Help Teach

Help Teach: Episode 9 - Maximizing Potential: More than Words

Mihai Covaser: [00:00:00] Welcome, learners and learned alike, to Help Teach.

Mihai Covaser: Hello and welcome to our community audio project. I am your host, editor, producer, and project co-lead: Mihai Covaser. I am also a youth living with a physical disability. My most formative experiences living with a disability have come in the Canadian public education system. Many students like me, with physical, emotional, or mental challenges, go through their years of schooling lacking the supports and accommodations they need to partake of the same opportunities offered to their peers. The vision of this project is to provide educators in Canadian classrooms, students with disabilities, and members of the general public, with the tools and knowledge that they need to make our institutions more accessible and inclusive for all. Join me and a diverse cast of guests as we explore perspectives on disabilities and education in this podcast series. [00:01:00] One last message for you teachers tuning in: Listen in each episode for our key takeaway that you can implement in your classroom today to help us further this vision.

Mihai Covaser: I am happy to introduce a very special guest here on the show today, someone who will speak today on students who are dealing with mental, educational, or emotional challenges, or who are considered, in the system, to be what we call “gifted”. So before we get into that, without further ado, I would like to introduce our guest for today: Tybie Elenko. Welcome to the show, Tybie.

Tybie Elenko: Thank you! It is so great to be here today. I’ve had the privilege, over the last thirty-one years–it’s hard to believe, but I’ve had thirty-one years–of being a teacher, and I know that I’ve found the right career path because after thirty-one years, as exhausting as it is, I still love to go every day. So I’m happy to be here today; let’s have the great discussion of what I can share with you [00:02:00] in focus of supporting the gifted learner.

Mihai Covaser: Then why don’t we start there? Why don’t you tell us a bit about where you have worked, and what you’re presently doing in the education system?

Tybie Elenko: So I started off in Saskatchewan, and that’s where I had my undergrad degree, and from there, immediately moved to B.C., in several districts. So I’ve worked in Central Okanagan, Kamloops District, back in Surrey. With my husband’s work, we did go overseas and were in the Middle East for a bit, came back–So I have had such a repertoire of different grade levels to teach and different experiences, that can just add to my depth of knowledge. And so at this point, I am in Kelowna, and I’m back where I began, in my initial teaching, and so I’m back as a learning assistance teacher here in Kelowna, in a middle school. And that in itself, anyone who’s taught in a middle school, [00:03:00] you’ve gotta love those teenagers and the age they are at, and yeah. Life is always a journey.

Mihai Covaser: Absolutely. I can attest to the fact that middle school is often the source of some heated and lovely conversations between my friends and I.

Tybie Elenko: Never boring.

Mihai Covaser: Never boring, that’s true. That much is true. So for our audience that maybe is not super familiar with this concept that we mentioned, I wanted to ask you: what exactly does “gifted” mean? And what exactly does it mean to be a gifted educator?

Tybie Elenko: Well, the reason why I love your podcast is because you are really advocating and building the understanding of all exceptional learners, and a gifted learner–despite if individuals like or dislike labels–that particular learner is exceptional. Parents who raise a gifted or high-ability child will tell you it is hard work. It is not [00:04:00] easy, and there’s a reason why our ministry, our provincial ministry has “gifted” under “special education”, because academically, sometimes they can fare well, if they so choose. Intellectually is where we really see that huge strength area. Creativity is another huge piece that we see, so oftentimes these learners fight conformity, and guess what our schools have been traditionally known for? Conformity. The other thing is: socioemotionally. These learners are so intense with their feelings and with things that are occurring around them. Because of that, there has to be some individual educational plan for them, and the key piece: They need someone advocating for them. They need togetherness. They need each other.

Mihai Covaser: Absolutely. So speaking of those close ties and that support network, because you mentioned socioemotional [00:05:00] challenges for a lot of these students, but students can be–as you say–intellectually strong, and it’s often accompanied with many of these other obstacles, but not necessarily either. There’s a wide gamut, I know, of different students with different abilities, so do you then have close ties to other–what we call “special education”–staff? What’s the difference between what you do and someone who just has students under the portfolio that have these obstacles, but maybe don’t fall under the gifted umbrella?

Tybie Elenko: So my role, as a learning assistance teacher–and this is with most districts–I service the students who may have a learning disability and those who are gifted. However, other exceptional learners, like we’ve talked about in previous podcasts, have fallen under the resource teacher. In, I think, the thirty-one years of teaching that I’ve had, I have seen such a transition. Everyone used to be in their own silo of their own department. [00:06:00] With having more of an inclusive classroom, those silos have had to come together. It’s that feeling of collaboration and unity that I feel right now at my middle school, because there are many things that I do not know, that my colleague will help to build that understanding for me.

Mihai Covaser: Speaking from experience as someone with a physical disability, who has fallen under the special education platform that way, but whose condition is, first of all, fairly mild, by comparison to others, and has had my own experiences in the classroom, in terms of excelling at school but not paired with any other obstacles intellectually or emotionally, each person has a unique combination of all of these aspects that make it hard to sometimes know where to fit, so the fact that we can come together to make that experience easier to navigate, I think, is quite a vital piece.

Tybie Elenko: Exactly.

Mihai Covaser: I want to ask you, as well–speaking of all of this experience in gifted education and [00:07:00] special education–why? Why gifted education? What brought you to where you are? And I think you have a fun story to share about that.

Tybie Elenko: Oh, that–that is–that leads me to a very fun story, because I grew up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and at the grade seven and eight level, the school had identified that I could learn very quickly and easily, and I was starting to create a little bit of problem, because I didn't want to conform to some of the assignments, because I thought I had better ideas, that I could create a different poem. And all of a sudden, I was thrown into a testing situation, and that psychoeducational assessment was–I still, to this day, I just thought, “Finally, someone’s making me think.” Now, after that test, nothing was said to me, and in grade seven and eight, we needed a job filled as the school secretary at Thorton Elementary. So they trained me how to answer the phone, and I could operate the steno machine, and I could do additional typing [00:08:00] for any of the teachers, and I loved it. It was awesome. Until I was in grade nine, and my typing teacher looked at me and she said, “Tybie, why are you still doing typing? Like you can type over a hundred words per minute. Why are you here?” And I said, “Well, I’m gonna be a secretary,” very proudly. And she looked at me, and I was, you know, a little disheartened when she said, “No. No, no, no. You can type, you go try other classes. There’s going to be another pathway for you.” And that was the first time that I just thought, “Aha. I guess maybe I could try other things.” So it was only at that point, I had one person say to me, “No, try other things,” and then, as I looked at what my strengths were and what I really enjoyed doing, it had everything to do about teaching. So as I began, did my undergrad in Saskatchewan, and I taught for a number of years, [00:09:00] I felt like the inclusivity within my classroom and the many needs that I didn’t understand made me feel like I wasn’t being the teacher that I had wanted to be. So I went back to school again, with the intention of, “I want to learn about all exceptional learners, because they are in my classroom.” And it was because of that, of course gifted was under my umbrella for many, many years, and this is an unserviced population that can sometimes be so overlooked. There’s so many stereotypes, and just because a student can’t do one thing, I hear so many adults in their lives saying, “Oh, well, they can’t be gifted because they can’t do such and such.” We are just closing the door to the potential that that learner may have. And gifted or not, I see potential in every learner, in every spectrum of development, and every spectrum [00:10:00] of either their area of strength or the struggles that are coming with. So that’s my passion, and it’s kinda awesome that it all started from being a great secretary of Thorton Elementary school.

Mihai Covaser: Absolutely. Now, don’t go anywhere, audience members. When we come back, I will be continuing my discussion with Tybie Elenko on the subject of maximizing student potential and what it’s like to work with students of a diverse demographic in the public education system. Don’t go anywhere; we’ll be right back.

Mihai Covaser: You are listening to Help Teach. I’m here today with a contact of mine, with whom we’ve had great conversations in the past: Tybie Elenko. And we’re just about to move on to a subject that you mentioned here, called “maximizing potential”, or seeing potential in students. Now, I think, for some of our audience members, that might sound like a bit of a buzzword, right? [00:11:00] Because maximizing potential, I mean, what does that really mean? It’s a…quite a general idea, encompassing a huge range of practices and skills, teachers’ skills, student skills… But specifically, I want to ask you, as an educator for as long as you have been, what do you think is the key element that’s come up time and again, that leads you to think, “This is what students need to have their potential maximized,” or how to see it and how to tap into it.

Tybie Elenko: The number one word that comes to my mind is understanding. Understanding of the learner, in multiple ways, but really at a very authentic, intentional way of getting the heart of the student.

Mihai Covaser: What exactly do you mean by “authentic” or “intentional”? What does that mean for you?

Tybie Elenko: What that means for me is beyond a test score, beyond an assignment that is being handed in, it is actually [00:12:00] having meaningful conversation. And I know every teacher will want that, but do we actually have time within our day to do it? The majority of time is no. We are so filled in our classrooms, so with that, it has to be intentional. You have to work at the time to set aside, even if it’s for two minutes, to have just a simple conversation with students. And you use your talents and what works for you. For myself, I love to take the time to write a personal note, sometimes, to a student that I don’t have the time to make those personal connections with that week. And I’ll even send it through snail mail, because what a joy it would be for them to actually look in the mailbox and get something called a letter? Instead of an email? So, you know, you have to think of, “How can I be intentional to actually form a connection with that learner?” You know, even at the school level, [00:13:00] there are three questions that have been so important for me, and I have used those in every context. All of the school districts I’ve worked with, all the schools that I’ve been in; three simple questions and I’ve used them from kindergarten to grade twelve. Do you want me to share them?

Mihai Covaser: Absolutely, I’d love to hear them.

Tybie Elenko: Okay. And they’re easy! Number one: In your learning, what do you feel is most valuable for yourself right now? In your learning. And the little elementary kids will–That will negate what they want to say about gym class or recess, but it really does identify their strengths. And the second question is: What is a frustration that you feel, regarding your learning? Sometimes socioemotional pieces can come up; sometimes there are other ideas of, you know, a certain subject area that is frustrating for that learner. That will tell me the area of struggle [00:14:00] that we need to work from. And then the third question is: If you had a wish or a goal–for my secondary students, I’d say, “What is your goal–not for this year, but for these next eight weeks?”–what change would you like to make, to make your learning the best it can be and reach your potential?

Mihai Covaser: Absolutely. I’ll reiterate that for our audience, because I think that, for any teachers listening, these questions are something that I wish I had been asked during my educational journey, because if I had been involved more in the setting of my own path, I think things could have been a lot different, in some situations. So I’ll reiterate that for our audience here. Question one: What do you love about learning? What is your frustration about learning? And thirdly: If you had the next two months to make learning different for you, what would you do? A story comes to mind here, of a group called CRIS Adaptive Adventures. [00:15:00] It’s a group that operates here in the Okanagan valley, to give students adaptations for their school trips, for outdoor events especially, right? So they do all kinds of outdoor events for students, and they’re a wonderful group. I remember back in middle school, that we had a trip up to Knox Mountain. It’s a mountain here in Kelowna, where Tybie and I are both situated; it’s local, it’s a fantastic hiking spot, very popular. We took a school trip there, and of course, any adaptations, any additional supports, anything had to go through all of the red tape, had to go through the school system, through the assistants that I had in school, that kind of thing, before it could actually be approved. What had happened is, rather than going through that path, we simply contacted this group and asked, “Hey, we’re going on a hiking trip. What can you help us with?” Quickly, you know, at the snap of a finger, they came up. They came with us and brought this special cart or chair that I could use when I got tired on the hike, and they would just help me around. It was super popular, super fun; all my friends were commenting on it and were making jokes about it, all that kind of thing. But we were sort of [00:16:00] condemned for having gone off the rails in search for that support ourselves, rather than letting it be all through the school system, and so what that tells me is that sometimes putting the student in the heart of the action and in the process of getting their own needs and their own path sorted, the way that they would like to see it happen? That’s not always valued or respected in the public education system. And I think–though not all students can necessarily advocate for themselves, and not that they should have to; they should have support to do that too, if they need it–but for those that can and would like to… Even if it involves making mistakes! I mean, how do we learn but by making mistakes and making decisions that we revise later, right?

Tybie Elenko: So true.

Mihai Covaser: So getting the student involved in that process is key, so I really appreciate you sharing those questions.

Tybie Elenko: And it develops a sense of trust between the educator and the learner. It then promotes that advocacy [00:17:00] that I am seen more as a cheerleader. Once I get plans going and I actually form that relationship with the child, I stand then on the sidelines, cheering them on. As they are developing–and I loved how you said not all students are yet able to self-advocate for themselves–but that’s where I can just be there to help guide them to be the best self-advocate, and as soon as that happens, confidence levels soar. And as soon as confidence soars, courage to pursue more and risk-taking happens with our learners.

Mihai Covaser: And something that one of my other guests, Alexis, brought up a couple of times–which I think is a really kind of heartbreaking feeling, but one that a lot of students tend to have in our situation–is this feeling of screaming into the void, as she calls it. This idea of having desires and needs and being a self-advocate, for students that have already reached that level, but just not having it stick [00:18:00] to anything; having those words just float out and not be heard, right? And so being put at the helm of your own journey, it’s no wonder that it builds that confidence, because it makes you feel like you’re actually in control and you’re actually being respected for the ideas that you have, right? Which is–to bring it all the way back full-circle–a lot of what gifted students struggle with, right? Students who have ideas and who have concepts, things in their heads that they either don’t really know how to express or are trying to express, but just is disconfirmed.

Tybie Elenko: They feel stifled.

Mihai Covaser: Yeah, exactly. They feel stifled, ignored by educators.

Tybie Elenko: So I use those three questions to develop my individual educational plans; I use those questions when I’m meeting randomly with a student. For some students, I ask them that every Friday, because every Friday is a new week ahead that we need to develop a plan with. We all want our students to be self-advocates, but we have to teach them and guide them to be that. And we just can’t expect them [00:19:00] to be voicing everything that they need, because they don’t know yet what they need, in many cases.

Mihai Covaser: I don’t think most people know sometimes how to voice what they need!

Tybie Elenko: Totally! Yes! I agree!

Mihai Covaser: What would you say are a couple of concepts that are key to starting off that journey?

Tybie Elenko: Well, we’ve talked a lot in the last fifteen years in educational circles about mindsets. And so growth mindsets are a huge piece. We actually need to ensure that we are creating that safe space for the learner. A lot of my gifted students, for whatever different reasons, come in; they can be very hesitant to pull through. So, I think, number one: Just developing a really good mindset balance. And number two: The flexibility that these students need [00:20:00] is essential, because flexibility will give them freedom in their education. It will help to develop the creativity that they can then form their pathway to launch their future.

Mihai Covaser: Mhm, mhm. I can’t stress that enough, as a student that has gone through the public education system with my own challenges, with my own strengths: being trapped in a box that sometimes got increasingly small, with regards to what I was allowed to do, despite what I was able to do. It’s–as you used before, the word stifling–it makes you feel like you lose all control when you get put into that without any degree of pull or flexibility, or the ability to explore at your own freedom, right, which is really what school is there to help people do, at the end of the day. I think I’ve mentioned this before on the show: the motto that I often use in my educational journey and in my advocacy journey is to “show people what we can do, rather than [00:21:00] what we cannot do”, or to put the focus on what we can do. Because just changing that wording, from, “what are your obstacles, what’s in the way, what can’t you do,” to, “let’s just go with what you can,” that makes a world of difference, not only in mindset but practically, too.

Tybie Elenko: And, you know, with our curriculum, that has been implemented several years now. I love the new curriculum because it does give us more flexibility.

Mihai Covaser: Yeah.

Tybie Elenko: And it does have the “I can” statements. Interestingly enough, just this week I had a student who was really struggling in my room, and so I just put an “I can” statement that she needed at that time, and she looked at it and she goes, “I hate ‘I can’ statements.” And I said, “Well, I’m going to just move it away from you, because this is where we need to get to.” And you know, those are–those are awesome moments, because yeah, some kids may not be emotionally set to say, “I can do that,” so I need to back the bus up [00:22:00] and start with those scaffolded moments of, “What can that learner do?”

Mihai Covaser: Yeah, yeah.

Tybie Elenko: Yeah.

Mihai Covaser: Well, with that, I’d love to take it to sort of the wrap-up here, and what we can offer for educators at the end of this episode. Given all of this information and given this explanation that we talked about, what can educators do to help make their classrooms more accessible, in light of everything we’ve talked about? Would you like to start by summarizing that for us, Tybie?

Tybie Elenko: Mhm. I think my recommendation is to push the boundaries of your comfort zone, because after teaching for thirty-one years, I kinda get used to what works for me, but I’ve had to push myself. So I know that I’m a gifted educator–not that I’m a gifted educator, but I’m an education specialist in gifted education–but I need to push myself in areas that I don’t feel comfortable or I feel that I’m way too comfortable and I need to get back to really thinking about what is new [00:23:00] for me this year. We have all different curriculum and associations that will help to meet those needs. So here’s an example: In October, we have our PSA conference that’s coming up. I have my gifted conference at SAGE-BC. We have a speaker coming up from Houston, who is a differentiation specialist; very unique way of differentiating, because her method is with giving them a menu and giving choice in a very high-level-thinking planning tasks. That’s an awesome opportunity that all teachers have an opportunity to opt into, as well as other amazing conferences throughout the province and through districts.

Mihai Covaser: Absolutely. So what I will do is–for you educators out there listening–in the description of this episode will be linked several resources that you can check out at your leisure. For example, I will link the SAGE–which is Specialists Association of Gifted Educators [00:24:00] of British Columbia, SAGE-BC–I will link their website, where all of these workshops will be posted. I will link to some online tools from the Rick Hansen Foundation that you can use in the classroom, these bite-size learning modules, as they’re called, as well as a couple of other additional resources for you to explore. And what we would recommend is: maybe once a month, try and find some little piece of learning that you can add to your own learning journey as an educator, to push yourself, as Tybie said, out of your comfort zone into something that can help make your classroom more accessible. Well, Tybie, it was a pleasure to have you on to speak today. I really appreciate you coming and I hope to have you back sometime soon, as well.

Tybie Elenko: Oh, thank you for having me. It’s been a lot of fun.

Mihai Covaser: You’ve just heard another episode of the community audio project, Help Teach. I’d love to give a huge thank you to my other co-leads on this project, Payton Given, Maggie Manning, Élise Doucet, and Alexis Holmgren, all youth leaders at the Rick Hansen Foundation, who I’d also like [00:25:00] to thank for their continued support in this initiative and others. I’d like to give a huge shout-out to our community mentor for this project, Charl Coetzee. My name is Mihai Covaser. I am your host, editor, and producer for this podcast series. As promised, you can now find all our transcripts, episode notes, and links to other resources on Transistor.fm, or listen to us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. If you have any questions about the show, if you’d like to offer suggestions, or you would like to be connected as a guest, you can now get in touch at helpteachpodcast@gmail.com. That’s helpteachpodcast@gmail.com. Please send in any questions that you might have regarding our episodes, and we would love to address them in future ones. Tune in next time for more great conversations and key takeaways that you educators can implement in the classroom today, to make it a more accessible and inclusive place for all. Thank you for listening, and I’ll see you next time. [00:26:00]