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! 

Fall Camp Innovation Pathways to College Program at NKU

Join us this fall at NKU's Camp Innovation Pathways to College Program for students in grades K-8

Camp Innovation Pathways to College will be Saturdays, October 21-November 4, 9:00-11:30 am.  Students are able to select from over 22 transdisciplinary courses infusing entrepreneurship, science, technology, mathematics, social studies, visual and performing arts and original interdisciplinary studies.  All classes provide the opportunity for students to share interests with other children while experiencing unique, hands-on learning.

This session includes classes such as: Animal Art, Debate Club, Video Game Developers, Walking with Shakespeare, Express Yourself, Chocolate Economics, International Art, Stories Alive, Champion Chess Masters, Grossologists, STEM Explorers and many more!

For full class descriptions and registration, visit our website http://gifted.nku.edu.

Minds-On Hands-On Learning through Board Games

Many of us grew up playing board games with our siblings and family members.  Personally, I have many fond memories of board game nights with my brothers and sister.  Playing board games is an easy and excellent way to be competitive while also mastering new skills and concepts.  Board games provide a wonderful opportunity to spend time with family and friends.  They are a way to engage your brain in learning something new and to improve your memory, creativity, and critical thinking skills. 

Even in the classroom, board games provide the opportunity for students to increase their verbal and communication skills.  They can teach children about rules, competition, fair play, and values all while developing their attention skills and ability to concentrate and focus for longer periods of time. 

One way parents and teachers can further the learning from board games is to have students develop their own games.  Through creating their own board games, students engage many important skills – writing, communication skills, graphic design, mathematics, and learning content at a deeper level.  Children can be presented with the challenge to become a board game entrepreneur charged with the challenge of creating a new inventive game that must teach content – historical events, mathematical concepts, scientific content, etc. 

Providing basic guidelines and considerations assists students to outline and think through their design before they begin creating.  They must think through the concept of the game, the pieces that will be used, and the gameboard design.  I ask them to write clear, detailed directions that would allow anyone to pick up their game and easily play the game without further explanations.  For the construction of the game, they can use simple recycled materials such as file folders, poster board, gift boxes, and other easily recycled materials.  The middle school students I worked with recently overwhelmingly preferred to use inexpensive premade gameboards and gameboard kits which resemble games one might purchase commercially.

Environmental Education Game Created by Middle School Student

I have used this assignment with students from elementary through the university level and have found it to be engaging and authentic.  Just this semester, my university students were charged with creating their own games, then they shared the games with elementary students.  The elementary students were charged with evaluating the games and providing feedback to the college students.  A win-win for both groups! 

What are your thoughts?  How could your child or students use this idea to create their own interactive games?