Photograph by Robert Scheer
Foothill student Conner Skelly works on constructing a free-standing tower using only straws and tape.
By Tim Persyn
On a Wednesday morning at 8:45, 10 Foothill School first-graders gather around a table and wait for their next "Odyssey of the Mind."
Instructional aide Lori Gragnola does her best to settle the young people, who display both energy and eagerness.
Gragnola explains the day's project: using tape and straws, the students are to build the tallest free-standing tower they can. But they'll have only 15 minutes to do it.
The kids break into small groups and there is a buzz in the room as they wait for the materials to be passed out. When they receive their straws and tape, the kids dive in, immediately putting their creativity to work.
This scene is just one episode from Foothill's "Odyssey of the Mind" curriculum, which over the course of a year is experienced by first- through third-graders Monday through Thursday for 45 minutes a day over a five-week time span.
Among the aims of the curriculum is to teach creativity by promoting such skills as brainstorming, risk-taking and "coloring outside the lines," a set of skills which includes the willingness to search for alternative solutions.
In the Saratoga Union School District, "Odyssey" is only taught at Foothill, which is using the curriculum for the first time this year.
PTA President Stephanie Weidert spearheaded the drive to incorporate "Odyssey" into the Foothill curriculum.
"By the end of the five weeks, our hope is that they will re-enter the classroom confident of their ideas, that they enjoy being creative, that they start looking for creative opportunities and that they don't mind risk-taking," she said.
One aspect of "Odyssey" is that students work cooperatively to generate their creativity. As the students constructed their towers, they evolved the concepts needed for the exercise by pooling together their mental resources.
For example, the students experimented with different configurations, and through trial and error learned that a strong foundation is required for a tall tower to stand.
In the end, one group built a tower that resembled a radio antenna, another used a triangular foundation to build a multiple-story structure, and still another built a structure that resembled an arch.
To allow this kind of creativity to bloom, the "Odyssey" environment strives to keep criticism to a minimum so kids feel comfortable as they let their minds travel.
"In the 'Odyssey' curriculum, it's OK to try something new--it's a safe environment," Weidert said.
Gragnola commented, "The 'Odyssey' environment is very unstructured--this environment lets kids do what they normally wouldn't. Each kid is their own individual."
In other exercises, students design new playground equipment and create their own birthday party.
"Inevitably, in the birthday exercise, they come up with a theme, a birthday person, and creative costumes and invitations," explained Weidert.
Foothill Principal Louise Levy summarized the intended benefits of the "Odyssey" program. "It incorporates a variety of activities that ask kids to use creativity and problem-solving abilities to create an end product and to think through why something is happening," she said.
For instance, the students get three days to work together to plan the birthday party. Weidert said the results are always unique.
"They come up with some of the most interesting kid-created parties you'll ever see," she said.
While "Odyssey" might sound like all fun and games, its long-range goals for the children are grounded.
C. Samuel Micklus, who first founded "Odyssey" as an extracurricular competition, has said that the future belongs to children who learn the creative and problem-solving skills increasingly needed to deal with the fast pace of change in the modern world. And creativity is what "Odyssey" is all about.
Weidert said, "If kids can continue on with 'Odyssey' as part of the daily curriculum, we'll have kids entering the work force with something to offer besides just textbook knowledge."
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, May 8, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved