When I was in college at Brandeis University, I worked in the career planning office.  I got to meet recruiters from many companies and industries and explore a lot of career choices.  After I graduated my first few jobs were in career planning offices at Salem State College and Clark University.  Many students visit the career planning office in college with no idea what they want to do after graduation.  While this is common, it is not ideal.    

Gifted students may have many career choices available because of multiple gifts or a particular talent.  Because gifted students have so many choices available to them, it is important to begin career and college planning early.  Meredith Greene, in Duke’s Gifted Letter states

 ”Especially for gifted children with high ability and interest across many domains, career development activities should be focused on values and needs. Finding a career is about building a satisfying life. Gifted children need help clarifying their values and goals. Use self-scoring career inventories, but do so judiciously, because most inventories focus only on eliciting interests. Multipotential children already have plenty of interests, so determining the degree of their interest in different career areas is more helpful than merely identifying a long list of potential interests. Remember that interest and intellectual ability are just two factors to consider. Help your children think about other factors that can impact their career goals and plans, such as desired lifestyle (salary range, travel requirements, geographic location), family issues (marriage, having children, child care arrangements), and personality type (independent, socially oriented, highly sensitive).”

Exploring career opportunities in middle school and high school can increase a student’s awareness of the need for education for their career goals, which in turn will give students a reason to excel to high levels.

Determine your interests and abilities. Think about all the things you’re good at:

• Are you good at subjects like math or English?
• Are you good at working with people, young children or older adults?
• Do you have a musical or artistic talent?
• Do you like to build or fix things?
• Do you enjoy working inside an office or outdoors?
• Do you like to work alone or with a lot of people?
• Do you spend a great deal of time on the computer?
• Are you fascinated by nature and science?
• Do you often find yourself reading books on a certain topic?

There are many interest surveys available on the internet (of course some are better than others).  Many middle schools offer access to interest surveys including ACT’s Discover.  Most high schools have post graduate centers or counseling offices where you can research interests, careers, and colleges. If your school does not subscribe to an interest survey there are free ones available on the internet:

• Drive of Your Life
• Princeton Review

Think about the lifestyle that you want.

• Is the amount of money you make important to you?
• Are you interested in a career that requires a great deal of travel?
• How would you feel about a job that required you to move on a regular basis?
• What hours of the day, or night, will you be working?

Find out about a variety of careers. Read books about different careers. Ask adults questions about their jobs. Here are some questions to get you started:

• What do you enjoy most about your job, and least?
• What skills must someone have to be successful in your occupation?
• What high school and/or college classes are important in your field?
• How much education is required for someone with your job?

Research careers using the following websites:

• Career Overview
• Career Explorer
• Job Profiles

Sandra Berger has an excellent book on college planning for gifted students.

 

Well the application envelopes for MCPS special programs hit mailboxes yesterday afternoon. And the news? C. was admitted to the highly competitive, has-a-national-reputation, countywide IB program. She was not, however, admitted to the Communication Arts Program at nearby big high school, Blair. (Which made us go “hmmm. ” CAP more competitive than [...]

[This follows on the previous post, 5th Grade: A Cautionary Tale (Part Two) ] Although I filled out the paperwork in March, it wasn’t until June that we were able to get dates for a full, two-day psycho-educational evaluation for C. at the John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth Diagnostic and Counseling Center. I [...]

Yesterday afternoon I accompanied C.’s Coming of Age class on a field trip to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. What makes this annual trip special is that the group is guided by a member of our interfaith community who is a child of Holocaust survivors. And not only does she work at the museum, [...]

Photo Sharing Digital photography websites are numerous and offer free services to upload photos, edit them, organize photos into galleries, and share them with others.

• Fauxto (www.fauxto.com)
• Picnik (www.picnik.com) Edit photos online without software on your computer.
• Flickr (www.flickr.com) Share photos and tag both images and parts of images.
• Voicethread (voicethread.com) annotate pictures with text or audio messages.
• Morgufile (www.morguefile.com) View and download royalty-free, high-quality images that are well categorized. Enable students to use professional art and photography in their projects.

Video Create custom videos and share them with others.

• Splashcast (http://web.splashcast.net/) Create Your Own TV Channel.
• Animoto (http://animoto.com/) Create short videos.
• dFilm Movie Maker (http://www.dfilm.com/live/moviemaker.html)
• Jumpcut (http://www.jumpcut.com/)

Document Sharing, Presetation and Collaboration Tools Collaborative documents enable students to work together on a word-processing document, spreadsheet, or presentation.  Collaborative documents are very similar to their single user versions but allow students to work together without being in the same room.  A Wiki is an easy to edit web page that does not require programming knowledge. 

• Google Docs (docs.google.com/) Set up an e-mail account, sharable calendar, and collaborative document account (documents, spreadsheets, and presentations) that you have control over. Write and create collaboratively with your students.
• Wikispaces (http://www.wikispaces.com Offers ad free space for educators. Create an easily-editable collaborative website that uses a wysiwyg editor.
• PBWiki (www.pbwiki.com) Another free wiki site for teachers and students.
• Slideshare (www.slideshare.net) Upload your presentations and share/embed them anywhere. Add voice to create an enhanced presentation. Put Smart Board notes online. Share conference presentations. Share student work in an organized format.

Mapping

• Community Walk (www.communitywalk.com) add pictures and annotations to any map.
• Google Maps ( maps.google.com/)
• Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/)

Research Tools

• Internet Archive (www.archive.org) Access sound files, video files, and documents all shared under creative commons licenses. Remix and mashup others’ content.
• Footnote (http://www.footnote.com Find primary source documents about nearly any subject.

Writing

• Glypho (www.glypho.com) Submit a novel idea and collaborate on plot points, chapters, and organization. Work on a class novel or researched book.
• Story Creator 2 (http://myths.e2bn.org/create/) Create your own myths and legends.
• Fodey (http://www.fodey.com/) Create your own newspaper clipping.

City Simulators

• City Creator (http://www.citycreator.com/) Build a virtual city.
• SimCity Classic (http://simcity.ea.com/play/simcity_classic.php) Another city building application.

Graphic Organizers

• Bubbl.us (bubbl.us/) Create graphic organizers on the web and embed it onto any webpage.
• Gliffy (www.gliffy.com) Create diagrams and flow charts.

Cartoons/Comic Strips

• Toondoo (http://www.toondoo.com/Home.toon)
• Comic Strip Generator (http://stripgenerator.com/)
• Make Belief Comics (http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/comix.php)
• Quicktoons (http://www.quicktoons.com/create)
• Howtoons (http://www.instructables.com/group/howtoons/)
• Pixton (http://www.pixton.com/home)

Drawing and other Creativity:

• Letter Pop (http://letterpop.com/)
• Sketchcast( http://sketchcast.com/)
• Create an Art Scrapbook (http://www.artic.edu/artexplorer/)
• Kerpoof ( http://www.kerpoof.com/)
• Google Sketchup (http://sketchup.google.com/)
• ArtPad (http://artpad.art.com/artpad/painter/)
• Architect Studio 3D (http://www.architectstudio3d.org/AS3d/design_studio.html)
• Floorplanner (http://floorplanner.com/) Create a floor plan for a room.

Miscellaneous

• Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com) Create a survey. Take an informal assessment or survey of students. Perform interest and ability surveys.
• CircaVie (http://www.circavie.com/)create an interactive timeline.
• Create A Crossword Puzzle (http://puzzles.puzzled.com/crossword/) create a crossword puzzle.

Please share your favorite tools and sites with us!

I am hoping that the Gifted Kids Network can support students who are underachieving in their current educational setting.   This week’ my personal learning has been focused on research based strategies for engaging underachieving students.  I was thrilled when at the Beyond Giftedness Conference I attended yesterday, Sue Whitnah presented on “Intelligence does not equal success:  Developing habits of mind necessary for students to exel”. It was a fabulous presentation with lots of great information and many things to think about.   According to the research Whitnah presented, underachievement begins in early elementary school and peaks around 8th grade.  Studies show that just one caring educator can make a difference to a student and we are in a position to reverse underachievement.   
 
The Problem:
Underachievement is a common concern of educators and parents of gifted students.  Researchers Reis and McCoach define underachievers as students whose performance falls far short of what’s expected, over an extended period of time.  Siegle and McCoach (2005) identify four underlying causes of underachievement:

1.  physical, cognitive, or emotional issues, such as a learning disability
2.  lack of motivation due to mismatch between students and their school environment
3.   students’ attitudes about themselves and their schooling
4.  lack of self-regulation and study skills  

Of the factors identified by Siegle and McCoach, half are related skills or abilities and half to student motivation. According to  Ford, Alber, and  Heward, “student motivation or rather its absence is a troubling and persistent problem in education.” 

The physical or skill set causes for underachievement can be addressed using specific skill building techniques and accommodations.  The motivational aspects are more difficult to address.   

“Many gifted students do not view their school experience as meaningful. Other gifted students find school topics uninteresting regardless of the level of challenge, because they have developed a well-defined area of interest that is not matched by what happens in school. This leaves them “turned off” to what is taught. Still others do not appear to be interested in anything, either because their early school experiences failed to nourish their natural curiosity or because they doubt their ability to do well. Generally, a student views tasks as meaningful if they gratify a personal interest, are tied to the child’s identity, have an immediate use, or will clearly be useful in the future”
Siegle 2006).

The Solution:
Whitnah had a great quote in her presentation, “true belief in your capabilities comes from having climbed a mountain you thought you couldn’t climb when you first saw it”. Students need to be provided with challenges that they can succeed in order to develop confidence in their abilities.  There are two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. “Extrinsic motivation is when a person is motivated by external factors. Extrinsic motivation drives a person to do things for tangible rewards or pressures, rather than for the fun of it.  Intrinsic motivation on the other hand, is when a person is motivated by internal factors. Intrinsic motivation drives a person to do things just for the fun of it, or because she believes it is a good or right thing to do. Intrinsic motivation is by far the most desirable as it is long lasting.” (Fertig) The strategies listed here are taken from a variety of research that I have read in the last few weeks as well as Whitnah’s presentation.

Supportive Strategies. Classroom techniques and designs that allow students to feel they are part of a “family”.  Examples include:  holding class meetings to discuss student concerns; designing curriculum activities based on the needs and interests of the children; and allowing students to bypass assignments on subjects in which they have previously shown competency.

• Support the students. Students must expect to succeed and know that those around them will support their work. They must learn to trust that their efforts, even if momentarily thwarted, will pay off in the end.
•  It’s ok to have to work. Help them understand that challenging situations are opportunities to acquire or improve skills and that encountering difficulty does not mean that they are not intelligent.
• Create opportunities for their children to interact with role models. Students’ expectations are based on the experiences of their parents and role models.
• Teachers and parents should share real life stories that illustrate how we all have to work at and overcome weaknesses and limitations.
• Help students to develop strategies to manage stress. Use humor, optimism, relaxation strategies.

Intrinsic Strategies. These strategies incorporate the idea that students’ self-concepts as learners are tied closely to their desire to achieve academically. Thus, a classroom that invites positive attitudes is likely to encourage achievement. In classrooms of this type, teachers encourage attempts, not just successes; they value student input in creating classroom rules and responsibilities; and they allow students to evaluate their own work before receiving a grade from the teacher.

• Have students set their own goals. Goals should be realistic, attainable, and specific.
•  Build on strengths.  Help students to take ownership of learning by assuring that they are given assignments and tasks that build on their strengths, are engaging, and provide a challenge that encourages higher-level thinking.
•  Give choices.  Provide choices to help students  feel more “in charge” of, and therefore more invested in, their education.
•   Focus on student interests. Interest-based learning is student-centered and increases the likelihood of students being active participants in the learning process. Students have opportunities to focus on topics they consider personally or culturally meaningful and relevant.
•   Praise can actually go a long way, as long as it’s the right kind of praise. Focus praise on a particular project, assignment, or problem successfully completed. This kind of praise validates the process in addition to the end result, and lets the child know that you’re really paying attention.
• Assign meaningful tasks. Students tend to be motivated when they find a task meaningful, believe that they have the skills to do it, and find their efforts supported by those around them.
•  Document their growth. Talk with students and help them to recognize that they are continually changing and growing and that they have a hand in their own accomplishments and growth.  Document their children’s growth by saving their schoolwork or videotaping them performing various tasks and sharing these items with them later. Notice and complement their effort not just their product.

Remedial Strategies. Teachers who are effective in reversing underachieving behaviors recognize that students are not perfect - that each child has specific strengths and weaknesses as well as social, emotional and intellectual needs. With remedial strategies, students are given chances to excel in their areas of strength and interest while opportunities are provided in specific areas of learning deficiencies. This remediation is done in a “safe environment in which mistakes are considered a part of learning for everyone, including the teacher. 

•   Don’t assume that “gifted” means “organized.” Some of the most creative thinkers need a whole bunch of help getting those creative thoughts into some manageable and usable form. Teach organizational skills, and provide students with a variety of strategies to create a framework for those big ideas.
•  Use student-to-student or self-evaluation in classroom tasks. It’s one thing to hear a teacher or parent hand down a judgment on an assignment. It’s another thing for a student to self-evaluate or work with a peer to identify problems and solutions. Be sure the student has a specific set of criteria to apply to the particular task or project being evaluated.

  Incorporate technology. Incorporating technology into the curriculum is one possible way of increasing students’ motivation to learn. Technology is a great tool to engage and empower students to heighten their attitude towards learning and allow them to succeed. 

• Use technology to increase organizational skills.  Cell phones and PDA’s are powerful organizational tools and are in the pockets of most middle and high school students.  Allow and encourage students to put due dates in their organizers.
• Multimedia provides powerful and engaging opportunities to differentiate content and engage students.
• Use technology to vary work product and encourage students to take ownership of their assignments.
• Encourage students to collaborate on study guides and class notes using Wikis.

My goal for the next few weeks is to really utilize these strategies with students.

Gifted students in rural communities experience educational challenges that are quite different from their non gifted peers or from their gifted peers in urban or suburban communities. Since they are likely to be the only gifted student, or one of a few students, in the school rural gifted students often feel different and alone (Attkisson, 1996).

On-line programs and distance learning courses can be used to overcome barriers for gifted students from rural communities (Belcastro 2002). The Internet offers particular benefits from which the smallest and most isolated can potentially gain the most (Belcastro 2002). Kulik and Kulik (1982, 1984) have shown that grouping gifted students has a positive effect on learning. Online learning offers a convenient way for grouping gifted students, particularly those from rural communities where it may be difficult to find larger groups of gifted students in geographically convenient communities. Web 2.0 provides opportunities to connect gifted students from these rural communities with teachers, mentors, and professionals in a variety of subject areas.

Australia has been a leader in rural education for gifted students. The Virtual School for the Gifted (which closed March 31, 2007) was an entirely online school which specialized in providing enrichment courses to complement and extend the regular curriculum. According to the description on their web site the Virtual School for the Gifted was an online community where courses were taught and students are involved in small classes working with specialist teachers. In 1997, Superhighway Teams Across Rural Schools (STARS) demonstrated how student learning was enhanced by the use of communication networks. Rural gifted students gained increased problem solving ability and higher levels of motivation and task involvement.

As Abraham Tannenbaum wrote, “’giftedness requires social context that enables it.’ Like muscle, raw intelligence can’t build if it’s not exercised.” (Cloud, 2007) Gifted students need to connect with other gifted students in order to grow and develop their intellectual muscle. Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000) present a conceptual framework of online learning termed “Community of Inquiry Model”. This model suggests three components: cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence. I have utilized the community of inquiry model to develop the Gifted Kids Network. Just four weeks into the pilot program, I am already beginning to see the benefits of this model to connect rural gifted students. By using the community of inquiry model, students engage in high level content, with likeminded peers, and are guided by a teacher/facilitator. While there are many online distance learning programs that rural students can take advantage of, the connection with other gifted students is paramount.

Just want to take a moment to acknowledge that this week we’re among the blogs featured in this edition of the Carnival of Education - Briefing the Next US President on 35 Education Issues. It’s being hosted by www.sharpbrains.com. The post they link to, “There’s Gifted, and Then There’s Profoundly Gifted,” continues to [...]

Princeton University has announced that is exploring the creation of a program to send a tenth or more of its newly admitted students to a year of social service work in a foreign country before they set foot on campus as freshmen. Princeton’s president Shirley M. Tilghman says in this New York Times article, that [...]

 March 6th is International Darfur Awareness Day.  Many Voices for Darfur is designed to make it as easy as possible for your students to learn about Darfur and participate in the 48 hour blog project. Please encourage your students to make thoughtful comments and pay close attention to spelling and grammar conventions. Comments will open at midnight eastern standard time on March 6, 2008.  Students can either write their own blog or comment on someone else’s.  The most important part is having your students write research based, well thought out, reflective posts.  Once you have had a chance to learn more about Darfur, have your students either write a blog or please post comments to one or more of the following prompts below:

1. If you could visit the camps in Chad and sit down one-on-one with a refugee who is your age, how would you explain what you or others are doing in your country to spread awareness and make a difference?
2. Write an open letter to Omar al-Bashir pleading your case for the Darfur region of Sudan.
3. Write an open letter to leaders in your country to make a case for government support of international efforts in Darfur.

My students will be blogging on our site www.giftedkidsnetwork.com/wp/; we appreciate your comments here as well.