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Articles from
September 2008
Anatomy for Gifted Kids
There are a couple of great anatomy Web sites available for kids. The first two listed here are interactive and suitable for bright, middle to late elementary school kids. The sites can be used either at home or at school and are both entertaining and educational.
At this Website from the BBC, you will find interactive computer activities that teach about the organs, muscles, skeleton, senses, nervous system, and puberty. Students use drag-and-drop to place various parts of the body and learn about the function of each.
At this site, students can participate in virtual hip replacements and virtual knee replacements. Viewers also have the opportunity to diagnose different patients who might need knee or hip replacements. There are also videos of real people who have had the replacements, explaining what it was like before and after the surgeries. In addition, students can learn about “interesting people” who have jobs that are related to hip and knee replacements. This feature of the Web site introduces students to possible career paths.
At this site, there are numerous links to biology resources, several that relate directly to anatomy.
Teaching Foreign Language to Gifted Students
All research points to the virtues of beginning foreign language early in life—as early as preschool. Both parents and teachers appreciate ways to enrich foreign language instruction for their students who are gifted in this area.
As we become more and more global-centric, multilingual skills become even more important. We need to move beyond learning the traditional one foreign language to being comfortable speaking several languages.
The following include some helpful resources for teaching or learning a foreign language.
This Web site comes from the U.K. It contains ideas for enriching and extending pupils' experiences in foreign languages that include
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using everyday classroom events as an opportunity for spontaneous speech;
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expressing and discussing personal feelings and opinions;
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using a range of resources, including games, songs and poems;
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using the target language imaginatively and creatively (i.e., creating newspapers, quizzes and tongue-twisters);
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listening, reading, or viewing for personal enjoyment short stories, short novels, poetry, fairy tales, and plays.
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writing short stories and poetry.
Here you will find an extensive list of language camps for students of all ages.
This is an article in the Duke Gifted Letter, which reviews a couple of software programs that teach foreign languages.
If you do an Internet search on “Foreign Language Online,” you will find many free resources, including games for learning languages.
Courses and Degree Programs for Teachers of the Gifted
Do you want to have a more thorough understanding of gifted education so that you can better serve the needs of your students and their parents? Have you considered taking a class or two or perhaps working on a degree in gifted education? Here is a great resource for you.
The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) has put together a University Directory of Programs and Services in Gifted Education. At this site, you will find lists of
- universities and colleges offering coursework or degree programs in gifted education by state.
- coursework by university that leads to a certificate or endorsement, an undergraduate degree with an emphasis in gifted, an M.S., an Ed.D., or a Ph.D.
- universities that offer online courses in gifted education.
By using this information, you can find out if there is a program close to you, and if there isn’t, where you can take online classes.
The Use of Praise and Reward in Motivating Students
Over the years, we have run the gamut with the role of praise and reward when working with students. When I was a young child I can remember hearing adults say, “Don’t tell him he did too good of a job or he’ll get a swelled head.” Praise was not readily given. At least in my environment, reward for tasks completed was never even considered. We were expected to do well without praise or reward.
When my children were young, self-esteem became a big issue. Adults became very sensitive to building the good feelings that children had about themselves. Praise, and often reward, was lavished upon these young people.
Today, we are offered a middle ground.
Both teachers and parents often are eager to motivate their kids in school. In two articles,
Daniel T. Willingham, at University of Virginia, discusses the role of praise and the role of reward in motivating students. The emphasis of Willingham’s research is the application of cognitive psychology to K–12 education.
Research indicates that praise can motivate and guide children—but there are circumstances under which praise is not beneficial. If you try to use praise for your own ends or even in a conscious attempt to help the student, it is likely to go wrong. If, on the other hand, praise is an honest expression meant to congratulate the student, it will likely be at least neutral or even helpful to the student. Whether or not praise is beneficial depends on when and how it is used. For praise to be helpful, it must
- be sincere—In order to receive praise, the child must have done something praiseworthy. The content of the praise should express congratulations (rather than express a wish of something else the child should do).
- emphasize process, not ability—The target of the praise should be not an attribute of the child, but rather an attribute of the child’s behavior.
- be immediate and unexpected—Praise should immediately follow the praiseworthy act; however, praise that comes like clockwork presents a potential problem: The student may start to work with the expectation of being praised.
Here the author tackles the question of creating an atmosphere in which students want to learn vs. one in which they do minimal work to earn a promised reward.
Are rewards immoral and dehumanizing? What happens when rewards stop? How can rewards decrease motivation? What makes rewards more or less effective? Are rewards worth it?
Willingham likens using rewards to taking out a loan. You get an immediate benefit, but you know that you will eventually have to pay up, with interest. He suggests three guidelines to the use of rewards:
- Try to find an alternative—The obvious alternative is to make the material intrinsically interesting.
- Use rewards for a specific reason, not as a general strategy—One example is when a student has lost confidence in himself to the point that he is no longer willing to try.
- Plan for the ending—If students are told at the start of the rewards program when it will end, there may be fewer complaints when the goodies are no longer available.
Don't Gifted Children Play the Guitar and Sit in Their Seats!?!
Last week, I spoke with a friend of mine who was in the middle of finishing two weeks of teacher orientation. On one afternoon, the teachers at her school heard a presentation about gifted children. During an afternoon break, one of my friend's table-mates commented that she imagined most gifted kids would be able to play the guitar because she only knows one gifted person, and he plays the guitar with great skill.
Another teacher explained how shocked she was to learn during the previous year that one of the boys in her class was gifted. She was shocked because "he never sat still." How could you be gifted and be out of your seat so much?
Then, last week, CNN posted an article by a free-lance journalist titled, "Is Your Kid Really Gifted? Probably Not."
The money quote from this article was:
"Gifted" has become one of the most tossed-about words in the parenting lexicon. Unfortunately—sorry, but let's get this out of the way right up front—it's also one of the most misused.
While there were many things about this article with which I disagreed, I did think this one paragraph held much truth. There is no end to the misceptions about who gifted kids are and how best to serve them.
Even among experts, there is some disagreement. Currently, there is a solid debate raging on in the gifted education community about whether we should only identify gifted kids who are performing at high levels or whether we should include kids who show potential for high performance, but do not yet (and may not ever) exhibit it.
The most infuriating aspect of this discussion is that giftedness exists along a continuum of human performance and ability. There is not a single agreed upon "line" we can draw that says, "on this side of the line you are gifted, and on that side you are not." Anytime a school or counselor makes the decision to label a child gifted, there is an element of the arbitrary in that decision. A couple of years ago, Prufrock posted an article titled "Definitions, Models, and Characteristics of Gifted Students" by Dr. Susan K. Johnsen. I invite you to read this article in its entirety. The article offers an overview of the many ways giftedness has been conceptualized and the many characteristics of gifted kids.
The article explains that there are many types of gifted individuals. For example, some exhibit gifted abilities and exceptional intelligence in many areas and some tend to exhibit gifted abilities in only specific subject areas. In other words, what a gifted child "looks" like can vary as much as snow flakes.
For example, Dr. Johnsen explains that kids with exceptional general intellectual abilities might exhibit the following characteristics to a high degree:
- Has an extensive and detailed memory, particularly in an area of interest.
- Has vocabulary advanced for age—precocious language.
- Has communication skills advanced for age and is able to express ideas and feelings.
- Asks intelligent questions.
- Is able to identify the important characteristics of new concepts, problems.
- Learns information quickly.
- Uses logic in arriving at common sense answers.
- Has a broad base of knowledge—a large quantity of information.
- Understands abstract ideas and complex concepts.
- Uses analogical thinking, problem solving, or reasoning.
- Observes relationships and sees connections.
- Finds and solves difficult and unusual problems.
- Understands principles, forms generalizations, and uses them in new situations.
- Wants to learn and is curious.
- Works conscientiously and has a high degree of concentration in areas of interest.
- Understands and uses various symbol systems.
- Is reflective about learning.
On the other hand, according to the article, a child with exceptional talent in the specific subject area of mathematics or science might exhibit the following characteristics:
- Is interested in numerical analysis.
- Has a good memory for storing main features of problem and solutions.
- Appreciates parsimony, simplicity, or economy in solutions.
- Reasons effectively and efficiently.
- Solves problems intuitively using insight.
- Can reverse steps in the mental process.
- Organizes data and experiments to discover patterns or relationships.
- Improvises with science equipment and math methods.
- Is flexible in solving problems.
The point I would like to make in this blog is that being gifted may look quite different from one child to the next. A little less overconfidence in our clarity about who the gifted child is and is not might be helpful as the school year begins. Let's keep that idea in mind as we look for those kids who might need special gifted education services.
Now, if you don't mind, I believe I will go back to sitting still while I play my guitar.