AFFECTIVE LEARNING

· Gifted and Talentedstudents are often morally and ethically sound.

· G&T Students possesssuperior cognitive skills so we need to help them become more empathetic and better understand themselves and their values.

· Some gifted students neverrealize their potential contributions to society because they drop out of school and do not always remain morally and ethically sound. 

· This group really needsnurturing in self-actualization.

SELF CONCEPT

· Students often measure their worth by success.  Asteachers, we often try to help students reach this success.

· Higher achievement can be stimulated by the promotion ofpositive self-concept.

· 4 Facets of Self-Concept: academic, social, emotional & physical

· It is not uncommon for gifted students to immerse in academicsto flee social relations. This can lead to depression.

· Evaluative Component: Mentally healthy people see their “actual”selves” similar to their “ideal” selves.

· Mirror Theory-sees oneself as others see them

· Self-Accepting-self-aware & accepts the good and bad

· Self-Rejecting-has poor thought on self-worth

· Academic Failure-results in prevention of feeling competent

· Self-Esteem & pride-a student achieves high levels of bothwith difficult tasks are completed with high ability and effort.

· All students desire to protect their self-esteem.

· Gifted students hinder self-esteem by setting unrealistic goalsresulting in fewer successes. Lowering expectations could lead to lifelongunderachievement.

ATTRIBUTIONS AND DEFENSE MECHANISMS

· Success

o Builds confidence in abilities

o Responsibility for actions

o Environmental control

· Failure

o Lackof effort-Not lack of ability

o Giftedstudents have a hard time accepting failure

o Motivationis often due to the need to avoid failure instead of a great desire for success.

· Defense Mechanisms

o Deliberate/Subconscious underachieving-no fear of failure if the student never tried in the first place.

o Compulsive High Achievement-The self-demands associated with always succeeding in the classroom may result in anxiety, depression or other emotional issues.

o Excuses-the excuses usually place blame on someone else for failure.

Dealing with Bullying

· Gifted students are often Bullied

o  2006 study by Peterson and Ray: 2/3 identified 8^th graders reported being bullied. 1/3 admitted

they harbored violent thoughts. 19% males 7% females admitted to doing something violent

o  Between 60%-70% of gifted students are neither bullies nor victims

*Moral Ethics of gifted students play a huge role because they can either encourage or discourage this behavior.

*They must be taught to safely intervene and report bullying to adults

*Bullies thrive on peer support

An Affective, Humanistic Curriculum

* The Character Education Partnership-devoted toimproving moral and ethical growth curriculum.  Some of the topics include:

o  Stimulate growth (emotional, intellectual, ethical and moral)

o  Teach students to have a moral and ethical stance on worldwide issues

o  Provide learning opportunities by involving the youth in character-based projects

o  Encourages teachers, counselors and adminstrators to be educators of character

· Ideals for Promoting Positive Values: Fantini

o  Desirability of “caring” values

o  Learn about disabilities and the elderly

o  Humanistic and caring Role Models-both famous and common

o  High School Students: Community service programs

o  Elementary School Students: make gifts, food drives, coat drives

o  Participation in ______a-thons to raise money for causes

o  Social Issue awareness

o  Gifted Students could initiate, plan, implement and evaluate social action projects.