Awakening Genius in the Classroom (Journal 17)

Awakening Genius in the Classroom, p. 20

Prompt: 

Thomas Armstrong, author of Awakening Genius in the Classroom, believes every student is a genius. In fact, he lists the twelve qualities of genius. Write about a few of these qualities in relation to yourself: curiosity, playfulness, imagination, creativity, wonder, wisdom, inventiveness, vitality, sensitivity, flexibility, humor, and joy.

My grandmother and my mother always told me that curiosity killed the cat.  Sometimes they said it as a warning, but at times they said it with admiration.  For them, curiosity was connected to wisdom.  In fact, one of my mom's favorite stories to tell about my childhood relates to a conversation I had with my grandmother's friend, Anne.  Anne is a retired teacher and she had a passion for mythology, a passion that I shared.  I almost always had my school's copy of D'Aulaire's Mythology checked out of the library.  I read it voraciously until I could almost recite its stories by heart.  It wasn't long before I moved on to Edith Hamilton as a 9 year-old.  Anyway, this one summer, my mother and my grandmother thought it might be fun to pit me against Anne in a jeopardy-style contest.  Anne asked me mythological questions, and I would answer them.  Anne thought she could trick me by asking me who Aphrodite's parents were, and my mom still likes to talk about how my curiosity fueled my wisdom, allowing me to answer the question correctly (minus the whole castration bit...I was still a little young to understand that particular facet of the story!).  

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I suppose my playfulness most comes out to play when I spend time with my daughter and my nieces. We invent stories and use our imaginations to create fantasy realms or to act out certain situations.  I often let them take the lead, but I am right there beside them, hoisting a pirate sword or a magic wand or a tea cup.

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Inventiveness and creativity go hand in hand at summer camp.  I help direct and tech. direct a musical theatre production for upper elementary and middle school students.  Designing and painting a set with few materials and little to no money requires amazing resourcefulness.  Our backdrops are often queen-sized sheets bought on discount at Mardens, but by the end of the week they have been transformed into towering forests, flourishing gardens, or Bethlehem sky-scapes.  Last summer, it was a snowy airport scene.