Students Who Are Gifted and Talented & Views of Motivation

1. Students Who Are Gifted and Talented&Views of Motivation Courtney Floyd 23 April 2012 Psychology Application Project

2. Gifted and Talented Students: • Show high performance in one or more areas. • Intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields. • Learn at significantly faster rates than their peers.

3. Observed Class Demographics • Grade Level: Kindergarten • Subjects: Reading, math, science, social studies • Number of students: 20 – 10 girls, 10 boys • White: 7 • Black: 6 • Hispanic: 5 • Asian: 1 • Indian: 1 • City school: mixed levels of income • Observation total: 14 hrs.

4. Project Findings • In Mrs. Allan’s class the students work well together. They listen and follow instructions, and show respect to their teacher, paraprofessional, and myself. • In the classroom there is a particular student, David, who seems to finish his work at “lightning speed.”

5. Because he would finish so quickly, and usually had 100% accuracy Mrs. Allan believed that David was gifted. • Believing this, she did little to nothing to foster his ability. • You often heard, “No, David. You cannot do this.” “No, David, you weren’t told to move on to the next step yet. You must wait for the rest of the class before we move on.”

6. With nothing else to do he began to “help” his classmates around him, and they began to expect it. • While observing, it appeared that David exhibited a cognitive view of motivation. • His goal was to master his environment • He preferred moderately challenging tasks. • I feel as though David was paid little attention, compared to “trouble students.”

7. Proposed Solution • Make sure that David knows what he is to do, how to proceed, and how to determine when he has achieved these goals. • Provide him with differentiated instruction. • Stress the usefulness of what is being taught. • Doing this would prevent him constantly needing something else to do, challenge him appropriately, and provide him with meaning versus completion.

8. Observed Class Demographics • Grade Level: First Grade • Subjects: Reading, math, science, social studies • Number of students: 22 – 14 boys, 8 girls • White: 9 • Black: 10 • Hispanic: 3 • City school: mixed levels of income • Observation total: 14 hrs.

9. Project Findings • Mrs. Taylor’s class operated very much like a community, it utilized classroom jobs, vividly followed the rules, and had little discipline problems. • Mrs. Taylor believed she recognized gifted qualities in a few of her students, but there was one in particular, Peter, who “she just could not stand.”

10. While Peter was gifted, he was lazy. He lacked motivation. • He completed his work, but only out of routine and his desire to spend time reading. • Peter was full of knowledge and facts about all sorts of things, and always wanted to share them. • His work was often sloppy and looked thrown together.

11. Mrs. Taylor had little patience for Peter, and as a result he was often told to, “be quiet,” “move a clip,” or “go to his seat and put his head down.” • She often spoke of how annoying he was, and how she did not like how he rushed through his work. • Several times it was returned to him to be over neatly.

12. Proposed Solution • Provide Peter with a better sense of differentiation; more than just an advanced worksheet. • Use praise occasionally as a reinforcement. • Try to make learning interesting, maximize those things that appeal to both his personal and situational interests. • Doing this would challenge him, encourage him, and keep his interest all at the same time.

13. Conclusion • Throughout my observations I felt that David was intrinsically motivated; he was satisfied after completing his work. • Peter was extrinsically motivated; he completed his work only for the privilege of reading. • Both boys needed tweaking in different ways.

14. Teachers should pay as much attention to those gifted and talented students as they do those “trouble students.” • Teachers should create an inspiring environment. • A teacher’s passion if often related to a student’s motivation, and when the two meet each other both are successful.

15. Sources • Condron, Annie. 12 Ways to Motivate Students. http://www.teachhub.com/top-12-ways-motivate-students • Harris, Robert. Some Ideas for Motivating Students. http://www.virtualsalt.com/motivate.htm • Hong, Eunsook. Gifted Child Quarterly. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=15&sid=17c74c5 7-b161-4de8-99ff- 9545e60ed68a%40sessionmgr11&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2Z Q%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=66816957 • Snowman, Jack. Psychology Applied to Teaching. 13th. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. 2009.