Follow us
Learning to Learn - Differently
  • Home
  • What's the Difference?
  • Forward Focused School Leadership
  • L2D2 Open Forum
  • Teaching and Learning
  • Resource Bank

What's the difference?

Thoughts on making a real difference in the lives of learners...

View all Blog Entries

Destination Imagination!

5/27/2013

1 Comment

 
Picture
As most parents and educators know, there is a growing body of scholarship that would indicate that many learning differences that have traditionally been categorized as a "disability" or "disorder" are actually more a function of a difference in learning or processing "style" or preference. Certainly, one clear example is outlined in Brock and Fernette Eide's  2011 book The Dyslexic Advantage: 

For dyslexic brains, excellent function typically means traits like the ability to see the gist or essence of things or to spot the larger context behind a given situation or idea; multidimensionality of perspective; the ability to see new, unusual, or distant connections; inferential reasoning and ambiguity detection; the ability to recombine things in novel ways and a general inventiveness and intentionality during tasks that others take for granted.

Our school is filled with bright and dedicated students whose brains are wired a bit differently. They work to forge new pathways to learn the basic skills that the school system imprints on the rest of us through more conventional methods. As a "lefty" living in a right-handed world, I have a small window of understanding for the much larger hurdle that they have to overcome. Unfortunately, as schools, families, and even employers we often focus on the "can't" part of the equation as in "they can't learn in the same way as most people" instead of recognizing and celebrating the "can" - "they can see and do things with ease that baffle their more linear peers".

This past week I had the privilege of joining seven of our Grade 5 students, their parents, and coaches to Knoxville, Tennessee for the Global Finals of Destination Imagination. Destination Imagination, the world's largest creative problem-solving programme for elementary and secondary students, is an educational programme in which student teams solve open-ended Challenges and present their solutions at regional, provincial or national tournaments. Teams are tested to think on their feet, work together and devise original solutions that satisfy the requirements of the Challenges. Students gain more than just basic knowledge and skills - they "learn to unleash their imaginations and take unique approaches to problem-solving".

In the lead up to the finals, our students excelled in their regional competition and placed second in British Columbia in their age group and challenge category. This qualified them to head to Knoxville where they joined almost 10,000 students from 12 countries, almost all US states, and six Canadian provinces (BC, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia). Now most of our students will never be star athletes or straight "A" students, and they probably won't be the ones whose provincial examination results will be published in the local paper. But many of our students have the potential to be the ones creatively solving the scientific and engineering problems of the future; or the ones designing the most intriguing structures; finding ways out of our environmental quagmire; or creating great works of performance or visual art. 

Our students are the outliers who will help society to make remarkably creative leaps into the future. But this will only happen as long as today's teachers and parents help to provide the opportunities for them to flex their creative muscle, to apply their considerable talents and to recognize the fact that being different is not necessarily a bad thing! 

So how did our kids do in Knoxville? Well, they didn't win, but they did wonderfully well. As parents and educators we could not have been more proud of their efforts. They were focused and energetic, creative and funny and, (unlike all of us adults), relaxed; as if being in Grade 5, and competing in a world championship, was just another day at the office! 

Our students learn differently, and that's what makes them so amazing!

1 Comment
Siobhan Devine
5/27/2013 09:41:12 am

I love the way you talk about our children. They are the outliers indeed.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    Dr. Jim Christopher is recently retired Head of Kenneth Gordon Maplewood School and Maplewood Alternative High School in North Vancouver. A parent, author and long-time teacher, and educational administrator across Canada, he has been actively involved in the drive to differentiate learning experiences to meet the needs of all learners.

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Archives

    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    September 2019
    April 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012

    Categories

    All
    Education
    Homework
    Independent Schools
    Learning Disabilities

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.