Week by week, Michelle Ptacek, a master educator, sits in front of her well-appointed library, behind her laptop, writing and composing songs, reading articles about developmental psychology, and working with neurodivergent children, hoping that her work with them on foundational self-awareness and interpersonal skills will benefit them academically and socially. As a result of the shift to online education during the pandemic, Michelle started offering virtual homeroom classes designed specifically for Davidson Young Scholars. She focuses on profoundly gifted psychology, executive functioning skills for academic success, and social, interpersonal, and communication lessons to build leadership abilities. Examining her work in this domain opens up the door to Michelle’s own educational journey and personal experiences that resulted in her capacity for deep connection with neurodiverse learners. In an hour-long interview, Michelle elaborated on her time as a student and the choices that have led her to a fulfilling and purpose-driven teaching career today.
In her own life, Michelle experienced many of the learning struggles that the divergent learners she teaches often face in brick-and-mortar schools. Rather than being constrained to merely following directions and rules, as the school environment she grew up in would have her do, Michelle learned best while doing creative work that represented her unique views, experiences, and aspirations. She says of this limitation, “creativity…didn’t seem to be present at the level I needed it present. Many of the tasks were straightforward, and all I had to do was follow directions…it was a little too robotic.” Finding the tasks she was forced to do day after day too simplistic, she began to search for an activity that would truly grow her mind and act as, in her words, “my own enrichment assignment for myself”. So, as early as age 6, Michelle discovered creative outlets where she did not feel constrained: “out of school activities…like songwriting, poetry, and journaling”. Although her first pieces were “very instinctual,” she describes songwriting as a fulfilling experience where “you mix math with human emotions,” and feels that analyzing human behavior during this process helps grow her own social and emotional learning. In her homeroom classes, she relates her own experiences to those of her students who are disillusioned by one-size-fits-all schooling. She recommends books about cultivating creativity through deep dives into psychology, art, music, and journaling, and provides a space for students to inspire each other by sharing weekly projects related to their interests and passions.
As a highly sensitive person herself, Michelle maintains a tone of voice and manner of speaking that provides a sense of calm, comfort, and even safety for her students. Add to this her ability to maintain a flawlessly firm, yet kind demeanor, and it becomes readily evident why the youth she works with consider her a trusted guide. Michelle openly shared that, as a student, “she was really bright, but she didn’t sit still and she didn’t focus.” This vulnerability, accompanied by her genuine smile and sincere acknowledgment, sets the stage for children to share their own deeply felt experiences and emotions with courage and confidence.
Perhaps the single biggest thing that consistently sets Michelle apart from other educators is her ability to demonstrate respect for an age group that other professionals often talk down to. This quality, along with a repeated affirmation that she stands to learn from her students, opens the door for honest, productive discussions and growth in her classroom. Beyond creating a space where profoundly meaningful discussions can take place, Michelle’s teaching methodology and classes have an undercurrent of gratitude. Before exploring her one big regret as a student – the inability to accelerate – she mentioned how grateful she was for having had the opportunities that generations of women before her did not. Speaking even more so to her positive outlook, she says that although she can’t go back and improve her experience as a student, she believes that she still has an opportunity to add finesse to her educational journey by being a life-long learner.
It is with this sense of gratitude that Michelle seeks to develop the skill of self-awareness in her students that may, ultimately, even blossom into self-improvement. A fundamental understanding she imparts to her students is that mastering introspection is centered around the knowledge that “each of them processes things differently and that doesn’t mean they’re better than or less than”. As she did, she encourages her students to figure out their self-management techniques independently after being equipped with in depth lessons, resources, and methodologies, all meticulously and earnestly curated by Michelle. Her patience with the many routine, and sometimes complex, challenges that students raise for discussion are a window into the sort of resilience that turns disintegration into growth. The youth that attend her homeroom, almost all of whom are multi-potential, also develop a firm notion that, contrary to what the masses may believe, it’s certainly possible to blend their many talents and create entirely new, profound offerings. Michelle’s classes are perhaps the ultimate example: she brought her interests in business, education, and psychology together into an online gifted education forum that neurodiverse learners can come home to everyday. Her own experience as someone who did not school in the customary fashion inspired confidence in her that it is possible for students to take the most responsibility for their learning outside traditional environments. This community that has become the heart of many students’ daily schedules would not exist without, as Michelle says, her diverse creative passions that enable her to impart critical lessons to a niche student population in an unconventional educational setting.
Michelle’s journey as a master educator started with the dissatisfaction she experienced as a student herself, and now it has come full circle through her commitment to understanding and changing the landscape of gifted education for the neurodiverse learner. She draws not only from her own experiences, but also the wisdom she has gained from teachers who took an interest in her unique gifts and became lifelong confidantes. She has immense satisfaction for and is firm in the path she chose to take, saying that as a master educator, especially to a student group whose needs are consistently not met in classrooms the world over, she has an opportunity to make a crucial difference. In the coming decade, Michelle hopes to attain her doctorate in cognitive diversity, and she hopes to break down stereotypes about gifted education and neurodiversity.
Finally, and most significantly, she seeks to impart the value of connection with and amongst beautiful young minds through lectures, workshops, and ongoing research. Ultimately, Michelle wishes to see and help create a world where the needs of children who think and learn differently are comprehensively understood and sincerely addressed in all educational settings.
Posted in DYS Homerooms Resources
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