Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums High School How to help a teenager's self esteem

Agreed. Many high schools have a teacher as an advisor for each club or extra curricular... and a list of parents who help the teacher by performing tasks the teacher may delegate to them. For some clubs/extracurriculars, kids learn "Roberts Rules of Order" for conducting their meetings. Having a club/extracurricular without some type of guidance is similar to having gifted kids work on their own without instruction, sending them back to their desks to figure it out for themselves!

Some may wonder what the grading rubric looks like for that class? And what the grade was for that particular project/event?

As I posted a few minutes ago. These clubs DO have faculty advisers, and depending on the club parents who volunteer. I do help quite a lot in the band boosters. But yes it would be odd & unusual for me to volunteer to help in a club that my child has never participated in if I wasn't invited. The advisers vary as to how much they do, it depends on the club. All our academic teams are clubs for example and faculty have to be heavily involved. But the more 'social' clubs probably just have a random teacher who just makes sure that the club sticks to the basic rules.

I am a bit confused, I don't think I ever mentioned that the clubs didn't have faculty advisers. Just that it would be odd for me to go from helping my son navigating school clubs, to suddenly volunteering for clubs I don't even know exist. To be honest DS15 doesn't want me around.

bluemagic I've seen you post numerous times now about your DS's frustration with math. My eldest DS went though much the same thing once he hit AP Calc. and through Calc. II...at which point he figured out the majority of his problem, it was simply that while he always understood the CONCEPT, he hadn't been applying enough repetition. Once he actually worked enough problems through, he found his success increased considerably. According to him (Now having been through Calc. III as well) It's not enough to simply understand the concept, you need to PRACTICE APPLYING IT in order to be successful on the tests. While I can't assure you that's your son's problem, it's worth considering.

Relating to the social aspect, just try to involve him in activities where those of like mind are. Summer band camps are an opportunity to start fresh with new faces as well as being around those of like mind.

I've found that most Freshman / Soph. eventually come to the realization that they're going to have to put some serious work into instrument / vocal practice in order to play with the "big boys" Either then buck up or they're simply not interested enough....and that's okay too. We all need to sort out what is really important to us every so often, it lets us focus on those things that ARE our priorities.

My eldest DS went though much the same thing once he hit AP Calc. and through Calc. II...at which point he figured out the majority of his problem, it was simply that while he always understood the CONCEPT, he hadn't been applying enough repetition. Once he actually worked enough problems through, he found his success increased considerably. According to him (Now having been through Calc. III as well) It's not enough to simply understand the concept, you need to PRACTICE APPLYING IT in order to be successful on the tests. While I can't assure you that's your son's problem, it's worth considering.

I concur...

my DD has this precise difficulty with AP Statistics, as well-- it's not enough to just KNOW the concepts in a theoretical sense, and beyond Trig, it's also next to useless to know the procedural bit without genuine deep understanding, either-- the problem is that you have to know HOW to do it, but also WHY you're choosing to do things a particular way and not another.

KWIM?


This is the first year that DD has had to actually DO any math problems in order to ace exams. It's been a rude awakening.


I also like Old Dad's observation about evaluating priorities, too. That is also something that I've observed my DD doing. While I may occasionally be less than thrilled with her ultimate decisions there, it is her life. She also reevaluates the peer groups associated with various activities along with the activity-- which makes sense, since a shared activity often comes with a peer group for whom it's a major passion. If your own interest wanes, you'll have less in common with the peer group, too.

Good news. My son told me today that he joined two clubs and now has a good he hangs out with at lunch. It's the Lego Club and the Robotics Club. What I find amusing about this is he was never really into lego's that much as a kid, but it's where his new friends hang out. I'm just happy that he seems to be finding a group of of kids to hang out with at school.

He will be trying out for next years band sometime over the next few days. He has really upped his practicing over the past two weeks, and even asked to go see his private instructor an extra time. I hope his hard work helps.

Just saw this. I do agree that more butt in seat time practicing would probably help him a lot. It's what I had him do for his semester final. So far second semester is going better, but so far it's only logs and graphing and both topics are fairly easy.

We always focus on interests, goals and the future. High school and even college can be tough, but graduate school programs (that are celebrated, full of great students and taught by tremendous professors) is where it might be at for the gifted student if a structured school education is desired. The alternative is the chance to be almost old enough to no longer be a minor and just go for what the gifted person really wants to do with their time after high school - start a band, start a company (the 'millennials' are very into companies that are eco-friendly, honest (like the company started by Jessica Alba), values-based, non-profit, buy a shoe, give a pair of shoes away, fight pollution, support human rights, etc.). The Age of Information and Technology has really helped make a solid economy for gifted students in IT or the gifted IT students have really made a great economy for themselves and anyone who wants to join in. It is a very exciting time for young people.

Try going through a list of areas that your student may be interested in and match them with an online program or special event. For example, most major cities in the United States have Tech Weeks now, sponsored by the closest tech. teaching colleges and look for the related science festivals as well.

For the gifted students it is really all about igniting their individual passions (art, music, reading, writing, mathematics, whatever is on that student's list) and then matching them to the corresponding school, industry, company, museum, orchestra, etc.

Good Luck and hang in there. It really can be anything of interest. Just read a blurb about a man who was in love with old time pieces and now he is a world expert in designing new watches using the old technology. The watches are amazing just to look at, really works of art.

We have read about a 15 year old who wants to be the best chef in the world right now and he has been working in kitchens for years. Those kinds of stories might trigger the idea that it is okay to start doing whatever it is you want to be doing right now.

Best of Luck!