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1:1 Creativity and Accountability Coaching

Personalized private lessons deepening your understanding of the creative process, critical thinking, perfectionism, motivation, psychology, and/or executive functioning skills. MA in gifted and talented/twice exceptional students.
Michelle Ptacek, M.A. (Reading/Creativity)
Average rating:
4.9
Number of reviews:
(164)
Class
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What's included

Meets on Demand
schedule meetings as needed
25 mins
per session
Teacher support
Homework
Homework for this class is optional. However, ambitious students will walk away with several goals, exercises, resources, and tasks for experimentation. If students are interested in reoccurring sessions with me, that's great! I love seeing similar students over long periods of time for enhanced accountability and results.
Assessment
Students often take surveys in this class in order to gain self-knowledge and self-awareness. Informal assessment will be used throughout coaching. Adjustments will be made based on the student's needs. These adjustments include decisions around goal-setting, advice offered (based on research), and optional next steps. Most of all, I hope students feel comfortable, encouraged, and ready for risks (not necessarily assessed).

Class Experience

In this class, I offer personalized creativity coaching for curious students navigating hard choices on their creative path. I have helped students finish their first book, stick to a writing routine, write songs, write speeches, make decisions about art projects, create comics, prepare for auditions, and/or explore psychology and neuroscience with a mentor. These private lessons are student-driven and student-focused, so the potential direction we can take is limitless. I prioritize in-depth conversation and messaging with my clients and will gladly tailor lessons to your needs.

Oftentimes, we spend the first ten minutes of class going over "progress to celebrate" from the previous week while students choose their top three tasks going forward. Then, we move to a 15-20 minute mini-lesson addressing topics like:

- Frustration
- Executive functioning
- Flexible thinking
- Perfectionism
- Multipotentiality
- Creative problem solving
- Handling constructive criticism
- High sensitivity
- Motivation
- Worrying vs. planning
- Learning vs. knowing
- Comparing oneself to others
- Tough emotions (overwhelm, envy, etc.)
- Time management
- Introversion/extroversion and "The Big 5"
- Bloom's Taxonomy
- Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
- Overexcitabilities (Dabrowski)
- Flow (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi)
- Multiple Intelligences (Howard Gardner)
- Growth Mindset (Carol Dweck)

(These are key theories in creative psychology driving my coaching sessions.) I have over 40 mini-lessons prepared on engaging slide shows related to these topics and will gladly attach a menu of these in the classroom after the first lesson. 

Students can come with personally prepared creations to show and discuss (I love when they screen share!), or I can work with them to create individual goals and more awareness around their entire creative practice. This class accommodates students getting started on their creative journey and students well established in a certain discipline wishing to understand the creative process and their working habits better.  (Please message me about any scheduling concerns. I can accommodate a variety of 8:30am-2:30pm CT M-Th schedules consistently with request and communication.)

At its heart, coaching is all about helping people make positive changes in their lives and empowering them with information and accountability. I look forward to meeting your student!
Learning Goals
-The student will gain insights and self-knowledge about their own creative practice
-The student will co-create realistic goals and stretch goals for enhanced creative performance
-The student will increase their confidence overall and also in the areas of chosen creative activities
-The student will improve their knowledge of creativity, problem-solving, and psychology
learning goal

Other Details

Supply List
Students are encouraged to come with prepared creative works to show and discuss! If they don't have any, that's OK too. I'm prepared to work with them around their interests to create focused goals and future projects.
External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.
Sources
Books Frequently Referenced in This Class: When Gifted Kids Don’t Have All the Answers by Judy Galbraith, M.A. and Jim Delisle, Ph. Character Building Day by Day by Anne D. Mather, Louise B. Weldon The Gifted Kids/Teen Survival Guide by James R Delisle and Judy Galbraith The Gifted Kids Workbook by Heather Boorman Living with Intensity by Michael Piechowski and Susan Daniels Visual Thinking by Temple Grandin The Highly Sensitive Person/Parent/Child (3 books by Elaine Aaron) How the Gifted Brain Learns by David A. Sousa The Smart Teens Guide to Living With Intensity by L. Rivero Additional activities are anchored by books written by Howard Gardner, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Brené Brown, Carol Dweck, Adam Grant, Daniel Pink, Angela Duckworth, and others.
4.9
164reviews
Profile
Teacher expertise and credentials
Iowa Teaching Certificate in Special Education
Master's Degree in Education from Morningside University
RELEVANT CERTIFICATIONS
Department of Education, PK-12 Talented and Gifted 						      

RELEVANT EDUCATION
Masters of Arts in Teaching 
     Morningside College, Sioux City, IA
Doctoral Student
     Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity, Studio City, CA	

After years as a full-time musician (an endeavor I began as a teenager), I gravitated towards teaching and obtained a master’s degree with a focus on creativity and education. I have formally and informally studied the creative process, various theories in creativity research, the role of systemizing and empathizing in creative works, neurodiversity, personal struggles among individuals with high potential, and the role of literature in assisting personal growth. My master's thesis focused on how literature can help students who are gifted and talented gain self-awareness. I also have extensive experience working with Davidson Young Scholars in the profoundly gifted population and with learners who identify as twice-exceptional.

In addition, I taught one-on-one guitar and song-writing classes for over 10 years. During these sessions, I worked with young people and guided them not only with technique but also with creativity. I love taking my knowledge of creative psychology and offering it to students as digestible pieces of information they can use.  - Michelle Ptacek

Reviews

Live 1-on-1 Lessons
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$60

per session
Meets on demand
25 min

Completed by 25 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 10-18

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