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First the reading, from Mrs. Trepanier's article:
Many gifted students are high achievers and excel in school. Their inner motivation drives them to achieve with the desired high scores and superior grades. On the other hand, many gifted students are not driven to achieve in school for many reasons–boredom, lack of a challenging curriculum, coexisting learning disabilities, a preference for learning for the sake of learning and not for high test scores, social and emotional issues, and others.
Many gifted students are high achievers and excel in school. Their inner motivation drives them to achieve with the desired high scores and superior grades. On the other hand, many gifted students are not driven to achieve in school for many reasons–boredom, lack of a challenging curriculum, coexisting learning disabilities, a preference for learning for the sake of learning and not for high test scores, social and emotional issues, and others.
If you have a gifted student in your classroom who is not achieving to expectations, look for the contributing factors. Also, gifted students do not excel in all subjects. They may be gifted in math, but struggle with reading. I can assure you that underachievement in a gifted student is rarely if ever due to poor work ethic or laziness. Simply assuming an underachieving gifted student just needs to work harder or be more conscientious with his schoolwork is always the wrong assumption. And expecting consistent high scores and perfect grades from all gifted students can be emotionally, socially and educationally damaging to a gifted child.
If you have a gifted student in your classroom who is not achieving to expectations, look for the contributing factors. Also, gifted students do not excel in all subjects. They may be gifted in math, but struggle with reading. I can assure you that underachievement in a gifted student is rarely if ever due to poor work ethic or laziness. Simply assuming an underachieving gifted student just needs to work harder or be more conscientious with his schoolwork is always the wrong assumption. And expecting consistent high scores and perfect grades from all gifted students can be emotionally, socially and educationally damaging to a gifted child.
After reading that, you can surmise the intended audience. This series of blog posts collected into an article are aimed at teachers. I think they will be valuable for us, though. They will give us insights and a topic to discuss.
After reading that, you can surmise the intended audience. This series of blog posts collected into an article are aimed at teachers. I think they will be valuable for us, though. They will give us insights and a topic to discuss.
Take notice that nowhere in this writing is it implied or stated that this provides an excuse for slacking off. I do not want you to read this and take away that it is acceptable to not give your best effort. To the contrary, I want you to walk away from this understanding yourself better and knowing what motivates you.
Take notice that nowhere in this writing is it implied or stated that this provides an excuse for slacking off. I do not want you to read this and take away that it is acceptable to not give your best effort. To the contrary, I want you to walk away from this understanding yourself better and knowing what motivates you.
As you read this entry and the ones that will follow, I hope they provide insight into your own life. I also hope that you will be willing to share some of these insights when we discuss in class. And so, I will start:
As you read this entry and the ones that will follow, I hope they provide insight into your own life. I also hope that you will be willing to share some of these insights when we discuss in class. And so, I will start:
For me, when I read "...a preference for learning for the sake of learning and not for high test scores..." I knew that Mrs. Trepanier was in tune with gifted students. When I was in school, my grades were always good enough, but not great. It frustrated my parents who wanted my grades to show what they knew I could achieve. It frustrated my teachers, who saw the curiosity and the ability but believed that I was lazy. Sometimes, I even started to believe them.
For me, when I read "...a preference for learning for the sake of learning and not for high test scores..." I knew that Mrs. Trepanier was in tune with gifted students. When I was in school, my grades were always good enough, but not great. It frustrated my parents who wanted my grades to show what they knew I could achieve. It frustrated my teachers, who saw the curiosity and the ability but believed that I was lazy. Sometimes, I even started to believe them.
It took me a long time - my final year of college - to really start to understand that I wasn't motivated to prove that I understood what we learned because I was already off learning something else. Working at the details just to prove I could do it on a test didn't compare to going off in search of the next new and interesting thing that I could learn.
It took me a long time - my final year of college - to really start to understand that I wasn't motivated to prove that I understood what we learned because I was already off learning something else. Working at the details just to prove I could do it on a test didn't compare to going off in search of the next new and interesting thing that I could learn.
That wasn't an excuse, but it helped me to understand myself. It didn't make studying more appealing and it didn't inspire teachers to give me better grades. What it did, though, was help me realize that I could find a way to motivate myself, and put to rest the voice whispering that maybe I was lazy after all. To keep myself engaged I needed to be helping someone else. Getting a good grade wasn't enough. So I studied with other people and helping them helped me stay focused. When I began student teaching, and my efforts directly helped students, I could work for hours without distraction.
That wasn't an excuse, but it helped me to understand myself. It didn't make studying more appealing and it didn't inspire teachers to give me better grades. What it did, though, was help me realize that I could find a way to motivate myself, and put to rest the voice whispering that maybe I was lazy after all. To keep myself engaged I needed to be helping someone else. Getting a good grade wasn't enough. So I studied with other people and helping them helped me stay focused. When I began student teaching, and my efforts directly helped students, I could work for hours without distraction.
By understanding myself and what motivated me, I was able to find a way to give my best effort. Sometimes it doesn't work and I just have to do stuff because it needs to get done. Often though, I can motivate myself by focusing on how my efforts help my family or friends or colleagues or (most often) students.
By understanding myself and what motivated me, I was able to find a way to give my best effort. Sometimes it doesn't work and I just have to do stuff because it needs to get done. Often though, I can motivate myself by focusing on how my efforts help my family or friends or colleagues or (most often) students.
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