Behavior or Boredom?

Behavior or Boredom?

by

Jessica Arnold

We often hear about the reciprocal relationship between behavior and grades; we associate poor academic achievement with carelessness and poor behaved students are the ones teachers never want in their class. But…what if there was a reason for these undesired behaviors and lack of achievement? This blog focuses on gifted students who are bored in the classroom and result to acting out and avoiding all work for several reasons.

Not only are several students at risk in the schooling system, when a student is labeled as gifted they are automatically expected to reach high levels of learning, have no behavioral issues and be the perfect student; but what parents and educators may fail to realize is that setting such high expectations for school aged children could potentially be just as dangerous.

It is important to provide counseling to students who show the need for it; a few examples of this are misconduct, inconsistent work completion and lack of motivation. Individual counseling allows students to share feelings about their home lives, schooling experiences and give reason as to why they are not motivated to do well in school. Through counseling, solutions can be created to avoid the misconduct and boredom in class.

What To Do When Outbursts Occur:

1. Start early by helping the child talk about his or her emotions.
2. Held the child to discover their escalation style. Helping them to determine this pattern can give them a chance to redirect their feelings and manage them.
3. Create a plan for waht to do when s/he is overwhelmed.
4. If the the escalation and explosion happen anyway, remain calm and stay emotionally natural.
5. Breathe. You and the student.
6. Focus on the good behavior you want to see instead of focusing on the negative.
7. Use the events (good or baad) as a teachable moment.

For additional ways to reduce behavior problems check out this article from ByrdSeed.

Being Proactive:

Ultimately, we’d like to see this never happen. One way to be proactive to avoid those behaviors and escalated situations, is to simply place a student in the courses that appropriately challenge them. It is important that gifted students are put into classes with other gifted students. When gifted students spend time with others who share their abilities, they are happier and enjoy academic and social adjustment. Gifted students cognitively function at a different level than peers, and when surrounded by students who act similarly to them, it is a much safer and comfortable environment for them. Click here to read more about four teachers who adjusted their teaching styles and relationship building to accommodate those learners. According to Tanner, Stoll and Anway in School Psychology Quarterly, “research suggests that twice-exceptional students, or those who are highly gifted yet demonstrate a learning or behavioral disability, often underachieve in school.” It’s imperative to stop this cycle and educate students in the environment that best suits them.

Meeting the Unique Needs of Gifted Students:

Just as educators and parents ensure that struggling students have an individualized education, gifted students deserve the same. Not only does this eliminate boredom turning into behavior issues, it pushes students to their full potential which is a major goal of educators.

The educators in the classroom can mainly focus on pushing high levels of rigor as opposed to differentiating several levels of instruction, where some could be extremely low. The National Association for Gifted Children gives a great article as to the true importance of individualizing gifted students education here.

Resources for Teachers:

• 15 Ways to Help Gifted Students Thrive in School
• Gifted Kids at Risk
• Ways to Challenge Gifted Learners
• 50 Tips Tricks and Ideas for Teaching Gifted Students
• Strategies of Teaching Gifted Students
• Social and Emotional Issues in Gifted Children

Resources for Parents:

• Overall Information About Being Gifted
• This article is a platform for many other educational websites and articles to educate you! 

Join us this fall for our Camp Innovation Pathways to College Program at Northern Kentucky University! 

Our Fall Camp Innovation Program, Saturdays, October 31-November 1, 9:00 - 11:30 am, features classes for students in grades K-9. The program is designed for youth to discover and explore advanced content and engaged learning.  All classes provide the opportunity for students to share interests with other children while exploring pathways to intellectual development, academic enhancement, career exploration, and creative artistic fulfillment. Camp Innovation offers courses infusing entrepreneurship, science, mathematics, social studies, technology, visual and performing arts, and original interdisciplinary studies. 

From classes such as Zoo Explorations, Grossologists, Ozobot and Sphero Robotics to CSI Investigators, Crack the Code, Camp Break-A-Leg, and The Magical Marketing of Disney, we have an amazing selection for this fall!

For registration and a full list of classes, visit our website or Facebook page.

Fall 2018 Camp Innovation Program for Students in Grades K-9

Great news! NKU's Camp Innovation Program returns once again this fall with new classes and some of your favorites!

Who:  All students in grades k-9 are welcome!

When:  Camp dates will be Saturdays, September 15-29, 9:00-11:30 am EST.

Where:  Classes will be located in Landrum Hall at Northern Kentucky University.

What:  Check out the course brochure here.

Camp Innovation Program Summer 2018

The Power of Debate

Washington, Adams, Lincoln. What do these three names have in common? 

They have shaped the course of history with the power of debate. Debate is a key component to the advancement of society, policy, and the world. With so many different viewpoints, ideas, and people involved, it is very easy for meaningful debate to be lost and for ideas that would better the world, to be lost. The ability to debate and to feel comfortable doing so is what turns bright minds into those who will change the world.

In today’s world a dwindling amount of people are willing to thrust themselves into conversations about intense issues and say what is on their mind. It is critical that the next generation abandon their comfortable entrenchment to advance conversation and the world. Placing an emphasis on debate is how our global community will grow stronger economically, socially, and technologically. In every career, meaningful debate is a quintessential component of excellence.

Camp Innovation: Pathways to College at Northern Kentucky University is offering “Debate Club” this spring as part of our catalog of courses. Debate Club will help to develop the minds of tomorrow into compelling debaters and leaders in their future careers. Courses like this are how young minds turn into those who will change the world. For more information, visit http://gifted.nku.edu.

Gifted Students are Not Crockpots

Elaine Dillard

What a gift to a busy mom--a crockpot.  Throw a few ingredients in on a hectic day, set it to cook low and slow, and--like magic--a home cooked meal awaits a hungry family after a long day of school, work, soccer, ballet, and piano. 

With so many needs in the classroom, it can be tempting to treat gifted students like a crockpot--throw a few activities at them, let them simmer for hours--voila!--an “independent study.”  Unfortunately, this is the scene in many classrooms, but it isn’t the recipe for engaging and rigorous instruction.

While it is true that gifted and talented students need freedom, choice, space to be creative, and challenging work, it doesn’t mean that they should be separated from class to work on their own in an “educational crockpot.”  Gifted students need structure, instruction, and clear expectations just like a typical student in our classroom.  With that in mind, here are four things to keep in mind when planning instruction for gifted students:

1. Gifted students don’t come to school to be tutors.  Many of my gifted students are helpful, complaint, generous people, many of whom would make excellent teachers someday.  They master content easily, and are caring people, who do not want to see their classmates struggle.  It is tempting to use these students as a tutor.  After all--when there are sometimes dozens of students asking for help at once, it seems like a logical solution.  While heterogeneous grouping has its time and place, gifted students should not be seen as a teacher in your room.  These students deserve to be challenged, too.

Flexible grouping is an effective solution that uses pre-testing to identify the readiness of students with a particular skill.  Students who show they are ready to work at high levels can be grouped together so that they may work at a pace and level that is comfortable and challenging to them.  When I teach geometric transformations, I ask that all of my students learn to rotate a figure by 90 degrees around the origin.  Others of my students learn to rotate a figure any number of degrees around any given point.  I would be doing a disservice to the second group if I didn’t give them this advanced learning opportunity and instead ask them to teach their struggling peers to rotate a figure 90 degrees.

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2. Gifted students may exhibit behavior problems.  It seems to be a common misconception that gifted students exhibit gifted behavior.  I wonder if this is partly because bright students are often mistaken for gifted students, and gifted students are overlooked. (PDF)  Bright students are teacher pleasers who may have to work very hard to understand the material, whereas gifted learners may learn the material quickly, but be too bored or disengaged to communicate their learning clearly.

My gifted students tell me they have spent considerable time during their school years filling their time after finishing work or mastering a standard.  They feel like some assignments are a waste of their time if they are too easy or lack complexity.  This can cause them to act out or be distracting.  Gifted students are often highly creative, and their ways of expressing their thinking or their learning may not fit with what we had in mind.

I have found that when my gifted students are highly engaged, their behavior improves.  Our relationship improves also.  They appreciate being challenged, and they respond to work that is presented at their level.  It’s also important, to note, however, that gifted students may not be used to being challenged or being wrong, so it is important to coach GT students through the process of asking for help or persevering through challenging content.

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3. Gifted students still need to experience productive struggle.  While at first, it may seem like a blessing that a gifted student can breeze through the lesson and quickly show mastery of standards, this should be a red flag to us that we are not meeting the student needs.  As Thomas Sowell pointed out in his blog post., “high potential will remain only potential unless it is developed.”  If the standards presented to the class are too easy, more challenging ones should be in place. 

Tiered assignments are an excellent way to present the same material to the class in varying levels of difficulty, appropriate to the students’ readiness.  Think about your own baking skills.  Some of you can bake and decorate a wedding cake from scratch.  Others of you might feel comfortable baking a birthday cake from scratch, but not a wedding cake.  Others of you are out-of-the-box cake bakers, and still others prefer to let Kroger bake your cakes for you.  If you are capable of baking a wedding cake from scratch, it would be mightily insulting to you if I asked you to make a cake out of the box as I was teaching you to bake.  It’s also important to note that if I were testing your baking skills, I would never ask you to buy a cake, bake one out of the box, and bake a cake from scratch, but that is often what we ask our gifted students to do.  We need to be providing students with different (not extra) work that challenges students to think at levels where they are ready.

4.  Independent studies ARE valuable tools--with structure.  This is not to say that we should abandon the independent study.  Independent studies can be highly valuable instructional tools when used thoughtfully and carefully.  Gifted students still need expectation, structure, and deadlines--perhaps even more than typical students.  Creative and inquisitive minds can wander and projects can become elaborate and needlessly overwhelming (and never-ending).  Student-led conferences can be a valuable way for a teacher to check in with students and provide guidance and redirection during an independent study.  Gifted students, like all students, value choice, and independent studies are excellent ways to allow students to explore a topic of interest, as long as there are appropriate measures in place to ensure that students are challenged and productive.

When I establish behavior expectations at the beginning of the year, I ask that they be thoughtful.  I believe that is all our gifted students ask of us.  While a gifted student might produce a delicious product from a crock-pot style teaching approach because they are creative and inquisitive hard workers, GT students should be successful because of us, not in spite of us.  Gifted students deserve our time and attention, and strategies like independent study, flexible grouping, and tiered assignment can give students the direction they need to be engaged and challenged.

Roaming with the Dinosaurs!

Dinosaurs continue to fascinate the young and old alike which makes them a great educational tool. They provide unique research and thinking opportunities.

Dinosaurs were marvels of size, speed, versatility and power who reigned the earth unchallenged for the better part of 165 million years. Dinosaurs roamed the earth and dominated the planet. Today we can visit their bony remains in museums or peer into the past by looking at their fossils. "Dinosaurs pushed the envelope of physiological possibility, broke record after record and were paragons of success by almost any measure," says Kenneth Lacovara. Dinosaurs had breathtaking adaptations, gigantic sizes, razor-sharp teeth, devastating power, extravagant plumage, bizarre spines, horns, plates, and even clubs.

All of these characteristics make for an inspiring learning hook and instant introduction for paleontologists and educators to get students interested and involved in science content while developing inquiry and critical thinking skills. Students can even touch the bones of an animal that lived two hundred million years ago! They can see skeletons of animals that weighed upwards of 75 tons and can see predators that are 15 times as big as the most massive predators that still walk the earth! Even learning the names of dinosaurs can add a fun challenge for students: tyrannosaurus, triceratops, stegosaurus, velociraptor, allosaurus, diplodocus, ankylosaurus, iguanodon, and so many more! All of this combines for a great way to incorporate transdisciplinary learning that includes creativity, critical thinking, writing, geography, and so much more.

Engaging students as future researchers through the study of paleontology helps to energize to explore scientific concepts and explore ideas as true scientists. Studying dinosaurs provides a wonderful way for students to learn how sciences like biology and geology are interrelated and to teach about life on Earth.

Are you interested in engaging your child in learning more about dinosaurs and paleontology? 

Check out our Paleontologist Interns class with this spring's Camp Innovation Pathways to College Program at NKU. Students will put on their paleontologist hat and discover what the world was like for these magnificent ancient reptiles. How did they live? How did they become extinct? Do they roam among us today? Registration is limited and available at http://gifted.nku.edu.

Empowering All Gifted Leaders

Do All Students Have the Potential to be Gifted Leaders?

Samantha Toole

As an educator, I see many gifted leaders even as young as preschool students with the characteristics to encourage others to works towards and achieve a goal. Leadership comes in many different packages. Our school, like many others in our area and surrounding states have adopted the Leader In Me program where we guide students to become in charge of their own learning, goals, data, and celebrations/ reflections! We are now a student-led school where students lead morning meeting for the school and also have leadership roles (classroom jobs) that they have to apply for as if they were adults applying for a real job. This is also teaching students responsibility for their school, classroom, and themselves. As a result, students are more aware of what they are working towards and understand what it means to set a goal, work hard, and be successful! I believe all students have the potential to be gifted leaders if guided to be along with a positive and

I think all schools should be empowering all students to be the leader and take charge of their learning and life in a positive way. As far as gifted leaders, I believe that there are various types of leaders that are needed for a group or team to be successful!

Per author, Linda Addison there are two types of leaders that are both important but also different in Leadership Skills Among the Gifted and Talented. 1985 Digest. "Leaders can be influential as task-oriented leaders or relationship-oriented leaders. The task-oriented leader excels at establishing well-defined patterns of organization, channels of communication, and ways of getting tasks accomplished. The relationship-oriented leader, on the other hand, leads by maintaining personal relationships between members of the group by opening up communication, providing emotional support and using facilitating behaviors" (1985).

Are Gifted & Talented Programs Ultimately Discouraging the Undiscovered Gifted Leaders?

So are we as educators everywhere are not giving all the students the various opportunities to become gifted leaders. We all know the couple students in our class who are normally gifted leaders that come from good home that have parents that help them work on homework or other cognitive skills such as reading to them and introducing a broader range of vocabulary. However, what about the students who don't come good homes, who don't have anyone to work with them or teach them educational values. What about those students who don't know when they will receive their next meal or bath. Those students have the potential, we must believe in them and create a positive relationship with them to know who they are as a person and student. Then, educators can use their interests, personalities, and learning styles to figure out what kind of leader can they be. We all need others to encourage us, support us, and use each other for our strengths and weaknesses in this life.

Who Are We to Put a False Label On A Genius?

Isn't it the ones who are the most rejected, not labeled students turn out to grow up to be famous for something extraordinary in their life all because they didn't give up or allow any label or rejection to stop them from overcoming! That is exactly the type of growth mindset I want to instill in my students, so that when people try to discourage them or reject them from their dreams, they will keep fighting and persevere until they make their dreams happen. For example, the top two people on a list of 27 people who were considered crazy, but turned out to be leaders in our world history books: Winston Churchill and Thomas Edison. Author, Viva Zworski described these two men as what happened when they were younger and thought of a "stupid", "1. Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade. He was defeated in every public office role he ran for. Then he became the British prime minister at the age of 62. 2. Thomas Edison’s teachers told him he was 'too stupid to learn anything.' Edison also famously invented 1,000 light bulbs before creating one that worked" (2016).

All in all, gifted leaders are in us all. We just must believe as educators that we have a significant role in shining the light on that talent on all our students. Even though some students' gifted leadership may already shine, we need to make sure we teach our students to encourage one another so we can all brighter when we all shine together!

How to Foster Your Child's Creativity

Fostering Creativity Outside of the Classroom

Ashley Thiem

My name is Ashley Thiem, I am a 4th grade teacher at River Ridge Elementary school. I have started this blog post to show parents resources that they can use outside of the classroom to foster their child’s creativity while at home.

But first, do you think your child is creative? Why? What characteristics do they have that make you think this? Creativity has a different definition for many people however when we say the word, everyone senses a similar feeling. Isn’t that incredible? I would love to hear from others to see what your view on creativity is.

As a teacher for 7 years I have had the pleasure of working with students who have a uniqueness about them when they share their ideas, process of thinking, the way they act and what they build or engineer. There are hundreds of characteristics of creative people, so much in fact that you may not realize your child is creative until you read a few of these. Barbara Clark in “Growing Up Gifted” (p.166) states that “playing pretend encourages characteristics of creativity.” This is fascinating to me because I always thought the majority of children played pretend growing up.

The following is a list found in ” Growing Up Gifted” by Barbara Clark (p.167) that states characteristics of creative people:

• zany sense of humor
• more adventurous
• high in memory, good attention to detail
• more spontaneous
• more self-accepting
• able to resist group pressure
• self-disciplined, independent, often antiauthoritarian
• ability to accept conflict and tension rather than avoiding them
• more curious
• openness to experiences, new ideas
• skilled performance of the traditional arts
• have a richer fantasy life and greater involvement in daydreaming
• are more sensitive are able to withstand being thought of as abnormal or eccentric

Do any of these characteristics describe your child? If so, your child could be a creative individual with a lot of potential that needs to be fostered.  Please use the resources below to find additional information on how you can help nurture your child’s creativity at home:

• https://www.ket.org/education/resources/?fwp_audiences=learner&fwp_per_page=80
• https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/7_ways_to_foster_creativity_in_your_kids
• https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/how-promote-creative-thinking/
• http://www.creativitypost.com/create/ten_suggestions_for_raising_creative_kids

Your Child is Gifted--Now What? By Shelby Mullins

WOW, my child has been identified as Gifted and Talented?  What does that mean?  What do I do now?  What can I do to help my child grow from here?  Well, look no further!  You have found your answer.  This post will give you the "ins-and-outs" of Gifted and Talented Education, and will help guide you in the right direction!  

So settle in, you're in for a good read!

 What is Gifted and Talented?

As defined by the United States Department of Education, Giftedness is, "Children and youth with outstanding talent who perform or show the potential for performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with others of their age, experience, or environment. (National Society for Gifted and Talented)”  In more simple terms, it means that your child tests exceptionally above average in one or more areas.  What are these areas you may be asking?  Well here they are:

-"Creative Thinking

-General Intellectual Ability

-Specific Academic Ability

-Leadership

-Psychomotor

-Visual/Performing Arts"

(National Society for Gifted and Talented)

Not sure what these mean?  No worries, use this link to read more about what each of these entail:  https://www.nsgt.org/giftedness-defined/#5

What will my Child do at School?

There are a thousand possible answers to this question!  Every state's requirements is different and every school's program is different.  But I can give you a few ideas!  

Although every program is different, they may "include pull-out programs, advanced classes, varied grouping strategies, acceleration, differentiation of curriculum and instruction, dual enrollment, magnet schools, and specialized, self-contained schools (e.g., high schools for performing arts). (National Society for Gifted and Talented)" 

"This range of services can be organized in a variety of ways:  

-Accommodations in the regular classroom

-Part-time assignment to both regular and special classes

-Full-time grouping with students of similar abilities

-Acceleration or grade advancement."

(National Society for Gifted and Talented)

In a majority of public schools, the most common forms of Gifted and Talented services are: accommodations in the regular classroom and part-time assignment to both regular and special classes.  

As a third grade teacher at a public school, I want to give you a little insight about the Gifted and Talented Program that we have!  Our program is called TAG, which stands for Talented and Gifted.  My students who qualify go to TAG for 40 minutes each day.  My students leave class during our intervention time, so they are not missing any core instruction.  They have a teacher who is specialized in Gifted and Talented Education, and she has a prepared curriculum for the students to work through.  A large part of program relies on the students. We want the students to grow and learn in areas that will benefit them the most.  To achieve this, the TAG teacher guides the students in the right direction, but ultimately lets the students make as many decisions about their studies as possible!  Many of the activities they complete are open-ended, research based, or out-side-of-the-box type activities.  The TAG program can be a lot of hard work, but for the right students, it is also a lot of fun!

However your school runs their program, make sure you stay in touch!  Be open and honest with your child's teacher so they can find programs and strategies that are a perfect fit for your child!

How can I help my child at home?

•"Be attentive to your child’s comments and observations.

• Create an environment that promotes self-expression.

• Help him to develop skills and interests, for example, in plant science, animal care, electronics, carpentry, mechanics, law, design, and crafts. • Encourage her to explore the beauty of diverse cultures—through language, poetry, story, song, dance, puppetry, cooking, and crafts.

• Promote exploration and discovery.

• Emphasize effort and progress rather than perfection.

• Show your child how errors can be opportunities to discover and learn.

• Model positive ways to address setbacks and solve problems.

• Instill ways to help your child understand and regulate emotional reactions.

• Promote a healthy lifestyle.

• Demonstrate how to serve your community

•  Find Opportunities for your child to learn and grow. 

           -Universities and community organizations offer after

             school, weekend, summer, and online enrichment    

             programs.

           -Mentors and talent experts can be guides and

             sources of knowledge and inspiration.

           -Activities and outside courses can nurture talent and

             help establish friendships with those who share the

             same interests.

          -Group and individual projects or competitions can

            help to build lifelong skills."

(National Association for Gifted Children)

Above all else, PLEASE allow your child to explore their interests, and as their parent, enable them to grow by providing them with interesting, enriching, and fun activities.  

As Benjamin Franklin said, "Tell me, and I will forget.  Show me, and I may remember.  Involve me, and I will learn."

Last, but not Least!

Before you go, please check out this video!  It's an animation that shares a little insight about the myths of gifted children.  What is Gifted Education?  What is it not?

Also, Check out these links for some additional resources:  https://www.nsgt.org/ and https://www.nagc.org/ 

Sources Used:

National Association for Gifted Children. (n.d.). Retrieved

   September 17, 2017, from https://www.nagc.org/

National Society for the Gifted and Talented. (2017).    

  Retrieved September 17, 2017, from https://www.nsgt.org/