Fitting Square Pegs in Round Holes Gifted Kids Don’t Always Fit

Dr. Barbara L. Branch

Director, GATE/Extended Learning

Nancy Craig, M.S.

Curriculum Training Specialist

Sacramento City Unified School District

Fitting Square Pegs in Round HolesGifted Kids Don’t Always Fit

Fitting Square Pegs in Round HolesGifted Kids Don’t Always Fit

Dr. Barbara BranchDr. Barbara Branch• General Ed Teacher• GATE Teacher • Principal of a school with GATE Program• Director of the GATE Program – Sac City • Gifted Ed. Consultant• College Instructor in Gifted Certificate Program• Author• Chairman – Capital Region GATE Consortium• Educator Rep to the California Association for the

Gifted (CAG) State Board from the Capital Region• Incoming Executive Director of CAG• Passionate about gifted kids

Who are the Gifted?

8 Gripes of Gifted Students8 Gripes of Gifted Students

1. No one explains what being gifted is all about - it's keep a big secret.

2. School is too easy and not challenging

3. Parents, teachers, and friends expect us to be perfect all the time.

4. Friends who really understand us are few and far between.

When Gifted Kids don't have all the answers, by Jim Delisle & Judy Galbraith

8 Gripes of Gifted Students8 Gripes of Gifted Students

5. Kids often tease us about being smart.

6. We feel overwhelmed by the number of things we can do in life.

7. We feel different and alienated.

8. We worry about world problems and feel helpless to do anything about them.

When Gifted Kids don't have all the answers, by Jim Delisle & Judy Galbraith

Bummer of a birthmark, Hal…

Differing from the norm can have disadvantages…

Social and Emotional NeedsSocial and Emotional Needs

Asynchrony

Perfectionism

Sensitivity and Intensity

AsynchronyAsynchrony

Uneven development Cognitive abilities surpass motor or

emotional development Seeks friends who are older Relates well to adults

AsynchronyAsynchrony

Gifted students are asynchronous. Their chronological age, social, physical, emotional, and intellectual development may all be at different levels.

For example, a 5-year-old may be able to read and comprehend a third-grade book but may not be able to write legibly.

PerfectionismPerfectionism

High expectations of self and others Sometimes leads to limited risk-taking May lead to low self-worth Highly self-critical

Healthy Perfectionism vs. Dysfunctional PerfectionismHealthy Perfectionism vs.

Dysfunctional Perfectionism

Healthy• Reflective organism• High personal standards• Agreeable• Extroverted• Conscientious

An Empirical Typology of Perfectionism in Academically Talented Children, Parker 1997

Healthy Perfectionism vs.. Dysfunctional PerfectionismHealthy Perfectionism vs..

Dysfunctional Perfectionism

Dysfunctional• Excessive concern about mistakes,

doubts, or parental criticism• Anxious • Disagreeable• Doubts about actions

An Empirical Typology of Perfectionism in Academically Talented Children, Parker 1997

Healthy Goal SettingHealthy Goal Setting

The pursuit of excellence by individuals who enjoy setting and attaining high standards is not perfectionism.

What Parents Can DoWhat Parents Can Do

Help your child to• Keep striving when first attempts are

unsuccessful.• Don’t quit when the going gets rough• Don’t punish yourself for failing.• Hold onto your ideas and believe in

your ability to reach them. • Recognize that there are good parts

and bad parts to perfectionism.Perfectionism, Carole C. Peters

IntensityIntensity

Emotional intensity in the gifted is not a matter of feeling more than other people, but a different way of experiencing the world: vivid, absorbing, penetrating, encompassing, complex, commanding - a way of being quiveringly alive.

INTENSITYINTENSITY

A salient descriptor that characterizes the personality of a gifted child is intensity. Intensity takes many forms that can be both strengths and weaknesses. Recognizing and understanding these intensities can help toward improving the social and emotional life of a child.

From J.R. Delisle, Once Upon a Mind: The stories and scholars of gifted child education. 2000.

INTENSITY OF THOUGHTINTENSITY OF THOUGHT

“Her mind is always whirring.”

From J.R. Delisle, Once Upon a Mind: The stories and scholars of gifted child

education. 2000.

INTENSITY OF PURPOSEINTENSITY OF PURPOSE

“Once he makes up his mind to do something, he’s not satisfied until it’s accomplished.”


INTENSITY OF EMOTIONINTENSITY OF EMOTION

“She internalizes anything anyone says about her.”


INTENSITY OF SPIRITINTENSITY OF SPIRIT

“He’s always looking for someone less fortunate who needs help.”


INTENSITY OF SOULINTENSITY OF SOUL

“She asks questions that philosophers have asked for centuries and gets upset when we can’t give her definitive answers to them.”


Gifted Kids and Brain ActivityGifted Kids and Brain Activity

MRI Research “Brains on Fire”


Bright red blazes of high metabolic activity burst out all over the scan. Each red patch represents millions of microcombustion events in which glucose is metabolized to provide fuel for the working brain.

Gifted brains are remarkably intense and diffuse metabolizers.

education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/Neurosciences/articles/Brains%20on%20Fire/



Gifted thinkers are rarely one-mode thinkers.

Gifted brains are essentially "hyper-sensitive




Enhanced Sensory Awareness / Sensitivity

Enhanced Memory Efficiency and Capacity

More Efficient Organizational-Analytic Capacity

More Extensive Associational-Synthetic Capacity

Greater Potential for “Creative-Corporate Thinking”


Neurological characteristics carry a number of potential drawbacks• sensory, emotional, and memory overload, • sensory hypersensitivities, • personal disorganization, • sensory distractibility, • delayed processing due to "analysis

paralysis" (or getting "lost in thought" due to an excess of options)

• mental fatigue

MRI Research “Brains on Fire”MRI Research “Brains on Fire”



Accept children's' emotions:

Exercise appropriate discipline as this helps develop a sense of security

Discuss feelings openly


Take time to listen to children's ideas, opinions and feelings.

Appreciate their sensitivities, intensities and passions.

• Reassure them when they are afraid and help them to find ways of expressing their intense emotions

• Realize that they become frustrated when their physical capabilities do not match their intellectual abilities

• Honor emotions in boys as well as girls.


What Kids want you to know


Come into my bedroom at night, tuck me in and sing me a song. Also tell me stories about when you were little.

Give me hugs and kisses and sit and talk with me privately.

Spend quality time just with me, not with my brothers and sisters around.



Give me nutritious food so I can grow up healthy.

At dinner talk about what we could do together on the weekend.

At night talk to me about anything; love, school, family etc.



Let me play outside a lot.

Cuddle under a blanket and watch our favorite TV show together.

Discipline me. It makes me feel like you care.

Leave special messages in my desk or lunch bag.

What do the needs of gifted

kids tell us about schooling?

What do the needs of gifted

kids tell us about schooling?

Why Should Gifted Students Be Supported?Why Should Gifted Students Be Supported?

“Gifted and talented” is not always viewed very positively

• Isn’t it elitist? Offends our egalitarian sensibilities

• Democracy butts heads with intellectualism – we want everything equal

• Does superior intellect make us uncomfortable?


Doesn’t it stigmatize kids or label kids?

Is it fair to other students?

Isn’t it just kids who get more field trips and special treatment like after-school programs?

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cozmedia.com/Illust/brainy.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cozmedia.com/brain.htm&h=307&w=383&sz=32&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=k0JQsQV4IunnYM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=123&prev=/images?q=brainy&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=


Numerous studies confirm a sad finding:

Gifted students in the US have little good to say

about their schooling.

Are usually bored and unengaged in school Tend to be highly critical of their teachers

Are asked to learn independently too often.

Ellen Winner

Rationale for Providing Gifted ServicesRationale for Providing Gifted Services

– 24% of drop outs are gifted

– 50% of the prisoners on death row in Oregon and Washington have IQ's over 130

– Think of the havoc wrecked upon our society by Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, and Ted Kaczynski.

Dr. Victoria Gardner Placker, B.A.Ed., M.S., R.Sc.P., Rs.D. http://www.angelfire.com/ne/cre8vityunltd/futrgifted.html

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://uk.gizmodo.com/jail_guy_cartoon.jpg&imgrefurl=http://uk.gizmodo.com/2005/10/14/&h=140&w=160&sz=10&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=9bfQADur81ruRM:&tbnh=86&tbnw=98&prev=/images?q=jail+cartoon&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&sa=G


– Every child has a right to a free and appropriate public education at his or her level

– All youngsters need appropriate peers and friends

– If improperly nurtured and educated, gifted youngsters can become a powerful negative force in society

Dr. Victoria Gardner Placker, B.A.Ed., M.S., R.Sc.P., Rs.D. http://www.angelfire.com/ne/cre8vityunltd/futrgifted.html

http://www.ricgerace.com/images/frndcat/cartoon.jpg


•We need gifted people to deal with our world's problems, and they need to be appropriately educated and emotionally healthy to do so!

•Our future depends on them! Dr. Victoria Gardner Placker, B.A.Ed., M.S., R.Sc.P., Rs.D.

http://www.angelfire.com/ne/cre8vityunltd/futrgifted.html


–Gifted children have specific behavioral characteristics in the cognitive and affective realms that present special learning needs that must be addressed by curriculum differentiation

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ncagt.org/images/gtkids2.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.ncagt.org/gtkidsare.shtml&h=193&w=255&sz=18&hl=en&start=22&tbnid=EufyM0DTmBg7HM:&tbnh=84&tbnw=111&prev=/images?q=gifted+kids&start=18&ndsp=18&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&sa=N

How do we deliver the

differentiated instruction in

the best possible way?

Grouping the GiftedGrouping the Gifted

Full- day Cluster grouping Flexible grouping Multi-age grouping

Rationale for GroupingRationale for Grouping

Placing high achievers together in one classroom challenges those students, enabling other students to become academic leaders and allowing new talent to emerge.

Marcia Gentry

2-Year Study2-Year Study

• Evaluate affective and academic changes in students placed in advanced programs

• 14 districts, 10 states

• Gifted students in separate class, pull-out, and special schools had higher levels of achievement than their gifted peers inn general ed

Delcourt, M. B., Cornell, D.G., & Goldberg, M.D. (2007) Cognitive and Affective learning outcomes of gifted elementary school students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 51, 359-381.

Rationale for GroupingRationale for Grouping Grouping makes it easier for teachers to meet

the needs of students in their classrooms by reducing the achievement range of students within a classroom.

Grouping used in conjunction with challenging instruction and high teacher expectations may improve how teachers view their students with respect to ability and achievement.

Marcia Gentry http://home.wsd.wednet.edu/wsd/Instructional/enrichment/cluster%20classrooms.pdf

Rationale for Cluster GroupingRationale for Cluster Grouping

Achievement scores improved over a three-year period for students in a cluster group environment and the number of students identified as high achievers increased.



Flexible grouping within and between classes that reduces the achievement range of each class can provide many benefits to all students and teachers.



raising teacher expectations;

creating a sense of

ownership;

reducing the range of achievement levels in classrooms


10 Ways GT Has Helped MeGrades 2-3


1. To get a challenge2. To have a challenge and not have everything be easy3. To play logic games and learn new things4. Perseverance5. Logic thinking6. To not get stuff done right away7. That not everything in life is going to be easy8. To be challenged9. So everything isn't so easy10.It helped me learn new things like Latin and Greek base

words

blogs.edweek.org/teachers/unwrapping_the_gifted/2013/03/ten_ways_gifted_education_has_helped_me.html



1. Challenge my mind. It makes my thinking not scattered.2. Inspired me to do things. Ex. = Take on challenges.3. GT helps me to use my brain and strategy because we

play chess and you have to think.4. If I could be anywhere in the world, it would be here in

GT because in [my regular] class I feel like we are learning 1st grade activities and we are doing unnecessary things to drag on activities in class

5. GT helps me to learn math, logic, creativity, and how to handle frustration better, which I never knew before. In class I hear the same things over and over again, but not here in GT.




6. It makes thinking fun!7. GT has helped me by challenging me and not having to

listen to things over and over or things I already know.8. I know how to play chess better.9. GT makes me feel better. It helps me cool off when I'm

mad. It helps me stay calm when I'm upset.10.There are complicated problems that help me!




1. GT has given me the confidence to pursue my goals in life.

2. GT has given me the opportunities and discipline to do the things I have always wanted to do.

3. GT has given me a place where I feel like I'm not different. Here I feel accepted and able to be as smart as I want.

4. GT is a class where we can relate to one another, better than in most classes.

5. GT has taught me that persistence is one of life's necessities.




6. GT has shown me that it's OK and acceptable to have different views or ideas that go against what is commonly accepted.

7. GT has taught me to think of my goals as flexible.8. GT has given me a lot of challenges I needed because I

was never really challenged before.9. GT has challenged me, given me confidence, and is an

awesome place where I can be me.10.GT has helped me with life's challenges such as dealing

with friendships.




1. Discovery - Learning about myself and others.2. Self-reliance, depending on myself.3. Able to be creative (with little insult).4. It has helped me figure out what I want to do with my

life.5. A safe place to pursue my ideas.




6. Assist me with my life after high school.7. Si, mucho gusto!8. Freedom9. The ability to communicate with people who think alike-

ish to us.10.To relax at the end of the day. [Number 10 cracked me

up a bit because, to me, my high school class is the least "relaxing" of all of my classes!


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Fitting Square Pegs in Round Holes Gifted Kids Don’t Always Fit