emotional needs

How to help children love great art

Helping children appreciate and enjoy art doesn’t need to be daunting. Gifted children are often tuned in to the aesthetic nature of things and can easily become aficionados with very little encouragement. Both the Waldorf and Montessori methods are based in part on the idea that even very young children can

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Life as an Art Teacher: Positive Deviancy in Action

I’m a big believer in positive deviancy. This is the idea that you can be different from others in a positive way, as described by Atul Gawande in his book  Better. Recently, I was facilitating some training and the teachers had “homework” to incorporate the ideas of positive deviancy in

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Why School’s Not Fair to Gifted Kids

A gifted fifth grader received this advice on his report card: “You could work on ways to exhibit patience for others who don’t work at your same fast pace. Also be aware that you don’t overstep boundaries by helping people when they are trying to discover something on their own.”

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