Spotting Gifted Students
Spotting gifted students in a large classroom is no big deal. Or so you might have thought. You simply apply the rule of Sesame Street: “One of these things is not like the others.”
After all, gifted children are different from their peers. They’d have to stick out somehow. So sure, you’d think. You can spot ‘em a mile away. They’re the pocket protector-wearing first graders solving quadratic equations as their peers stumble over, “See Dick run.”
Well, yes and no. The gifted child may indeed stand out in the classroom. But often, it’s for all the wrong reasons.
Spotting Gifted Students: Super-Bright and BORED
Think about it: a super-bright kid in a class of garden variety, average students. He’s going to be BORED. Terrifically bored. And so, he may just end up exhibiting behaviors most of us would deem negative. In fact, we might even assume the gifted child has a learning disability or perhaps even an intellectual disability. That was certainly the case with Jason Barnett, whose parents were urged to put him in special ed. classes.
His behavior was odd.
Now most of us are aware there is something slightly “off” about geniuses. Still, we continue to see genius as a desirable attribute. Maybe that’s why parents avidly so watch for signs of giftedness in their children. But spotting gifted students isn’t as easy as one might think.
The upshot is we expect odd behavior from geniuses but only after some reflection. More likely, we expect a genius to be more clever than most, a cut above his peers. If you Google “signs of giftedness” you’re going to see all those special virtues you’d like to see in your kid. Less often, you’re going to learn about the darker side of giftedness which may be confused with disability.
Spotting the Gifted Student: Signs of Giftedness
Here are some of those signs—the ones you wouldn’t expect to see:
- Easily distracted from topics and tasks
- Impatient when not called on to answer questions
- Often bored
- A tendency to disrupt the classroom
- Dislikes repetition and memorization
- Finishes work quickly but is sloppy
- Tries to get out of doing classroom activities aside from those he finds interesting
- Leaves projects incomplete
- Bites off more than he can chew and then shows signs of stress
- Mouths off to authority figures
- Overreacts to criticism
- Finds it difficult to do teamwork
- May overlook practical details such as correct spelling
- Forgets to do homework
- Is hypercritical of both himself and others
- Will belabor a point
- Expects perfection in himself and others
- Carries jokes too far
- Often the class clown
- Perceived as the classroom “know it all”
- Can be bossy during group projects
No. You wouldn’t have expected to see this list of the negative traits of giftedness. But when you read them, did you find yourself nodding your head a bit? You see it, don’t you?
The most important thing to keep in mind about giftedness is that it is exceptional, rare. It is every bit a minority statistic within a classroom as the intellectual disability or ADHD. Teachers and parents should be watching for exceptional (read “different”) behavior and keeping an open mind about what this behavior means.
Best Chance for Success
You want your child to be getting the most he can out of his time in the classroom. You want to give him the best possible chance to succeed, whether gifted or average. Let your child show the way to what he needs and be responsive to that.
Don’t be quick to interpret a negative behavior trait or in fact, any unusual classroom behavior. Instead, keep watching and noting the child’s behavior. Offer the child challenges to see how these are handled. Watch and wait until a clearer picture emerges. And absolutely consult with experts before pinning a label on a child: any label at all.