Keeping Gifted Students Motivated
With the school year in full swing, you are likely actively seeking ways to keep your gifted students engaged in the curriculum and motivated to achieve. When gifted students find purpose in the content or it strikes their interests while being presented in a meaningful way, they often remain engaged. Often times we hear gifted students are motivated to achieve by external rewards such as grades. However, there are also those who are intrinsically motivated, learning for the sake of learning. In Daniel Pink’s book titled,
Drive, he examines commonly held beliefs about intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. To begin the exploration of motivation, here is a short video by Daniel Pink called “What’s My Sentence?”.
Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Motivation
In order to motivate your gifted students to help them achieve and find their own academic success, it’s important to identify how a student is motivated. To learn more about different types of motivation and how they directly relate to students, you can watch this next video from the Davidson Discussions library called “Motivation: Learn it, Live it, Love it.”
The Davidson Academy of Nevada
The Davidson Academy of Nevada
is specifically designed to meet the needs of profoundly
gifted middle and high school students who score in the
99.9th percentile on IQ or college entrance tests, such as
the SAT or ACT. The application for the 2013-2014 school year is now available. Visit the How to Apply page to download the application PDF files.
Davidson Young
Scholars
The
Davidson Young Scholars program provides FREE services designed to nurture and support profoundly gifted young people and their families, including talent development and educational advocacy, an online community, annual get-togethers, and the Ambassador Program. Applications are due the first of each month. For more information, see the
How to Apply and
Qualification Criteria
pages.
Educators Guild
All educators, and people interested in gifted education, are invited to join
the
Educators Guild Discussion Group on Facebook and contribute to the ongoing conversation about how to best serve the academic needs of our nation’s brightest
students.
Gifted
News
National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) 2012 National Convention With more than 500 content-rich sessions on issues ranging from “Curriculum Studies” to “Professional Development,” the 59th annual
NAGC Convention, Nov. 15 through Nov. 18 in Denver, Colo. provides an excellent opportunity to learn alongside, and network with, colleagues. At each presentation, parents, educators and those interested in gifted education will be provided with “take-away” tools and classroom resources.
Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG) Updates
The nonprofit organization called Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG) recently printed a new misdiagnosis brochure and a gifted resource bookmark, which they are distributing nationwide to pediatrician offices and to other relevant audiences. Learn more about these materials by reading the lead article in
SENG’s October Newsletter. You can also view the
brochure (PDF) directly.
Two New Thought-Provoking Education Books
On the national education scene, two books were recently published by Fordham Foundation experts. The first,
Exam Schools: Inside America's Most Selective Public High Schools, is co-authored by Chester Finn and Jessica Hockett
and identifies 165 academically selective public high schools across America serving more than 100,000 high-ability students each year. Finn recently wrote about the book in the New York Times op-ed, "Young, Gifted and Neglected." The second
book, written by Mike Petrilli, is titled,
The Diverse Schools Dilemma: A Parent's Guide to Socioeconomically Mixed Public Schools,
and examines whether socioeconomically diverse schools can handle their academic diversity. The author stresses that, in most schools, "differentiated instruction" means that the high achievers will simply be bored.
Thiel Fellowship – 2013 Application Available
The Thiel Foundation has begun accepting applications for a new class of 20 Under 20 Thiel Fellows. Recipients of the two-year
Thiel Fellowship, 20 students under the age of 20, are each provided a $100,000 grant that encourages lifelong learning and independent thought, and are mentored by highly accomplished entrepreneurs, scientists, investors, thinkers, and innovators of the Thiel Network. These students do not attend college for two years and are encouraged to focus on their ambitious ideas, work, research and self-education. Last year’s class of Thiel Fellows includes Taylor Wilson, a 2012 graduate of The Davidson Academy of Nevada. Source:
The Next Web
Closing Thought
"Gifted students – and indeed all students – respond to the challenges presented by advanced content and teachers who believe in the students’ abilities.”
If you have information to include in future
Educators Guild Newsletters, please email our EdGuild@DavidsonGifted.org.
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NOTE: The appearance of selected programs and/or resources in the Davidson Institute's Educators Guild Newsletter does not imply an endorsement or affiliation. Programs and resources are highlighted for informational purposes only.