strategies+for+Gifted+Girls

=**Strategies for Parents** =
 * Home** **Gifted Girls **

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 * ==== Encourage girls to __accept challenges__. They should be encouraged to take challenging courses. Take the risk of doing harder work, and it is okay if she is not as successful. ====
 * ==== Avoid using the word “__perfect__.” Girls do not have to be the best at everything. It is important that they TRY their best, and LEARN from their mistakes. ====
 * ====Encourage __creativity__. ====
 * ==== Make sure __physical appearance__ is put into appropriate perspective. Avoid emphasizing appearance and commenting too much on beauty. ====
 * ==== Involve girls in activities to help them __create their own personal identities__. Encourage them to find interests and pursue them. ====

=** Strategies for Teachers ** =


 * ====__Teach all students that academic abilities are expandable and improvable__.[[image:steiner7110efall11/teacher_and_girl.jpg width="318" height="214" align="right"]] ====
 * Expose them to research evidence that suggests intelligence can be developed.
 * Have them read biographies, particularly of successful women, who developed and improved their abilities over time.
 * ====__Provide prescriptive feedback__. ====
 * Avoid general feedback such as “good job!”
 * Informative feedback is more useful to the student. Be descriptive.
 * __Expose girls to successful female role models.__
 * Invite female speakers of the local community.
 * Establish a mentoring program.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Share stories of influential, successful women.
 * <span style="color: #e92f8d; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__Provide spatial skills training__.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Incorporate spatial learning activities into lessons.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Create a classroom station with manipulatives to develop spatial skills.
 * <span style="color: #6100ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__Create a classroom that sparks curiosity and fosters long-term interest in various subject areas__.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Get to know your students’ interests. Allow students to participate in activities that have a real-world significance for them.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Encourage risk taking – provide some ungraded assignments.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Share stories of risk-taking women.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Encourage participation in classroom activities.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Assign cooperative group roles. During science labs, boys often carry out the lab experiment while the girls gather materials, write the report, and clean up.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Start a girls’ science club.

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 * Useful Resources**
 * **Biographies of Important Women**: []
 * **Tips for Delivering Effective Praise**: []
 * **Organizations that Support Girls in Science**: []
 * **Elementary and Secondary Student Interest Survey**: []
 * **Great Science for Girls** (program designed to increase girls’ interest and exposure to the STEM subjects during after-school programs): []
 * References**
 * Davis, G.A., Rimm, S.B., & Siegle, D. (2011). //Education of the gifted and talented//. Boston, MA: Pearson.
 * Heilbronner, N. N. (2008). Jumpstarting jill: Strategies to nurture talented girls in your science classroom. //Gifted Child Today, 32//(1), 46-54.