Children with gifts and talents have the same needs as all other children, except that they think at a higher-level in some areas they get easily bored. As a result, they may disengage with the learning process and exhibit “problem” behaviours such as refusing to do homework , disturbing their classmates, and even outright refusing to go to school. Things that most bored children who are lacking sufficient stimuli will do. If left unchecked and unaddressed, they may be derailed in their academic pathway, leading to underachievement.
This is why encouraging gifted children to be engaged in their own learning journey is so important. Research has shown that when this happens, gifted children are more likely to thrive both academically and socially. There are three different types of engagement that parents and educators should consider: Behavioural, emotional, and cognitive.
Types of Engagement
Behavioural: “I complete homework on time.”; “I work hard to do well.”
Emotional: “I feel happy to be part of my school.”; ” I enjoy the classes I am taking.”
Cognitive: “I want to learn as much as I can at school.”; “School is important for future success.”
Fredricks et al., 2011
To help your children develop a meaningful engagement in their own learning journey, here are five simple steps you can take today.
Step 1: Help Children Identify Why They Feel a Certain Way
Children may not know how to communicate their feelings, or even understand why they feel the way they do. Helping them develop their emotional vocabulary allows them to not only tell you how they feel, but also explain why they behave in a certain manner. A child who doesn’t behave in class could either be bored because they already know the topics being taught, or feel frustrated with classmates who seem to be learning at a much slower pace.
An emotional literacy chart is a powerful tool that can help your children to grow their emotional vocabulary and provide teachable moments with them.
Step 2: Track Your Children’s Feelings Daily
Like adults, children could have a bad day or even a bad week. Don’t be too quick to look for problems that might not really exist. When your children return from school or enrichment classes, ask them what is their main emotion during the session. Do they feel bored or frustrated with the topics, or do they feel sufficiently challenged and confident about the subject matter?
At the end of the week, you can have a conversation with your children to help them understand why they feel the way they do and how they can work on those emotions. This leads to the next step, which is to collaborate with them on an action plan.
Step 3: Brainstorm Ideas on an Action Plan
Once the children’s feelings towards a particular subject is identified, you can start working on an action plan to address those feelings with them and, if possible, the teacher. The key focus is on what the child wants to do and how you and the teachers can support them. The action plan should address the three types of engagement (behavioural, emotional, and cognitive), first by identifying the issue and then brainstorming on what the possible solutions might be. This is the big picture strategy which would be fleshed out in the next step.
Step 4: Create a Meaningful Engagement Plan
As with any plan, the key to success is to get the children invested in the process. At this stage, the children (with your help) will provide the details on the how they would try the brainstormed solutions and what support they would need from teachers and you. This will help build the children’s intrinsic motivation to make the action plan work, reducing their dependence on external rewards to modify their behaviour.
Step 5: Monitor Progress with Checkpoints
No matter how dedicated you and the children are to the plan, life gets in the way. Children may have sick days, or you might want to bring them on a road trip to widen their horizons. Instead of fixing a strict timeline, create a checkpoints to ensure that the children are on the path to reaching their goal without the stress of a deadline. If a particular goal can’t be achieved, you can make adjustment to the checkpoints either by replacing the outcomes or breaking down the task into smaller actions.
Remember that reaching the goal is not as important as the process of building your children’s intrinsic motivation and meaningful engagement with their own learning journey.
For sample charts, just drop us an email here. Our academic director is also available for a no-obligation consultation session if you need more information on how to help your children build a meaningful engagement with their learning journey.
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