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             Featured Topic | Resources | Headlines | Davidson Institute Updates | Gifted News
   Featured Topic
  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.”

 
   Resources
  Some additional resources about motivation:
  • Motivation and the Gifted Child (PDF) - Educators Guild presentation
  • Intrinsic motivation - article by P. Theroux


  • Books
  • Motivating Gifted Students (The Practical Strategies Series in Gifted Education)
  • A Love for Learning: Motivation and the Gifted Child
  • A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children
  • When Gifted Kids Don’t Have All The Answers: How to Meet Their Social and Emotional Needs
  • Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us


  •  
       In the News
      October 10 - PsychCentral, Maybe Gifted Underachievers Are More Creative (Douglas Eby)
    October 7 - Wall Street Journal, Big Change in Gifted and Talented Testing (Sophia Hollander)
    September 26 - Washington Post, Why NOT to admire Asian schools (Jay Mathews)
    September 18 - New York Times, Young, Gifted and Neglected (Chester E. Finn Jr.)

     
       Davidson Institute Updates
      The Davidson AcademyThe 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.

    Prospective students interested in receiving email updates about the Academy can subscribe to The Davidson Academy eNewsletter by clicking here.



    Davidson Young ScholarsDavidson 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.


     
    Ed GuildEducators 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
    NAGCWith 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.

    SENGSupporting 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.

    FordhamTwo 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.

    The Davidson AcademyThiel 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.”

    ~ From the book A Love for Learning: Motivation and the Gifted Child,
    by Carol Strip Whitney and Gretchen Hirsch


     

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