“One of the most important things in a school is for students to be a community of learners. At Vanguard, this is evident through the way we use communication and collaboration and provide opportunities for creativity.”
Welcome to Vanguard Gifted Academy’s educational blog. This is the final installment in our series Educating Children for the Future. I’m Elizabeth Blaetz, Head of School and Founder of Vanguard Gifted Academy. In this article, I’ll discuss how the valuable traits discussed in this series — creativity, critical thinking, communication, and character — have been integrated into the Vanguard model.
Using Strengths to Promote Learning Across the Board
Vanguard was built to provide the skill sets that gifted children would need for the future. When we set out, we wanted children to receive personalized learning. We wanted them to understand their strengths and use them to support their enthusiasm and desire for knowledge and to minimize their learning challenges.
This mission is vital because, often, a gifted child is strong in just one domain. It is wonderful when we can enable them to use that strength as they work through their entire curriculum, including the areas where they ordinarily may struggle. This way, when we offer children the opportunity to learn from their areas of strength, learning is more fun, and they are more engaged and eager to dive in.
In the Vanguard Model, we spend the afternoon blending learning across the domains — we call it STREAM. Students have the opportunity to take the foundational skills that they’ve learned in the morning and apply them in a variety of different ways. For example, the children who have been learning about mathematics and volcanoes will combine that knowledge with engineering and research to create their own volcano.
Excitement-Driven Learning
Students’ unique mental images — how different kinds of knowledge combine — inspire them to create things in a different form. Children are so excited and engaged that they are eager to risk thinking outside the box because they know that the end product will be something that they will be proud to share with others.
Practicing Communication and Collaboration
Communication and collaboration are at the root of Vanguard’s model. Children at Vanguard learn to communicate respectfully through group projects and when assuming leadership roles. We talk a lot about the words that come from our mouths but also the tone we use when speaking.
We also focus on collaboration. One of the great things we do at Vanguard is peer editing. When learners can receive feedback and offer peers feedback as well, they really learn how to collaborate. On Showcase Nights, students have an opportunity to share their learning; this is a time when their communication and collaboration all come together for a presentation to an outside audience.
Taking Initiative for the Community
When you have a strong community of learners, you give students responsibilities within the community. You’ll inevitably find that they take on even more responsibilities than you expected of them. The other day, a kindergarten student asked me, “What happened to our composting program?” I said, “It just kind of fell apart.” She responded by asserting, “I think I can do it. We need to get it started.” My heart just filled with joy at the initiative this young child was ready to take in her community.
It is so exciting and surprising that even the youngest member of the community can stand up and say, “I’m going to start the conversation.” No matter their age, when children are empowered to take part in a community of learners, they can use their strengths and passions to blossom and do better things for those around them.
Another key to developing students’ community-mindedness involves teaching them how to be leaders themselves and how to support their leaders by being positive followers. Leading and following are each very important skills for children to show good character and citizenship.
I hope you’ve benefited from the opportunity to see how schools can change to serve our children better and give them the skills and the opportunities they need to make a successful future world.
Thank you so much for reading. We hope that Vanguard Gifted Academy’s educational blog will continue to be a resource for you. If you have any comments or questions about topics we have shared, please visit our website, or call us at (224) 213-0087. If you’d like, catch up on our previous blog on character in the classroom to see how schools can help form their students into good people.