how Do Teachers Contribute to Underachievement?
One cause of underachievement in gifted students may be related to the teacher of the gifted student. Teachers have a major influence on students because the teachers are the ones in control of the students’ experiences in the classroom. A teacher of a gifted student has the ability to help create a highly achieving gifted student or an underachieving gifted student. Clark (2013) reported that a teacher’s perception of a student’s ability was often more important and influential than the student’s own view of their ability (p 119). If a teacher is not willing to help a gifted student progress academically throughout the school year, then the gifted student is going to suffer. Clark (2013) determined that teachers who have the ability to create underachieving students are those who:
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Teachers of gifted students need to change the traditional ways of teaching to help nurture a gifted student’s mind. If gifted students are with a teacher that is not competent on how to serve gifted students, then the outcome will be negative for the gifted student. The teacher of the gifted student may not understand how to properly educate a gifted student. Siegle and McCoach (2009) found in their research and reported that about “61% of classroom teachers have not received training in meeting the needs of advanced students” (p. 5). If a teacher has not been trained on how to meet the needs of gifted students, then there is little hope of the gifted students receiving the type of challenge needed to continue to advance academically. Sometimes teachers will have negative attitudes towards gifted students because gifted students are different and do not conform to the normal student in the classroom. This can cause a hostile environment and lead to underachievement in gifted students. Gifted students often have different ways of thinking and this type of “outside the box” thinking needs to be nurtured by teachers. The achievement levels of gifted students are often stunted by teachers who “emphasize order, control, and conformity” (Kim, 2008, p. 235). Teachers of gifted students need to be trained on how to properly educate and nurture the gifted student’s natural abilities in order to maintain high achievement levels.
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