Approximate Reading Time: 4 minutes
» Top Ten Ways to Annoy a Gifted Child giftedguru.com.
I shared this on FB the other day and got some responses I had to think about for a while.
First, here’s the summary of the list:
- Force them to remain at the “right” grade level.
- Insist that they show their work, even though every single answer is correct and they have known how to do that type of problem for three years.
- Make them read along with much slower readers.
- Place them in a classroom with more typical learners and don’t do anything to accommodate the giftedness.
- Say, “You’re so smart, you should be able to do this.”
- Refuse to allow them to play with older or younger kids.
- When the unit on wolves is over, there will be no more learning about wolves (or hurricanes, or the quadratic formula, or quantum physics).
- More-ferentiate! This is Differentiation’s evil imposter. With more-ferentiation, you just give more of the same work, not different work.
- Expect them to “act gifted” all of the time.
- Make them practice work they already know over and over.
I thought this was wonderful because those are exactly the things we used to argue with our kids’ teachers about. Many of these were also things that turned me off when I was a kid.
But several people commented that they thought all kids had the same issues. After some thought, I’m not so sure. I’m not trying to be elitist – some of these are problems for many kids regardless of how smart they are.
Lack of accommodation [4] is a problem for any kid who doesn’t fit the typical mold. (Yes I know every kid is special, but statistically, there are those who fit the norms and then there are outliers. By definition MOST people fit the norms.)
I think ALL kids should be playing and socializing with people of all ages [6] – that’s one of the things that’s wrong with formal schooling.
I also agree that given the right kind of guidance, all kids should be allowed to explore topics in greater depth [7]. I know that certain learning objectives need to be met – but it is usually possible to find a way to make it work. I’ve been supporting my “Hatching in the Classroom” program for over 20 years and when teachers hatch ducklings in the class, EVERYTHING is about ducks. Every subject gets related to the ducks during that time and I’ve been regularly amazed at the different ways teachers have found to tie the required curriculum into the unit.
As for [1] – as long as classrooms force segregation by age, I think it’s a bad idea to put kids in a grade that is outside of their age-group. I happen to think forcing kids to stay with their age-mates is a BAD idea (see [6]), but as long as it is, putting kids ahead or keeping them back makes them stick out. It makes them different in an obvious way and that is often damaging. If you’re too old for your class – people assume you are dumb, and if you’re too young for your class – people assume you’re going to give them the answers all the time (speaking from personal experience). In my case I ended up being two years younger than almost everyone in my class – I was constantly ridiculed.
Reading along with slower readers [3] isn’t a bad thing, at least not in class. I think it can teach tolerance and patience. It can also be a great opportunity to let the quicker kids tutor the slower ones.
That leaves: [2] show your work, [5] single them out, [8] more-ferentiate, [9] expecting them to act gifted all the time, [10] make them practice work they know.
[5] & [9] are basically just rude, but I’ve seen it happen many times, and I’ve had teachers do it to me. Many teachers feel threatened by really bright kids and react badly. Teachers get frustrated with some of the ‘slow’ kids too, but (and many are not going to like this) teachers are more likely to have greater patience with someone to whom they feel superior.
[2], [8] and [10] are all related. I see it as a lack of creativity and flexibility on the part of the teacher. They just don’t know what to do with these kids. And here I really think that average kids are not nearly as bothered by these things as the bright ones.
One of my kids used to be notorious for NOT handing in homework. We used to get frustrated calls from his teachers because his grades were always below average. Knowing that he actually understood all the material, we tried all kinds of things to get the teacher to accommodate him (this was grade 2-8!), including offering to create work for him ourselves that the teacher could approve. We were always politely refused. His grade 4 teacher told us that his grades would be stellar if she only used his test scores. I patiently tried to explain to her that high test scores indicated he KNEW the material, so whether or not he handed in his worksheets shouldn’t matter. She couldn’t get her head around that one.
As a result of this on-going struggle, he was ‘tested’ in grade 7 – and promptly pronounced “gloriously AVERAGE”. We were told we should celebrate his averageness.
Take it from me, he’s not. I’ve taught at university for over 30 years and I’ve literally taught thousands of students. Some were clearly smarter than I am, though not many. I enjoyed the challenge of finding ways to keep these kids engaged without alienating the average and struggling students. Some of those exceptionally bright students still keep in contact with me to this day.
I have this theory: most actors can’t convincingly play someone who is smarter than they are, at least not much smarter. I think it’s because they have no way of imagining what someone who’s really smart thinks like.
I think the same is true for teachers.
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