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Cinematherapy for Gifted Children (or adults) using Disney’s Encanto

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As a teacher/mother of gifted children and a professional developer for teachers providing gifted services, I am always on the lookout for great movies (or TV shows) that help gifted individuals examine their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. My personal favorites are Good Will Hunting, Little Man Tate, Gifted, and episodes of Modern Family. Both my sons have used Good Will Hunting as a learning experience, cautionary tale, and motivation to explore, rather than hide from, their particular gifts. I have found that watching movies like these provide hours and hours of great conversations and deep personal reflection. The problem, of course, about most of the movies I love is that they are NOT appropriate to show in a school setting. I do use a lot of smaller clips of movies like Meet the Robinsons (failure scene), but I think that some really great lessons and conversations are hard to come by in 3-5 minute clips…

All that changed when I recently watched the Disney animated feature, Encanto. [Be warned that there are some spoilers ahead if you have not seen the movie] I didn’t really view it from a gifted lens until close to the end, but now that I have that perspective, I can’t help seeing some great opportunities for classroom social-emotional instruction. The movie centers around an extended family who live together and at a particular age a source of magic bestows a gift upon them which they then use to benefit their family and entire village. The main conflict of the movie is that the central character, Mirabel, is the only family member not given a gift and she has to live with the others and figure out her life purpose. She isn’t jealous of her family, but she is unsure of what to do with herself and her life. Through circumstances throughout the movie, the magic surrounding the family has the potential to disappear and Mirabel works to save it and find herself. What is so interesting about the movie is the examination of some of the characters and how they struggle with their gifts. One character, Luisa, is terrified of losing her gift of strength and consequently feels that she will be useless without it. Another character, Isabela, secretly despises her gift of creating flowers (roses mostly) in reds, pinks, and purples because she feels extreme pressure to be perfect. A mysterious character, Bruno, renounces his gift of predicting the future because he doesn’t like terrifying people, which can be a stepping stone to discussing underachievement. Every family member with a gift shows their struggle with their management of their individual gift. Even the Abuela that holds the magic is scared that if she doesn’t have it, then the people of the village will be angry with her.

All of these moments throughout the film can unearth powerful talking points with students and opportunities to learn about common personality challenges with being gifted. For example: perfectionism. Isabel, the girl that can make beautiful flowers has to struggle with dealing with the pressure of being perfect. Imposter Syndrome – feeling like people are going to find out that you really aren’t gifted or that your gift is going away. The movie also sets things up nicely to discuss – who are you if you aren’t defined by your gift? Will you lose your gift? Did they make a mistake in labeling you gifted? How do you feel about the pressure of being gifted? Another great point to explore can also be the discussion about the main character Mirabel – what if you don’t see yourself as being gifted? We have a tendency to only recognize obvious and culturally recognized gifts – athletics & academics, but what about the gift of leadership or interpersonal gifts?

A great character to discuss with gifted people is the character Camilo, because he is a shape-shifter. Gifted children can struggle to figure out how to survive in the world with other gifted people and non-gifted people. Do they emulate whoever they are closest to? Should they? How do they know who they truly are? These are tough questions to explore and think about together. This may bring up lessons on mindset and social dynamics with expectations – real or perceived. There is the character of Dolores that can hear anything from far away. This leads her to say or tell things that she really shouldn’t say or tell. I have noticed that gifted students are very observant and as soon as they have a thought they quickly voice it without thinking of of the consequences. I liken it to speaking without a filter or even blurting out in class. This character can lead to lessons on listening rather than hearing and blurting or even speaking over others.

My favorite character by far is Pepa whose gift is to create the weather around her that reflects her emotional state. How many students (or people for that matter) have we known that have the ability to change the climate of any classroom instantaneously by their moods. Will it be a good day or a bad day for all of us? Seeing it so hyperbolically represented in a fictional character can be a springboard for a discussion on how overdramatic representations of emotions can be incredibly disruptive to other people. So, you got a problem wrong. Does that really mean you have to throw yourself on the floor and scream and shout? If you are out of sorts, does everyone have to be out of sorts with you? Can you stop to realize that you are in control of the cloud of rain or the sunshine over your head and you can choose the weather pattern? I think that can be a great stimulus to lessons on stress management and sensory reaction.

There are so many opportunities to use the Disney movie Encanto to bridge social-emotional experiences. In my opinion, teaching gifted children is 1% content and 99% social-emotional instruction! If I were looking to create a general lesson plan surrounding the film, I would start with students answering some questions ahead of time to prime their thinking.

  1. What gift do you feel that you posess?
  2. Why do you feel that you were chosen to be in the gifted program?
  3. How do you feel about being gifted? Is there anything you wish you could change?
  4. How do your family and friends treat your gift? How does that make you feel?

After watching the movie, I would have the students discuss the questions, either from their own perspective or from the perspective of the characters (which can be easier if they don’t want to appear vulnerable). This movie could be a catalyst for an entire year theme of learning to understand the magic that we all possess (I love themes!). In reality, there is no magic to being gifted. If we pull the curtain away, we are all just people trying to survive this world and understand ourselves. Giving gifted children tools to understand perfectionism, mindset, stress management, underachievement, listening skills, and general characteristics of being gifted can be incredibly powerful and build a solid foundation (stealing a theme from the movie) for a lifetime of happiness.

Don’t be the bus!

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So, I was coaching a teacher a few days ago and she was having difficulty trying to figure out how to manage a classroom of all gifted children.  This teacher is a fantastic secondary teacher who consistently follows Harry Wong’s philosophy of classroom management.  She uses Wong’s style in a low income/high poverty school with great success.  However, Wong’s regimented style runs counter to successful methods for teaching gifted children and it fails to address their social/emotional as well as physical needs.

The teacher and I had a long conversation about how to support the overexciteabilities of these students.  We talked about changing the teaching from a didactic classroom to a coached or consultative classroom.  After many years of being incredibly successful at what she does, I heard her say that she is really uncomfortable changing her whole way of teaching for just one class of students.  Basically, she came to the conclusion that the students were just going to have to mold to her way of running the classroom.  After all, isn’t that an important skill to have in the “real world?”  Don’t we have to adjust and adapt to our surroundings when we get a job?

After hearing these very reasonable arguments, I asked her the following question:  Why does our high school and middle school start their school day at 7:30 and 7:20 respectively, when all research shows that adolescents physiologically struggle with early school days and would be better served starting at 10 am?  When there is NO evidence showing that this is optimum for the students we serve, why do we do it?  Of course, the teacher answered, “Because of busing.”  Transportation has always determined this issue even though it isn’t in the best interests of the people we are supposed to be serving – the children.  I then made the following assertion to the teacher about her management style, “Don’t be the bus!”  I told her that if she needs to change her style to meet the needs of all of her students then she needs to do just that.  If she is uncomfortable – too bad!  If she stays within her comfort zone and doesn’t change, and all of her students are uncomfortable, then she is “being the bus.”  She isn’t doing what is right and serving the needs of her children, but rather keeping herself comfortable.  As Iyanla says, “If you are comfortable, then you aren’t growing!”

I think it is really crucial for all educators to continually reflect and remind ourselves, “Don’t be the bus!”  We must make sure that we are meeting the needs of the children that we have in our classrooms.  We can’t keep doing the same things in the same ways over and over again and expecting different results.  I’m excited to be involved in education at a time where information is so easily attained and collaboration with others is readily available.  This is a chance for us to be creative and change our “one size fits all” educational model, because, quite frankly, that model didn’t really fit many people any way and it certainly won’t prepare us for the future.