In early adolescents who are gifted Susan Luus 28/04/2011 1 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

In early adolescents who are gifted

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 Background of the study  Underachievement factors- participants

voices

 Self-presentation and the relationship with

underachievement

 Implications  Limitations

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 3 students and mothers  Middle school- academic extension program  School perception- achievement  Participant perception- achievement  Paradox

• Why were high achieving students thought to be

underachieving?

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 What achievement behaviours are evident?  How do the students explain the apparent

discrepancies between ability and demonstrated performance?

 What is the relationship between self-

presentation and underachievement?

 Why do gifted students in an academic

program appear to make a deliberate choice to underachieve?

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 Identity- sense of self and sense of fit

• Personal
• Group – need for acceptance

 Achievement

• Academic
• Social
• Other

 Autonomy

• Choice
• Selective

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 What is it?  Who defines it?  Transition to middle school

• who sets standards (this is known as an time when

underachievement tends to peak)

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 Discrepancy between performance and

predicted potential assessed by standardised tests (Reis, 2000; Staudt & Neubauer. 2006)

 Influencing factors

• Environmental: school, family
• Internal: low effort, challenge avoidance,

expectations (low or high), low persistence, motivation , desire for social acceptance (McNabb, 2003)

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 Gifted in English and languages  Background

• High achiever at primary school
• Bullying and isolation
• Uncertain sense of self

 Underachieving –

• School environment displayed the following behaviours:

 low effort  challenge avoidance,  expectations  low persistence  motivation  desire for social acceptance

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 Highly gifted in Maths and Science  Superior ability in English and SOSE  Background

• High achiever in primary school
• Comfortable, confident and good self-esteem
• Learning stalled in year 6 and 7

 Underachieving

• Behaviours
• Boredom
• Bullying

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 Gifted in Maths and Science  Performing and visual arts  Background

• Primary school facilitated talent development
• Acceleration
• Confident in herself and her ability, non-conformist

 Underachieving

• Teacher expectations
• Limited opportunities to develop talent
• Deficit approach in teaching pedagogy

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Blayde de Steph phen Amanda da Independent Learning Plan Acceleration Acceleration Offered withdrawal Well supported by staff and parent Negativity from staff Placement in non-gifted extension classes but not in areas of giftedness Continued parental advocacy Response Response Response Refusal unless offered to whole class Self-advocacy in one area Growing confidence- further advocacy for learning needs Offers of extension and withdrawal accepted Learned helplessness Change of focus to alternative environment

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 Stephen:

• When you succeed in one of your

goals- that’s achievement

 Blayde:

• Getting good marks, learning stuff,

picking subjects you enjoy and are good at, and being with friends

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Amanda Reaching my goal- or almost reaching my goal, kind of thing!

 The work is not in enough depth, we just

brush the surface, and there are too many people mucking up in class so we have to go too slowly. They don’t give me real work to do.(Stephen)

 I can’t reach the goals I have set for myself

because I know all the work they are

• teaching. It’s like they’ve got nothing new to

teach so we just do the same things over and

• ver and over. (Amanda)

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 Blayde does not acknowledge

underachievement in his area of giftedness but knows that if he was offered more difficult curriculum with his whole class he would be successful.

 His mother’s comments explain, “ What is a

puzzle for me is that in English and languages his strength areas , they’re the areas he is not achieving in, but advanced subjects where the curriculum has been compacted, he’s doing brilliantly.

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Awareness of difference Values

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`I try and make myself as small a target as possible, like invisible, I guess not try too hard cause then you’ll get picked on. ` That’s what I did last year in my PE class and Drama class. I kind of got along with them, I didn’t really like the classes either but I didn’t disrupt or anything, but they seemed like pretty funny people, so I guess just be invisible. (Blayde

Int 3)

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 Points of difference- work ethic, humour,

musical tastes

 Um, well in year seven I was sort of picked on

a bit by everyone and it was boring really cause it was easy, I’d done everything before, I knew how to do it and I understood it and um......some people teased me for that, some people didn’t and I just didn’t really fit in but when I moved up I started again and I developed some good friendships and now I fit a lot better.

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 Has there ever been a time when you thought

you were different to your classmates?

 I feel that at the moment. I feel that I’m

different from my classmates cause everyone, everyone turns up to school cause they have

• to. And I turn up cause I want to learn and

also the way that everyone behaves.

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 Some peers treat me like I’m stupid  I feel like I’m not fully accepted right now at

school , I’m going to start gradually. I have a goal to get there.

 I had to like what they liked, do what they

did, I had to be like them to really fit in and then when I started being my own person when I went to ballet school and I had a spot where I could be myself , I learned that I could be myself and that I was being myself and I kind of got ditched.

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Set goals based on:

• Values

 Relevance to present and future

• ptions

 Interests

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Friendship - a lot, because um, it's reall lly y bad not having any friends at school. You kind of just sit on your own and you get picke ked d on if you don't have any friends, so friend endship p is proba babl bly y a big part. .

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 I want to be given work to do, something

more complex because at the moment I pretty much know everything, I’m not really learning that much.

 Um, I’m not really sure I think because I

always, or well, I’ve almost always got the answers, I think they think, “Ah, he’s smart, he doesn’t need to learn anything else.” And things like that and I don’t think that they think I want to keep going and get further in depth.

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 Everyone in the group is the same in everyone

else’s eyes. No-one’s more popular than anyone else. It’s like the group has shifted values and I haven’t. It used to be equality, that used to be the value and now it’s not anymore.

 Mhm, well I want to do really well in Maths

and Science.

 Successful, Lights up in the name, ah no,

name up in lights , everyone knows my name , that’s what I see, I see “SUCCESS”.

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 Self-determined  Choice

 all explored choice to differing degrees

 Achievement?  Acceptance?  Both?  Context- school /elsewhere

 Self-presentation

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 Self-presentation is:

• The process of controlling how we are perceived by
• thers
• Impressions can affect the way we are treated
• A certain amount is necessary to form close

relationships

• Essential component of social interaction
• Can be enabling or problematic

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 Taxonomy of Self-Presentation Strategies

Jones and Pitman (1982)

• Self-promotion-call attention to accomplishments
• Ingratiat

gratiation

• n- use of flattery to obtain “likability”
• Exemplificati

mplification

• n- go above

ve and beyond to be perceiv ived as hard workin king/c g/com

• mmit

itte ted

• Intimidation-project power, viewed as “dangerous”
• Supplication- present weakness/deficiencies to

receive compassion and assistance

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 Expanded to include:

• Excu

cuses ses- deny y respon

• nsi

sibility ty for nega gati tive e occurren rrences ces

• Self-handicapping- produce obstacles to success to prevent
• thers from inferring lack of ability
• Apol
• logi
• gies

es- confess ess to respon

• nsi

sibility ty for harm rm or negative e even ents, ts, remorse

• rse and guilt
• Entitlement- take credit for positive achievements
• Justif

stifica cati tion

• ns- reason

son for nega gati tive e even ent t while e accep epti ting g respon

• nsi

sibility ty

• Sandbagging- false claims of inability or fake demonstration to

create low expectations of performance

• Discl

claimers ers-exp explain problem ems before re they ey occur cur

• Enhancement- persuade others that outcomes of behaviours

are better than they originally believed

• Blasting

sting- associ sociati tion

• n with a person

son/gro /group seen as positi tively y or worth rthy y by others. ers.

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Assertive

Ingratiation Intimidation Entitlement Exemplification Supplication Blasting Enhancement

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Defensive

Apologies Disclaimers Excuses Justifications Self- handicapping 28/04/2011 Susan Luus 30

 Aggressive= Blasting + Intimidation  Defensive= Apologies + Disclaimers +

Excuses

 Manipulative = Ingratiation + Supplication  Promoting = Enhancement + Entitlement +

Exemplification

• (Lee & Ashton, 2004)

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 All used:

• Apologies

 Blayde & Amanda

• Excuses
• Ingratiation

 Amanda

• Blasting

 Stephen

• Exemplification

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 Disclaimers- I’m not good at Maths, it’s not a

life-skill

 Justifications- like when I get a B in English and

mum says it’s the curriculum, I just say perhaps I’m not as good at it as you think.

 Ingratiation- Sometimes, when you're around

groups of people that have a different opinion you can't say what you think sometimes because they'll always like ridicule you for that.

 I’m probably one of the most committed

students there.

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 Blasting: I was in the most popular group, so

now I’m going to be popular

 Ingratiation: I had to be like

them, say what they said..

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High h self f determi minat nation

Low S-P High gh S-P

Low self determ rmina nation

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Steph phen Amanda da Blayde de

 Personal perceptions of achievement are

potentially more highly likely to determine how and where achievement will take place.

 Alignment of school and personal views of

achievement need to be accomplished

 Context affects achievement- best possible

context

 Best context:

• Offers curriculum based on the needs of the student
• Where student voice is heard
• Self advocacy

 Source other areas for achievement and talent

development.

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Thank you susan.luus@qut.edu.au

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