1. It’s all matter of a perspective: LABELING THE GIFTED
Assisst.Prof.Marilena Z. Leana-Taşcılar
Istanbul University
Gifted Teacher Training Program

2. My city they label her as….
İSTANBUL
My city they label her as….
BRIDGE

3. So, labels are everywhere…

5. These are more scientific
labels…..

6. Labeling means assigning a categorical descriptor to a child primarily to secure needed education service ( Robinson, 1986).

7. +
Person
Parents/Siblings
Teachers
Society
POZITIVE R -
NEGATIVE

8. Why should we label kids as Gifted
academic support and services
Giftedness is no guarantee. It’s potential; not promise.
Gifted kids have social and emotional needs as well as cognitive needs
Gifted doesn’t just mean thinking better; it means thinking differently
Gifted kids deserve all of the information about themselves
It allows parent to get support

9. Does the gifted label help or hurt students?

11. Self-fulfilling prophecies
Expectations
Pygmalion & Galatea

12. Rosenthal
Positive expectations
Expectations
If teachers were led to expect enhanced performance form some children, then the children did indeed show that enhancement.

13. Negative expectations by Brophy (1985)
Giving up easily on low-expectation students 2. Criticizing them more often for failure, 3. Praising them less often following success, 4. Praising inappropriately, 5. Neglecting to give them any feedback following their responses, 6. Setting them in the back of the room, 7. Generally paying less attention to them 8. Expressing less warmth towards them or less interest in them as individuals.

14. Golem effect
Expectations

15. What parents expect from their gifted children?
Expectations

16. Parent presure may lead to underachievement…
Expectations

17. Expectations
When parents have reasonably high expectations and give them freedom, personal autonomy, support, encouragement, and indepence these children develop their giftedness in a positive way.

18. Positive attitudes toward school/teachers
Expectations
Involvement
Trust
Approval
Positive attitudes toward school/teachers

19. What kind of self-expectations gifted students have?
Stressed
Confident
Fearless
Anxious
Ready to cope with difficulties
Expectations
Concerned

20. Stereotypes about gifted students
‘Widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing’

21. Stereotypes

22. Stereotypes

23. Gender stereotypes Stereotypes Different courses Biological-based
Teacher treatmenent
Parent expectations
Gender differences

24. Stereotypes
A literature review by Heller and Ziegler, on research on gender differences in the highly able in mathematics and
Natural sciences failed to find any reliable evidence that girls are inherently less able than boys in these subjects.

25. Stereotypes about mathematics

26. Maryam Mirzakhani Stereotypes
She spoke warmly of her parents’ encouragement and support, and credited her older brother, one of three siblings, with firing her interest in mathematics by explaining to her what he was learning at school.

27. Stereotypes
How can educators reduce the negative effects of gender stereotyping on gifted girls?
Identifiacation
Guidance and Mentoring
Parent education/ information
Jacobs & Weisz, 2010

28. Stereotypes

29. General stereotypes about Gifted Studens
bookworm, wears glasses and does not participate in normal children’s activities
enthusiastic about school
have no emotional difficulties
Teachers need no special training for working with them
Grouping them will lead to elitism or snobbishness
Gifted students with the same I.Q. have similar interests and abilities

30. Stigma about gifted students

31. Social Ostracism
Stigma

32. Coping strategies with stigma
Underachieving
Identify with non-intellectual group
Downplay abilities
Deny giftedness
Manage information
Sit quietly
Suicidal behaviour
They become invisible…

33. Highly Moderately Highly Moderately Stigma Top 5 Positive perceptions
Special experience
Greater opportunities
different curriculum
Not bored
Better teachers
Moderately
Makes parents proud
Different curriculum
Highly
Special experience
Greater opportunities
different curriculum
Not bored
Better teachers
Moderately
Makes parents proud
Different curriculum

34. Highly Moderately Stigma Top 5 Negative perceptions More homework
Internal pressure
Parent expectations
Teachers’ assumptions
Higher expectations of people
Moderately

35. Impacts of labeling on parents and siblings

36. The label may be positive for some students while limiting others
NON-Labeled
Opportunity
Achievement
Labeled
MATILDA
Self-esteem
Motivation
MAFALDA

37. +
-Special classes -Special programs -Challenging environment -Pushing her limits -Talent development -Special classes seperate her from her friends -isolation
Opportunity -
MAFALDA

38. -
Opportunity
-miss the fun of extracurricular acitivities -why I cannot attend the class that Mafalda go? she gots it as a panishment
MATILDA

39. +
Achievement
-She has special teacher trained for gifted -so she is challenged, supported and Encouraged to be successful
MAFALDA

40. -
Achievement
- She cannot show herself when Mafalda is in class -They assume that gifted students are high achievers but Matilda is underachiever
MATILDA

41. +
Self-esteem
-believes more to herself -she can achieve every goal because she has the support
MAFALDA

42. -
Self-esteem
-Big fish in the little pond!
MATILDA

43. +
Motivation
-Understanding the needs of her -positive climate -increase motivation
MAFALDA

44. -
Motivation
-She is not motivated to do anything about school, everything seems to be boring
MATILDA

45. Parents of Mafalda…
-are happy and proud -they know how they can support her -they are happy with the school and the teachers
MAFALDA

46. Parents of Matilda… Are confused She is not happy at school
They don’t know why she is so curious
They avoid her questions
MATILDA

47. To sum up, some general recommendations
- OBSERVE the student

48. The Actiotope Model of Giftedness
Educational Capital
Learning Capital
Economic
Organismic
Cultural
Actional
Social
Telic
Infrastructural
Episodic
Didactic
Attentional
(Ziegler, 2005)

49. Studies by Dweck… Praise the efford not the intelligence!
(Dweck & Muller, 1998)

50. Teachers have an important role to eleminate the negative effects of labeling.

51. Non-identified gifted students are in a high risk group
Gifted is not a homogenous label
We are the stimulators of the negative effects
Non-identified gifted students are in a high risk group
Indetification and labeling are going together, so labeling a stundent is not enough

52. Gifted Teacher Training Program
marilenaleana
Istanbul University
Gifted Teacher Training Program
Istanbul-Turkey
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