NOT LAZY

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Home : 2004 : November : 24

NOT LAZY
By ELLYN

You don't know much about gifted kids, do you? By 4th grade, they've been battered about and considered odd in standard classrooms so long they just give up. He isn't lazy...he's just trying to survive...making do with
the confines he's been pressed into.
The biggest mistake in our education system today with regards to gifted kids is that we squeeze them into standard classrooms and expect them to be motivated and engaged...thinking that, because they're smart, they're also more mature. They're NOT. In fact, they're often less mature than other children.
These are SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN. Would

you consider a handicapped child lazy because he didn't finish his work? Nope, you'd bend over backwards to help him get it done. Do the same for your gifted students.

The longer they've been unmotivated, the more they shut down. You need to do some serious reading with regards to the psyche of gifted kids if you're going to be of any use to this child at all.

Honestly, I find YOUR comments that he's just lazy are a cover-up for YOU not having done your homework. I don't understand why you are not aware of the special needs of a gifted child and of this very common occurrence with gifted children at the 4th grade level.

Stop blaming the child and recognize that every teacher he's had to this point has likely failed to motivate him, and it's not going to correct itself overnight. You are the educational expert. YOU have all the resources possible at your fingertips and all that little boy has is the possibility that YOU, as his teacher, will be on his side instead of labeling him.