Chapters 1-3
Chapter 1 - Introduction
As soon as I read the title of the book, I knew this would be a helpful class! Not only do I work with these students every day, I live with one in my house. I have always said that I have endless patience for those kiddos who struggle with dyslexia or other disabilities, and who try their best, but still cannot catch up to their peers. My weakness has always been that I cannot understand those who have the ability to achieve the highest of goals, but for some reason, "choose" to coast by and put a serious lack of effort in all they do. Why do they choose this? I always ask my self, "How can they be so smart and choose to goof off, not check their work, or just not care?"
In my mind, gifted kids are those who outperform their peers on IQ tests and attach themselves to certain topics that interest them and become almost obsessed with learning more about them. However, their grades don't always reflect their abilities. Which brings me to how I view underachievers - those students who CAN do better, but for whatever reason -- choose not to put forth the effort.
I am hoping that upon finishing this book, I will have specific strategies for motivating these kids, designing lessons that appeal to them, and most of all.... change my mindset about them, learning more patience and understanding for their situation.
Chapter 2
What a hot button this is! I cannot tell you how many times my teacher friends and I spend our lunch hour (make that 20 minutes) or our planning (or maybe choir practice after school) discussing, in fact venting about those kids in our classes who just "don't care" about their work. I think it is almost a disservice for students to be labeled as gifted. Doesn't that make us automatically expect more from them? Is that fair? As a writing teacher, I have learned, I cannot use GATES as a barometer for how I expect students to perform. Some of my GT kids take their time, love writing, and excel all the way on those most exciting expository essays. However, most perform at the level of their reg ed peers, sometimes even demonstrating much lower writing skills than those children. I can usually identify those kids in the first week or so, just based on some less challenging "get to know you" activities. Some friends will go above and beyond , wanting me to know everything about them. Others, just slap on some half sentence response and move on to the next activity.
Now, selective achievers - those I know well! I live with one! It's never a surprise to me that those students exist. Aren't we all a little like that? Of course I am going to excel in a class where I have bonded with the teacher, love the topic, and am completely engaged! These friends LOVE choice in the classroom. When I put up the enrichment project on Google Classroom, these kids are all over it! I love seeing what they come up with and how they choose to demonstrate their learning. Is this student different from the underachiever? Are they underachieving in other areas due to their willingness to excel in certain places? Good question! I don't know....
Chapter 3
I was shocked by the number of and the names given to these students. I kind of laughed at the names they chose to identify them. My goal as I read was to be able to identify where my son fit in. The strange thing was... I could not put him in any of the categories. He was a combo of several. So, my "aha" was that it seems to me this may be tougher and more subjective than it seems. I think the 4 key influences made the most sense, seeing as those factors, in my mind, influence most children in education, regardless of their giftedness or lack there of.
I wasn't surprised by the stats or girls vs boys -- that seems to go hand in hand with maturity, which boys have a lack of until later.
I also loved that quote about students become "involuntary underachievers." How sad, that is! How sad for students to be surrounded by people who either don't know their potential, or don't care to take the time to explore it. Relationships! It always comes back to that! Educators have got to take the time to get to know their kids!
As soon as I read the title of the book, I knew this would be a helpful class! Not only do I work with these students every day, I live with one in my house. I have always said that I have endless patience for those kiddos who struggle with dyslexia or other disabilities, and who try their best, but still cannot catch up to their peers. My weakness has always been that I cannot understand those who have the ability to achieve the highest of goals, but for some reason, "choose" to coast by and put a serious lack of effort in all they do. Why do they choose this? I always ask my self, "How can they be so smart and choose to goof off, not check their work, or just not care?"
In my mind, gifted kids are those who outperform their peers on IQ tests and attach themselves to certain topics that interest them and become almost obsessed with learning more about them. However, their grades don't always reflect their abilities. Which brings me to how I view underachievers - those students who CAN do better, but for whatever reason -- choose not to put forth the effort.
I am hoping that upon finishing this book, I will have specific strategies for motivating these kids, designing lessons that appeal to them, and most of all.... change my mindset about them, learning more patience and understanding for their situation.
Chapter 2
What a hot button this is! I cannot tell you how many times my teacher friends and I spend our lunch hour (make that 20 minutes) or our planning (or maybe choir practice after school) discussing, in fact venting about those kids in our classes who just "don't care" about their work. I think it is almost a disservice for students to be labeled as gifted. Doesn't that make us automatically expect more from them? Is that fair? As a writing teacher, I have learned, I cannot use GATES as a barometer for how I expect students to perform. Some of my GT kids take their time, love writing, and excel all the way on those most exciting expository essays. However, most perform at the level of their reg ed peers, sometimes even demonstrating much lower writing skills than those children. I can usually identify those kids in the first week or so, just based on some less challenging "get to know you" activities. Some friends will go above and beyond , wanting me to know everything about them. Others, just slap on some half sentence response and move on to the next activity.
Now, selective achievers - those I know well! I live with one! It's never a surprise to me that those students exist. Aren't we all a little like that? Of course I am going to excel in a class where I have bonded with the teacher, love the topic, and am completely engaged! These friends LOVE choice in the classroom. When I put up the enrichment project on Google Classroom, these kids are all over it! I love seeing what they come up with and how they choose to demonstrate their learning. Is this student different from the underachiever? Are they underachieving in other areas due to their willingness to excel in certain places? Good question! I don't know....
Chapter 3
I was shocked by the number of and the names given to these students. I kind of laughed at the names they chose to identify them. My goal as I read was to be able to identify where my son fit in. The strange thing was... I could not put him in any of the categories. He was a combo of several. So, my "aha" was that it seems to me this may be tougher and more subjective than it seems. I think the 4 key influences made the most sense, seeing as those factors, in my mind, influence most children in education, regardless of their giftedness or lack there of.
I wasn't surprised by the stats or girls vs boys -- that seems to go hand in hand with maturity, which boys have a lack of until later.
I also loved that quote about students become "involuntary underachievers." How sad, that is! How sad for students to be surrounded by people who either don't know their potential, or don't care to take the time to explore it. Relationships! It always comes back to that! Educators have got to take the time to get to know their kids!
Tami, I love your insight about your son not fitting into just one category. Isn't that crazy? 17 types and he's a mix of many. That is pretty eye-opening. Someone else said that as much as we may know, we really have to start over with each child because they're all so different.
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