, at our school, we require that our kids create daily. It’s not enough to be smart; they must know more than just a bunch of facts.
Even in creative classes, sometimes schools fail to actually asks kids to create. Truly creating involves finding new ways, not just doing what the teachers tells one to. Letting the kids lead in the thought behind a project? That’s dangerous, right? Sometimes… yeah. But more often, it’s the birth of innovation.
Lincoln Riley is the head football coach at Oklahoma University. One of the reasons he keeps having Heisman Trophy-level quarterbacks is because he likes a player with a mind of his own. Where most coaches want the quarterback to do exactly as told, Lincoln encourages his quarterbacks to assess the situation and creatively execute the solution. It’s a trust that usually pays off.
It took me a few years to learn to let my kids create. After all, what if they created something controversial, or worse: ugly! I’d have to hang that in my room! Why shouldn’t I just make it for them, and it would match my standard for my room. Boy, was I missing the point!
Parents of gifted children, I encourage you to let your children be a part of creating in your household. My husband and I recently visited his brother’s house. Every year on the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, their family takes a trip with an educational emphasis. The kids are invited to make a board, touting the educational opportunities available at the place to which each wants to go. After presentations, the family votes. Pretty cool!
That brings me to the next requirement for teaching initiative: make it real. People often give gifted kids projects that are hard and complex and… an absolute waste of time. “Figure out how much venom from a cobra it would take to kill a water buffalo.” Why?!!
I absolutely love BEST Robotics. Our students have been participating in the BEST Robotics competition for fifteen years now, and this competition will stay a large part of our fall program for as long as the program exists. The reason I love it so much is because the students are challenged to create solutions to real world problems. We’ve helped keep electrical linemen safer, created ways for firefighters to rescue people from industrial fires, and proposed methods for cleaning the ocean garbage gyres. My kids’ lives are changed by what they have learned. Mine, too! My kids convicted me to limit straw use, and I still do that two years later!
Other school-aged robotics programs ask the kids to go on quests to bring a stolen ruby back to the pyramid or to throw a giant jack on the other team’s quadrant. I cannot think of one real scenario for either of these.
If you are the parent of a gifted student, then you know that he cannot wait to grow up. He has ideas now to fix what is wrong. My advice is to let your child be a part of what is real. A child is so much more equipped to problem-solve than we adults are. We get jaded because we’ve “been there, tried that.” But for a gifted child, all possibilities are worth trying.
In this new year, why not try a little initiative yourself? See if you can’t move in a different path and let your gifted kids be part of the next needed solution.
- Michelle