MOTIVATION OR THE LACK THEREOFPRESENTED BY: MEGAN STONE

STUDENT IN M.ED. COUNSELOR EDUCATION

MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY

SUMMER 2011

TO MOTIVATE THE GIFTED STUDENT…

When faced with a challenge, gifted students must have the desire to do it

Gifted students must keep putting in the time until they finish the task

When a student completes a challenging task, it is important to point out the effort they put in even when they were confused or stuck

LET’S DEFINE MOTIVATION

According to Webster’s Dictionary: Motivation is the desire, interest, or drive to do something

As our textbook states: “When human beings spend substantial amounts of their time in environments that either barely or never kindle motivation….it is probable that their energies will be expended in mastering coping skills instead of mastering self-development”

STRATEGIES FOR MOTIVATING THE GIFTED CHILD

Gifted children typically benefit more from participating in different activities than the ones that are set for other students

Researcher by the name of Parke (1989), came up with the ideas of:

Compacting

Contracts

MULTI-SENSORY APPROACH

Visual spatial learning

Hands on learning

Learning through music

VISUAL SPATIAL LEARNING

Incorporates pictures and diagrams that make it easier for children to express how they feel what they cannot say in words

HANDS ON LEARNING

Provides opportunities for social interaction, team work, and problem solving

LEARNING THROUGH MUSIC

87% of students ages 13-17 report listening to music after school

Adolescents spend 4-5 hours a day listening to music

American teenagers listen to an estimated 10,500 hours of rock music between 7th-12th grade- this is just 500 fewer hours than they spend in school over 12 years

THE PAPER AND THE BOOK

How did the rubber band help?

Why is it important to lift the weight?

How are keeping the laws and rules of your parents, society and school like lifting a weight?

CLIMBING OUT

Why did you finally smile?

Does this have any relation to peer pressure? Why or why not?

Do your friends influence you? Positively or Negatively?

PERFECTIONISM

According to Burns’ (1980), perfectionism is a compulsive and unrelenting strain towards impossible goals

Another definition: Personal standard; reject anything less

Perfectionists tend to measure their self worth in terms of accomplishment and productivity

Perfectionism has been linked with underachievement (fear of failure) and academic procrastination

Is this a positive or negative trait?

UNDERACHIEVEMENT

Gifted students tend to experience underachievement when they are placed in a slow-moving classroom, asked to “be like everyone else,” experience feelings of loneliness, and family conflicts.

MOTIVATION TRAPS

1. Identify the students that need help

2. Find out what interests them

3. Find resources & activities that address these interests

4. Provide them with opportunities to participate in activities based on task completion

5. Provide students with feedback on their performance

EXAMPLE ACTIVITIES FOR UNDERACHIEVERS

Abler & Heward (1996)

Topic: Have the student pick out their favorite athlete

For Language Arts: Have the student write a story involving their athlete

For Math: Have the student conduct statistics on their accomplishments through out the last year. Also can budget their salaries

For Content Areas: Have the student look up the geographical location of the birthplace of their athlete and do research

AS A COUNSELOR, I SHOULD…

When counseling the underachieved gifted student, I should concentrate on changing the personal, family, or ambition of both dynamics that contribute to a student’s underachievement.

It is important, as a counselor, to not focus on making the underachiever more successful, but rather to aid the student in deciding if success is a desirable goal and helping the student reverse those counterproductive habits.

ACADEMIC PROCRASTINATION

Procrastination: to defer action; delay

“It can wait,” I’ll do it later,” “Just 5 more minutes”

Prioritize a list of everything you need to do

Just pick one thing on your list to do and get it done

INTERVENTIONS FOR MOTIVATION

Focus on the student’s strengths and interests

Positive self-concept correlates with student achievement

Provide a smaller student-to-teacher ratio

Encourage students with different learning strategies

Have students take pleasure in their accomplishments by praising them in their efforts and determination.

Remember : DESIRE TIME EFFORT

WHAT TO REMEMBER

As a counselor or teacher, one can not make a child, gifted or not, do something they do not want to accomplish.

We, as educators, should provide resources and make classroom learning fun so that children want to learn and want to engage in the learning experience.

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS

REFERENCESAlber, S. R., & Heward, W. L. (1996). Gotcha! Twenty-five behavior

traps guaranteed to extend your students’ academic and social skills. Intervention in School and Clinic, 31, 285–289.

Espeland, P., & Verdick, E. (2008). See you later, Procrastinator. Free Spirit Publishing.

pp. 13-18, 95.

Neihart, M., Reis, S., Robinson, N., & Moon, S. (2002). The Social and Emotional Development of Gifted Children: What Do We Know? The National Association for Gifted Children. pp. 71-76, 81-88.

Parke, B. N. (1989). GIFTED STUDENTS IN REGULAR CLASSROOMS Needam Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Van Tassel-Baska, J., Cross, T., & Olenchak, F. (2009). Social-Emotional Curriculum With Gifted and Talented Students. The Critical Issues in Equity and Excellence in Gifted Education Series. pp. 23, 25, 45,52, 114.

WhyTry Inc. (2001). www.whytry.org.