Motivation and Underachievement: Helping G/T students reach their full potential
In the first grade, Sam typifies a gifted student in many ways.
He’s creative, has an incredible memory, is hungry to learn new things, and is reading at a third grade level.
There’s just one problem; Sam has zero interest in writing in his journal.
Nearly every day Sam’s mom is getting negative reports from his teacher. He is not finishing his work. He’s daydreaming. He just won’t focus.
Sam is driving his teacher crazy.
She knows he is capable but he continues to underachieve.
So what’s the problem? Does Sam need to sit in a different seat or does he need more discipline? Maybe he needs remediation or medication?
No! The heart of Sam’s problem is that he’s just not interested enough. Motivation and achievement are common characteristics of gifted children, but how do we help the G/T students who aren’t reaching their full potential?
In “Motivation and Underachievement”, James T. Webb, Ph.D. dispels the myth that every gifted child is excelling in every area. He also provides strategies for identifying core issues and motivating students.
Dr. Webb is a nationally-recognized psychologist, author and consultant on the social and emotional needs of gifted and talented children.
Gifted Development Isn’t Always Global Development
Not every gifted child develops in every area at the same rate. Yet many schools still are insisting on students being globally gifted rather than recognizing asynchronous development.
In reality, there is a span of abilities within a student’s development where you can have that high motivation and high level of ability in one or two areas but not in others.
Sam doesn’t like journaling, but that doesn’t mean he’s an unmotivated student.
It just means journaling isn’t an area of interest, maybe the topics don’t resonate with him, or perhaps it’s an area of weakness for him. Sometimes gifted students are really motivated, they just aren’t interested in areas where we want them to be.
Is your student an underachiever or are you an over-expecter?
Identifying an underachieving gifted student can be challenging. A flash of brilliance from a student who otherwise struggles to complete work is one of the most clear signs that a student is not pushing themselves to excel. “Believe the flashes of brilliance as an indicator of potential despite the fact that the kid might be off task, daydreams, procrastinates, or doesn’t complete work,” says Dr. Webb.
My Student is Underachieving Because…
Before you can address underachievement, it’s essential to understand the root causes. The causes can be sorted into three main categories:
- Physical reasons – Underachieving students can suffer from vision or hearing problems, learning disabilities, reading disorders, asthma, allergies, reactive hypoglycemia, and other physical issues.
- Social/emotional reasons – Poverty, complicated families, dependency and enmeshment, as well as anger and rebellion can all cause underachievement.
- School reasons – Underachieving students are often educationally misplaced, the curriculum is inappropriate for the level of ability or they may be in an unsupportive or toxic classroom. They may also have asynchronous development, suffer from poor study habits or disorganization, have undeveloped resilience, or they don’t see the relevance of a topic.
I’ve Identified my Underachiever, Now What?!
Dr. Webb offers specific, actionable strategies for motivating a student like Sam. One of the key strategies is to transfer interests and tie tasks into a child’s life. Aren’t we all more motivated when we’re doing something we love?
Other tactics include:
- Identifying a child’s passions
- Catching a student doing something right
- Rewarding slight movements in the right direction
Dr. Webb teaches a strategy called “anticipatory praise”, which reinforces and rewards the behavior that you hope might occur, making it more likely that it will occur. Anticipatory praise is a way to avoid the alternative of constant nagging and scolding.
Sam and students like him need teachers who are ready, willing and able to use creative strategies to motivate.
You can be that teacher!
In “Motivation and Underachievement, a 1-hour course, Dr. Webb:
- Reframes what it means for a G/T child to be unmotivated
- Highlights four main reasons why gifted children underachieve
- Covers factors that enhance and facilitate student growth
- Conclude by providing practical strategies you can use in the classroom
Sign up for the free teacher trial and take this course at no cost to you!
Go to http://tagtondemand.com/free-teacher-trial/ to sign up, or call 915.532.9965 if you prefer to speak to someone.
Delivering Quality Training – No Matter Where You Are
Did you know that this course is mobile ready? That means you can complete the course on your smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop computer, or any other mobile device!
Photos courtesy of Flickr via ResoluteSupportMedia, Enokson, & Jeff Pioquinto, SJ
