I recall an excellent series from Psychology Today about the gifted mind sometime during the last year or so... and was pleased to see the start of what appears to be another great series dealing with GT Ed.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/print/77677

Here's the opening paragraph, the last line of which is especially refreshing to read somewhere other than our GT forums.

Thanks for posting that Dandy. I'll look out for the next one.

Here's hoping lots of people who don't know it all already read it... I like this quote:
Yup, got one of them :-)

Although I acknowledge the importance of discussing the PG, I do worry a little that examples like that make people go back to the whole "Giftedness = calculus at 8" thing. DD is 7 and has no idea who Virigina Woolf is or what string theory is, nor is she ready for that, but her needs were absolutely not met in a regular classroom...

Interesting piece. Poorly edited, though.

It's psychology today, where anyone can write any articles on anything. Editing isn't it's strong point. Nor is accuracy. Nor is content. Sometimes I argue in the comments section in various articles for entertainment purposes. It's fun!

I would have been into string theory when I was 7. But only as it relates to cosmology.

When reading this, and thinking of my own experiences, I wonder how much the "nurture" affect of motivation impacts gifted learners.

Einstein dropped out and dropped back in several schools to find his own path. He pursued learning.

Ren

Well said, Ren.

After writing professionally as a contributor to local, regional, and national publications, I usually look up the author of articles that intrigue me - as I did this one. Psychology Today: Joseph Cardillo The author doesn't seem to be quite a "just anybody" - although I'm sure his focus of studies would likely skew the article to his point of view.

Thanks for sharing the article - interesting read.

I'll have to say that my own experience with raising three gifted kids - one of them high gifted - is different than the scenario the author describes (kid getting all A's, whipping off a week's homework in a short amount of time) and more like the experiences of the historical students he mentioned (Beethoven being told he was hopeless, Einstein dropping in and out of school, etc.). None of my kids have been motivated by grades (although they could calculate down to the number of problems on a specific math assignment that needed to be completed to pull a C). In fact, my son's were so poor in mid-school (the high gifted child) that I had to fight to get him tested for gifted. I remember the school counselor telling me, "Being placed in gifted should be a reward for exceptional performance. Your son just has behavior problems." I reminded her that gifted was for kids who were not being served by the regular classroom. When she reluctantly authorized the testing, my son qualified in all three exceptionalities.

They weren't overly motivated to please their teachers, either. Last year was the first year in six years I didn't receive almost daily emails from my youngest's teachers telling me of his latest off-beat ideas, comments, or failure to properly complete an assignment as assigned. And not because my son miraculously overcame all his quirks but because he had a seasoned, patient teacher to "got" him and redirected and motivated him in ways no other teacher had.

I'd be curious how many parents have the straight-a-ers and how many are in my boat.

Not there yet with my children, but this was me at school

I think I turned out okay jk

My son is only 8 - yes, he got straight A's on this report card (first report with letter grades). He got 100% on all the 4th grade math tests he took.(he's in 3rd). He is very well behaved in school. Having said that - he IS only 8, so I don't think getting A's in such a hard thing at that age. Also - I don't know exactly how gifted he is. Things may well change as he ages. We'll see

He should be very proud of himself.

My son, 8 also has been getting letter grades for the past 2 years. This year was the first he was able to get on the honor roll. He moves around at school to 4th for literacy and 5th for math.

I firmly believe in making a big deal about these things. He loves school and is very well behaved also. Positive reinforcement is possibly the best too you have.

JMO

I've got the "straight A" child. It is hard to simultaneously acknowledge the work that went into getting those grades, and to celebrate the learning that occurred, while also letting her know that grades like that also probably mean the classes could have been a little harder.

ABQmom, I have one like yours. A high school junior now, she is reluctantly focusing on grades/pleasing teachers now. Mostly because she has realized if she wants to go to college with the smarter kids, it is a requirement. But she is NOT a people pleaser by nature. She would much rather dig into the things she likes in depth (biology, bugs, Shakespeare, Poe, Quiz Bowl studying), and to heck with whatever the teacher wants her to do at the moment. She is forever calculating whether she REALLY has to do that homework assignment tonight, or whether she can just pull it together in the car on the way to school the next morning.

She is planning to go in and see her HS principal next week to see if she can do something other than take the one 11th grade (no honors, no AP) English course for next semester. But I doubt she got an A this quarter in English (A-/B+ is more likely, grades are not out yet), so I worry that they may say no because she did not grab every point so far. She is very annoyed at the slow pace, superficial analysis, and middle-school like assignments this semester. But she also lost a draft of a paper (peer reviewed) that was part of an assignment and got an F, and was late turning in her grammar workbook a few times. Enough to drag the grade down. It would be a lot easier to get the school to let her try something different if she had gotten a solid A.

Wow, this quote really resonated with me, too. I think I have the three-year-old version. She finds commonalities between everything. I think her most used phrases are "that's just like..." and "this reminds me of..." ( She does not know Virginia Woolf, but can explain photosynthesis and cellular respiration-- what is needed, who does what, products and byproducts...) She loves language. She is constantly asking me what the opposites of words are, or pointing out irregular past tense forms and plurals, using these words, things I never explicitly taught her. Also, when she was not quite 2.5 she asked me how "dehydrate" related to "carbohydrate" just out of the blue and then wanted to know what "carbo" meant.

At the moment she is only motivated by imaginary stickers that she keeps track of on her shirt.