Strategies

__Strategies for Teachers and Parents working with Gifted Underachieving Students __  According to Ford, Howard and Heward, "the most pressing and persistent issue for students and teachers is not low achievement, but student engagement. Students attend class but with little excitement, commitment, and pride in mastering the curriculum. They have no psychological investment in learning”(Ford, Howard & Heward, 2011). Therefore, as teachers and parents it is our duty to instill curriculum, methods, and management that focuses on students intrinsic motivators. //__Motivation __// is key for the educational success of all students but is often recognized as a natural trait for gifted students. One main factors of the identification process of gifted and talented students is recognizing students' drive, ambition, and determination to achieve academic goals. However, according to Ford, Howard, and Heward, "National estimates are that 20-50% of gifted students underachieve academically"(Ford, Howard & Heward, 2011). According to this statistic, we are failing to identify underachieving gifted students. In turn, because we are not identifying underachieving gifted students we are also failing to academically motivate them according to their gifts and talents. Below I have compiled a list for both parents and teachers of helpful strategies for turning underachieving gifted students into motivated and accomplished students. Strategies for Parents of Underachieving Gifted Students
 * Be involved both at school and at home
 * Be supportive both during times of underachievement and times of achievement--make sure they know it is ok to fail
 * Provide a positive environment
 * Have high but realistic expectations[[image:100718Creativity.jpg width="480" height="132" align="right"]]
 * Encourage creativity
 * Encourage outside interests (clubs, sports, hobbies, collections)-- According to Emerick, "The outside interest provided an "escape" from what the students determined to be less-than-favorable school situations...Out-of-school interests and activities helped the subjects identify in-school learning experiences which were meaningful to them... Out-of-school interests were seen as an avenue for maintaining a love of learning and increasing the skills necessary to become an independent learner... The area of interest or activity provided the subject with a sense of self-worth and success in the face of academic failure.” (Emerick, 1992).

Strategies for Teachers of Underachieving Gifted Students This short video encompasses a teachers' drive to motivate her gifted and talented students by sparking their interests, providing them with the opportunity of choice, and making learning fun! media type="youtube" key="NuuCXT19o0o" height="315" width="420" align="center"
 * Get to know your students. Find out what their interests are (sports, activities, clubs, collections, hobbies) and work them into your daily routines (management, methods, and curriculum).
 * Gain students respect. This is earned not given. Show your students that you care about them and their investment and success not only in your class but in other classes.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 115%;">Allow students to have a voice in the classroom. Have them form rules and expectations for classroom interaction, use methods like discussion so students understand their opinions, values, and voices are important for everyones educational growth, and allow students to have a choice in curricular decisions.[[image:images.jpeg width="220" height="137" align="right"]]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 115%;">Form class projects that allow students to put their creative skills to work. For example, allow students to to compile a quarter or semester long project where they choose a topic that interests them and organize it into sectioned projects or a final project of their own fashion (i.e. Gifted Directed Studies).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 115%;">Make sure material and curriculum is revenant to student's lives. This sometimes seems like an impossible task (i.e. How is the war of 1812 exciting and relevant?). As a teacher try and find some kind of direct significance for students. What about this topic will be helpful twenty years from now?
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 115%;">Be enthusiastic. Students know when their teacher is not interested or excited about the material at hand. So, if you are not excited about the material your teaching how will they be excited about learning it?
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 115%;">Recognize that every student is different and will in turn learn differently. Therefore, it is important that teachers focus on individual students' strengths and weaknesses for their highest possible success rates.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 115%;">Provide a positive environment. As Delisle and Berger state, "a classroom that invites positive attitudes is likely to encourage achievement. In classrooms of this type, teachers encourage attempts, not just successes; they value student input in creating classroom rules and responsibilities; and they allow students to evaluate their own work before receiving a grade from the teacher."(Delisle & Berger, 1990).

__<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 115%;">Works Cited __ <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Delisle, J. & Berger, S. L. (1990). Underachieving gifted students. //ERIC Digests//, //478//, Retrieved from http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=180

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Emerick, L. J. (1992, Summer). Academic underachievement among the gifted: Students' perceptions of factors that reverse the pattern. //Gifted Child Quarterly//, //36//(3), 140-146. Retrieved from http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10178.aspx

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Ford, D. Y., Alber, S. R., & Heward, W. L. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.prufrock.com/client/client_pages/GCT_Readers/Strategies/Ch._14/Motivation_Traps_for_Gifted_Children.cfm

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Slaw4242. (2008, August 23). //Motivation and Student Choice//. Retrieved November 28, 2011, from [|__http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuuCXT19o0o__]