Inside the Mind of A Gifted Underachiever
If your gifted child hates school, parents and teachers may
be quick to label you as "trouble" or "defiant" or diagnose you with a
number of disorders. This is far from the truth. There is nothing wrong
with hating school. Oftentime the overlooked gifted child is a
non-producer (low test scores/grades), exhibiting behavior problems,
such as "cockiness" or "bulling." They may be introverted and quiet,
even absent-minded.
Who Is The Gifted/Able Underachievers?
GENERAL GIFTED UNDERACHIEVERS' CHARACTERS:
Low self-esteem; feelings of inferiority
Consistently negative attitude toward school and learning; apathetic and unmotivated
Poor attention span/daydreaming where bored
Low tolerance for completing tasks that seem irrelevant/uninteresting
Reluctance to take risks or exhibits inappropriate risk-taking
Discomfort with competition; highly sensitive to criticism
Lack of perseverance
Lack of goal-directed behavior
Social isolation
Low/inconsistent academic performance
Lack of organizational skills; loses or forgets assignments
Disruptiveness in class and resistance to class activities
Power struggles with authorities; questions rules and customs
Low self-esteem; feelings of inferiority
Consistently negative attitude toward school and learning; apathetic and unmotivated
Poor attention span/daydreaming where bored
Low tolerance for completing tasks that seem irrelevant/uninteresting
Reluctance to take risks or exhibits inappropriate risk-taking
Discomfort with competition; highly sensitive to criticism
Lack of perseverance
Lack of goal-directed behavior
Social isolation
Low/inconsistent academic performance
Lack of organizational skills; loses or forgets assignments
Disruptiveness in class and resistance to class activities
Power struggles with authorities; questions rules and customs
Common Factors Of Underachievers At School and Home
CHARACTERISTICS OF UNDERACHIEVER AT SCHOOL:
Negative relationship or lack of student-teacher connection
Lack of supportive classroom climate
Low teacher expectations
School culture perpetuating low expectations or mediocrity; anti-intellectual peer atmosphere
Cultural mismatch between teaching and learning style
Lack of teacher training in culturally relevant or gifted education
Lack of differentiated, motivating instruction with flexibility/choice
Excessive use of competition or measured comparison
Negative relationship or lack of student-teacher connection
Lack of supportive classroom climate
Low teacher expectations
School culture perpetuating low expectations or mediocrity; anti-intellectual peer atmosphere
Cultural mismatch between teaching and learning style
Lack of teacher training in culturally relevant or gifted education
Lack of differentiated, motivating instruction with flexibility/choice
Excessive use of competition or measured comparison
CHARACTERISTICS OF UNDERACHIEVER AT HOME:
Lack of optimism
Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness
Less assertive about child's education
Less assertive about child's education
Unrealistic and unclear expectations
Lack of optimism
Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness
Less assertive about child's education
Less assertive about child's education
Unrealistic and unclear expectations
Effective Strategy: Setting "Motivation Traps"
If
teachers have not learned the effective strategy of motivation traps,
they ought to know that this is a way to "bait" or "trap" students with
high interest content into using and developing standards-based skills.
It's a win-win strategy for both students and teachers. Students are
given the opportunity to interact with high-interest topics during the
instructional day (rather than being deliberately cut off from these
topics), and teachers are able to hook students into interacting and
comprehending academic standards.
What Are the Different Motivational Traps?
Some Categories:
Hero Traps-- Children all have heroes, famous athletes, movie stars, musicians, authors, etc. Teachers can find ways to incorporate students' heroes as bait in most disciplines. Examples: Letter writing to heroes, hero biographies, mock interviews of heroes, writing a movie script starring the hero, calculating and creating a statistics report for athletes, creating a budget using a hero's salary, timeline/geneaology chart of a hero's life, direct a music video of a hero's music or write our own music in the same style.
Intense-Interest Traps-- The intense interest can be dinosaurs, cars, video games, fashion, music, basketball, etc. and can be incorporated into classroom lessons or pursued by students through independent study. Examples: Independent study/research in an interest area, draw/label diagrams of interest to create a book, classify and categorize items of interest, measure/compute statistics (weight, price, speed, etc.), historical study of interest area.
Classroom Club Traps-- Promoting high-interest classroom clubs can help students with social and academic growth, combining high-interest "bait" and new peer relationship, thus encouraging leadership opportunities and problem-solving skills. Examples: Cooking Club (create recipes, public and sell cookbooks), Garden Club (study in past, present and future of agriculture), Classroom Journalism Club (interviews, book and movie reviews, editorials, photographs)
Social and Emotional Needs Traps-- Underachievers may grave acceptance and attention, which may be satisfied by this "trap." Examples: Note Passing to peers (involving pen-pal program) and positive notes about peers to report out to the class at a scheduled time.
Hero Traps-- Children all have heroes, famous athletes, movie stars, musicians, authors, etc. Teachers can find ways to incorporate students' heroes as bait in most disciplines. Examples: Letter writing to heroes, hero biographies, mock interviews of heroes, writing a movie script starring the hero, calculating and creating a statistics report for athletes, creating a budget using a hero's salary, timeline/geneaology chart of a hero's life, direct a music video of a hero's music or write our own music in the same style.
Intense-Interest Traps-- The intense interest can be dinosaurs, cars, video games, fashion, music, basketball, etc. and can be incorporated into classroom lessons or pursued by students through independent study. Examples: Independent study/research in an interest area, draw/label diagrams of interest to create a book, classify and categorize items of interest, measure/compute statistics (weight, price, speed, etc.), historical study of interest area.
Classroom Club Traps-- Promoting high-interest classroom clubs can help students with social and academic growth, combining high-interest "bait" and new peer relationship, thus encouraging leadership opportunities and problem-solving skills. Examples: Cooking Club (create recipes, public and sell cookbooks), Garden Club (study in past, present and future of agriculture), Classroom Journalism Club (interviews, book and movie reviews, editorials, photographs)
Social and Emotional Needs Traps-- Underachievers may grave acceptance and attention, which may be satisfied by this "trap." Examples: Note Passing to peers (involving pen-pal program) and positive notes about peers to report out to the class at a scheduled time.
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