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Motivation for Middle School-Aged Gifted Learners

Motivation for Middle School-Aged Gifted Learners. Susan Delago, M.A.T.L. Language Arts teacher of the gifted School District of Lee County. Motivation is the key to success!. Especially for this age group 98% are influenced by friends, trends, and fads

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Motivation for Middle School-Aged Gifted Learners

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  1. Motivation for Middle School-Aged Gifted Learners Susan Delago, M.A.T.L. Language Arts teacher of the gifted School District of Lee County

  2. Motivation is the key to success! • Especially for this age group • 98% are influenced by friends, trends, and fads • Intrinsic (INTERNAL) motivation is important to develop among all learners

  3. Parents are Key Motivators. Parents can teach, encourage, and model: • Intrinsic motivation • real world skills and life lessons • a love of reading • choices when possible

  4. Intrinsic Motivation • Intrinsic motivation is internal. Individuals learn to be motivated by the love of learning, knowledge for the sake of knowledge, and positive feelings about themselves. • Limit external or extrinsic rewards such as money, video games, presents, etc. • Offer choices or some measure of control to children when possible, WITHOUT giving up your role as parent.

  5. Parents are teachers of the “real” world, too. • As parents, our job is to give our children the tools they need to survive in the “real” world as healthy, productive citizens. This includes teaching them that real life includes unpleasant jobs, like work and cleaning. • We, as parents, are not doing them any favors by letting them “be kids” as long as possible. A child can “be a kid” and still have reasonable chores assigned to him or her. • Therefore, routine, household chore assignments are a must, including maintaining a certain amount of order to his or her room/area.

  6. Reading for pleasure is the #1 motivator for children, • and the number one method of improving reading and intellectual ability and agility. • Again, the key to motivating a child to read is to give him or her choices. The more choices presented, the more likely it is that he or she will find a book that he or she wants to read. Consult our lists or ask your librarian or media center specialist for recommendations. • Age-appropriate reading is often difficult to find for the gifted student whose reading level usually exceeds his or her age. This might require you to rely on the recommendations listed above or a pre-reading conducted by yourself or a trusted friend.

  7. Provide Choices, Options, and Opportunities, whenever possible • Document individual and group/team accomplishments together in digital or other format. Photo albums, digital photo albums, PowerPoint slideshows, End of the Year Museums (with photo documentation , of course), etc. This could be a great creative project for some children who need this type of outlet or need to develop internal dialogue: “Look what I have done and what I can do!”

  8. Explore local history and culture, on, or off, a budget: History: • CalusaIndians:Calusa Mound House on Fort Myers Beach, Mound Key, and Randall Research Center on Pine Island • Koreshan Historic site and State Park • SW Florida History Museum • Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium • Imaginarium • Fossil canoe trips on the Peace river • Culture • Matlacha, Cayo Costa, and Pine Island – Old Florida culture • Art Walk and Music Walk monthly in Downtown Fort Myers • Summer music nights at Gulf Coast Town Center • Movies

  9. Write a book about your travels. Add photos and self -publish. • Learn something new together, such as a skill or craft. (JoAnn’s stores offer inexpensive classes on many crafting skills as do Home Depot, Lowes, and others .) • Take a computer class together. These are often offered at the local library. • Use your new skill together to make home improvements or to help others • Volunteer for a cause, through your church or other organization. This is the most effective way to teach citizenship and stewardship. • Read parenting magazines to find additional ideas. The Choices, Options, and Opportunities are ENDLESS.

  10. A favorite among my students … • James Patterson’s Maximum Ride Series • Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment • Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever • Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports • Maximum Ride: The Final Warning • MAX: A Maximum Ride Novel • Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel • Angel: A Maximum ride Novel

  11. Books for Teens and Young Adults (YA) • Girl Parts • Stink-opedia • Sisters Red [Little Red Riding Hood] • The Last Summer of the Death Warriors [Don Quixote –esque but modern and accessible] • Amulet • Prologue • The Good, The Bad, The Barbie [nonfiction] • A.D. New Orleans after the Deluge [Graphic novel based on stories of the area after hurricane Katrina] • The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton [Non-fiction- then read works of Edith Wharton] • Zora and Me [The imagined childhood of Zora Neal Hurston] • Space heads [book one is funny] • The Incorrigible Children of Aston Place – The Mysterious Howling [Like Lemony Snickets] • White Cat by Holly Black [Magical] • The Strange Case of Origami Yoda • Mockingbird by Katherine Erskine [girl with Aspergers] • Half-life of Planets [boy with Aspergers] • Marcello in the Real World

  12. MUST-Reads For Parents By Silvia Rimm, Ph.D. • Keys to Parenting the Gifted Child • Growing Up Too Fast: The Secret World of America’s Middle Schoolers • Underachievement Syndrome: Causes and Cures • When Gifted Students Underachieve: What You Can Do About It (with Frances A. Karnes and Kristen R. Stephens ) • How to Win Friends and Influence People for Teen Girls by Dale Carnegie

  13. MUST-Reads For Girls (and parents/teachers of girls) • How to Win Friends and Influence People for Teen Girls by Dale Carnegie • Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume • What your Mama Never told you : True Stories about Sex and Love by Judy Blume • Free to Be You and Me by Marlo Thomas and Friends

  14. “Model” If you read, they will be more likely to read.

  15. Add your email address… • to our mailing list to receive electronic copies of the presentation and book lists. • Additional suggestions

  16. Presentation Resources • Encouraging Students' Intrinsic Motivation by Kathleen McKinney http://www.teachtech.ilstu.edu/additional/tips/intMotiv.php • Keys to Parenting the Gifted Child by Silvia Rimm, Ph.D. • Naked Reading - Connecting Kids to Books by Teri Lesense Susan’s Website http://www.oncoursesystems.com/school/webpage.aspx?id=11036234

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