As I write this, I am awaiting students from 4A schools across Oklahoma. I will spend the next hour judging their performances in Standard Oratory (SO). They will be young and nervous. I know this because SO is only open to high school freshmen and sophomores, and most schools use it to introduce students to the sheer terror of speaking in front of their peers AND three teachers actually judging them!
One of the first things I learned in teaching gifted secondary students is that they must compete. Gifted tend to overuse the idea of I got this. They think a read-over of notes is studying and getting the gist of the piece is memorizing lines. The only way to get them to truly see what is required is to get them to ”put it out there” for evaluation. “Performance” becomes the standard, rather than a gifted teen’s boasts.
For this reason, I require my students compete in two events yearly, robotics and speech, and students receive more credit score points for each additional competitive activity in which they participate. Our robotics competition offers a variety of areas in which to compete: actual build of the robot, programming of the robot, public speaking in the marketing of the robot, spirit competition, and artwork in the exhibit. All can contribute to the win. Speech is designed to help my students grow comfortable with an audience.
What both have caused is a hunger for evaluation and the thrill of measuring up. It’s also caused more of my kids to try harder the next time (as opposed to giving up and moving on). They can see the path to victory, and, even though they may move on to a new event later, at least it’s after the victory.
Let’s talk about the agony of defeat. It is okay for your gifted child/teen to experience defeat. It’s natural for him not to like it. Occasionally I get a gifted teen who has not been taught how to be a graceful loser. I ca tell by the excuses and venomous accusations coming from his mouth. This is an attribute of gifted that parents, coaches, and teachers should mold as early as possible. The parent who also makes excuses does not teach his child to evaluate, make necessary changes, and proceed onward. He teaches his child that performance is dependent upon the performance of everyone around him. With conditions like these necessary for success, the child will not be experiencing many successes!
I sometimes get in trouble for being so blunt with my kids. If I know what is required of a student to reach success in a particular area, and I know that he has not given the appropriate amount of effort, I do not say anything until I hear that child/teen try to put his failure off on others (the judges, the ref, a teammate…). Then I give him a healthy dose of reality… followed by a “you can do this… I will help you if you’re willing to put good effort forth this time.”
I know it possibly means attendance at recitals and games and concerts, but having your child participate in activities that require performance is incredibly important to the development of a gifted child.
- Michelle