7/28/2019 Myths and Misconceptions about Gifted Students
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Myths about Gifted Students
Many myths have been associated with giftedness. The following
list summarizessome of the facts and fallacies related to gifted
students.
Myth: Gifted students will achieve without guidance.
Fact: Without guidance and support, gifted students may lose
motivation orunderachieve.
Myth: Gifted students should be given a large quantity of work
at average grade level.Fact: Gifted students need a high degree of
educational challenge, not more work atan average or repetitious
level.
Myth: Gifted students are teacher pleasers and easy to
teach.Fact: In order for gifted students to maintain high levels of
achievement, teachersmust make curricular adjustments. Without
appropriate modifications, gifted studentsmay develop behavior
problems.
Myth: Gifted students will make straight As.Fact: Gifted
students will not always achieve, especially if unmotivated.
Myth: Gifted students are nearly always from upper middle class
professionalfamilies.Fact: Gifted students are from diverse racial,
ethnic, and socio-economicbackgrounds.
Myth: Gifted students are often socially popular with their
peers.Fact: Gifted students are often ostracized socially,
especially at the secondary level.
Myth: Gifted students learn best on their own.Fact: Gifted
students benefit from being grouped with their intellectual peers
for asignificant part of their instructional day.
Myth: Extra help for gifted students fosters snobbery and is
likely to lead to an elitistclass.Fact Giftedness is fragile. Every
child deserves an education that is appropriate toindividual needs.
Children at both extremes of the ability spectrum need
specialeducation.
Myth: Gifted students are best served when tutoring.Fact: When
gifted students consistently tutor others, often they are not
learning
anything new. This can create unhealthy self-esteem issues for
both the tutored andthe gifted student.
Famous People Who are/were Twice-Exceptional
Albert Einstein did not speak until the age of three. Even as an
adult Einstein found that searching for
words was laborious. He found schoolwork, especially math,
difficult and was unable to express himself in
written language. He was thought to be simple minded (retarded),
until it was realized that he was able to
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achieve by visualizing rather than by the use of language. His
work on relativity, which revolutionized
modern physics, was created in his spare time.
Thomas Alva Edison was unable to read until he was twelve years
old and his writing skills were poor
throughout his life.
As a boy his teachers told him he was too stupid to learn
anything. I remember that Iwas never able to get along at school. I
was always at the foot of my class. I used tofeel that the teachers
did not sympathize with me and that my father thought I wasstupid.
Edison held the worlds record of 1,093 patents for inventions such
as thelight bulb and phonograph.
George Washington was unable to spell throughout his life and
his grammar usage was very poor. His
brother suggested that perhaps surveying in the backwoods might
be an appropriate career for young
George.
Leonardo Da Vinci was fascinated with levers and gears--so much
so that they were at the heart of
nearly all his inventions--from the crane to the helicopter. It
is also believed that he struggled with
dyslexia.
Walt Disney, the creator of Mickey Mouse, recipient of 32
personal Academy Awards for his animated
features and founder of the Disney Empire struggled with a
learning disability.
Tom Cruise is unable to read even today due to severe dyslexia,
he never even finished High School. He
has though, the ability to memorize his lines and perform on
both the stage and screen
Henry Winkler(actor, director, producer) As a child was called
stupid and lazy in the classroom. Bottom3% in country, in math, he
was thought to have ADD, he once said "It is not easy to compete
when youhave LD, but it is possible."
Harry Andersen (TV actor, played Judge Stone on Night Court) Has
ADD and managed to con and
charm his way through school he had extraordinary memory and
could remember anything at 16.Valedictorian but he could barely
read to rehearse his lines.
Robin Williams the actor/comedian has been diagnosed with
ADHD
Magic Johnson (basketball player) Has a reading problem, "It's a
bad feeling, a lonely feeling" "You'vegot to take whatever means
are necessary to enhance your skills. Then once you've conquered
it, onceyou have met the challenge, teach back and help the next
guy, because that is what it is all about"
Bruce Jenner(Olympic decathlon champ) barely got through school,
diagnosed as a dyslexic (sportsgave him better self-esteem) he
found that through sports he could hold his head up with friends
and feelgood about himself.
Although known for his voice, James Earl Jones was born with a
stuttering problem that made him veryself-conscious, and he was
almost mute until the age of 15. A high school teacher discovered
Jones hada gift for writing poetry, thought forcing public speaking
would help him out of his silence and insisted thathe recite a poem
to the class each day. Jones claims that he still stutters
sometimes (it doesn't bother himanymore) but was mostly cured by
being forced to speak to an audience.
Some people claim that Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp.
and the richest person on earth, displaysmany characteristics of
Aspergers Syndrome. They say that he is famously negligent about
his personalappearance and schedule and that he has the autistic
behavior of compulsively rocking in his chair, which
