An area that is not really covered in the text is the social emotional needs of the gifted student. In MY opinion, this is the area that we as educators usually look over the most. Statistics show that suicide, depression, drug & alcohol use and drop out rates are higher in the "gifted" arena than in any other area per capita.
1. Do you agree with these statistics? Why or Why not.
2. How can we as educators meet the social emotional needs of the gifted students?
3. Is the school that you are teaching in trying to meet the social emotional needs of gifted students? If so how.
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I do agree and know far too many who go this road even when they are older....elderly. It can be controlled with medication BUT sadly is only diagnosed(clinical depression) later in life.. if lucky to be recognized before it is too late.
ReplyDeleteWanda: So how do we as educators try to help them not face this future?
ReplyDeleteBy creating order in the volume of information coming their way? A dairy / journal ?
ReplyDeleteI have heard that it organizes your thoughts. I have not used this method before, but find myself swayed by the good things I hear about it. Also great authors kept journals and used bizarre incidents for their stories. Instead of being stressed out by these happenings, they found it intriguing, comical perhaps?
Now that was meant to be a diary, please not a dairy! Geeze now wouldn't that be a story!!!
ReplyDeleteJournal writing works well for those students who will write . . . but writing is becoming a lost art. I know this will open up a whole can of worms, but most of my students (even the gifted ones) express their ideas effectively. This is due in part to the lack of penmanship instruction in the elementary grades, but it is also due to information overload and being able to sort out everything we are commanded must be driven into their knowledge base.
ReplyDeleteWhile I am still looking for any scientific research on this topic, it is my personal belief that there is a deep meta-cognitive connection between handwriting and written expression. When students (even the gifted ones) have to stop and think about every letter they create on a piece of paper, it makes the writing process cumbersome and difficult. This is where I lose the majority of my students.
As for the emotional support . . . where in the curriculum do we take the time to teach gifted students what it means to be gifted; how to cope with the mental and social issues that come with their giftedness; how to use their giftedness to become the person they want to become; and the list goes on.
ReplyDeleteThere is more to providing emotional support than just giving gifted students an opportunity to connect with other gifted students. We need to remember they are only children and still need to be taught (even if what we are teaching them is not on some curriculum map, written down!)
I could not agree more!! The thing is, these students learn at a faster pace than other students, so there theoretically should be plenty of time to discuss their 'giftedness' and all of the baggage that comes along with it. But if the teacher is always helping those behind, how can he/she find time to help the gifted learner?
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