"I think I'll take Garrett's bike out for a ride," Mark called as he left the house. He revved up the motorcycle engine and headed toward Green Oaks. But there, not a mile from home, everything changed. A car screamed through a red light, crashing into Mark and the motorcycle, throwing him more than 20 feet to land on the unforgiving concrete. And Mark walks no more.
Now, three months later, Mark is finally home from the hospital, the house has been renovated to accommodate his wheelchair, and the family struggles to adjust to a new life. As friends and family have rallied around, Mark has brought music into all our lives.
One Sunday morning I talked with my husband about how we could help. Friends were selling rubber-band bracelets embossed with "Make Your Mark" to help fund the house renovations. We had $200 in cash left over from our family vacation, so we decided to spend it on five bracelets (actual cost $10). We felt the Lord's blessing upon that decision. When Maria, Mark's wife, received the money, she cried...she had been praying for help, and it came.
When Michael, my husband, learned that Mark would still have some use of his arms and hands, he decided to order a very fine harmonica for our friend. Mark has played harmonica for years and a really nice instrument might lift his spirits. Finally, after weeks of waiting, the harmonica arrived. We took it to Mark on Saturday. He immediately began playing "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet," his eyes filled with tears. "It's the best present I've received," he said.
Serving others brings joy and music to the soul. Words are inadequate to express my feelings about our friend, but he has brought music to our hearts and I hope we have created a beautiful melody for him as well.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Monday, August 6, 2007
Response to My Immortal
Crying high school girls crowd my mind when I see these lyrics. So much pain, so much drama. I've tried to tell them that there's not a single boy in the entire school worth so many tears, but they don't hear me. Sadly enough, the pain is excruciating, and sometimes the reasons behind it are as well. Day after day, one of our pregnant 9th graders turned corners only to see her former boyfriend (and the father of her child) standing under the stairs kissing another girl. How much pain can one 14-year-old bear? But, I ask myself, why did she place herself in this situation in the first place? When I was in high school (I know, back in the day when we walked through the snow to school uphill both ways) most girls' romantic activities never went past kissing. I try to tell the kids, "If you save sex for later, you'll avoid endless heartache now," but they don't hear me. I've also mentioned (several times) that sex is not a recreational sport, but they don't hear me. I wonder if anyone else is preaching this gospel. Do their parents encourage them to wait? Do their church leaders? (do they have a church?) Does anyone see them? Does anyone care?
I feel like I am beating my head against the wall when I offer this kind of advice, but I keep trying. Maybe I can reach someone.
I feel like I am beating my head against the wall when I offer this kind of advice, but I keep trying. Maybe I can reach someone.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Final Paper: Specific Strategies for Classroom Teachers to Implement with Underachieving Gifted Students
Specific Strategies for Classroom Teachers to Implement with
Underachieving Gifted Students
Sherry Neaves
The University of Texas at Arlington
ABSTRACT
Studies show that, for a variety of reasons, gifted students do not achieve in school at the levels they should, based on test data regarding their intelligence and abilities. I began this inquiry with Dixie, an exceptionally gifted student who was frequently bored in class, but I soon determined to look more broadly at all students who are both gifted and at risk. My goal was to find specific strategies that I could use in my classroom to help all of my students achieve their potential. Thus, this review of the literature examines the definition of underachievement in gifted students as well as its causes. The research outlines specific, effective steps that may be taken by a classroom teacher to ameliorate the problem.
Who are the “Underachieving” Gifted?
Dixie sits in the back corner of the room, again. She’s not causing trouble, but she is certainly not working on the assignment. While everyone else slaves over the rhetorical analysis timed writing, Dixie is deep in the calculus book. Her timed writing—the kind of thing that other students spend 40 minutes sweating blood over—was done 10 minutes early. And it’s good—she understands the complex characters and can fully explain their motivations, which is more than most of her classmates can manage. So far this year I have not found a single activity that challenges this child.
Because Dixie is not working at her level and is not challenged, she is bored. She is also underachieving, and that fact puts her at risk.
Colangelo and Sunde (1996) define underachievement as a discrepancy between expected and actual performance. Such a discrepancy exists for Dixie, as it does for many students. They also note that 50 percent of gifted boys and 25 percent of gifted girls underachieve.
Research by Kanvsky and Keighley (2003) shows that boredom frequently leads to nonproduction in the classroom, a situation often followed by dropping out. They cite a lack of challenge as the most frequent cause of boredom.
Other students underachieve due to physical, emotional, or family difficulties. Colbert, Hebert, and Reis (2005) name several risk factors at work in underachievement, including older siblings who dropped out or used drugs, inappropriate early curricular activities, absence of challenge, negative interaction with teachers, family dysfunction, and minimal parental academic guidance and support.
Researchers also cite affiliation/achievement conflicts as reasons for underachievement.
Maureen Neihart (2006) says that such conflicts, common during adolescence, particularly affect gifted females, gifted minority students, and gifted disadvantaged students, acting as an eroding influence on their aspirations and self confidence. She cites a longitudinal study of more than 25,000 students in which researchers found that academic disidentification is much more pronounced among African American males than any other group. She postulates that peer influence plays a major role in the academic disengagement of minority and disadvantaged students; they associate achievement with the betrayal of their cultural group. Therefore, they underachieve.
What Can Classroom Teachers Do?
Once educators begin to understand why students underachieve, we can implement proven strategies to help them fulfill their potential. A wide variety of strategies have been tried, but the most effective may be grouped into five main categories, labeled the 5 Cs: control, choice, challenge, complexity, and caring teachers (Kanevsky & Keighley, 2003).
Control involves providing opportunities for students to take responsibility and make decisions regarding their own learning (Kitano & Lewis, 2005). Such control includes building a sense of self efficacy and agency within students. Teachers can help students set short and long-term goals and see the long-term benefits of classroom activities. They can also teach study skills and time management so that students have a greater sense of self control. To allow more student control and self-efficacy, teachers can also recognize achievement by consistently attributing it to the development of the student, to work and improvement rather than just “brains” (Siegle & McCoach, 2005).
For gifted students to have Choice, they must be given opportunities to work with other
students of similar abilities, interests and motivations; take advanced classes; and compact or accelerate curriculum (Reis & Renzulli, 2004; Colbert, Hebert & Reis, 2005; Neihart, 2006). According to Kitano and Lewis (2005), teachers can enhance this process by designing classroom projects that increase opportunities for teamwork, and build a sense of community and respect. In research on gifted students of color, Ford, Milner and Moore (2003), also note that students should be offered choices and learning opportunities based on their own cultural learning styles. Their research shows that teachers who understand and integrate different cultural needs and styles into the curriculum enhance student achievement. Whiting (2006) also supports a multicultural academic environment, stating that minority students will become more motivated and engaged when they have choices and see themselves affirmed in the materials and content. Additionally, Reis and Renzulli (2004), also advise building educational experiences around student interests.
To incorporate Challenge, teachers must involve students in significant learning experiences; they must differentiate and extend what is taught to accommodate varied pacing and levels of development (Reis & Renzulli, 2004). Every child needs challenge. Without challenge, students become bored, a situation that kills learning. According to Kanevsky and Keighley (2003), learning is the opposite of boredom; learning is the antidote to boredom. In order to engage gifted students, teachers must provide challenging learning experiences.
Complexity naturally follows challenge. Teachers can provide meaningful projects, utilizing real world skills, that build knowledge on multiple levels. According to Kanevsky and Keighley (2003), complexity is defined as a function of unfamiliarity, and gifted students crave the unfamiliar. They add that complexity involves processes requiring high-level thinking and
questioning, students own emotions and interests, opportunities to develop sophisticated products using the resources of a professional and opportunities to work in professional contexts.
In the end however, the Caring shown by teachers plays the most significant role in preventing underachievement. Kanevsky and Keighley (2003) describe caring teachers as nonjudgmental, fair, flexible, and humorous and note that a caring teacher can enhance or overcome lack of any of the other 4 Cs. Caring teachers honor students’ need to talk, question, challenge, and dig deeper. They show concern for all students’ well-being and are enthusiastic about content and teaching. Reis and Renzulli (2004) add that such teachers model kindness, prohibit bullying, and maintain high academic and behavior standards.
The concern, and sometimes the intervention, of caring teachers can make life-altering changes in the life of a child. In comments from her 2002 study of school diagnostic records for more than 22,000 students, conducted over a seven year period, Elizabeth Nielsen encourages teachers to pay attention to and for their students, to look for discrepancies between performance on intellectual ability measures and performance on measures of academics. Such discrepancies are clues and should be examined carefully to see if children should be tested further. Gifted students need to be identified so that they can receive the help they need to avoid underachievement, and observant teachers can help. In another study, (Saunders, 2003) shows that when children are not identified as gifted and fail to receive the needed intellectual and social control, choice, challenge, and complexity, their gifted abilities may actually decrease, and opportunities for those children are lost forever. Caring teachers can make the difference.
And so, for Dixie and for all of my students, I will be that caring teacher.
References
Colangelo, Nicholas, & Peterson, Jean Sunde. (1996). Gifted achievers and underachievers: A comparison of patterns found in school files. Journal of Counseling and Development, 74, 399-407.
Colbert, Robert D., Hebert, Thomas P., & Reis, Sally M. (2005). Understanding resilience in diverse, talented students in an urban high school. Roeper Review, 27, 110-120.
Ford, Donna Y., Milner, H. Richard, & Moore, James L. (2003). Underachievement among gifted students of color: Implications for educators. Theory Into Practice, 44(2), 167-177.
Kanevsky, Lannie & Keighley, Tacey. (2003). To produce or not to produce? Understanding boredom and the honor in underachievement. Roeper Review, 26, 20-28.
Kitano, Margie K., & Lewis, Rena B. (2005). Reslience and coping: Implications for gifted children and youth at risk. Roeper Review, 27, 200-205.
Neihart, Maureen. (2006). Dimensions of underachievement, difficult contexts and perceptions of self. Roeper Review, 28, 196-202.
Nielsen, M. Elizabeth. (2002). Gifted students with learning disabilities: Recommendations for identification and programming. Exceptionality, 10(2), 93-111.
Reis, Sally M., & Renzulli, Joseph S. (2004). Current research on the social and emotional development of gifted and talented students: Good news and future possibilities. Psychology in the Schools, 41(1), 119-129.
Saunders, Carlyn. (2003). Case study: A gifted child at risk. The Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 14, 100-105.
Siegle, Del & McCoach, Betsy. (2005). Making a difference: Motivating gifted students who are not achieving. Teaching Exceptional Children, 38, 22-27.
Whiting, Gilman W. (2006). From at risk to at promise: Developing scholar identities among black males. The Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 17, 222-229.
Underachieving Gifted Students
Sherry Neaves
The University of Texas at Arlington
ABSTRACT
Studies show that, for a variety of reasons, gifted students do not achieve in school at the levels they should, based on test data regarding their intelligence and abilities. I began this inquiry with Dixie, an exceptionally gifted student who was frequently bored in class, but I soon determined to look more broadly at all students who are both gifted and at risk. My goal was to find specific strategies that I could use in my classroom to help all of my students achieve their potential. Thus, this review of the literature examines the definition of underachievement in gifted students as well as its causes. The research outlines specific, effective steps that may be taken by a classroom teacher to ameliorate the problem.
Who are the “Underachieving” Gifted?
Dixie sits in the back corner of the room, again. She’s not causing trouble, but she is certainly not working on the assignment. While everyone else slaves over the rhetorical analysis timed writing, Dixie is deep in the calculus book. Her timed writing—the kind of thing that other students spend 40 minutes sweating blood over—was done 10 minutes early. And it’s good—she understands the complex characters and can fully explain their motivations, which is more than most of her classmates can manage. So far this year I have not found a single activity that challenges this child.
Because Dixie is not working at her level and is not challenged, she is bored. She is also underachieving, and that fact puts her at risk.
Colangelo and Sunde (1996) define underachievement as a discrepancy between expected and actual performance. Such a discrepancy exists for Dixie, as it does for many students. They also note that 50 percent of gifted boys and 25 percent of gifted girls underachieve.
Research by Kanvsky and Keighley (2003) shows that boredom frequently leads to nonproduction in the classroom, a situation often followed by dropping out. They cite a lack of challenge as the most frequent cause of boredom.
Other students underachieve due to physical, emotional, or family difficulties. Colbert, Hebert, and Reis (2005) name several risk factors at work in underachievement, including older siblings who dropped out or used drugs, inappropriate early curricular activities, absence of challenge, negative interaction with teachers, family dysfunction, and minimal parental academic guidance and support.
Researchers also cite affiliation/achievement conflicts as reasons for underachievement.
Maureen Neihart (2006) says that such conflicts, common during adolescence, particularly affect gifted females, gifted minority students, and gifted disadvantaged students, acting as an eroding influence on their aspirations and self confidence. She cites a longitudinal study of more than 25,000 students in which researchers found that academic disidentification is much more pronounced among African American males than any other group. She postulates that peer influence plays a major role in the academic disengagement of minority and disadvantaged students; they associate achievement with the betrayal of their cultural group. Therefore, they underachieve.
What Can Classroom Teachers Do?
Once educators begin to understand why students underachieve, we can implement proven strategies to help them fulfill their potential. A wide variety of strategies have been tried, but the most effective may be grouped into five main categories, labeled the 5 Cs: control, choice, challenge, complexity, and caring teachers (Kanevsky & Keighley, 2003).
Control involves providing opportunities for students to take responsibility and make decisions regarding their own learning (Kitano & Lewis, 2005). Such control includes building a sense of self efficacy and agency within students. Teachers can help students set short and long-term goals and see the long-term benefits of classroom activities. They can also teach study skills and time management so that students have a greater sense of self control. To allow more student control and self-efficacy, teachers can also recognize achievement by consistently attributing it to the development of the student, to work and improvement rather than just “brains” (Siegle & McCoach, 2005).
For gifted students to have Choice, they must be given opportunities to work with other
students of similar abilities, interests and motivations; take advanced classes; and compact or accelerate curriculum (Reis & Renzulli, 2004; Colbert, Hebert & Reis, 2005; Neihart, 2006). According to Kitano and Lewis (2005), teachers can enhance this process by designing classroom projects that increase opportunities for teamwork, and build a sense of community and respect. In research on gifted students of color, Ford, Milner and Moore (2003), also note that students should be offered choices and learning opportunities based on their own cultural learning styles. Their research shows that teachers who understand and integrate different cultural needs and styles into the curriculum enhance student achievement. Whiting (2006) also supports a multicultural academic environment, stating that minority students will become more motivated and engaged when they have choices and see themselves affirmed in the materials and content. Additionally, Reis and Renzulli (2004), also advise building educational experiences around student interests.
To incorporate Challenge, teachers must involve students in significant learning experiences; they must differentiate and extend what is taught to accommodate varied pacing and levels of development (Reis & Renzulli, 2004). Every child needs challenge. Without challenge, students become bored, a situation that kills learning. According to Kanevsky and Keighley (2003), learning is the opposite of boredom; learning is the antidote to boredom. In order to engage gifted students, teachers must provide challenging learning experiences.
Complexity naturally follows challenge. Teachers can provide meaningful projects, utilizing real world skills, that build knowledge on multiple levels. According to Kanevsky and Keighley (2003), complexity is defined as a function of unfamiliarity, and gifted students crave the unfamiliar. They add that complexity involves processes requiring high-level thinking and
questioning, students own emotions and interests, opportunities to develop sophisticated products using the resources of a professional and opportunities to work in professional contexts.
In the end however, the Caring shown by teachers plays the most significant role in preventing underachievement. Kanevsky and Keighley (2003) describe caring teachers as nonjudgmental, fair, flexible, and humorous and note that a caring teacher can enhance or overcome lack of any of the other 4 Cs. Caring teachers honor students’ need to talk, question, challenge, and dig deeper. They show concern for all students’ well-being and are enthusiastic about content and teaching. Reis and Renzulli (2004) add that such teachers model kindness, prohibit bullying, and maintain high academic and behavior standards.
The concern, and sometimes the intervention, of caring teachers can make life-altering changes in the life of a child. In comments from her 2002 study of school diagnostic records for more than 22,000 students, conducted over a seven year period, Elizabeth Nielsen encourages teachers to pay attention to and for their students, to look for discrepancies between performance on intellectual ability measures and performance on measures of academics. Such discrepancies are clues and should be examined carefully to see if children should be tested further. Gifted students need to be identified so that they can receive the help they need to avoid underachievement, and observant teachers can help. In another study, (Saunders, 2003) shows that when children are not identified as gifted and fail to receive the needed intellectual and social control, choice, challenge, and complexity, their gifted abilities may actually decrease, and opportunities for those children are lost forever. Caring teachers can make the difference.
And so, for Dixie and for all of my students, I will be that caring teacher.
References
Colangelo, Nicholas, & Peterson, Jean Sunde. (1996). Gifted achievers and underachievers: A comparison of patterns found in school files. Journal of Counseling and Development, 74, 399-407.
Colbert, Robert D., Hebert, Thomas P., & Reis, Sally M. (2005). Understanding resilience in diverse, talented students in an urban high school. Roeper Review, 27, 110-120.
Ford, Donna Y., Milner, H. Richard, & Moore, James L. (2003). Underachievement among gifted students of color: Implications for educators. Theory Into Practice, 44(2), 167-177.
Kanevsky, Lannie & Keighley, Tacey. (2003). To produce or not to produce? Understanding boredom and the honor in underachievement. Roeper Review, 26, 20-28.
Kitano, Margie K., & Lewis, Rena B. (2005). Reslience and coping: Implications for gifted children and youth at risk. Roeper Review, 27, 200-205.
Neihart, Maureen. (2006). Dimensions of underachievement, difficult contexts and perceptions of self. Roeper Review, 28, 196-202.
Nielsen, M. Elizabeth. (2002). Gifted students with learning disabilities: Recommendations for identification and programming. Exceptionality, 10(2), 93-111.
Reis, Sally M., & Renzulli, Joseph S. (2004). Current research on the social and emotional development of gifted and talented students: Good news and future possibilities. Psychology in the Schools, 41(1), 119-129.
Saunders, Carlyn. (2003). Case study: A gifted child at risk. The Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 14, 100-105.
Siegle, Del & McCoach, Betsy. (2005). Making a difference: Motivating gifted students who are not achieving. Teaching Exceptional Children, 38, 22-27.
Whiting, Gilman W. (2006). From at risk to at promise: Developing scholar identities among black males. The Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 17, 222-229.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Lit Review 14
Title: From at risk to at promise: Developing scholar identities among black males
Author: Gilman W. Whiting
Purpose: black males and females are consistently underrepresented in gifted program. Black males are not succeeding in school settings. The Scholar Identity Model presented here offers suggestions for prevention and intervention strategies.
Methodology: review of the literature, suggestions for interventions
Conclusions/Implications:
Black males rank highest in numbers of dropouts, suspended, expelled, kicked out students
They score poorly on tests, have low GPAs, high rates of referrals and placement in special ed. They are underrepresented in gifted education.
How to solve these problems?
Mentors play a central role in the lives of gifted black students--Role Models
Organizations like: Boys and Girls Clubs, National Urban League, YMCA can play a big role
Black male adolescents also need exposure to college settings, including the Ivy League, historically black institutions, vocational internships...
They need counseling experiences where they can discuss concerns and needs, particularly multicultural counseling opportunities
Other suggestions: career days, motivational speakers, multicultural academic content--minority students will become more motivated and engaged when they see themselves affirmed in the materials and content
They need community outreach and service opportunities
Author: Gilman W. Whiting
Purpose: black males and females are consistently underrepresented in gifted program. Black males are not succeeding in school settings. The Scholar Identity Model presented here offers suggestions for prevention and intervention strategies.
Methodology: review of the literature, suggestions for interventions
Conclusions/Implications:
Black males rank highest in numbers of dropouts, suspended, expelled, kicked out students
They score poorly on tests, have low GPAs, high rates of referrals and placement in special ed. They are underrepresented in gifted education.
How to solve these problems?
Mentors play a central role in the lives of gifted black students--Role Models
Organizations like: Boys and Girls Clubs, National Urban League, YMCA can play a big role
Black male adolescents also need exposure to college settings, including the Ivy League, historically black institutions, vocational internships...
They need counseling experiences where they can discuss concerns and needs, particularly multicultural counseling opportunities
Other suggestions: career days, motivational speakers, multicultural academic content--minority students will become more motivated and engaged when they see themselves affirmed in the materials and content
They need community outreach and service opportunities
Lit Review 13
Title: Dimensions of Underachievement, difficult contexts and perceptions of self
Author: Maureen Neihart
Purpose: examine achievment affiliation conflicts in gifted adolescents; offer strategies/interventions/supports to manage and to cope
Methodology: Cites three studies: National Educational Longitudinal Study--25,000 students tracked from 8th to 12th grades
Survey of 193 women graduates from Smith College
Study of 27 boys from low socioeconomic backgrounds attending an elite prep school
Studies--Conclusions/Implications
Research shows that: Hispanic and poor students drop out of school much more frequently than others
The achievement gap persists between black and white students
75% of affluent students go to college/50% of disadvantaged students do
(only 30% at Grand Prairie High School do)
Achievement/affiliation conflicts are common during adolescence among gifted females, gifted minority students, gifted disadvantaged students and some gifted males--these conflicts act as an eroding influence on their aspirations and self-concept
Academic disidentification is much more pronounced among African American males than any other group
Researchers postulate that peer influence has much to do with this disengagement--associating achievement with betrayal of the cultural group
Pursuit of academic excellence has psychological costs for minority and disadvantaged students--they feel invisible, marginalized, powerless, isolated, discriminated against, rejected by family and friends
In the study from Smith College: women from working class backgrounds reported significantly more social alienation and less academic preparedness
The study of 27 boys showed that they perceived lower expectations for themselves based on their economic status
They were also concerned that achievement might separate them from who they had been
Students with lower socioeconomic status may deny their talent not only bedfcause of conflicting messages, but they are uncomfortable negotiating the crossing of class boundaries. Minimizing abilities avoids discomfort.
Low income families may place more emphasis on marrying young and securing a job than going to college. Some see college as not worth the financial sacrifice; where no one in the family has college experience, they may be unaware of financial aid.
Coping strategies:
student organizations--band together, peer group networks, role models, mentors
Discussion of race, identity, achievement--talk, see, name the issues
Speakers-role models
Teach code switching--what behaviors are valued and acceptable in which environment, i.e. questioning authority and critical thinking may be valued in school, but not at home
Conversations/relationships with adults who do this may help with the coping strategy
Bibliotherapy
Cinematherapy--may both be useful--read and watch people who resoved achievement conflicts--movie suggestions include "Billy Elliott," "October Sky," "Smoke Signals," "Finding Forrester."
Create a welcoming learning environment
Author: Maureen Neihart
Purpose: examine achievment affiliation conflicts in gifted adolescents; offer strategies/interventions/supports to manage and to cope
Methodology: Cites three studies: National Educational Longitudinal Study--25,000 students tracked from 8th to 12th grades
Survey of 193 women graduates from Smith College
Study of 27 boys from low socioeconomic backgrounds attending an elite prep school
Studies--Conclusions/Implications
Research shows that: Hispanic and poor students drop out of school much more frequently than others
The achievement gap persists between black and white students
75% of affluent students go to college/50% of disadvantaged students do
(only 30% at Grand Prairie High School do)
Achievement/affiliation conflicts are common during adolescence among gifted females, gifted minority students, gifted disadvantaged students and some gifted males--these conflicts act as an eroding influence on their aspirations and self-concept
Academic disidentification is much more pronounced among African American males than any other group
Researchers postulate that peer influence has much to do with this disengagement--associating achievement with betrayal of the cultural group
Pursuit of academic excellence has psychological costs for minority and disadvantaged students--they feel invisible, marginalized, powerless, isolated, discriminated against, rejected by family and friends
In the study from Smith College: women from working class backgrounds reported significantly more social alienation and less academic preparedness
The study of 27 boys showed that they perceived lower expectations for themselves based on their economic status
They were also concerned that achievement might separate them from who they had been
Students with lower socioeconomic status may deny their talent not only bedfcause of conflicting messages, but they are uncomfortable negotiating the crossing of class boundaries. Minimizing abilities avoids discomfort.
Low income families may place more emphasis on marrying young and securing a job than going to college. Some see college as not worth the financial sacrifice; where no one in the family has college experience, they may be unaware of financial aid.
Coping strategies:
student organizations--band together, peer group networks, role models, mentors
Discussion of race, identity, achievement--talk, see, name the issues
Speakers-role models
Teach code switching--what behaviors are valued and acceptable in which environment, i.e. questioning authority and critical thinking may be valued in school, but not at home
Conversations/relationships with adults who do this may help with the coping strategy
Bibliotherapy
Cinematherapy--may both be useful--read and watch people who resoved achievement conflicts--movie suggestions include "Billy Elliott," "October Sky," "Smoke Signals," "Finding Forrester."
Create a welcoming learning environment
Lit Review 12
Title: Making a difference: motivating gifted student who are not achieving
Authors: Del Siegle and Betsy McCoach
Purpose: to explore the reasons why gifted students do not achieve and to suggest strategies to help them achieve
Methology: review of the literature--authors address self efficacy and self regulation
Authors' conclusions/implications:
There are four reasons for underachievement:
1) underlying physical, cognitive, or emotional issues
2) a mismatch between the student and the school environment
3) attitudes about themselves and their schooling
4) lack of self-regulation and study skills
Strategies for teachers to help underachiving gifted students:
explain the purpose for lessons and assignments
help students set short and long-term academic goals
help students see the long term benefits of classroom activities
invite community members into the classroom--connect learning to the "real world"
make personal connections with students--learning about their interests, integrate those into instruction
offer authentic choices for students to demonstrate mastery
present challenging material that students can master with effort
build in immediate feedback
treat students as if they are enthusiastic learners
keep a portfolio of work, observe and celebrate improvement
Give feedback--compliments--recognize achievement/attribute it to the development of the student
Teach study skills and time management
provide detailed assignment instructions and evalution rubrics
divide large tasks into smaller steps.
Authors: Del Siegle and Betsy McCoach
Purpose: to explore the reasons why gifted students do not achieve and to suggest strategies to help them achieve
Methology: review of the literature--authors address self efficacy and self regulation
Authors' conclusions/implications:
There are four reasons for underachievement:
1) underlying physical, cognitive, or emotional issues
2) a mismatch between the student and the school environment
3) attitudes about themselves and their schooling
4) lack of self-regulation and study skills
Strategies for teachers to help underachiving gifted students:
explain the purpose for lessons and assignments
help students set short and long-term academic goals
help students see the long term benefits of classroom activities
invite community members into the classroom--connect learning to the "real world"
make personal connections with students--learning about their interests, integrate those into instruction
offer authentic choices for students to demonstrate mastery
present challenging material that students can master with effort
build in immediate feedback
treat students as if they are enthusiastic learners
keep a portfolio of work, observe and celebrate improvement
Give feedback--compliments--recognize achievement/attribute it to the development of the student
Teach study skills and time management
provide detailed assignment instructions and evalution rubrics
divide large tasks into smaller steps.
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