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MANY THANKS TO THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS
The most amazing people volunteered to make this issue what it is. Much gratitude to: Georgina Harris, James Reid, Chris, Liam, Witter, Thomas, Edison, Suya, Austin, Zoe, Nate, Amelia, Isabella, Brigitta, Aaron, Victor, Andee, Madison, Lachlan, Shanuth, Claire Reid, Amy Horneman, and Kathy Harrison For advertising inquiries and submission guidelines please visit www.VAGTC.org.au/Vision.
VISION Magazine welcomes contributions from members and students and invite student submissions of artwork, photographs, poetry, or short stories. Best-practices, reflections and educator-submitted reviews and articles are also welcome.
Copyright. The Victorian Association for Gifted and Talented Children (VAGTC) 2024 All rights reserved. VISION is published by the Victorian Association for Gifted and Talented Children (VAGTC) in two volumes each year and distributed to all VAGTC membership subscribers. All material in VISION is wholly copyright (unless otherwise stated via CC license and reproduction without the written permission of VAGTC is strictly forbidden. Neither this publication nor its contents constitute an explicit endorsement by the VAGTC of the products or services mentioned in advertising or editorial content.
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VAGTC provides professional development for educators and support to parents through seminar presentations provided online or face to face. Seminar lengths vary from one hour to a full day, and cover a wide variety of topics. We aim to expand our offerings.
Do you have expertise or resources that you would like to share? If you are interested in developing seminars and/or presenting, please send your expression of interest to info@vagtc.org.au. Remuneration is on an hourly basis.
Presenters should have:
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Student Voice
Our Environment 4 Cathy
Interview 7 Despoina Klostopoulou and Tynia Karamzalis
Illustrated Haiku 8 Laura
How I Learn Best 9 Alyssa
Casa 9 Ava
Dry Felted Cat and Fish 12 Yaleena
Dry Felted Turtle 12 Andy
Elton John 14 Sahanna
Wild Africa 14 Amy
Skateboard 14 Will
Dry Felted Panda 15 Bella
Portrait 15 Madisyn
Quiet Still Life 15 Fenda
Reflections on Inspiration 20 Natalia
Puppy Love 24 Reira
Billie 24 Milly
Photorealistic Portrait 24 Prasadee
Ceramic Pinecones 25 Will
Portrait 27 Madisyn
Interview 30 Williams Evans
3D Felt Peacocks 32 Class 5 Sophia Mundi Steiner School
Leo 32 Milly
Welcome
From the President 5 Kathy Harrison
Perspective & Reflection
Creativity in Mathematics 6 Ruth Evans
Bibliotherapy: Harnessing the Healing Power of Books for the Socio-emotional Support of Gifted Students 18 Victoria Poulos
Resource
‘Creativity Takes Courage’ - Henri Matisse 10 Dr Susan Nikakis
Pedagogies of the Possible: Rethinking Giftedness and Talent 13 Professor Vlad Glăveanu
“They Will Succeed Regardless”: Unpacking Myths around Gifted Students and Implications for School and Government Policy in the Australian Context 16 Kate Wright
Whole Child and Whole Brain: Key Ideas for Neuro-inclusive Education 22 Madelaine Armstrong Willcocks
Book Review
‘Mentoring for Talent: A Practical Guide for Schools’ Mark A. Smith 25 Victoria Poulos
Interview
Therapeutic Creativity 26 Katrina Frazer
Fostering Creativity in Classroom Culture 28 Dr Dave Camilleri
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Our Environment - by Cathy, Year 11, Genazzano FCJ College, Kew
When I heard the theme for thIs edItIon of VIsIon, I Was thrIlled to see the Idea of holIstIc educatIon paIred WIth creatIVIty.
According to one dictionary, creativity is the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, inventions etc. The creative person can step outside of conventional ways of thinking and invent something completely new. But the creative thinker may prove to be a challenge for the traditional classroom. In her article, Susan Nikakis discusses the principles of creative thinking and the importance of teachers providing a learning environment which fosters creative endeavours. Holistic education focuses on the whole child including cognitive needs, social emotional needs, culture, values and ethics. Finding purpose in life and ways to make a difference in the world. Conditions that foster creativity and a holistic approach have in common child centred, flexible, responsive environments where there is a partnership between learner and educator.
We hear from Madeleine Armstrong Willcocks with insights from the Neurodiversity in Education Project to support our gifted learners as whole individuals. She encourages us to move away from a narrow focus on academics “towards a broader view of the whole child and their whole brain”. Whether it is giftedness or other forms of neurodivergence, key insights essential in working towards neuroinclusion, are outlined.
Vlad Glăveanu offers a new framework through “Pedagogies of the Possible” asking “What if we looked beyond traditional definitions of giftedness and towards the concept of human possibility?” Possibility thinking embraces creativity – “the ability to imagine new futures, experiment with ideas, and go beyond the obvious.”
When I began teaching maths, our curriculum was focused on teaching a set of skills and strategies. Nowadays, I am pleased that we can use open-ended investigations with a low floor and no ceiling to foster creativity in students. They are encouraged to make their own discoveries, identify their own problems and evaluate whether the challenge is worth solving. They have control. This is a little scary for teachers who don’t necessarily know where a lesson or investigation will go but it is a great adventure! The choice of what question to pursue includes an ethical dimension. What is worth investigating? Where can I make a difference or contribution? The concept of wisdom is deeply connected to the idea of possibility. One challenge I have is to recognise a truly creative thought in my students and encourage such innovative thinking. For
Welcome Kathy Harrison From the President
example, a student who having seen a factorial symbol (repeated multiplication 5!=5x4x3x2x1), invented a new notation for numbers that are added together sequentially. She began to investigate the relationship between such numbers. I could have burst her bubble and say that triangular numbers have been around for ages. Or I could celebrate her ability to build on what she knew and adventure into the unknown (to her) asking the next question, making a new discovery. After all, she had independently discovered triangular numbers. It is not just about gaining knowledge. In my work, I love it when a child simply types “WOW!” into the chat. Or says, “that is just beautiful!” in response to emerging patterns or the wonder of seeing mathematical patterns expressed in nature (see Fibonacci and the golden ratio). That sense of awe and wonder is food for the soul!
This edition includes a variety of student contributions. It is particularly helpful to hear about their creative process; from Anna’s maths project to the way in which Natalia develops her characters and artwork.
It’s essential to cultivate an environment where awe, curiosity and wonder are valued as much as achievement. In his interview, Dave Camilleri outlines how inflexibility in learning environments can lead to disengagement. Whereas fostering creativity, valuing a child’s unconventional ways of thinking and doing things and being flexible to accommodate the way they learn best, allows a child to thrive.
Victoria Poulos shows us how social emotional self-understanding and support can be fostered through bibliotherapy, an effective holistic approach. Her outline of what bibliotherapy entails is illustrated with suggestions of books that could be used to address perfectionism. A sample lesson plan shows how we could approach the topic. It is so useful to have concrete examples whether you are a teacher or parent seeking to use this framework.
Our profound thanks to all those who responded to this theme and contributed their unique insights and talents. A special thanks to our hardworking editors, Laura Wilcox and Ruth Evans who sent out invitations, worked with contributors, conducted interviews and put together such a wonderfully diverse offering.
– Kathy Harrison VAGTC President
Perspective & Reflection
Creativity in Mathematics
Ruth Evans
let me tell you about an extraordInary maths project I recently came across.
Anna is in Year 4. This year, she received a High Distinction at the State level for her Maths Talent Quest project titled ‘What do people know about pi? No, not pie, π!’ First, she surveyed adults and children about their knowledge of pi. Next, she made a slideshow presentation explaining her research methods and results, which included four graphs – one of them being a pie chart, of course! She illustrated the presentation with a photo of her pi sandcastle.
Estimating pi
Using an Excel spreadsheet, Anna investigated ways to measure and describe pi (see below graphic).
Anna discovered that most people didn’t know that pi is used to ‘calculate things about circles’, so she decided to make a song to educate people about it (see graphic at base of page).
Congratulations, Anna, on demonstrating such creativity and deep thinking in your approach to Mathematics.
- Ruth Evans
Using the formula, I created a spreadsheet in Excel to estimate pi. I found that a polygon inside a circle better estimated pi than using a polygon outside a circle or averaging the two polygons.
I needed a 240,000-sided polygon inside a circle (called an iosatetramyriagon) to get 10 decimal places of pi!
I needed a 1,100,000-sided polygon outside a circle (called a megadecamyriagon) to get 10 decimal places of pi!
I needed a 510,000-sided polygon inside and outside a circle averaged (called a pentacontamyriamyriagon) to get 10 decimal places of pi!
Student Voice
Interview with Despoina Klostopoulou and Tyhia Karamzalis
Bilingual book, “Atalanta and the Footrace”
InterVIeW WIth despoIna K lostopoulou, co-author and translator of bIlIngual pIcture booK atalanta and the footrace, and tyhIa K aramzalIs, co-author and Illustrator.
Vision: Can you tell us a bit about yourselves, and the project?
TK: I lived in Greece for two years, and I was always inspired by the culture and the Greek language. The art made in ancient Greece led to my passion for practising and creating art. I’ve always enjoyed learning about Greek Mythology and feminism, which helped inspire the story of Atalanta and the Footrace.
DK: I was born in Greece and lived there until a few years ago. I learned the myths mostly in school growing up, and found them very fascinating; now that I’m here in Australia, any opportunity to share my heritage, I do. At St John’s College, I am Hellenism Captain, which is a role where I encourage and promote Hellenism opportunities at the school with people my own age or younger.
TK: I really connected with the story based on my views on feminism and the wrongfulness of discriminatory culture today. It felt personal in an ancestral way, since I know the women of ancient Greece would have had to deal with misogyny in those times, so it felt good to write about what power women did hold in ancient Greece and in Greek mythology. Because of this, creating the artwork for the book came to me fairly quickly, since I already had the vision of the story in my head. I also used genuine references of ancient Greek lifestyles, for example, Atalanta’s kitchen is based on those in ancient Sparta.
DK: We also include maps at the end of both Sparta and Greece so we can give more context for younger children about where the story is happening. There is also a section on the goddess Athena who is in the book, so that we can hopefully motivate readers to enjoy Greek history and mythology too.
Vision: The book’s title is Atalanta and the Footrace. What is the story about?
TK: The book is about a little girl in ancient Sparta who dreamed of being in one of the annual footraces for her love of running, but her parents stopped her, because girls weren’t meant to join in races. But she wanted to run. So, with inspiration from the goddess Athena, she trained and worked for it and won the race in the end.
The characters are in reference to the Greek mythological figures. Atalanta is named for a foot racer, but also the goddess of the hunt, known for being raised by bears after she was abandoned as a baby. Her character was chosen as a sign of the strength women have, and the fact that women don’t need men to thrive.
DK: That’s correct. That was our idea when we thought of the Athena role in the story too. She is the goddess who helps Atalanta overcome her discouragement, be more positive and work hard, and she can actually do the race better than any others.
Vision: Tell us more about the Athena connection.
TK: Athena is also a strong Greek goddess, to add to the message of feminism in the story. It is also a reference to Hellenism. The idea of Hellenism is incorporated into the book when Athena gives inspiration to Atalanta to do what she wants without the opinion of others affecting her.
Vision: What prompted you to write this story?
DK: I feel like gender shouldn’t stop anyone from fulfilling their dreams. We began this project during the 2024 Olympics where we saw both men’s and women’s teams competing successfully. I want to show how times have changed and that we won’t ever go back to ancient times and ideas that belong in the past.
TK: I agree. I have my own strong ideology that everyone deserves equal rights, and physical structure and power doesn’t have
Call for Submissions - VISION Magazine Volume 36, No 1
Submissions are invited for our next edition on the theme Diverse Faces of Giftedness. Due date March 15, 2025.
VISION welcomes contributions on gifted education matters, including academic papers, reports on research, book reviews, perspectives from best practice and reflections. The next edition of VISION will be on the theme ‘Diverse Faces of Giftedness’. All written material should include a brief biographical note (approximately 30 words). Photographs and images should be original, copyrighted to the author, of suitable quality for print reproduction (no smaller than 300dpi) and emailed in JPEG format. Articles should be between 800-1500 words and be original work. All material submitted will be evaluated by the editors and outside referees where appropriate. The editors reserve the right to edit accepted works in order to fit the publication formatting and language.
Email to: vision@vagtc.org.au
anything to do with how many rights people should or shouldn’t have, and neither should it affect their actions or ability to do what they love.
Vision: Clearly, cultural traditions were a great inspiration for the story. How important is it for younger generations to maintain a connection to their family’s language of origin?
TK: Greek language and religions have always been a big part of Greek culture. Before more religions were introduced, Ancient Greeks were Hellenists, and the word ‘helleniki’ directly translates to ‘Greek’. Greek mythology was a way to make Greeks feel inspired by the strength of the gods. Many people still practise Hellenism today and I think it is important to learn a bit about the culture, even if you don’t believe in it.
DK: This is why a project like Atalanta’s story is so important: we are continuing traditions of mythology in a bilingual children’s book – Greek myths in Greek language.
TK: Absolutely. That’s another key aspect of culture. Greek is a beautiful language to be able to speak with your family and is one thing that all Greeks have in common with each other.
creatures fill your backyard with music with a peaceful song
Vision: What advice would you give to aspiring authors and illustrators your age?
DK: If you have the advantage of knowing a second language, then you should share it with the world, no matter what the language is. Putting yourself out there in a non-English speaking world of writing or speaking can be scary, but it’s worth the experience for you and everyone you reach.
TK: Follow your dreams. It has been said a billion times, but it is truly important to do what you love and to not feel discouraged by others. It may seem hard, you will look back at artwork and think that it is the worst thing you’ve ever made, but that is normal. You can’t be amazing immediately, but build up skill to create more wonderful things. I’ve made some bad artworks, I will admit. It feels unmotivating looking at them but crumpling paper and never writing or drawing again isn’t the solution. Keep it, and continue making what you love. Eventually, you’ll compare what you’ve made and see how much you’ve improved and grown. Focus on the growth, rather than the quality. Most of all, do what you love, not what others say you should.
Illustrated haiku by Laura, Year 2, Mentone Grammar, Mentone
Twittering
Illustrations by Tyhia from the book, ‘Atalanta and the Footrace’.
throughout my prImary school years, I had alWays been someWhat aWare that I Was further ahead than a lot of other students. I was always getting the extension work, always in the highest group. I was able to read fluently before everyone else in my year level. But it was year seven when I began acknowledging that I might be slightly more able than some of my peers.
When I was younger, I was naturally able to understand concepts really quickly without needing to revise or study because they were so simple to me, but when I entered high school and concepts became more complex, I tended to become easily frustrated when I didn’t understand something immediately. I felt stupid and like I’d fallen behind when that really wasn’t the case. All I needed was to stop being so hard on myself and put in a little more work to understand, which I am still learning to do now.
I learn best when the teacher makes lessons engaging. When every lesson is the same and the teacher is simply reading from a PowerPoint and making the class take notes, I and many other
Student Voice Alyssa How I learn best
students become uninterested and bored at the repetitiveness. I find it easier to learn when the teacher takes time to plan the lessons and adds different, fun things to shake it up. I generally find subjects I’m not interested in extremely difficult to concentrate on and learn about, but I’ve found that the way it’s taught can change everything.
For example, I hate maths with a burning passion and used to dread it when I saw it on my timetable, but in year seven, I had a teacher that made every lesson different, fun and engaging, in turn, making me genuinely want to learn. That year, I had the highest marks I’d ever received in maths. It goes to show that teachers can make all the difference in the way students see learning when they put the effort into making uninteresting lessons engaging. Students will find it easier to learn and may even enjoy it.
- Alyssa B, Year 8
St John’s College, Preston
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Casa - by Ava, Year 12, St Monica’s College, Epping
Keynote
‘Creativity takes courage’ - Henri Matisse
Dr. Susan Nikakis
l ast year hanna daVId (2023) stated that ‘In my opInIon, creatIVIty cannot be taught, and thus cannot be learned ’
Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviours, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, non-human animals, and some machines (think AI); there is also evidence for some kind of learning in certain plants!
Kay (2002), and Winner (2000) twenty years earlier, said that ‘learning is a process that can be completed either with others’ help: teachers, parents, friends or, as happens quite frequently among the gifted, with no such assistance.’ While I disagree with Kay and Winner’s (op. cit.) comment about gifted and others needing no assistance with learning, we do need to consider David’s (2023) assertion that creativity cannot be learned and thus cannot be taught. Gagne (2013) says that creative giftedness (amongst other traits) is an inherited trait but like many aspects of life needs catalysts like teachers or parents to bring it to fruition. Research shows that creativity-enhanced learning results in more student engagement, better attendance, critical thinkers, and happy learners (Klawans, Aghayere, Katz-Buonincontro, & F. Reisman, 2015; Torrance, 1975a, 1975b, 1993; Reisman et al, 2002). Today, we are in the midst of a global focus on creativity (with evidence that teaching to enhance student creativity produces active rather than passive learners, better problem solvers and communicators, and students more engaged in learning).
Recent surveys rank creativity among the most sought-after characteristics; for example, an IBM worldwide survey of 1541 CEOs in sixty countries and thirty-three major industries found creativity to be the most valuable ability for future top managers (Berman & Korsten, 2018). An ADOBE survey of 2000 teachers (K-12) and 2000 parents in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia found creativity as a highly desired educational goal (ADOBE, 2019) along with critical thinking, collaboration and communication. Creativity is increasingly in demand around the globe.
Before we proceed, we need to try to define creativity which is a challenge in itself. Creativity has been defined by various criteria. Renzulli (2015) wrote eloquently about a multi-criteria system for the identification of high achieving and creative giftedness. He said ‘creative is seeing the same thing as everybody else but thinking of something different. There are many aspects to creativity, but one definition would include the ability to take existing objects and combine them in different ways for new purposes’. For example, Gutenberg took the wine press and the die/punch and produced a printing press. Thus, a simple definition of creativity is the action of combining previously uncombined.
Mayesky (2009) however defines creativity as ‘a way of thinking and acting or making something that is original for the individual and valued by that person or others’. She further explains that although everyone possesses a certain amount of creativity, the development of creative attributes in someone is contingent upon many factors. This is not at odds with Gagne who is talking specifically about gifted creative people. I think there is an argument to be had re Mayesky’s assertion about creativity ‘being valued’ but that is for another time.
Creativity – The ability to imagine new ways of solving problems, approaching challenges, making connections or creating products. Creativity is not based on a formula, but on thinking that relates to discovery and enquiry
There is no doubt however that the influence of the teacher is critical for development of creativity. Gagne (2013) says creativity is complex and the presence of raw intellectual and physical materials as previously mentioned requires facilitating catalysts to bring them to fruition. Teachers are an important one of these catalysts using a variety of teaching methods and strategies some which are visualised below.
Holistic development refers to the overall development of a student’s growth. It includes teaching the student about the various challenges she has to face and how she can overcome them. Basically, the idea of holistic development creates a great emphasis on the idea of delivering the best possible education and required accommodations to the student. Holistic development refers to the growth of the student in every aspect. This includes creativity. Numerous models of curriculum adjustment or accommodations including differentiation relate to creatively gifted students. Create is the top of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Bloom’s Taxonomy is a classification of the different outcomes and skills that educators set for their students (learning outcomes). The taxonomy was proposed in 1956 by Benjamin Bloom, an educational psychologist at the University of Chicago. The terminology has been recently updated to include the following six levels of learning. These six levels can be used to structure the learning outcomes, lessons, and assessments for all teaching and indeed learning.
You can assist students to learn to use the creative level of Bloom's by giving them key words, especially verbs. Good teaching always includes examples of what you want the students to learn. David’s (2023) assertion that creativity cannot be taught, and thus cannot be learned could perhaps be modified to read that while creativity cannot be taught it can be encouraged!
Teachers of creative gifted students need to:
• provide choices and varied opportunities and well-designed activities for their students
• be reflective and open to changes in teaching methodology. Differentiation is a must for all students.
Bloom’s Taxonomy can be Googled and many examples will pop up. I use the following key words for Create and give my students an example which is, let’s face it, just ‘good teaching’!
Bloom’s Level Key Verbs (keywords) Example Learning Outcome
Create design, formulate, build, invent, create, compose, generate, derive, modify, develop. By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to design an original homework problem dealing with the principle of conservation of energy.
Another way of using creativity in your classroom is to teach your students some basic left and right brain foci. My students particularly love the left and right brain graphic below and are often surprised by the sensual aspects of the right brain. I do try to impress on them that we swap brain hemispheres related to a task.
Creators in the arts, sciences, education, and business speak about how they create in terms that have broken down into the Seven I’s : several types of (1) Inspiration, (2) Imagery, (3) Imagination, (4) Intuition, (5) Insight, (6) Incubation, and (7) Improvisation.
Teachers of gifted students can use these basic principles of creative thinking to develop your own activities. I suggest examining a topic or theme that are part of the regular curriculum to design and infuse creative thinking activities into your lesson planning.
The starting point for teachers who would like to promote more creative behaviours in their students is a basic understanding of the difference between convergent and divergent production. In oldfashioned traditional teaching-learning situations, major emphasis was placed on locating or converging on correct answers. Baer (1993) Teachers raised questions and presented problems with a predetermined response in mind. The students’ performance is usually evaluated in terms of the correctness of a particular answer and the speed and accuracy with which youngsters respond to verbal or written exercises. BORING! Although this ability has its place in the overall development of the learner, most teachers would agree that impressionable young minds also must have opportunities to develop their rare and precious creative thinking abilities (Pink, 2005).
Although some concerns remain, creativity has been recognised as a core 21st century skill (Kaufman, 2016). Moreover, there is growing understanding of how creativity can complement curriculum and enhance academic learning (Beghetto, Kaufman, & Baer, 2014).
The creative process is similar to giftedness in this way as it too has some widely accepted criteria, such as ‘the seven I’s’ as there is more than one sort of giftedness. Yes, there are qualitative tests for both creativity and giftedness like Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT), and the Osborne-Parnes test of creativity but they all have severe limitations (Kim, 2006).
In a research paper by Kyung Hee Kim, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at The College of William and Mary, the author states that ‘the cause of the underachievement of many gifted and talented students may be their creativity, which tends to clash with traditional school environments.
Image credit Jessica Shabatura
‘Many gifted underachievers show potential for high levels of creativity and many of the characteristics reported for gifted underachievers are similar to those of highly creative individuals.’
I have found in my teaching that students who are encouraged to think creatively and independently become:
• more interested in discovering things for themselves
• more open to new ideas
Rather than feeding our students facts and information, they need to:
• The cognitive skills of the 21st century frees students to be able to link the unlinkable. As teachers we need to encourage our students to:
• Try many combinations…
• use open ended questions
• be comfortable with concepts that they can play with in new ways.
This year’s OECD (2024) infographic below shows Australia is close to the OECD average on allowing students to come up with creative solutions on assignments. We were a little better with teachers encouraging original answers.
The fact that there was a creative thinking questionnaire included means that creativity and holistic education cannot be taught but provided and encouraged.
We want gifted and talented -thinking creative people. This is the formula for a better tomorrow.
Dr. Susan Nikakis is the Co Vice President of the Victorian Association for Gifted and Talented Children (VAGTC).
Dry Felted Turtle - by Andy, Year 6, Beverly Hills Primary School, Doncaster East
Dry Felted Cat & Fish - by Yaleena, Year 6, Beverly Hills Primary School, Doncaster East
Pedagogies of the Possible: Rethinking Giftedness and Talent Keynote
Professor Vlad Glăvenau
When We thInK about gIfted and talented chIldren, our mInds often rush to Images of KIds excellIng In math, musIc, or art prodIgIes Who seem to possess an Innate genIus. Many parents find themselves asking, “How can I help my child maximise their potential?” But what if we broadened our perspective? What if we looked beyond traditional definitions of giftedness and towards the concept of human possibility? This is where the idea of “Pedagogies of the Possible” comes in, offering a fresh, holistic approach to nurturing talent and creative potential.
Possibility Studies is a new and growing transdisciplinary field that explores how people, across various domains, imagine, pursue, choose between and realise different possibilities in life. It looks at how human beings can transform their circumstances, create the new, and adapt to an ever-changing world. This framework isn’t just about success in a narrow sense, such as high IQ scores or the ability to play an instrument at a young age. It’s about a much broader spectrum of human potential, including creativity, wisdom, and the ability to envision and pursue possibilities in ways that impact not just the individual, but society as a whole.
Traditional views on giftedness often focus on performance: how well a child scores on tests, or how early they master a skill. But if we take a wider view—through the lens of Possibility Studies—we begin to see that giftedness is more than just excelling in a specific area. It’s about the potential to explore, create, and contribute to the world in new and unexpected ways.
In this sense, giftedness isn’t just about being better or faster at something, but about having the capacity to see the world differently. A creative child may not just solve a math problem quickly; they might ask, “What if we approached it from an entirely different angle?” In this way, they tap into what we can call possibility thinking—the ability to imagine new futures, experiment with ideas, and go beyond the obvious.
One of the key insights from Possibility Studies is that possibility isn’t just about having more options—it’s also about knowing which options matter. This brings us to the concept of wisdom, which is deeply connected to the idea of possibility.
Wisdom involves understanding the complexities of life, making thoughtful decisions, and seeing beyond immediate desires or goals. When we talk about nurturing gifted and talented children, we often focus on their cognitive abilities, but we should also consider how to help them develop “wise possibilities”. Wisdom is what helps them navigate the world in a meaningful way, using their talents to make positive contributions to society and understand the long-term implications of their actions.
So, what does this mean for education? “Pedagogies of the Possible” suggest that we need to move beyond simply honing children’s skills and talents, and instead focus on helping them explore a wide and
wise range of possibilities. This involves encouraging them to think about the world from the perspective of others, take meaningful risks, ask deep questions, and develop a sense of connection and responsibility for things beyond the self. Most of all, feel excited about discovering and playing with possibilities that help self, others and world.
Parents and educators play a crucial role in nurturing wise possibility thinking. As we know from the field of gifted and talented, encouraging children to explore their interests broadly, rather than pushing them toward narrowly defined goals, can open up new pathways for them. It’s essential to cultivate an environment where awe, curiosity and wonder are valued as much as achievement. This might mean providing opportunities for children to engage in activities that don’t have clear-cut outcomes. Maybe it’s letting them tinker with materials without worrying about creating something perfect, or encouraging them to pursue interests that don’t seem immediately “useful” but stimulate their imagination. Possibility thinking thrives in environments where exploration and play are seen as just as important as mastery.
Ultimately, the ethos of “Pedagogies of the Possible” challenges us to rethink what it means to nurture a gifted child. It’s not just about helping them achieve more in the areas where they show talent. It’s about helping them become possibility explorers—individuals who not only excel in their chosen fields but also contribute new ideas, perspectives, and passion to the world.
This approach allows us to see giftedness not as a static trait but as a dynamic process. A child’s potential isn’t something they are simply born with and either fulfil or fail to fulfil. Instead, it’s something they actively shape throughout their lives, as they explore different possibilities, make decisions, and, most importantly, develop the wisdom to use their talents for the greater good. Possibility, after all, is about more than potential—it’s about what we choose to do with it.
And that’s a lesson worth teaching every child.
Vlad Glăveanu, PhD, is Full Professor of Psychology in the School of Psychology and Director of the DCU Centre for Possibility Studies at Dublin City University, and Professor II at the Centre for the Science of Learning and Technology, University of Bergen. He is the founder and president of the Possibility Studies Network (PSN). His work focuses on creativity, imagination, culture, collaboration, wonder, possibility, and societal challenges.
I chose to draw Elton John because I have been a massive fan of his for a while. I play the piano and sing, so his music has always been a big inspiration to me and I’ve learnt to play over 20 of his songs. I wouldn’t have labelled myself as someone who is good at art, but I really enjoyed this drawing and I thought I really channelled Elton in this drawing, especially through his glasses. It’s been one of the most fun tasks I’ve ever done and helped me fall in love with art and creativity.
Skateboard - by Will, Year 10, St Leonard’s College, Brighton
Wild Africa - by Amy, Year 1, Lara’s Art Academy
Elton John - by Sahanna, Year 10, St Paul’s Anglican Grammar School, Traralgon Campus
Jim - by Milly, Year 9, Kew High School, Kew
Quiet Still Life - by Fenda, Year 10, Kolbe Catholic College, Greenvale
Portrait - by Madisyn, Year 9, Lakeside College, Pakenham
Dry Felted Panda - by Bella, Year 6, Beverly Hills Primary School, Doncaster East
Keynote
“They Will Succeed Regardless”: Unpacking Myths Around Gifted Students and Implications for School and Government Policy in the Australian Context
Kate Wright
pIcture a hypothetIcal year 3 classroom. In this class, a student named Alyssa has a diagnosis of dyslexia. She regularly tests at six to twelve months behind expected level in both Literacy and Maths. Teachers and school leaders all agree that Alyssa needs support to address her learning needs. She is provided with appropriately differentiated tasks and an individual learning plan. In the same classroom, Jackson is achieving at the expected level for a Year 3 student. Teachers would say that he does the bare minimum required to complete a task successfully but is frequently off topic, distracted or asking seemingly irrelevant questions. However, it might surprise you to learn that Jackson underwent a WISC assessment at age 7 and has a full-scale IQ of 139. While Jackson is doing what is expected of a Year 3 student, he is not achieving his potential according to tests of intellectual ability. Why is it that students like Alyssa are readily identified and supported, but students like Jackson fly under the radar?
Examining the myth: Will gifted students always succeed?
It is commonly understood by teachers, school leaders and the wider community that students who are experiencing learning difficulties require differentiation, support, and targeted interventions. However, gifted students are frequently excluded from consideration as students who require targeted provisions to achieve their full potential. Within the Australian context in particular, the myth that “gifted students will succeed regardless – they’re gifted” (ACT Government, n.d.) appears to be prevalent. This myth may be linked to the attitude of “historical ambivalence” towards gifted students, including teacher perceptions that gifted students are already privileged due to their intellectual abilities (McCoach & Siegle, 2007).
While treating intellectually gifted students in the same manner as non-gifted students may at first appear fair, this approach does not
promote “excellence and equity” (ACARA, n.d.) and fails to account for the needs of gifted students. An Australian Senate Committee inquiry into the education of gifted and talented students found that up to half of gifted students underachieve at school, and as many as 20% leave formal education before completing Year 12 (Parliament of Australia, 2001). If our aim as educators is to ensure that all Australian students achieve to their full potential, gifted students are currently being overlooked, with potentially damaging consequences for their educational future, self-esteem, and wellbeing.
Characteristics of gifted students
One explanation for the myth that gifted students will succeed regardless of educational provisions may be a narrow perception among teachers regarding the characteristics of gifted students. Betts and Neihart (2010) outlined six broad subtypes of gifted children in their Profiles of the Gifted and Talented. Creatively gifted students, otherwise described as Dominant Nonconformers (Rimm, 1995), may challenge teachers, express boredom and frustration, question rules and risk underachieving or escaping identification as gifted students due to an inability for them to demonstrate their creative gifts within an academic context. Similarly, students described as At Risk gifted students are characterised by emotional and/or behavioural issues and a resistance to authority, which may mask their giftedness (Betts & Neihart, 2010). “Underground” gifted students experience a conflict between their need to achieve and their need to belong. Rather than demonstrating their academic ability, they may underachieve as a way of preserving their social status or conforming to expectations (Heacox, 1991; Rimm, 1995). Finally, twice exceptional gifted students can be prone to discouragement, learned helplessness and a perception that they are doing poorly in school. These students may underachieve if educational interventions focus on their disability rather than their areas of giftedness.
STUDENT SUBMISSIONS INVITED !
vision@vagtc.org.au
We would love to receive students’ artwork, poetry and other submissions. Our next edition is on the theme of `The Diverse Faces of Giftedness’. If you would like to contribute a reflection, story, essay or visual piece, please contact vision@vagtc.org.au for further information and guidelines.
It is also useful to consider intrapersonal characteristics which may appear in underachieving gifted students as a method of addressing this myth. Intrapersonal characteristics identified in underachieving gifted students include low self-motivation (McCoach & Siegle, 2003; Chaffey, 2004), low academic self-efficacy (Siegle & Mc Coach, 2005), low metacognitive skills including self-regulation (Yu, 1996; Chaffey, 2004; Siegle et al., 2017) and low goal valuation (Siegle et al., 2017; McCoach & Siegle, 2003). These profiles and observable characteristics are useful in providing education to teachers, school leaders and even the wider community around the need to consider gifted students as a heterogenous group with specific educational needs.
Implications for teaching practice
The myth that gifted students will succeed regardless of educational support and intervention has the potential to strongly influence teaching practice. A teacher who believes that the provision of support for gifted students is an inappropriate use of their limited resources is likely to prioritise students on the lower achieving end of the academic spectrum, thereby failing to provide provisions required in the talent development process (McCoach & Siegle, 2007). This can result in underachievement and negative academic and social/emotional outcomes for gifted students.
Implications for policy
The myth that gifted students will “succeed regardless” (ACT Government, n.d.) also has the potential to influence school and government policy. If achievement is seen as something which will occur without targeted programs and support, schools are unlikely to prioritise the needs of gifted students and may fail to enshrine procedures and provisions for the gifted in school policy. This puts these programs at risk of cancellation if school leaders, teachers or parents do not see a rationale for their continued existence. Similarly, without an understanding that gifted students may not always succeed, schools are unlikely to implement specific measures to address underachievement and identify underachieving gifted students.
Where government policy is concerned, it can be argued that the myth addressed in this article has led to gifted education policy being considered an area of low priority. In the state of Victoria, there are multiple government policies addressing provisions for students with disabilities and students who speak English as an additional language, yet there is no policy addressing the needs of gifted students. While documents providing guidance for teachers exist in the form of a High Ability Toolkit (Victorian Government, n.d.), the information provided has only moderate to minimal alignment with the NAGC’s Pre-K-Grade 12 Gifted Education Programming Standards (NAGC, 2019; Jolly & Robins, 2021).
Recommendations
Professional Development
It is recommended that accessible, ongoing professional development supporting teachers to identify and cater for gifted students be available to pre-service and in-service teachers, to address the myth that gifted students will automatically succeed. Many Australian teachers feel underprepared to effectively cater for gifted students and have no clear pathway to professional
development which would address this skill deficiency (Baudson & Preckel, 2016; Rowan & Townend, 2016). It is hoped that a positive shift in teacher attitudes towards the gifted would occur as a result of professional development, which can lead to improved provisions for gifted students, better identification of gifted students and a more supportive classroom environment (Baudson & Preckel, 2016; Lassig, 2009; Geake & Gross, 2008). For professional development to be a successful approach in addressing myths around gifted education, it is important that sufficient time is provided for teachers to complete these activities, that schools promote a positive attitude to gifted education, and that teachers are informed about available professional development.
School-Based Gifted and Talented Policy and Procedures
A second recommendation is for schools to develop clear policies outlining their procedure for identifying gifted and talented students. Other school-based resources, such as a school gifted and talented handbook, would provide education for teachers about the characteristics and needs of gifted students. A handbook such as Katoomba High School’s Enrichment Guidebook (Katoomba High School, n.d.), which refers explicitly to the school’s talent development process, could serve as a useful model for schools wishing to develop their own gifted and talented documentation.
National Policy and Guidelines
Given the recent move towards national standards in curriculum, it is also recommended that a national policy and guidance framework is developed with regards to gifted education. A national approach would address discrepancies which currently exist between various state and territory policies and guidance documents around gifted education and could be informed by existing guidelines such as the NAGC’s Gifted Education Programming Standards. Any Australian documentation would ideally be developed in consultation with organisations such as the Australian Association for the Education of the Gifted and Talented, to ensure avoidance of an over-reliance on United States-centric recommendations (Jolly & Robins, 2021).
Given the likelihood that erroneous beliefs about the gifted have impacted school and government policy as well as individual teachers’ practice, it is essential that work is done to address the myth of immediate success and correct misconceptions around gifted education more broadly. Recommendations of this article include professional development for all teachers to develop their understanding of gifted students and confidence in meeting their needs, as well as development of policy and guidance documents at school and national levels, to increase awareness of the needs of gifted students and ensure a consistent approach to gifted and talented programming. It is evident that gifted students are in danger of remaining an underserved population in Australian schools, and only by addressing these myths can we advocate for their needs.
Kate Wright (BA, MTeach) is the Head of Enrichment Programs at Mentone Grammar School. She is completing a Graduate Certificate in Gifted Education at the University of New South Wales.
Keynote
Bibliotherapy: Harnessing the Healing Power of Books for the Social-Emotional Support of Gifted Students
Victoria Poulos
fIrst coIned by both chrIstopher morley In 1920 as a type of supportIVe psychotherapy and samuel mcchord crothers In 1916 as a type of therapeutIc readIng, bIblIotherapy has played an Important role In supportIng the socIal-emotIonal de Velopment of gIfted students (ford et al., 2018; Sturm, 2003). Etymologically, the word bibliotherapy derives from the Greek words biblio meaning book and therapia meaning healing (Lindeman and Kling, 1968). The effectiveness of bibliotherapy lies in the vicarious experience in which the student experiences profound identification with a story character, situation, or emotion (Jeon, 1992). As an observer, the student can evaluate a situation similar to their own, and journey with the character. As the character wrestles with a relatable problem, students learn new coping mechanisms to apply in their own situation. The hope is that bibliotherapy leads to a sense of empowerment and insight, resulting in new growth and development for the student (Sturm, 2003).
There are two types of bibliotherapy commonly used. Clinical bibliotherapy, originally referred to as hygienic bibliotherapy, is reserved for professionals in the medical industry (KaracanOzdemir et al., 2019). Developmental bibliotherapy on the other hand, is more informal and therapeutic and used by teachers, parents, or counsellors (Karacan-Ozdemir et al., 2019; Lindeman, 1968; Sturm, 2003).
Bibliotherapy stages:
1. Identification can be described as the process whereby students can relate to the character in the book (Cornett and Cornett, 1980; Pardeck, 1995). Successful identification is measured by the student’s ability to empathise with the characters who are striving albeit unsuccessfully, for perfection (TAŞ, 2019).
2. Catharsis is the phase where the student experiences a release of their emotions by vicariously working through the feelings of the character in the book (Adderholdt-Elliott and Eller, 1989). TAŞ, (2019) defines catharsis further as a cleansing or detoxification process so relaxing that emotions freely come to the surface.
3. Insight occurs when the student associates with the character to such a degree that they can understand their own feelings. Just as the character in the book was able to solve their problem, students recognise they too have the capacity to problem solve in their situation (Leana-Tascilar, 2012; TAŞ, 2019). While insight is essential for students to grasp, some gifted students may need more time to ponder after the
session concludes (Adderholdt-Elliott and Eller, 1989).
4. Application/Generalisation In this final stage students can look at their situation from a broader perspective and recognise they are not alone in their struggle (Adderholdt-Elliott and Eller, 1989; Leana-Tascilar, 2012; TAŞ, 2019). The desired outcome is that students can journey with the character of the book and experience personal social-emotional growth (Hébert & Kent, 2000).
Strengths of Developmental Bibliotherapy
Firstly, the separation between the confronting personal struggles of a student and the struggles of the story character is one of the main strengths of bibliotherapy. This third-party approach allows for a non-intrusive, unintimidating and non-threatening environment for students to sensitively reflect on their perfectionism or other problems (Adderholdt-Elliott and Eller, 1989; Furner, 2017). As gifted students are often reluctant to discuss their struggles, bibliotherapy can be a safe space to explore and understand their challenges better (Hébert, 1991).
Secondly, the general characteristics of gifted students complement bibliotherapy. Gifted students are often avid readers, able to think abstractly, generally comfortable expressing themselves, and process information well (Ilter et al., 2018; Karacan-Ozdemir et al., 2019). They often have an ability to connect emotionally with the literature (Furner, 2017; Hébert and Kent, 2000), comprehend and integrate texts, and analyse, synthesise, and deduct meaning easily (Frasier and McCannon, 1981; Reis et al, 2004). Bibliotherapy can anticipate social-emotional problems and address them before they become catastrophic (Adderholdt-Elliott and Eller, 1989) and guided discussions allow the facilitator to specifically target identified social-emotional issues (Hébert and Kent, 2000).
Lastly, bibliotherapy provides solid introspection and vicarious problem-solving while being an enjoyable exercise. Moreover, it helps students feel they are not alone in their struggles (Hébert and Kent, 2000; Schlichter and Burke, 1994). For all these reasons bibliotherapy is useful in supporting the social-emotional needs of the students.
Weaknesses of Bibliotherapy
The weaknesses of bibliotherapy fall under the variable of the student and teacher/parent involvement, capacity, and competency. Success in bibliotherapy is highly dependent on the attitude of the students. Students may be unmotivated, unwilling to participate and may not enjoy the books chosen (Ilter et al., 2018). There may also be times where the student is not ready to confront their issues
(Straum, 2003). Bibliotherapy is not a cure and can only be as effective as the student’s emotional capacity allows (AdderholdtElliott and Eller, 1989; Pardeck, 1995). The other weakness of bibliotherapy is that teachers/parents should have specific training on how to facilitate bibliotherapy and must invest in the process by reading the book, sharing their responses, and preparing discussion questions (Furner, 2017; Leana-Tascilar, 2012). Not all teachers/ parents will be willing or have the capacity to do this.
Evaluation summary
Bibliotherapy is a particularly helpful and alternative approach to support gifted students’ asynchronous development and socialemotional needs (Frasier and McCannon, 1981; Karacan-Ozdemir et al., 2019). Bibliotherapy does not assume that teachers or parents must be therapists, but rather that literature is such a powerful tool to address many affective developmental problems in gifted students (Lindeman, 1968).
Implementation of an example case study using bibliotherapy to address perfectionism in Grade 4 students at a school (See Appendix 1 and 2 on Pg 33 for book suggestions and lesson plan examples).
Pardeck (1995) outlines the practical stages of bibliotherapy to support the social-emotional development of gifted students which can be followed.
1. Identifying the subject matter. Perfectionism has been identified as a social-emotional issue in Grade 4 students and the debilitating effects can be seen in the classroom. Grade 4 gifted students are old enough to be proficient readers and are considered to show depth in their thinking and understanding, yet young enough that unhealthy perfectionism can more easily be addressed.
2. Selecting an appropriate book. The books must be chosen carefully to ensure they are suitable to address perfectionism well and provide strategies to overcome their challenges (Ilter et al., 2018). The book chosen for Grade 4 is The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes (Pett & Rubinstein, 2017). Beatrice Bottomwell is the main character who has never made a mistake. She is around the same age as the Grade 4 students and is accustomed to always winning academic competitions and emulating the ‘perfect’ student. Then she makes a mistake and thinks her world and identity will fall apart. This book uses humour to address the sensitive issue of perfectionism using hyperbolic language and exaggerated scenarios to communicate the futility of striving for perfection.
3. Presenting the book. Before the reading of the book commences, the facilitator will outline the plan for the term and the expectations of student participation to include respectful listening and sharing. Perfectionism will be
introduced and there will be discussion to gauge prior understanding. Students will have the opportunity to plot themselves on a continuum of where they see themselves regarding unhealthy perfectionism, as well as plotting their understanding of perfectionism at both the onset and completion of the program. This data will be crucial in evaluating the success of the program.
4. Follow-up and discussion. Discussion is of fundamental importance because this is the time students can understand their issues better, feel safe to explore them and devise a plan to implement change in their thoughts or actions (Ford et al., 2018). The discussion should be used to help gifted students realise that with heightened sensitivities, they may be more vulnerable to develop unhealthy perfectionistic traits yet have the power to change (Hébert and Kent, 2000). The facilitator needs to lead the discussion and display tolerance, respect, and empathy for the students when they share their insights, even if it is uncomfortable (Adderholdt-Elliott and Eller, 1989).
Post-program evaluation
The facilitator of bibliotherapy will be able to observe from week to week if there is sustained student engagement, interest, and socialemotional development. Further to these observations, classroom teachers will be able to gauge if there is any change in behaviours. Classroom teachers will aim to talk to individual students about how they are feeling about the program over the term, and any issues that arise. Data collected from students will also be analysed for evaluation.
Conclusion
When gifted students have the opportunity to reflect on individuals who have strived for perfection and failed, and then identify their own futile patterns through bibliotherapy, they can be empowered to disarm their need to be perfect (Schlichter & Burke, 1994). Bibliotherapy also enables students to see that self, parental or societal expectations to be perfect leads to a feeling of failure and inadequacy, not perfection, self-satisfaction or high achievement (Adderholdt-Elliott and Eller, 1989; Speirs Neumeister et al., 2009).
Lastly, bibliotherapy allows students to look at their perfectionism and realise that only when they are willing to take risks and fail, will they be fulfilled, able to enjoy, and embrace life (Ford et al., 2018; Halsted, 2009).
Victoria Poulos has years of experience teaching and homeschooling gifted children backed with a Masters in Gifted Education. She is a passionate advocator for gifted children and previously ran a support group for families of gifted children. She is currently the Gifted and Talented Leader at Crest Education and a researcher in Giftedness for the UNSW and loves learning all she can in how to better support gifted children.
Student Voice
Reflections on Inspiration
Natalia
I am InspIred by the colours In the World around me. What really inspires me is my past work, seeing how much I’ve improved in my art and writing. If I don’t know what to draw, I’ll look through my old sketchbooks. What also inspires me is thinking about how I’ll improve in the future. I found a quote once that said ‘If you are about to quit, think about why you started’, and that is what helps me finish a picture.
For my artwork, I mainly like anime and manga, but I also like to draw celebrities in a realistic style. With my writing, I enjoy writing suspense, action and thriller genres, and creating comics with a futuristic theme, with mutants.
I am a self-taught artist, who sometimes get tips from watching videos online. I don’t keep an ideas journal, but I have a lot of art
- Digital
books in my cupboard that I like to flick through from time to time. I’m drawing in three sketchbooks at once, actually, because I like to group my drawings by style or genre.
I love my art, and one day, I hope my art could be hung in an art gallery. Who knows? It might end up as famous as the Mona Lisa, or The Starry Night.
I like to learn with people who I’m comfortable around. My favourite teachers have been ones who encourage me to be the best I can be, which makes learning fun, and I feel confident to develop as a person, and as an artist.
- Natalia, Year 6, Springside Primary School, Caroline Springs
Tripping
Show me the starting line where I begin, Timing is slow, everyone else glows. Twisting, turning, tripping, falling, It’s what makes everything absolutely boring.
Heaving, sweating, crying! It’s all I can remember.
Heaving, sweating, crying! My hand reaches out in terror.
Heaving, sweating, crying! My journey is never ending.
I’m tripping.
I’m falling, I’m reaching out, Calling!
Laces undone, Somebody’s won!
Tears in their eyes, Not much of a surprise.
At least I tried.
I tried, I tried.
But my place in this has died. They crossed the finish line.
A Letter to Mother I miss you.
I know you need help, But will you help me? I wish I lived life… A bit less selfishly.
Cyrene
Emptiness
If only the world was as peaceful, As the stories I used to write.
Using an almost empty pen, And a lonely heart.
I tried to scream, No words.
I tried to break free, No movement.
I tried to see, no. I couldn’t see a thing.
I tried to think, My mind was blank.
I tried to breathe. Nothing.
At all.
Cyrene
Connie Noctura
Morgan Amare
Lucy Celeste
All artwork by Natalia, Year 6, Springside Primary School, Caroline Springs
Keynote
Key
Madelaine Armstrong Willcocks Whole Child and Whole Brain:
Ideas for Neuro-inclusive Education
gIftedness, along WIth other forms of neurodIVergence, Isn’t just about the Intellect The brain-based differences of our gifted learners affect the entirety of a learner’s experience. In the inimitable words of the Columbus Group: “Giftedness is asynchronous development in which advanced cognitive abilities and heightened intensity. combine to create inner experiences and awareness that are qualitatively different from the norm.”
Gifted learners are ‘whole’ individuals with unique emotional, social, and intellectual needs. What’s more, our gifted learners very often have other brain-based differences, other forms of neurodivergence, that impact on how their brains function. These varied and overlapping brain-based differences mean that definitively categorising learners as gifted (or not), and twiceexceptional or multiply exceptional, becomes less important and understanding how their brains are operating and how they are operating as ‘whole humans’ becomes vastly more important.
As an education system then, it’s essential we work towards neuro-inclusion, ensuring that every student, in every class, has the support they need to thrive, no matter how their brain is wired. Working towards neuro-inclusion moves us far beyond a narrow focus on academic achievement as well as far beyond any ‘gatekeeping’ of support for gifted or otherwise neurodivergent learners. Neuro-inclusion requires us all to come to understand and work to meet the needs of all sorts of brains.
At the Neurodiversity in Education Project we’ve spent 25+ years innovating ways to support our gifted and otherwise neurodivergent learners as ‘whole’ individuals, each with their own distinctive brain, and not just with their academic achievement. Here are a few of our key ideas that we’ve found essential:
Strengths
It’s important that we all (teachers, parents and kids alike!) broaden out the idea of strengths beyond academic subject areas. Academic strengths is a relatively narrow lens to take, and may result in learners seeing themselves as failures, unable to recognise or leverage their broader strengths to get through the requirements of schooling and overcome any sticking points associated with neurodivergence.
We can also consider broader strengths including abilities (e.g. able to recognise patterns in information; able to appreciate multiple perspectives) and personal qualities (e.g. strong sense of fairness; high empathy) as part of the picture of strengths.
We also need to support students themselves to understand and recognise these strengths in themselves, and be able to use them as leverage for their learning and development.
You might like to check out Strengths Inventory as one tool to use to help students understand their strengths beyond academics: https://www.nzcge.nz.
We can also look at interests and passions as another view on strengths. We know many of our gifted and neurodivergent learners love a good ‘deep dive’ into a passion area. We can support and encourage this in so many ways, including directly teaching them skills and strategies for this ‘deep diving’, so they can go about this in ways that are intellectually and personally satisfying. Clubs (https://www.neurodiversity.org.nz/) is a great example of a programme that gives neurodivergent students opportunities to learn and connect with others in their strength areas.
Brain-based differences
Gifted and otherwise neurodivergent learners benefit enormously from understanding their brain-based differences. We can directly teach students about the neuroscience of giftedness and other forms of neurodivergence, and we can help students personalise these understandings so they really get to know and appreciate their own brain functioning. This inevitably leads into greater selfacceptance as well as being able to make use of their unique abilities and qualities. We call this process ‘learning to work in partnership with your brain.’ An additional benefit is that when a learner understands their OWN brain-based differences then can then also start to understand OTHERS’ brain-based differences, which in turn supports social relationships.
A great way to start talking about brain-based differences is through books. At the Neurodiversity in Education Project we’ve collated some of our favourite books to learn about neurodiversity and books that celebrate neurodiversity, and developed a hands-on card game called Welcome to My Brain that helps everyone understand and celebrate neurodiversity, in classrooms, staff rooms, homes and workplaces.
Emotions
Neurodivergent learners often experience emotional intensity and sensitivity as a part and parcel of their brain-based differences. Therefore another key idea is to directly teach, not just support, emotional understanding and regulation. Building an emotionally supportive and well regulated environment is the first step, but often we forget about the direct teaching of skills like:
• Learning the language of emotions
• Understanding the origins and impacts of emotions
• Practising specific emotional regulation techniques to manage emotional intensity effectively
Social skills
Obviously our gifted and otherwise neurodivergent learners don’t exist in ‘splendid isolation’ but are instead part of many rich social networks. Again, directly teaching social skills, not just demonstrating them or expecting our kids to learn these by osmosis is needed. Over time, we’ve noticed our neurodivergent learners benefit from learning direct skills like:
• Making a social approach
• Taking turns in a social interaction
• Watching for and responding to social cues
• Changing tack in a social interaction
Executive Functioning
Broadly speaking, executive functioning skills are the intellectual ‘air traffic control’, managing processing including planning ahead, task initiation, sustaining attention and managing distractions, following through, and completion. There are many and varied skills involved. These skills are implicitly required in education as well as in daily life, and the demand on those increases over time, but they are seldom specifically taught. For gifted and otherwise neurodivergent learners, these skills may be lagging or late developing.
We don’t think that it’s enough to teach with executive functioning in mind or to have executive functioning supports in place, like all of the other key ideas, we think it’s essential to directly teach about executive functioning, building students’ understandings and getting them to strategise about their own executive functioning.
There are a huge range of executive functioning skills that could be taught, but in our specialist programmes we have chosen to focus on just three key areas as these apply to both school and ‘real’ life, and we’ve found that students respond incredibly well to these focal points:
• Energy - Strategies for initiating tasks, maintaining focus, and completing tasks, leveraging “dopamine hacks” to boost motivation
• Memory - Understanding how short and longer term memory works and applying memory strategies to everyday situations.
In working towards neuro-inclusion we can broaden our understanding about gifted learners and gifted education, away from a narrow focus on academics and towards a broader view of ‘the whole child’ and their ‘whole brain’. We can also move towards ensuring that all brains, and WHOLE brains, are understood, supported and celebrated.
At the Neurodiversity in Education Project we offer direct support to our gifted learners through MindPlus, our student-facing programme that celebrates and harnesses the unique strengths of gifted and otherwise neurodivergent learners. MindPlus operates for a half to a full day each week, in-person, online or in partnership with schools. Interested in our work supporting students, teachers and schools? You can check out our full range of programmes here, including MindPlus, Clubs and Building A Neuro-inclusive School: https://www.neurodiversity.org.nz/.
Madelaine is a teacher whose fascination with how brains work lead her into specialising in gifted education. She is the Head of Programmes at the Neurodiversity in Education Project (formerly the New Zealand Centre for Gifted Education) and supports students and educators in their work towards creating neuro-inclusive schools.
www.vagtc.org.au
I just saw a beautiful person with a beautiful creature, and felt I had to memorialise it. Each stage of the process was like a jigsaw puzzle coming together, the tiny details were usually hard, but amazed me every time I completed them.
People often have very few artworks they feel proud of, even in retrospect. This one was mine. When I draw, I intend to create a story that looks different to each person looking at it. That’s what art is.
Puppy Love - by Reira, Year 4, Lara’s Art Academy.
Photorealist Portrait - by Prasadee, Year 10, St Paul’s Anglican Grammar, Traralgon Campus.
Billie - by Milly, Year 9, Kew High School, Kew
Author: Mark Smith
Published by Amba Press, Melbourne, 2023
RRP: $39.95
Available as paperback and e-book
marK smIth’s mentorIng for talent: a practIcal guIde for schools Is a thoughtful, actIonable resource for educators seeKIng to de Velop effectIVe mentorIng proVIsIons that nurture gIfted students’ unIque talents and goals. As an experienced educator in gifted education, Mark brings years of understanding to the table, providing insights that are both research-backed and adaptable in diverse school environments. The book starts by clearly outlining the purpose and power of mentorship in education for gifted students who we know require guidance beyond traditional classroom provisions. Mark explores the mentor-mentee relationship, detailing how a supportive mentor can inspire and challenge a young learner to pursue personal and academic excellence. He emphasises that mentorship isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution and offers a framework for schools to design programs tailored to their students’ needs, including flexible structures, age-specific approaches, and ways to integrate mentorship within existing academic programs.
Book Review Victoria Poulos
Mentoring for Talent: A Practical Guide for Schools
27
A standout feature of Mentoring for Talent is its practical approach. Mark includes numerous case studies, step-by-step planning guides, and real-world examples that make his suggestions feel achievable and grounded. He addresses common challenges such as time constraints, resource allocation, and mentor training, offering strategies that work within typical school budgets. Mark genuinely “walks the talk,” bringing the same authenticity and dedication to his interactions with people that shine through in his writing. His book goes beyond theory, and the practical tools make the book highly accessible, even for schools that are new to mentorship programs or have limited resources.
While Mentoring for Talent is highly comprehensive, readers may find that some sections are more relevant to secondary education than primary, and it is important to note that the case studies are from the independent sector. However, Mark’s adaptable approach ensures that his concepts can be scaled and modified for different age groups. Mark also speaks directly to school leaders about supporting mentoring by resourcing FTE allotments so that mentoring is implemented well at its inception and can be easily sustained.
Mentoring for Talent is an invaluable resource for any school, leader and educator looking to create or improve a mentoring program for gifted students. I would also recommend this for parents who are keen to see mentoring happen in their own children’s school setting. Mentoring for Talent is very easy to read, and we thank Mark for contributing to the field of resources we have access to, in supporting gifted students.
Ceramic Pinecones - by Will, Year 10, St Leonard’s College, Brighton
Interview
Therapeutic Creativity
VISION talks with Katrina Frazer
K atrIna, you Were an a rt teacher at a large InternatIonal school prIor to startIng your oWn art school In melbourne. Tell us more.
I wanted to continue working with children, to support the whole child – their emotional and artistic sides. I was teaching in large schools with 600 primary students and wanted to continue a more bespoke delivery of art education.
I’m grateful for 30 years as a PYP* teacher at Mentone Girls’ Grammar and St Leonard’s College. (*PYP is the Primary Years Program part of the IB, or International Baccalaureate, program.) It’s really suitable for connecting with the arts. It empowers students to explore their identity through the process of making art. It’s about embedding deeper learning with the individual and still including art history styles and movements.
Half my career was teaching years 7 to 12 and being Head of Art. The other half was Prep to 6, so it’s given me the understanding of the whole educational journey from a young child to a young adult.
My very first school was Orthodox Jewish. That was an amazing, eye-opening experience which gave me a good perspective on how to teach things respectfully, considering other people’s cultures. What programs do you teach?
Every day is a different class and a different age group. I teach students from Prep to adults. I also go into businesses and deliver bespoke professional workshops.
I have done Artist in Residency programs – at Wesley, St Leonard’s and Fink Karp Ivanyi Early Learning Centre (part of Mt Scopus Memorial College). For them, I did a felt mural for the stairwell. That was to reduce the noise and the stress on students. Felt is comforting, tactile and sound-absorbent.
At St Mary’s Catholic Primary School we made a huge, four-panel mosaic on the school’s history, for a diamond jubilee anniversary. All the staff were involved. These projects are about connecting to community. It brings everyone together – grandparents and everyone.
I had a very successful exhibition at Kingston Council’s G3 Gallery. After Covid, children were struggling with their mental health, so I knew it was important to have an exhibition again. I wanted to elevate the kids and their artwork in a professional gallery space where the public could buy it if the students wanted to sell. I had a wonderful response, with 120 people at the opening. We had a speaker open it, and every child exhibited. The difference it made for the kids was amazing! It was just great.
I purposely didn’t put ages on the students’ work because it’s not about comparing; it’s about celebrating their joy of making. I loved having an 8-year-old’s piece next to a Year 12 student’s work, as
equals. Curating it this way focused more on design elements and themes, which overall made the exhibition more engaging and enabled more ages to mix when viewing on opening night. What programs are you currently teaching?
In P-12, I’m all mediums: ceramics, drawing, painting, printmaking, textiles, sculpture. All topics and themes relate to artists, art movements and styles. Key skills within each topic are focused upon and the student’s vocabulary is taught for all mediums. All design elements and principles are linked with appropriate topics.
Before a child joins, I have a conversation with the parent to get to know the child before I meet them. Everything I do is always new because kids are always changing and the group changes. I have the whole group in my head to know how to steer what I do. I never repeat the same thing.
Children need to feel like they are seen. It’s about really knowing what they need at the end, but also getting them there. It all comes from knowing the child.
Why do you think it’s important for children to learn visual arts skills?
Kids need to be seen. I care a lot about the kids and the families and have very close relationships with my student community. I do a student-led conference with the parents when they come in to pick up the kids. I expect them to come in and show an interest in what they are learning. These teaching approaches to create more connections to the parents can turn a parent-child relationship around.
How do you support children through any difficulties they might have during the creative process?
Students firstly need to know there are no mistakes, right or wrong in the creative process and if something is frustrating them then I help them to problem solve their situation. This means never touching or working on their artwork. My motto is “turn a scar into a star”. My students do not use erasers. Instead, they learn to let go of fear and think flexibly and imaginatively. I ask them which direction they wish to go in and to learn to let the medium talk to them. To allow the process to unfold and take them on the journey as it unfolds. Trying to control every step of the process only leads to frustration. Topics are flexible so the student can personally connect to and own their experiences and outcomes.
What is the therapeutic value of art classes?
When you create things with your hands, your whole brain enters a state of “flow” creating new neural pathways which build emotional resilience. I wrote units for Victorian Primary Schools with the Dax Centre to teach emotional literacy through the visual arts. This program took 6 years to write, pilot, gain accreditation and train staff in schools to teach.
How do you extend children in the Arts?
By listening to their ideas, getting to know them well, provide an array of materials and not have topics too prescriptive which is limiting. Understanding how to differentiate a topic to a range of ages and abilities comes from over 30 years of teaching. Students will only be able to be extended and let themselves go out of their comfort zone to learn new things if they feel safe in their environment and with the teacher.
What can parents do at home to support their artistically talented children?
• Visit galleries and exhibitions of all types, not just the NGV. Visit the more unusual shows to broaden their exposure to all types of artforms.
• Buy Art Almanac and let students choose shows to see.
• Keep a sketchbook and pencils in the car when travelling. Don’t watch movies or use phones on car trips. Staring out the window watching the visual abundance in front of them will develop their visual language storehouse.
• Do a blind drawing for 3 minutes every day when stressed or at night before bed to strengthen the right side of the brain.
• Have a ‘making tub’ for construction of household materials for younger children. Use easy to find recycled materials so children do not feel pressured to create amazing works with expensive materials.
• Do not ask a child ‘what is it?’ Revolve any commentary around any design elements/ principles in the work you find interesting. Ask ‘what did you enjoy about making this? Which
part of it talked to you to “go its own way”? How does a particular colour use make you feel?’
• Enrol them in classes outside of school that do not produce twenty of the same looking items exactly.
• Provide more free time to be bored. Less busyness and more daydreaming, pondering, illustrating their poetry/story….
How can parents inspire an interest in the arts?
Let children design a mural and paint a wall in the house on school holidays. Take children to a wide variety of music performances, theatre performances, dance, art installations, read ten books a week to build the capacity to visualise what they are reading. Teach them to sew, let them make their own clothes by starting with hand sewing clothes for toys. Lego use can lead to studying architecture!
You have taught VCE and offer coaching in Visual Art Scholarship Folio Development. What does that involve?
Students come to me as earlier in the school year for private sessions to stretch their thinking on how they could express their ideas and explore materials in both traditional skills and techniques and in more imaginative outside the box ways. Their folio is tailored to which course they are interested in applying for.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Thank you for highlighting the importance of a visual arts education in our lives.
Thanks, Katrina!
- Ruth Evans, VISION Magazine.
Portrait - by Madisyn, Year 9, Lakeside College, Pakenham
Fostering Creativity in Classroom Culture Interview
VISION
talks with Dr Dave Camilleri
What are your research interests?
My primary research interests revolve around creativity, student engagement/ disengagement and experiential learning – particularly in the context of high-ability or gifted students. I’m fascinated by how hands-on, project-based activities like BMX trail building can unlock creative potential and possibly re-engage disengaged learners. Conversations with Professor John Munro back in 2011 lead to my PhD on investigating creativity in disengaged adolescents, but it came from my experiences at school and seeing others struggle at school thrive outside of it.
In your article ‘Exploring creativity in BMX trail construction’, you asked ‘How does creativity manifest in the practice of BMX trail building?’ What was the answer to that question?
I found that creativity manifested in BMX trail/dirt jump construction through an iterative process of envisioning, experimenting, and refining. Riders would conceptualise creative line ideas, then physically sculpt and test those visions through the dirt work, making adaptations based on what worked or didn’t. It was a very hands-on, trial-and-error creative process.
The interesting part comes when the riders have to consider how to hide their creations, as they are often on public land. Councils and authorities typically bulldoze DIY jumps.
The positive impact of BMX trail building on mental health and belonging is significant and something I am studying further. This is the first paper to look at creativity in BMX. We have another one coming out next year looking at creativity more generally.
One participant talked about how being ‘in the zone’ when working on the BMX trail enabled them to forget about all the other things that were happening in their life. What benefits can young people experience by participating in hands-on experiential learning opportunities?
Absolutely, the participants reported numerous benefits beyond just the creative outlet. Being fully immersed in the physical, hands-on work of shaping the jumps helped them achieve a state of flow or “being in the zone.” This provided an escape from stresses and allowed them to be physically active and develop a sense of agency and higher peer connectedness when compared to those who do not dig. It is an empowering experience for many reasons. Interestingly, those who dig their own jumps were least connected to school and most likely to have institutional conflict because of BMX, when compared to those who don’t dig. This is something I am interested in, especially in terms of how it might impact their view of schooling and education.
In your recent paper, ‘Examining Disengagement and Fostering Creativity: A Relational Perspective on High-Ability Students in Formal Education’, you said that creatively gifted students tend to get into trouble more at school. Why do you
think that is, and what can we do to address the situation?
Creatively gifted students tend to get into more trouble at school because their creative behaviours and ways of thinking can be seen as problematic by teachers. Some examples include acting and thinking in unexpected and novel ways, finding problems or challenges that others don’t see, questioning authority and exhibiting impulsive behaviours. Even when teachers claim to value creativity, the pressures of curriculum, testing, classroom dynamics, and a plethora of other reasons can make it difficult for creative thinking to truly flourish.
To address this, the paper recommends providing stimulating and supportive classroom environments that allow creative students to explore ideas, take sensible risks and exercise choice in their learning without fear of being shamed or devalued for unconventional thinking. Classroom culture is key here.
What factors contribute to gifted young people becoming dis/ engaged?
Some key factors that can contribute to gifted students becoming disengaged include:
• a mismatch between teacher assumptions/expectations about how students learn and the student’s actual learning profile/ abilities
• classroom cultures that don’t value or make space for diverse ways of thinking and understanding
• lack of acceptance or support for unconventional creative behaviours like questioning, finding novel problems and impulsivity.
• negative relationships or interactions between creative students and teachers.
• curriculum and teaching methods that are too rigid, lack relevance, or don’t allow creative exploration
• lack of student autonomy, choice, and opportunities for openended problem solving
• students’ inability to follow instructions. Some students cannot do that because of problems with vocabulary/English or working memory. Others see another way of doing things and their teachers and environments are not flexible enough to allow them to do it in a different way.
What are the effects of disengagement?
The effects of disengagement highlighted in the paper include:
• Missing out on crucial learning opportunities
• Underachievement and failure to reach full potential
• Alienation from formal education
• Disruptive classroom behaviours
• Avoidance of classroom activities
• Absenteeism or dropping out of school entirely
How can teachers tell if a student is becoming disengaged?
Some potential early warning signs that a student may be becoming disengaged, according to the paper, include:
• displaying boredom or lack of interest in curriculum/classroom activities
• questioning authority or non-conformity to expected behaviours
• acting in unexpected, impulsive or individualistic ways
• struggling to show knowledge in culturally acceptable ways –schools have a particular culture that some students have not internalised and therefore feel like outsiders
• negative emotions like anxiety associated with teaching/ learning
• lack of participation or avoidance of activities
• belief that what is being taught is irrelevant
What factors do you think contribute to students underachieving or dropping out of school?
Some factors that can contribute to students underachieving or dropping out, highlighted in the paper, include:
• mismatch between students’ abilities/learning profiles and teacher expectations and teaching styles. Some students have difficulty learning content that is presented verbally
• perception that their knowledge and ways of thinking are not valued
• inability to show ability in culturally acceptable ways: they have not internalised ways of the classroom
• curriculum lacking relevance or misaligned with students’ interests/backgrounds
• lack of autonomy, choice or opportunities for creative expression
• classroom cultures that don’t make space for diverse learners
• negative relationships with teachers – this has an accumulative effect. Positive relationships matter more to at-risk students, especially in high school
How can we prevent students from becoming disengaged, and how can they reconnect disengaged students?
To prevent disengagement and reconnect disengaged students, the paper suggests:
• providing stimulating environments that allow creative exploration of ideas
• giving students more autonomy, choice and opportunities for open-ended problems
• using hands-on, practical activities that connect to students’ interests
• modelling encouraging diverse ways of thinking and understanding
• nurturing positive teacher-student relationships built on trust and respect
• providing constructive feedback that avoids shaming creative thinking
• making content relevant and allowing ideational fluency
• supporting development of students’ creative self-efficacy
How can teachers improve their relationships with students and foster a culture of inclusivity and respect?
To improve teacher-student relationships and foster an inclusive, respectful culture, the paper suggests:
• reflecting on assumptions about ‘acceptable’ student behaviours and thinking
• valuing and making space for diverse ways of learning and understanding
• providing constructive feedback that encourages rather than shames
• nurturing positive relationships built on trust and connection
• giving students autonomy, choice and opportunities for open exploration
• using teaching methods that are relevant and allow ideational fluency
• creating environments where students feel safe to take risks
• recognising and appreciating creative ideas and novel perspectives
How can teachers and parents foster creativity in gifted students?
Some strategies suggested in the paper for fostering creativity in gifted students include:
• not teaching creativity skills but giving them space to show their creativity.
The key seems to be moving beyond narrow expectations, making space for diverse talents and perspectives, and creating an environment of trust and respect. We don’t need to teach creativity, but we do need to provide opportunities for creative exploration.
Dave Camilleri is a Teaching Specialist and researcher at the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education. He has over 11 years of experience as a secondary school teacher and university educator, along with 16 years of working with adolescents across various contexts. Despite leaving formal education at 16 without completing secondary school, Dave has since completed a PhD. His doctoral research investigated the relationships between engagement, creative ability and classroom culture, with a particular focus on high-ability students disengaged from regular schooling. In recognition of his outstanding PhD research, Dave was awarded the prestigious Dr Lawrie Shears Doctoral Scholarship in 2016.
Student Voice
VISION speaks with William Evans Interview
WIll Is a year 11 student at st leonard’s college In brIghton. He is currently studying Year 12 Visual Communication and Design. Will’s hobbies are propagating plants, gardening, art, cooking, crochet, knitting and drama. He also enjoys performing in musical productions and plays and is the Assistant Director for the St Leonard’s Middle School Musical, Matilda.
Tell us about your experience with the performing arts. Which roles have you had and which of these was your favourite? I have performed in many musicals and have had many varying parts. The two standouts were firstly when I played the lion in The Wizard of Oz, as the relationship that formed between myself and the other leads was immeasurable, and another of my favourite productions was Mamma Mia. The whole cast had a blast of a time, constantly just enjoying every moment. Sometimes people forget why we do these productions and this show really brought that out for me.
What sparked your interest? How did you get involved?
I have always been very into all sorts of crafts since I was a child. I first started with cost-efficient activities such as origami, as we always had paper around the house. Then I moved on to new things and would go through phases of crafts that I would get into for a couple months, then go back to something old or pick up something new. Although I’ve found I tend to overcommit to projects such as a cross-stitching project where I’m 215 hours in and about a third through, or a sweater I’ve decided to spin the wool for, to then knit.
You’re also pretty academic. Do you find it challenging trying to balance your hobbies and your schoolwork? How do you manage this?
I have found it almost like a puzzle to be able to manage my academic workload with my co-curriculum and my hobbies but
I have always been this busy, ever since I was a child. I’ve found that the easiest way to keep up my hobbies with everything else in the balance is that I thoroughly enjoy them. When I’m feeling brain dead from my homework or need a break after a long day, it’s great to sit down and craft. It’s such a mindful and almost mindless activity that I have found to be a perfect and productive way to fill up my free time, that’s not just sitting watching Netflix or gaming.
Tell us about your hobbies.
I started learning to crochet when I was 10 and most of these things are from then. Before that, I learned to knit and finger knit.
What inspired you to get into crochet? How did you learn?
My grandma taught me how to knit. I taught myself to crochet by watching YouTube videos.
What is your favourite thing that you have made?
My favourite thing was the giraffe which I gave to my grandma.
C O N S U L T A N C Y
e: consult@vagtc.org.au
The VAGTC offers expert advice to educators and parents in the areas of gifted and talented education and advocacy. Consultancy is available on the wellbeing and education of gifted and high ability children. A free initial consultation service is available to parents and families by emailing consult@vagtc.org.au. Ongoing support in response to specific needs can be arranged for families and schools at an hourly rate. Membership discounts apply. For further information about support offered by the VAGTC Consult Team through parent and educator seminars, visit: vagtc.org.au/seminars/ vagtc.org.au/book-an-educator-seminar/
What were some of the challenges you encountered?
Learning from videos rather than physical patterns: sometimes the videos were really bad quality and filmed 20 years ago. I had to play them at half speed and keep rewinding.
When did you design the skateboard? (Pg 14)
That was a school project last year, in Year 10. I created the whole thing in one or two days. It went on display at the Bayside Council for a bit.
Where did you find the design for the string of lights?
I found a design for a flower, but while I was away on camp, I forgot the design so I had to make up a new one. I crocheted the flowers while I was on a two-week school camp in Year 9. On the day hikes I would walk and talk and crochet at the same time. I also taught some other people how to crochet. Then when I got home, I strung all the flowers together to create a string of lights.
What’s your current project?
Spinning wool to knit an alpaca jumper. I ordered the raw alpaca
fleece online from Adelaide. Then I had to wash the poo out of it and try to fluff it up with dog brushes before spinning it with a crochet hook attached as a drill bit. (That was a Will invention.) Then I had to twine the two strands of wool together and then knit it.
I designed the jumper on procreate. It’s going to have wattle blossoms on the shoulders.
Do you have any future projects planned?
Yeah, I have about 50 projects halfway through. I’m also knitting a different jumper at the same time as the alpaca one.
That all sounds amazing. Thanks so much for sharing your incredible creative projects with us.
– Ruth Evans, VISION Magazine
3D Felt Peacocks - by Class 5, Sophia Mundi Steiner School, Abbotsford
At Sophia Mundi, the Class 5 handcraft students created 3D felt peacocks with embroidered tails in conjunction with their Ancient Indian Man Lesson. The project allowed students to immerse themselves in the majesty of the peacock whilst exploring the culture of Ancient India. The peacock is the national bird of India and a frequent visitor to our beautiful school grounds at the Abbotsford Convent.
Students began the design process by observing the peacocks in the playground and drawing a detailed picture. They sculpted the peacock’s body from clay to discover the key to transforming a 2D drawing into a 3D sculpture. After constructing the peacock’s body, the wings and tail were embellished with embroidery and sequins. The students created beautiful and vibrant colour combinations and patterns and developed a deeper way of noticing fine details – now with an artist’s eye.
Leo - by Milly, Year 9, Kew High School, Kew
Appendix 1: Bibliotherapy booklist to address perfectionism:
Age range
Year 4-9
Year 2-8
Year 3-7
Year 1-8
Year 2-6
Year 3-7
Year 4-9
Year 5-9
Year 5-9
Book title
Author
Synopsis
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin He tried to eliminate all his faults but concluded that it was impossible to reach perfection, and no one would like him even if he did.
Ramona’s World
The World’s Greatest Expert on Absolutely Everything
Be a Perfect Person in just 3 days
Beverly Cleary
Barbara Bottner
Exposes the negative effect of striving for perfection
Being good at everything does not mean you will be happy and be a good friend.
Stephen Manes After completing a course in ‘perfection’ Milo realizes that being perfect is not all it’s cracked up to be.
The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes Pett and Rubinstein
The Report Card
The Value of Creativity: The story of Thomas Edison
Dreams and Drummers
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
This book shows students how life might be a bit more fun when they worry less.
Andrew Clements Shows the negative impact of parental pressure
Ann Donegan Johnson Shows that making mistakes is how we learn
Doris Buchanan Smith Growing up is not quite so easy as she’d expected for a teenage girl in a small Georgia town.
Richard Bach
All Biographies of other gifted men and women Assorted
Appendix 2: Lesson Plan ideas:
Main Theme - Fear of making a mistake
‘The Girl Who Never Made a Mistake’ Synopsis: Beatrice Bottomwell is a nine-year-old girl who has never made a mistake. She never forgets her math homework, and always wins the yearly talent show at school. Beatrice is known for achieving perfection at everything in her hometown and prides herself in keeping up this appearance. Life for Beatrice is sailing along pretty smoothly until she makes her first mistake and she is confronted with how to deal well with failure.
Learning Outcomes
• Students will understand that it is okay to make mistakes.
• Students will connect with Beatrice in the story to see that change is possible.
Pre-reading
• Ask students to brainstorm any kinds of mistakes they can think of and collaboratively write them on butcher’s paper. Introduce perfectionism and gauge students’ understanding. Students will then plot themselves on a continuum between healthy and unhealthy perfectionism.
Reading
• Sit comfortably in a circle and the facilitator will read the story slowly, pausing to show the illustrations at each page.
Discussion questions:
1. What was Beatrice’s ‘almost’ mistake?
Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a story of how innovation, progress, and self-discovery all require what can often be a painful or difficult break with tradition.
2. How did worrying about the possibility of making a mistake change the way Beatrice:
- Participated in school?
- Played with friends?
- Spent family dinner time?
- Accepted invitations to play and have fun?
3. How did Carl respond to making mistakes?
4. What do you think was going on inside Beatrice’s head when her talent show act went wrong? Have you ever felt this way?
5. How do you think you would have responded to the talent show act going wrong?
6. Do you think Beatrice made a brave choice in the way she responded? Why/Why not?
6. What were some of the lessons Beatrice learnt in the story?
Follow-up activity
1. Allow students time to think about the story and reflect on their experiences (Furner, 2017; Hébert and Kent, 2000; Schlichter and Burke, 1994).
2. Ask students to think of a mistake they have made in the past which they got upset about and to draw a picture with a different ending. What would an ending look like if they hadn’t worried about making a mistake?
OR
Draw or write a slogan or poster promoting that it is okay to make mistakes.
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