Intro
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okay tonight we have Joanne Foster who is a
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parent teacher and has worked in the field of gifted education for over 30 years she gives presentations to
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Educators and parent organizations in local National online and international forums focusing on children’s learning
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and optimal development Dr Foster has written many award-winning books including bust your butts 1T tips for
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teens who procrastinate which is a winner of an ibpa Benjamin Franklin award she currently writes for
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first-time parent magazine and the creativity post and her work is featured elsewhere as well Dr Foster addresses
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intelligence creativity procrastination productivity children’s well-being and
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more and tonight the title of her presentation and um I was thinking maybe
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I could benefit from this presentation tonight too procrastination and gifted
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Learners so if you all can help me welcome Dr Joanne Foster here with us tonight we’re excited to have you and
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learn more about what you have for us tonight
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can I unmute yep there you go you’re all good I’m good to go all right thank you
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so much that was a lovely introduction and it’s really a pleasure to be here
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I’m just gonna move this out of the way here and whoops the second
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and one sec
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and we’re good all right so um I want to thank everybody who is um
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with me this evening and uh it’s a pleasure I’ve been to Colorado you have a beautiful state and uh I hope to come
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back one day I’ll be talking tonight about procrastination and gifted Learners you can see the various books
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that I’ve written and um you’ll also see my contact information on this page so
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if you feel that you have questions you want to reach out and contact me um you you just want to
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find something else out beyond what I’m discussing uh feel free
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um you can go to Joanne foster.ca the ca is actually for Canada I’m Canadian and
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most of my work is in Canada although I do speak internationally and so forth um as as Lucas mentioned I also have a very
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um broad Resource page filled with articles
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um presentation slides you name it it’s there so um I invite you to visit my
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website at your leisure and and find out even more because what I’ll be talking about tonight is really just tip of the
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iceberg when it comes to procrastination and gifted Learners so let’s get started
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um what I’m going to do is um okay this is not flipping here
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for some reason just a second hold on I’ve just got something
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applications something weird unexpected error has occurred this is not good oh
Agenda
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there we go all right so um this is where we’re going to be headed and um you’ll see that I color
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code everything as I go so you’ll have an idea as to how the presentation is proceeding so I’m going to start talking
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about giftedness and procrastination so those will be the slides with the um the blue Banner then I’m going to move into
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some key strategies for overcoming avoidance behavior and those will be the green Banner slides and I’ll be talking
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about four different Keys uh in terms of strategies so I’m going to talk a little bit about certain questions that are
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important to address context purpose and goal setting and also creativity and
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finally I’m going to wrap up this sort of an oranging star there and I’m going to talk about action tips excuse me
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takeaways for fostering children’s well-being meaningful learning and productivity so that just gives you a
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sense of where we’re going and and what to expect so let’s move on so the first thing I want to talk about is giftedness
Giftedness Empowerment
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and empowerment and I’m going to start with a very important question and that is how can parents and teachers help
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gifted Learners become more industrious make wise decisions and experience
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success at home and at school and if we were in a presentation venue where we could have a discussion I would ask you
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this question and we would collect all kinds of different answers around what you as parents standard teachers feel is
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most relevant what I’m going to do however is give you some some thoughts here that doesn’t mean that what I’m telling you is the
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end-all be-all but it certainly is a good starting point for you in terms of thinking about this important question
Challenges in Giftedness
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so when we look at productivity in the context of giftedness we also have to realize that kids sometimes confront
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confusing and escalating issues things like intellectual uh social emotional
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expectations all different things in different areas that can affect their well-being affect their productivity
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and affect the way they think of themselves so there are different challenges and some of these challenges can include the following intensified
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gifted related or Scholastic demands transition time so moving from one
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classroom one school one neighborhood things happening in your family those
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are all transition times that can have an effect on a child’s productivity
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social emotional upheavals asynchronous development and reconciling
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it this is a real big issue in the context of giftedness because of course we have some students who are very
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strong in some areas and not in others and of course there are twice exceptional Learners and so forth
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identity issues motivational concerns the kids who sometimes just can’t manage to to get
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things done because they’re just not motivated perhaps they’re bored perhaps they’re um distracted whatever it might
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be and as a result kids May avoid tasks or procrastinate
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and of course procrastination is is the the Crux of this particular presentation
Dali quote
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we’re talking about gifted learners but the fact is that intelligence alone is not enough and I love this particular
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quote by Salvador Dali The Artist he says intelligence without ambition is A Bird Without Wings
What matters
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so then what matters what is it that fuels that ambition that fires kids up
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so that they become engaged and interested and productive so you see here again talking about birds and wings
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this is a beautiful picture taken by my friend Garnet Rich who’s a nature photographer and I just think it just
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embodies this idea of of how we can get um
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kids to to get going to whether that’s a parent or a teacher working with that
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little one it’s it’s just that all sensibility of what really matters so the first thing that I think really
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matters is effort being willing and able to practice skills and to persevere
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what also matters is resilience so being open to seeing setbacks is growth opportunities
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and the third point that matters and again if we were in a room I would say can you guess number three and we would
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see what people came up with but again we’re not in that context so what matters as far as this particular
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presentation goes is Passion that that enthusiasm that that being Keen to
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extend your capabilities and your knowledge and notice that I stay in areas in which you choose to excel
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because again it’s what children choose to do at the end of the day it’s up to them as to how productive they’re going
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to be and whether or not they’re going to procrastinate throughout this presentation you’ll see a number of
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points or um book references I I pull things from all my different books I have seven of them
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and so it just gives you an idea as to where um you can find out more on these particular points um when you see that
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little book locator there um I’m just going to add one quote here
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from an actor by the name of um Ronnie Rowe and I heard him say that this is his Mantra this is what he tells people
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all the time he says go and get your greatness and to me that that Persona
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bind it that’s what we want kids to do we want them to go and get their greatness we want them to move forward and it will of course take effort
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resilience and passion but it’s got to come from them that that that
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um that internal peace intrinsic so what are some sensible starting
Sensible starting points
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points let’s just get right to the key points here we have to appreciate children’s
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remarkable differences no two kids are alike we have to pay attention to what fits a
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child in context we have to encourage their willingness to stretch their boundaries to try new
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techniques to extend the conventional curriculum to take a risk if they have to a little bit not not so far off the
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limb but enough that they feel that they are going to to try something exciting and new
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and of course advocacy for the application of best practice at school to keep kids motivated including
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well-planned targeted professional development and this is something that I advocate for all the time I taught for many years at the University of Toronto
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I taught gifted education and educational psychology and I was always always advocating for best practice to
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help teachers learn to not only to keep kids motivated but to understand gifted learning and to understand ways to help
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them um be creative and um and feel good
What is giftedness
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a little bit about giftedness uh this is a quote giftedness is not passive it is
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part of a developmental process and it’s dependent upon how a person engages with ideas people circumstances environments
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and the challenges of daily life so it’s not that you just sort of born and there you are it giftedness
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involves it it has to do with what happens in your life your experiences who you meet the ideas that you
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cultivate the circumstances that you encounter the environments that you’re in the supports that you receive and of
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course the different challenges you face and how you manage to deal with them
Help gifted learners build confidence
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given all those challenges we have to help gifted Learners build confidence so we have to encourage kids to appreciate
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their unique talents their gifted profiles of abilities and also their individual
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developmental differences and how do we do that we encourage them
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by inviting them to have hopes and dreams and letting them know that they can make those aspirations happen
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because confidence grows when you succeed in areas that matter to you but who you are and what you can achieve is
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not predetermined it evolves and actually we were just speaking briefly before the um the session I have a I
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keep in touch with the number of my former students and one of my former students just won an Emmy and I sent a
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congratulations to him and and and he wrote back something about how how his grade four teacher
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um made the difference and that absolutely made my day because and I’m not saying this to Pat myself on the
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pack but I was his grade four teacher and I wrote back and I said it’s it had nothing really to do with me and maybe I
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made a difference and maybe I sparked your creativity but what you are and what you achieve it’s not predetermined
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it evolves and it evolves from hard work and effort over time it evolves from
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thought and knowledge and creativity but it evolves and
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understanding that evolution is what will help kids build confidence and go places
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so that’s an individual Choice each person decides what they’re going to strive for what they’re going to settle
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on what they’re going to delay and what they’re going to avoid
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so let’s talk about the avoidance piece the procrastination piece and some of the realities and some of the ways the
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kids think so here are some things that I hear a lot okay kids might say there’s no point it’s way too easy I want to set my own
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rules and timeline I have to prioritize whatever it is it can wait I want to think more carefully about this before I
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do anything what’s the Raj there’s still time till it’s due I just don’t want to do it I
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don’t feel like doing it you can’t make me do it I’ll do it tomorrow I’ve got better things to do these are just some
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of the things that kids say these are excuses or rationales
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um but you know if you’re honest I’m sure you’ve heard them and if you’re really honest you may yourself have said
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them so we all procrastinate me however
volition
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some highly capable kids needs help developing what is called volition these are skills of will so it’s not just a
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matter of making excuses sometimes there are actual um skills involved that kids feel that
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they don’t have and so in learning to take responsibility for their choices consequences actions and outcomes we may
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need to help them a little bit in terms of developing that volition procrastination is no secret like
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caution hesitation and indecision it’s a slice of life is out there so we might as well just face it what we also need
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to face is that we need to help kids sometimes so here are three basic remedies the
help kids
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first is help learning to help kids learn to adapt so learning from their past experience what it is they can do
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what it is they need to build upon help them understand that motivation develops step by step so one step at a
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time if that’s all you can do one little step followed by another followed by another that’s okay that’s the way
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things start and those steps will vary across time domains and situations in terms of what’s comfortable for any
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given child and the third basic remedy is that we have to help kids realize the power that
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exists when they expand their skills and their range of knowledge so we have to encourage them to find opportunities for
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further learning and encourage them to feel positive about their accomplishments
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all of this requires awareness it requires willingness and it requires
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work so that’s where we as adults as advocates as guides as cheerleaders come
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into the picture so let me tell you a little bit about procrastination resources these two
procrastination resources
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books that um we mentioned earlier are certainly there at your disposal and and the resources on my web page as well but
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think for a minute about what it is that you and your kids whether your kids or your your own kids or your students what
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what you need to find out you have to find out what procrastination is
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like really understand what it is determine who procrastinates when where
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how and why and then figure out what to do about it so there’s a bit of an agenda there that when you go to various
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procrastination resources or you think further about what I’m going to discuss tonight these are things that you can
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maybe expand upon and really sift through
what is procrastination
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so procrastination and brief it’s common it’s misunderstood it’s often based on your emotions how
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you’re feeling on a particular day you know if you’re angry if you’re sad if you’re distressed if you’re um doubtful
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whatever it might be and procrastination can be a coping strategy a way to put things off so that you don’t have to
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deal with them it’s a voluntary delay of intended action and sometimes it
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involves task substitution so there’s a reluctant a reluctance to do one thing so instead you’ll do another but in the
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meantime you’re avoiding something procrastination is related to several
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things it’s related to the way you behave it’s related to your past habits your experience
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um your work habits as well feelings which I’ve mentioned whether or not you can prioritize things effectively and
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also your health and well-being because sometimes if you’re too tired or you’re too hungry um or or you’re you’re you haven’t
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exercised and you’re just feeling low that can affect whether or not you’re going to be inclined to do something
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that affects your well-being and if you’re not feeling well you’re going to be less inclined to to be industrious
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and productive what does procrastination look like well
what procrastination looks like
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you figure okay I’m gonna put things off and that’ll be it well maybe yes and maybe no procrastination is intentional
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kids who procrastinate might delay defer or postpone tasks or activities
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okay but they might also make excuses or they might withdraw or they might fuss
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or wine or they might prolong doing one thing that they really enjoy doing to
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avoid having to do another so these behaviors may occur at home at
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school or elsewhere and they can happen at any age they can be seen by infants toddlers older children teens
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continue right into adulthood anybody can be a procrastinator
benefits of procrastination
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are the benefits to procrastination yes first of all it allows more time to plan
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things out and it enables you to pay attention to details so people will say oh I’m not going to do this yet I really
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have to think about it very hard and and plan it out and and I want to be really detailed about it procrastination is
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also a means to an end it’s a way to stop and acquire resources spend quality time with family or friends do something
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else that you really enjoy doing and there’s really nothing wrong with that we want to enjoy life and another big benefit to
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procrastination is that it’s a door that can lead to reflection and creativity you stop you pause you just put
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everything aside and you think and you let your ideas bubble along and that it
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could be intentional in the sense that it’s not really procrastination that may in fact be productive
why procrastination is problematic
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all right then so why procrastination problematic why is everybody make such a fuss about it if there are benefits to
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it what’s the big deal well first of all if you put things off you’re short-circuiting your
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productivity when kids procrastinate and they don’t do their homework or they don’t do their
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assignments whatever it might be it obstructs their learning they can’t move forward because they haven’t got a grasp
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on what it is that they already need to know to build upon procrastination can be stressful if
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someone keeps thinking I’ve got to do this I’ve got to do this I haven’t done it it’s building up it’s taking so long that can cause anxiety
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it interferes with skill building and with creativity procrastination can also affect your
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self-esteem some people think less of themselves because they don’t seem to be able to get things done the way they might like to
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procrastination can also compromise relationships leading to disagreements conflicts or power struggles especially
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if someone is counting upon you to to be part of a group or an assignment or something of that ill or there are due
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dates and deadlines and so on and you’re not meeting them that can be difficult because there are other people who might
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be affected there are consequences and finally procrastination can lead to Lost opportunities not filling out forms not
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being someplace where you’re supposed to be those are lost opportunities and there are only so many windows in life
reasons for procrastination
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so let’s think about what the reasons are with all of those problems that
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could occur why is it that some people nevertheless procrastinate what are
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those underlying causes some causes are personal so some examples of this happen to be having too
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much to do can’t do everything being bored lacking confidence
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fearing that you’re going to fail or fearing that you’re going to be so successful that somebody’s going to just lay on more stuff and then you’re going
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to be stuck doing way too much some children are perfectionists they don’t want to do something at all if
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they can’t do it just so another reason for procrastination is confusion there’s just too many
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complexities it’s too intricate I don’t know where to start I don’t know where to end it’s too confusing forget it I’m not going to do it at all and finally
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yeah it’s laziness some kids are lazy so these are personal reasons for procrastination and invest your butts I
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discuss about 28 different reasons so some of them are personal some of them are skill related so here are some
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examples of that being disorganized not being able to deal with time management a lot of people have difficulty with
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that and there are strategies and apps and so forth not having sufficient knowledge to be able to do a task so you
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put it off and put it on the back burner and say I I’m not going to do this because I I can’t uh maybe you have a disability or maybe
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you have problems with goal setting or decision making or prioritizing or
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mitigating risks something seems too risky and you don’t want to try it because you’re afraid so those those are skill related reasons
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and the third category in terms of reasons for procrastination are external reasons so
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these are things like all those distractions that get in your way whether it’s potato chips or devices or
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other people um not having the right materials that you might need or enough structure
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having influencers out there people telling you what to do or not to do can be really
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um discombobulating and then parents who pester or who procrastinate themselves who keep saying have you finished your
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homework yet like going on and on and then they themselves procrastinate so they’re setting an example that maybe um
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is not necessarily the best so those are some of the reasons for procrastination and as I say I I do have others but it
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just gives you a sense of those three different areas so when you’re thinking about you know why
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um you or kids could procrastinate you might want to see which Silo um might be the one
red flags
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there are also red flags that can cause procrastination and when I talk about red flags I’m talking about things that
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we really need to pay close attention to and possibly even professionally so traumatic or transitional events could
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cause children not to be able to follow through on a task or an activity the history of emotional issues where
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they’re not able to cope with their feelings their anger disappointment embarrassment whatever it might be
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lack of friends with whom to share ideas this is a big one a lot of kids who have
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wonderful ideas are are reluctant to move forward with them because they they don’t have food to share them with and
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and we really um learn a lot through communication and
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through collaboration and through working with others and when children don’t have that opportunity uh that
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itself can be problematic and then signs of undue stress such as sleeplessness
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changes in eating habits mood swings academic decline changes in activity
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level substance abuse Behavior that’s markedly different than usual or at a
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step compared with age peers so these are just signs of undue stress things to be aware of and if you see them chances
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are you’re going to have a child who’s going to procrastinate as a result of these and then finally
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you have to deal with the issues one by one as they arise and acquire professional help if and when warranted
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some of these you may not be able to handle on your own so don’t be afraid to ask for professional help if and when
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you need it so that’s a little bit about um what procrastination is and how it um
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jives with that sort of gifted piece and I’m going to move into the second part of my presentation now which is actually
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dealing with strategies and I’m going to talk about the drive to scribe and I’m going to focus on four different Keys as
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I mentioned earlier one is questions including an optimal match which I’ll explain one is context one is purpose
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and goal setting and the other is creativity and I’ll morph into each one of these with one of those little yellow keys so you’ll know where I’m going
questions for parents
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so the first thing I want to talk about here is question and these are predominantly questions for parents but
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also they are relevant for teachers as well and what might those six questions be they all have to do with providing
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support and providing learning opportunities the first is figure out what’s practical for kids what’s
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reasonable are we asking them to do things that they can actually do
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are the expectations that we’re putting forth negotiable is there any wiggle room can children be involved in
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studying those expectations what fits your particular family Dynamic
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are the demands fitting do they um fit with your time schedule with
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what’s going on in your family at any given point in time are they realistic from that point of view
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what motivates your child’s mind or body their Spirit what what makes them tick what makes them feel that you know this
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is a worthwhile learning opportunity what compromises may be necessary do you
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have to back down a little bit do you have to provide extra support or reinforcement or praise or encouragement
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so you have to perhaps is there a monetary factor involved is
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there Transportation involved um you know what if your child wants to learn the harp or or wants to learn rowing or
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want to take up horseback riding or like what compromises might be necessary for you uh in order to enable your child to
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be their best self and finally what learning experiences align well with your child’s particular learning needs
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and this is something we call an optimal match Donna Matthews and I write extensively about this in um our last
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book which is the third edition of being smart called being smart about gifted learning and we talk about the optimal
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matches being that alignment the way in which we provide learning opportunities that are properly suited to a child’s
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abilities and interests in different domains
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so in terms of value attribution which is the value of a task
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um what is it that actually Spurs engagement the thing that Spurs engagement is appropriate challenge not
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too easy not too hard but at that level where they feel that they can be comfortable and yet still Excel and and
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move forward an optimal match approach aligns learning opportunities with individual interests needs and
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capability in different domains and over time so if you look at that picture he’s reading a book could be about anything
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it’s whatever it is interests are whatever he needs to know what more about whatever he needs to build upon
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from his capabilities that he already has because we build upon the knowledge that we’ve already acquired
value of achievement
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Albert Einstein said the value of achievement lies in the achieving so here we have a child that is reading for
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someone else the value of achievement might be having to do with arts or athleticism or technology or music or
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literature but the value of achievement lies in the achievement it’s what they feel is gratifying to them
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sometimes what’s needed is higher expectation requirements of hard work and real responsibilities which provide
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opportunities to learn the value of sustained periods of engaged time and task commitment do you see here that
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this young boy he gives totally immersed in that book and we could sit
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bar is high for kids that that’s okay to set high expectations especially for gifted learners but we have to make sure
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that kids understand that if we’re going to set high expectations or co-create high expectations that there will be
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work involved there will be effort required that volition that I talked about earlier and the opportunity that
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um they’re going to have the time and space that they’ll require in order to complete whatever the task might be
questions about tasks
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so let’s look at some questions about tasks things to consider when you’re putting
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together a task either with or without the child whether you’re it’s something that you’re co-creating or something that you are
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assigning so is it open-ended is it multi-dimensional
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is it achievable in other words can they actually do it at a suitable Pace if
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they if they try is it significant is it relevant do the do they feel safe asking for help
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or do they have to go It Alone our children’s perspectives opinions and different skills actually valued and
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they’re doing this particular task and it’s their opportunity for new or abstract ideas to connect to what’s
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already familiar or concrete in other words building from what’s known additional questions
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is Choice involved the most important thing I think we can offer kids is Choice the opportunity to
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select what it is they want to learn within of course the parameters of what they need to learn is creativity
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encouraged I’m going to talk more about creativity in a little bit are there elements of
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surprise or wonder do you Peak their curiosity do problems and questions challenge high
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levels of mastery are there opportunities for active participation such as exploration and
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Hands-On activities and experimentation and and links to what it is that they want to know more about and finally is
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there enthusiasm within the learning environment or is it just a blank boring space
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so that that environment makes all the difference as well so those are some of the questions to think about when you’re
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putting together tasks I’m going to move into context because
context
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we just talked about environment and um learning is an experiential process it
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occurs within a context or a particular environment and you should know that any kind of change or any kind of
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flexibility can influence whether a child will have success or feel confident within that context so we need
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to be careful when we think about change and flexibility meeting diverse learning needs involves
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ongoing assessments so paying attention to that change in flexibility or whatever it is that’s in flux and then
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providing a range of different learning options that will suit the child so what does a motivating context look
motivating context
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like what does a motivating learning environment look like one where kids won’t procrastinate but will feel
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excited about doing things for some kids it might be working independently for
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others it might be a collaborative environment uh for some kids they like
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lots of structure whereas others say no no no no I just I just need to free flow it I need to do it whatever way I want
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some children require a lot of support along the way some kids require stability it has to be a familiar place
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and some kids um what differentiation and then of course respect choice and fairness and
31:01
with the star there it says joy relevance and creativity which are key
31:06
and for some reason the um quote came up fast but nevertheless here
31:11
it is encourage your child to get out and explore to exercise body and mind to find
31:17
something new to learn and then oops and then really learn it
31:22
to be a Maverick to ask questions to be persistent and to enjoy the
31:29
process so if you take a look at that you want them to get out there you want them to explore you want them to trailblaze and and find
31:36
New Horizons to be a Maverick you want them to engage in inquiry to use their curiosity
31:44
to persist and most of all that whole joy peace to the joy of learning
motivating contacts
31:53
and what contributes to motivating contacts well there are too simple but all important factors and again if we
31:59
were in a room I would say what do you think they are and we would do a bit of a guessing game and we would see what people come up with but I’ll tell you my
32:06
too doesn’t mean that they are your two but that’s okay as well as whatever too simple but all important factors are
32:13
Challenge and manageability together so in tandem both of them so it has to be challenging enough to be interesting but
32:20
manageable enough to do and finally authentically meaningful it means to be significantly relevant to
32:26
the child there has to be a reason for doing it otherwise they’re going to put it off and say I don’t want to do this there’s no point it doesn’t mean
32:32
anything to me so it might be in sports it might be chess it might be drama it might be painting it might be
32:38
um writing technology whatever it might be as long as it’s something authentically meaningful to them and
32:44
it’s appropriately challenging and manageable you’re Off to the Races you’re good
distractions
32:49
however there can also be a lot of distractions out there so pay attention to what they are
32:55
um pay attention to what you can tolerate so you might be able to handle you know potato chips on the counter but
33:01
maybe not if you’re in the same room um and what what can you ignore you know
33:06
you have trouble with dogs barking music um lights uh what what are those people
33:13
talking um what are your distractions what gets in the way of your productivity what
33:18
what makes you turn away and say I’m not doing it I can’t do it it’s just too much going on forget it
33:24
so help kids remove temptation take breaks when they need to and determine how often they’re
33:30
distracted and why and when so that they get to know themselves and then they can modify those things and mitigate them
33:36
and then of course practice mindfulness the the whole idea of being in the moment and deep breathing and all the
33:42
things that mindfulness encompasses which I’m not going to give into here but is certainly a whole
33:48
um study in and of itself okay another section here purpose and goal
purpose
33:55
setting so um purpose motivates persistence resolve and commitment it
34:01
knows no age restraints and it can apply to any domain at any time the purpose is really important if you have a sense of
34:07
purpose if there’s a reason debt or a reason a way to do something that sets
34:13
you in Motion in a very good way and with enough motivation and commitment a person can even alter their sense of
34:19
purpose because sometimes we go up ahead to do something and the situation changes along the way and and we need to
34:25
find out more we need to get more resources we need to change our goals whatever it might be but that’s okay because if you’re still motivated and
34:32
you’re still committed to your purpose you can still move forward with it a
34:37
sense of purpose is linked to Better Health and well-being and can help the Safeguard cognitive abilities so that’s
34:43
in the research it’s out there and in fact Scott Barry Kaufman has written about this and um it’s um it’s true a
34:50
sense of purpose is linked to Better Health and well-being so I mean go for it
success
34:56
so here this is about procrastination purpose and Notions of success and people have a different idea of what is
35:02
successful so um it may be um just finishing a task it may be
35:07
finishing a task and getting an a it may be finishing a task and getting praise
35:12
um it just may be that self-satisfaction of of getting something done and moving on to something next but we have to help
35:19
kids challenge their understandings of success and they don’t have to focus on large or gifted level accomplishments
35:24
they’ll experience more successes and confidence if they’re broad-minded about the nature of what success is so keep
35:31
that in mind too have a discussion with kids you know what what’s your idea of success I mean let’s let’s finish this
35:36
or let’s finish it and do it a certain way or you know what what is successful for you
35:42
um but also success happens through play and we need to make sure that we’re not so focused on having kids achieve large
35:49
successes um by compromising their play and their downtime because that contributes to
35:55
success to we all need play time we all need time to relax and think and reflect and and have Recreation so we need to
36:02
ensure that too as part of our journey towards success we also have to encourage agency and and
36:09
what do I mean by agency I mean involvement and um uh participation uh
36:16
investing of yourself your time and your effort and acquiring ownership in a task
36:21
because when children sense that they have ownership of their activities and that their learning choices are respected they’ll be more inclined to
36:29
commit to them and to see them through so even when the going is tough like that little plant taking its way through
36:35
the pavement if you really want it badly enough and you are really trying hard
36:41
enough and you’re investing yourself enough into it then um you can get there
cocreation
36:48
so ways to augment ownership one way is to co-create suitable goals
36:54
and expectations so involving children in designing their goals and activity leads to ownership and a sense of
37:00
purpose so here are some ideas for that and enable kids to help set short medium
37:07
and long-haul expectations but do so with an eye towards the
37:13
following their capability how busy they are like how many things they’ve got going on in life
37:18
extracurricularly in the family whatever pay attention to their feelings pay attention to their attitudes about
37:25
doing things do they tend to be lazy do they tend to do things better in the morning at night or whenever what does
37:33
past experience tell you about the way they set goals or manage to achieve
37:38
goals what’s the resilience like what happens when they make a mistake or they they see a setback how do they handle
37:45
those things um what is their confidence level do they they have stealth doubts uh what
37:51
sort of supports are in faith and how much effort are they willing to put forth so yes they can help set those
37:57
goals but when they are setting them with you help them pay attention to all
38:03
of these things capabilities busyness feelings attitudes experience resilience confidence supports and everything
38:09
that’s a whole long list so each one of those um is again tip of the iceberg and would
38:15
require more strategies and more discussion if we had more time there’s a bit of a dilemma here
setting goals
38:21
sometimes when we set goals it’s too high sometimes it could be too low so you know finding that sweet spot it’s a
38:28
bit of um Touch and Go situation so the simple Act of assigning a challenging goal can
38:36
raise a child’s confidence because it communicates an expectation and a confidence that the individual has the
38:42
ability to accomplish the task so it’s a good idea to set a qualify especially for gifted Learners if you think they
38:48
can make it give them that goal let them try and and work towards it with an eye that of
38:54
course you’ll give them the support of the resources or whatever it might be along the way flexibility and negotiation and so forth keep the car
39:01
High while providing that support and guidance and be sure to review goals often to keep focused and adjust effort
39:07
or strategy and the best kinds of goals are fair fitting
39:14
and flexible that means that they’re aligned with the particular child’s level of Readiness
39:19
and whatever subject area or area of Interest it might be and it has to be in line with
39:26
um where they feel strength and where they feel less inclined to be strong so pay attention to not only their
39:32
interests but also areas of strength and weakness goals should be clear they’re not overly
39:38
confusing they should be realistic they should be reachable or attainable in in
39:44
a reasonable time frame and they should be inspiring they should they should enable the child to to build upon their
39:51
ideas and build upon their creativity as well and that brings us to our fourth area of
creativity
39:57
strategies and this is uh creativity and creativity is really empowering and it
40:04
can actually help to eliminate procrastination and uh when you encourage children to believe in their
40:09
capabilities to ask questions to be playful this Spurs their imagination and
40:14
using the imagination is worthwhile it’s wonderful and it gets them moving it gets them excited so um I have to tell
40:21
you that I write a lot about creativity I have over 80 articles on creativity at
40:27
the creativity post which you can see for yourself at creativitypost.com and many of them are actually on my website
40:34
as well you can just go to the resource page and you’ll see a whole bunch and I write about everything from Hope to
40:39
tenacity to creativity through music um confusion decision making all these
40:46
different things that play into our creative sides and so um again I I
40:51
encourage you in that particular quote is from um uh one article on ways to support kids
40:56
intelligence and creativity again at the creativitypost.com so here are some examples of some of the
articles
41:02
articles that I’ve written again there’s like over 80 so um embracing uncertainty uh creativity
41:08
and special needs Learners uh explaining creativity to kids um nature
41:14
um Pride um reading finding the joy craft all of
41:21
this so you can just have a field day and take a look at my website or matchstay Joanne foster.ca at
41:28
the bottom there’s a typo there so um and here are some tips for fostering
tips
41:34
children’s creativity flexible tasks um learning to see errors and obstacles
41:39
as opportunities providing options for both Independence and collaboration
41:46
providing time for kids to listen to reflect focus and refocus making sure that their ideas and
41:52
questions are welcome opportunities to work with varied materials under different conditions so
41:58
if they want to work with wood or wax or wire or feathers or numbers or
42:04
technology or whatever it might be and at different places and with different
42:09
people and finally we’re courage and reasonable risk taking is reinforced so think back
42:15
to that picture where I um I had that duck with the baby duck and just
42:21
fly go do take take take that shot and um like the activity is important
activity is important
42:29
well there are many reasons but I just want to give you three here and any of these feed into procrastination if you
42:35
have resolve you won’t procrastinate if you think positively about something you’re less likely to procrastinate and
42:42
if you’re feeling productive you’re less likely to procrastinate so this is why creativity is important it’s a conduit
42:48
for solving problems so it applies to assignments chores challenges whatever you need to to resolve to do feel
42:55
positive about or or be productive around creativity makes things more fun
43:00
so you can add music or game through dramat any task and make it more interesting and more likely to be
43:06
tackled and finally creativity sharpens inquiry and thinking skills so by asking
43:13
questions we build connections we build knowledge we build engagement and there’s less likely that of
43:19
procrastination and creativity is a choice you can either choose to be creative or not you
Creativity is a choice
43:26
can or won’t it’s totally up to you and procrastination is a choice too so you
43:32
know you have to help kids think creatively about how to make a situation activity or environment more appealing interesting or better for Learning and
43:39
talk about this talk about everyday situations what would make it better what what would make it more creative and more interesting and more
43:46
um imaginative and appealing for a child to do any particular task or activity so
43:51
that instead of saying I won’t they’ll say I can and I will so I’m going to wrap up I’m going to
43:57
give you four takeaways and for each one of my takeaways I’m also going to give you some suggestions and uh before I do
44:04
that I just want you to think back upon some of the points I’ve already discussed I don’t know what resonates most for you because you’re all out
44:10
there and you’re all different people and you have different family um constellations and Dynamics and so
44:15
forth so if you have to think about your own set of family circumstances and your own family’s concerns in relation to
44:21
procrastination and then apply what matters most to you but I’m going to give you some takeaways that certainly
44:26
are are broad-based enough to to apply so the first takeaway is encouragement
Encouragement
44:31
and um the way to encourage is to nurture challenge creativity determination
44:37
effort and resourcefulness and do it step by step so what you see here is a reiteration of what I talked about
44:43
earlier I also say that in terms of encouragement we need to offer opportunities so that children feel that
44:50
purpose I discussed in that sense of satisfaction and accomplishment in doing something and completing it and feeling
44:56
good about oneself in the process so that Journey and then providing the reinforcement And
45:02
Timely feedback and genuine praise and I’m not talking about General praise like oh you’re doing a good job I’m talking about constructive feedback
45:09
that’s timely that um That Matters to the child and knows and so so they know
45:14
that you’re paying attention to what it is um that they’re doing that um you know they’ve done it in the time
45:21
frame they’ve they’ve used interesting materials whatever it might be that
45:26
enables you to show them that you’re paying attention and you can maybe help them get to the next level
45:32
suggestions for providing encouragement here are several listen carefully carefully and inquire intelligently
45:40
be attentive to Children’s difficulties whatever it might be causing them to pause or have have um issues along the
45:46
way like that little guy with all those pieces that coming out of that box that you see in the picture tackle one
45:52
concern at a time because we try to do too much at once it gets befuddling I like that way
45:58
um pick a suitable time and place to have that encouragement offered so you know that you they they hear you that
46:04
it’s um pertinent to what it is that they’re doing it doesn’t get lost in in
46:09
Translation focus on the positives because that’s something that will help
46:14
them move forward help kids realize and accept their limitations so if they get frustrated help them along and Consulting get extra
46:22
support if you need to and um there are also many checklists that can help you encourage children so for example uh and
46:28
Beyond intelligence um Donna Matthews and I write about how to model effective coping skills uh
46:34
different ways to reassure kids and how to support your child in taking action and I write about these in a lot of my
46:40
articles not only for creativity posts but also for first-time parent magazine so again resources page Joanne foster.ca
46:48
lots of good stuff there including information on any of these so that’s
46:53
the first takeaway has to do with encouragement my second takeaway has to do with flexibility so uh providing a
Flexibility
47:00
combination of options for children to choose from from time to time and circumstances dictate the more options they have the more confusing it may be
47:06
but chances are they’re going to find something that they really want to do and it speaks to them so honor their
47:12
individual differences providing flexibility will Foster high-level explorations
47:18
it invites self-selected learning experiences so chances for children to to choose what it is they want to do
47:25
enables them to creatively integrate different interests and ideas and push them together and pull them apart and
47:31
play with them and mess with them and and have fun um collaborate meaningfully with others
47:37
and also Embrace Challenge and change so some suggestions to enable flexibility
Whats worked
47:44
here are a few figure out what’s worked well before
47:49
think about who can help have kids participate in making sure that they have a stay in planning their
47:55
learning experiences and pay attention to their skill sets so for example if they don’t feel that
48:01
confident when it comes to their work habits or communication or decision making or self-advocacy help them get
48:07
over those particular um obstacles or hurdles if need be
Find the joy
48:14
my third takeaway is find the joy and I have a whole article on this in
48:19
um creativity post actually confidence grows as we experience things we like to
48:25
do and become better at doing them so enjoy what you do what interests you think about how you can tap into those
48:31
interests when you confront a task or challenge that you might be tempted to avoid so find that Joy find that piece
48:38
of it that segment that beginning that middle that end that makes you happy
Joy through action
48:43
and often you can find Joy through action so the first part of action has to do with the thinking part you know
48:50
focusing on what it is you have to do how you’re going to do it visualizing the success and the outcomes and
48:56
figuring out what it is that you need to prepare in order to get going so that’s Joy through action is a step-by-step
49:03
process so those are the thinking aspects the beginning aspects and then come
49:08
the actual progress throughout the action and um you know staying on track
49:14
paying attention to any adjustments you need to make making sure you take breaks so that you still stay joyful I’m
49:20
getting the help you need and being resourceful if you have to find new materials or things along the way so yes
49:25
we want joy but joy comes at a price you need to think and you have to check your progress along the way
Responsibility
49:32
and the final um takeaway here number four has to do with um responsibility
49:39
and when we talk about procrastination responsibility may seem like it’s the other end of the spectrum but children
49:45
who know that their education is in part their own to create I’ve learned an important lesson for life and derive a
49:51
lot more from their schooling so having that discussion with them that they need to be involved in their education that
49:57
they can help co-create it and that they need to actually take part they need to be engaged they
50:03
have to put forth that time in that effort so having that discussion with them they have three options they can
50:09
stand still and go nowhere which I call paralysis they can turn back and never know what might have been which is
50:16
retreating or they can move ahead and take a chance and progress so this is this is the
50:21
responsibility uh package that you can present to them and and let them choose you know what what is it that you want
50:27
to do you choose um because ultimately anything you do the choice is yours and helping kids
50:33
take responsibility for their actions and learning advancements to help them go for my Cantor I won’t do I can and I
50:39
will so I’m just going to wrap up with um actually one last takeaway that has just
Final Tips
50:44
some final tips things that um that that are common sense common sense being things like making sure that
50:51
you say um please and thank you when you ask kids to do something that you um have sensible time frames for for tasks that
50:59
you um ask questions that matter that you don’t get into a confrontation or a
51:04
battle of wills and none of that serves any purpose in terms of working with procrastinators it’s it’s really
51:12
um counterproductive um just being respectful of their
51:17
thoughts and their feelings it’s really what it’s all about so um you know again not criticizing but
51:23
being constructive so so all those things but here reinforce effort persistence and resilience
51:30
provide choice make sure you pay attention to their main specific abilities and interests so
51:37
that optimal match building connections so that you can support them and share ideas and network
51:44
and finally the patience because often we have setbacks in our forward Journeys
51:49
and that’s just um part of life whenever we play whenever we explore whenever we try to move
51:57
forward so my last words for parents and I guess for teachers too but leave a circle of
Last Words
52:03
trust understanding fulfillment
52:08
and grow because that’s the way you’re going to help children build their strengths and meet their challenges and
52:15
once you get them building upon their strength and meeting their challenges you’ll find that they’ll be less likely
52:20
to procrastinate so basically we did it we talked about gifting this and procrastination
Wrap Up
52:27
um I gave you some ideas around a drive to strive so we talked about questions context purpose and goal setting and
52:32
creativity and a number of um takeaways to sort of tie it all together
52:37
and with sort of a reiteration of some of the points so again I encourage you to go to my resources page at Joanne
52:45
foster.ca contact me if you like and um have a look at some of my materials
52:51
and um thank you for inviting me it was nice chatting thank you Joanne
52:57
um that was lovely and so much good information I know that there are lots of quotes and Nuggets that I’m gonna I
53:04
was trying to write down frantically but I know I’m gonna go back and re-look at because um I think there was just so much wisdom
53:12
um in some of the information that you offered tonight um I think my biggest takeaway and I I
53:18
don’t see any questions in our chat tonight um and we’ve had a lot of people joining
53:24
us uh in and out over the last hour um but I was just thinking I think my
53:30
biggest takeaway from being with you tonight is just that idea that we want to create purpose and ownership for our
53:37
children and students um that idea of the quote go get your greatness or giftedness is not passive
53:44
that sometimes in education we create these environments where our students
53:49
come and they they sit and get and they’re not an active participant in what’s happening and I think that that’s
53:55
so powerful for all students but particularly our gifted students because they see
54:01
um you know the system itself and want to challenge it and um you know when they are tasked with
54:09
things that are meaningless to them they’re not gonna participate and there’s no there’s no one answer for
54:18
every student in every situation it’s Unique and you have to know why they’re making the choices they are but that
54:24
idea of inviting them into the decision making and that not making a choice is a choice or making a choice but you’re
54:30
part of of what’s happening and co-creating that environment I thought that was really powerful
54:36
thank you and and yes that that’s pretty much the Crux of it but I think too that there are a lot of
54:42
um strategies there’s a lot of thought that um has to go into parenting has to go into teaching and um
54:50
what we want to do is enable we want to empower kids to take responsibility for
54:55
themselves um in ways that that make them feel like they can do everything they want to
55:02
do and and more and um not set limits for them so all of
55:09
that is is certainly it’s doable um and certainly people can go back over this presentation and and you know take
55:17
shots of the screens or what have you and and and maybe some of these strategies will
55:23
um be helpful both in classrooms um in homes in various learning
55:29
situations actually anywhere is a potential learning situation so yeah no that’s wonderful and your books are
55:34
listed there and if anyone has questions or wants um to reach out to you directly
55:40
um they can go to your website and your contact information is there thank you so much for joining us tonight and thank
55:46
you all um on the other side of Facebook for joining us tonight we appreciate you we know that it’s a busy time of year we
55:53
will not be hosting our conversation with cagte the third week of December it’s just really close to the holidays
55:59
and everyone’s on break but we will be back January 3rd with our next conversation with CAG T so please mark
56:06
your calendars um check our Facebook and website we’ll have all the info that we need uh coming
56:13
out for that January third one but thank you so much Joanne for joining us tonight we really appreciate it and I
56:20
hope everyone has a happy holiday we’ll see you in Jan January thank you
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