Social & Emotional Needs
When we pay attention to academics, but not to our students’ social emotional needs, we’re missing half of the picture.
My Smart Kid Is Suddenly Struggling!
Smart students should have started struggling back in kindergarten!
Feedback: Go Beyond Typos!
I once co-wrote a book (I’ve since sold the rights to my co-author so it’s fine if you don’t buy it 😝). The most interesting part of the whole experience was the feedback that teachers sent in. The feedback I wanted: “Ian, I love the idea of using unanswered questions to open a lesson. I’ve […]
How is “High Achiever” different from “Gifted”?
Why the distinction between “high-achiever” and “gifted” was important to me personally and professionally.
Why I Quit Scouts
As a kid, I got all the way to the top of Cub Scouts, but I never became a Boy Scout. I quit before I made the jump. Here’s why.
The Resiliency Tournament
I got to work with several groups of students (of many ages) and I tried out this task: building a tournament to decide who was the most resilient historical figure or fictional character? Kids came up with some amazing ideas.
Mentoring Those Who Have Surpassed Us
This quick clip of Steve Kerr coaching Steph Curry gives us insights into how we can mentor our most advanced students.
Three Images To Explain Giftedness
Three images I’m using to do a better job explaining giftedness to parents of gifted kids.
My kid isn’t being challenged!
As a parent, it’s easy to be concerned about a blah teacher. But you have more power and influence than any one teacher. Be aware of your praise. Be aware of your actions.
Do You Know the Nuances of Mindset?
Before you implement an educational theory like Mindset, Grit, or Multiple Intelligences, make sure to read the original work, understand the limitations, and know the most common misunderstandings.
Torrance’s Manifesto for Children
My friend Brian introduced me to Torrance’s Manifesto for Children – and I wish I had seen it decades ago!
Ira Glass on Perfectionism
For people who do not suffer from perfectionist tendencies, it can be hard to understand the crippling feeling a student feels when their work doesn’t match their expectations. Ira Glass, who you know from This American Life, has a fantastic quote that gets to the heart of this problem.
Directly Teach Non-Academic Skills
Any time we complain that a kid always or never does something, we should consider this same question: has anyone ever taught them how?
When The Highly-Capable Don’t Understand That They’re Highly-Capable
The Dunning-Kruger Effect states that those with low-ability in an area tend to over-estimate their skills, while those with high-ability tend to under-estimate their skill. This has serious implications on classrooms and the way we communicate proficiency.
What “Chef’s Table” Taught Me About Success
Netflix’s delightful documentary about famous chefs brought to mind three patterns about success.
Raising Our Levels of Moral Development
Kohlberg’s levels of moral development are a fantastic tool for helping our gifted kids understand their advanced awareness of moral issues. But it also challenges us, as adults, to step up and push our own moral development higher.
Listening to the Elderly About Life Goals
After reading my post about promoting interests instead of passions, reader Nicole sent a link to this article about speaking to the elderly about finding a life purpose: Basically, the oldest Americans (most of whom also struggled with the question) tell you to relax. They say that you are likely to have a number of […]
Highlighting the Messy Process Behind Beautiful Products
We’re very aware of our own messy processes, but end up comparing that with other people’s beautiful, final products. It’s a sure path to impostor syndrome, thinking you’re the only one who struggles to create.
Our Brains and Understanding Fear
Understanding our body’s feelings is important, especially for gifted students whose powerful minds often overthink problems, which in turn leads to perseveration and nervousness.
Encourage Interests, Don’t Expect Passions
“Passion” is kind of a ridiculous expectation when you think about it.
21st Century Careers
The idea of a 21st century may sound futuristic, but we’re already more than 20% through the century! 21st century careers are already happening all around us. You just need to know where to look!
Smart Kids and the Curse of the Kidney Table
What happens when a student never gets called over to work with the teacher?
Beware Praising Easy Tasks, Even In Kindergarten
The “smart” label we give kids often really means “things are easy for you.” What are the ramifications of this dangerous praise?
What Does “Smart” Even Mean?
We praise kids for being “smart”, but what do we actually mean by it? What are we actually praising? It’s a surprisingly tricky word to figure out.
Teaching Students To Explain Their Thinking
It’s a weird trap: because a child is “so smart”, everyone thinks any gaps in their skills are a result of laziness or defiance. But sometimes the brightest kid needs small group instruction for a skill the rest of the class already gets.
Giving Feedback When The Work Is Great
Our brightest kids can go through school without ever receiving meaningful feedback. This can set up a fear of feedback and a fixed mindset. Here are some ways you can chat with kids about their work…
What Could You Do With This Pancake Flipping Robot?
I love videos of robots messing up tasks. This one in particular struck a chord, because we get to see the robot learn from his mistakes. Let’s have students write him some advice…
Long Term Success: Wondering About Math
Continuing our series on long-term success, we look at the art of wondering. Often our gifted kids wonder deeper and longer than others. But do they wonder about math?
Long Term Success: Strengths Beat Weaknesses
In this second part of a series on Long-Term Success, we look at how to handle gifted students’ weaknesses by creating a culture that’s focused on strengths.
Long Term Success: Excelling In Many Areas
Let’s explore keys to long-term student success. The first is students ability to excel in many areas.
A Shopping List for Kids (and Adults) With Intensities
Here’s a list of interesting items to help intense students in a classroom setting. Fidgety tools, special sets, and even ear plugs!
Tennessee Keynote: So Much More Than Smart Kids
Here’s the last 20 minutes of my keynote from Tennessee’s 2015 state gifted conference. Live audio synced up with my slides.
Calvin: I Thought You Were Smart
A great strip from Calvin and Hobbes for opening up a discussion about hard work, being “smart,” and mindsets in the classroom.
Success Isn’t A Straight Line
Students I speak to have a powerful fear of making a life-altering mistake in their teens. Whether it’s a low grade, an easy class, or the wrong extracurricular, students think that an early error will derail their entire lives. They see life as a straight line.
Don’t Say “Great job!”
Not only is vague praise less useful than a specific compliment, but, combined with easy tasks, it can even be damaging to students’ belief in their abilities.
Self Control Is A Limited Resource
The wise teacher knows how hard to push her class and when to ease up, because self control is a limited resource for everyone.
Dino Obsession: Intellectual Overexcitability In Action
If you’re wondering what an “intellectual overexcitability” might look like, here’s me in kindergarten…
The Real Causes of Procrastination
Joanne Foster led an interesting session about the true causes of students’ procrastination. It’s more complex than simple laziness.
Calvin, High-Energy, and Sports
This comic highlights an additionally unfortunate issue high-energy kids suffer from: they’re physically active, yet may not be particularly interested in sports.
Understanding High Energy Gifted Kids
To understand how giftedness and physical energy are connected, stop picturing a fidgety kid interrupting the class. Instead imagine him deeply engrossed in his favorite activity.
Why Gifted Kids May Not Be Great Tutors
It’s so easy to assume gifted kids will be the academic leaders in a classroom. Beacons of light for the other kids to follow. Dina Brulles and Susan Winebrenner explain the problem…
Gifted Children and Anxiety
The obvious benefit of gifted students’ increased sensitivity is that they learn faster, since they pick up on so much more. But this sensitivity also has a dark side: turning our kids into anxious worriers.
Good At Too Many Things?
Multipotentiality is a fancy way of saying “good at many things.” It’s a defining trait of gifted kids, and you’ve probably seen it in action: a student writes beautifully, has mastered a musical instrument, excels in math, and still gets picked near the top in PE. Yet, this trait is one of the Eight Great Gripes of gifted kids.
Like Everyone Else?
Fitting in only gets you so far.
Brains Only Get Stronger When It’s Difficult!
As a 6th grade teacher, I would see students give up just as things became difficult. Because of their natural intelligence, they could succeed without putting in the work that their peers were learning to do. So I introduced a motto.
Calvin: The Unexpected Gifted Kid
As a kid, I read Calvin and Hobbes religiously, checking out collections from the library and cutting out favorites from the newspaper. Now, I read these same comics and see Calvin in a different light: an example of all of the unexpected traits of gifted students.
The Surprising Financial Failures of Walt Disney
As I read about the origins of the Disney studios, I’m struck by the endless financial trouble Walt Disney found himself in. Even after his classic films hit theaters, the studio was constantly in debt and faced a dismal future.
Mindset & Impostor Syndrome
Our gifted kids receive lots of well-intentioned “you’re so smart” praise. But, this leads directly to a fear of straying beyond their safety zone. In college or the workplace, where they face challenges for the first time, the impostor syndrome rears its terrifying head.
What Can We Learn From Gifted Adults?
What better way to learn about gifted students’ needs than by talking to gifted adults? Here’s a tour of some of the resources I found online.
Build Relationships With Small Talk
Intelligence may get students through school with high marks, but out there in the wild, a high-performing brain can only get one so far. We need to explicitly help our students learn to relate to those around them by teaching them about “small talk.”
The Curious Case of Impostor Syndrome
They believe that only they are aware of their limitations, near misses, and potential for error. They attribute their success to luck, not ability. In an attempt to maintain an illusion of perfection, they avoid situations in which they might not be the best. This is called Impostor’s Syndrome.
Asynchrony and X-Men
Not only are they dealing with the usual trials of growing up, they are often doing it with an increased awareness of their faults, a frustration with being unable to do everything well, and a world that often doesn’t know what to do with them. Worse, they often lack the emotional tools to accompany their increased awareness.
Overexcitabilities: Five Unexpected Intensities
We know gifted students are far more complex than their test scores might suggest. And while we might expect certain quirks, others blindside us: a strange reaction to sound, a sudden outburst of tears, or a need to stand up at inopportune times. Dabrowski’s five overexcitabilities provide some insight into these unexpected moments.
Analyze Characters With Personality Types
Previously, we discussed using morality, multiple intelligences, and scholarly habits to analyze characters. Not only does this add deep layers to questioning, but (more importantly) it provides opportunities to discuss gifted students’ unique emotional needs. Personality types are another tool that serve these two needs.
Sensitivity in Gifted Kids
In class, a child suddenly explodes at another for making a clicking pencil sound, a student shuts down for the day after making an error while presenting, a distant natural disaster effects children’s moods. As a teacher, this layer of complex sensitivity builds on your already difficult job of tracking academic progress. To be effective, you must also navigate this emotional minefield.
The Eight Great Gripes of Gifted Students
In a 1985 study, Judy Galbraith identified eight great gripes of gifted students. Let’s think about what we can do to meet these needs. It will require more than just making our lessons academically challengeing.
Four Ways To Reduce Behavior Problems
Anyone who’s had to wrangle two or three dozen gifted minds at once knows there’s much more to the story than angelic super students who eagerly obey your every whim. Gifted students can present some interesting behaviors that throw off unprepared teachers.
Make Your Class Cozy For Gifted Introverts
As a teacher of gifted students, you will be in the unique situation of teaching classrooms with a majority of introverts, a population typically in the minority in general classrooms. Consider how you can set the stage to improve these students’ learning, socializing, and happiness.
3D Character Analysis: Gardner, Kaplan, and Kohlberg
As we review for midyear tests, my students are working in groups to analyze eight characters from any story from this years’ readings. I’ve given them three dimensions to use when looking at each character. Each dimension is based on concepts created by three different researchers: Howard Gardner, Lawrence Kohlberg, and Sandra Kaplan.
“Is This Good?”
Why “is this good?” is driving me mad.
Exploring Morality Behind Actions
No one can deny that our gifted students have great power. They may be intellectual powerhouses, grasping concepts years ahead of peers. They may be emotionally sensitive, becoming aware of issues such as mortality at an early age. They may be leaders of people, showing leadership qualities from the very beginning. How do we teach them to use this power?
A Mess On Einstein’s Desk
Einstein’s desk hours after his death reveals a method of work that might disturb us as teachers. Yet can you imagine chastising this genius about his organization?
Famous Failures
One sad side-effect of gifted students’ success is that it can become the status quo. Students become afraid of not living up to their own high expectations. They then begin to take fewer risks out of fear of failure. Help your students cope with failure by introducing these famous, successful people who have developed a positive attitude towards their own failures.
Should Students Have To Work In Groups?
Once in a while, a student will ask me a question that makes me realize how much more there is to know about my class. One child came up and quietly asked me, “Do I have to work in a group?”
3 Ways Teachers Battle Students’ Giftedness
How easy is it to forget that our gifted learners have truly unique needs? How easy is it to plan lessons straight from our textbooks and use unaltered pedagogy from our credential programs? An amazing article by Dr. Karen Rogers reminded me of three counter-intuitive facts about gifted students’ learning.
Gifted Learners’ Social Emotional Needs
While gifted students look perfect on paper, their teachers know that in the classroom they are not all the academic angels and stellar scholars that people assume they are. Successful teachers of the gifted require a special understanding of their students’ social and emotional needs.