From ADHD to Eight Gold Medals

I found this article on the Teacher Magazine website. We hear so much about ADHD these days. So many children have been given this diagnosis when teachers and parents don't know how to get children to sit still and pay attention. I think we are in such a hurry to "fix" children with medication rather than examine the school setting in which the children are placed. Are we asking children to sit still for too long? Is the curriculum developmentally appropriate? Have we taken the time to explore the child's interests and tried to design a curriculum that addresses those interests? When children find something they love, they can focus on it intently for hours. I'm sure you have seen that in your own children. Please take a few minutes to read about Michael Phelps and his experience with the diagnosis of ADHD. Let me know what you think.
Karen



In a recent interview with the New York Times, Deborah Phelps, middle school principal and mother of Michael, the most medaled Olympian in history, remembers how her son’s elementary school teacher once told her, “Your son will never be able to focus on anything.” Michael Phelps was big when he was born (9 pounds, 6 ounces), awkward as a kid, and bullied by his classmates. In preschool, his teachers complained that he couldn't sit still. When Michael was in 5th grade, his mother and family doctor discussed whether Michael might have A.D.H.D.
His parents, now divorced, introduced him and his sisters to competitive swimming early. By age 10, Michael was nationally ranked. Deborah Phelps watched her son, who couldn’t sit still at school, wait patiently for hours at a meet to swim a five-minute race. At 11, Michael was off Ritalin by his own choice and his coach, Bob Bowman, was already predicting greatness. Bowman, who still coaches Michael, told the family then that Michael would make the 2004 Olympics and break world records by the 2008 games.
Phelps made it to the 2000 Olympics, four years ahead of Bowman’s prediction. The rest, as we have witnessed, is history. Today, the Phelps name is an adjective, as in “phelpsian,” meaning "dominating in competition." A gift, most would agree, that requires laser-like focus.
Posted by Elizabeth Rich

Creativity

Thomas Edison once said, "I've made more mistakes than anyone who ever lived, but I wouldn't have done half as much if I hadn't made those mistakes."



Truly creative people are not afraid of making mistakes, they know that in order to come up with an original idea, one may have to go through a process of trial and error. It seems to me, however, that in many schools, children are taught more and more not to take risks and make mistakes, but rather that there is a right and wrong answer and they need to get the answer right. This may be a result of all of the testing to which we are subjecting our children, but I think there may be more to it. In many schools there is a clear message that people who are good at math and language arts will be truly successful while those who are good at music and art will have a nice hobby as they grow up. Why is this so? Wouldn't it be better to ask open ended questions that have no right or wrong answer and explore all the possibilities of a topic? Couldn't you express your knowledge of a topic through the arts? Becoming educated should not mean that we can no longer think creatively, it should mean that we expand our creative horizons. That is one of the principles that, I think, makes CCDS such a special place. We can express our ideas in interesting and different ways, we can explore all sides of a question, we can celebrate diverse ideas and ways of thinking.



Please spend a few minutes listening to Ken Robinson's ideas on creativity in this You Tube video "Do Schools Today Kill Creativity?" at www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY and let me know what you think.