Working with the Motives of Gifted Children Author(s)

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interested (and able) children to do spe- cial work. He read about the Erie Canal, which the throughway paralleled in this locality, and decided to find out what.
Working with the Motives of Gifted Children Author(s): Frank T. Wilson Source: The Elementary School Journal, Vol. 57, No. 5 (Feb., 1957), pp. 247-252 Published by: University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/999894 Accessed: 16-02-2016 23:37 UTC REFERENCES Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article: http://www.jstor.org/stable/999894?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.

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WORKING WITH THE MOTIVES OF GIFTED CHILDREN FRANK T. WILSON

Hunter College of the City of New York

Many teachers believe that the most important and difficult problem in the education of gifted children is handling their motivations. Some say that it is very hard to find motives of developmental value in many such children: "They just don't have any!" Others bemoan that the drives of gifted children are so misdirected and overpowering that they must be sharply redirected or "curbed." Instances supporting each of these assertions are described by their proponents, and most of us can cite others: cases of able children who became drifting, ineffective adults or of masterminds who betrayed their talents in crimes of inhumanity and sweeping evil -the Loebs and Leopolds of recent times, the Neros, Napoleons, and Genghis Khans of history. The role of driving motivation in persons of the latter type is obvious and terrible. The absence of drive in the group of talented failures is disappointing. Professor Terman has said that nothing in our educational endeavors is more important than finding the explanations for such personal catastrophes and discovering ways to effect the realization of the valuable potential abilities of all able individuals (7: 352). Our awareness of such unhappy outcomes in the lives of persons who, as gifted children, were once in our schools has tended at times to obscure the brighter picture in cases of other able pupils. According to the Terman twenty-five-year follow-up findings, at least 80 per cent of

his gifted California group developed into successful, happy young adults, achieving reasonably close to their potential abilities. They also had shown comparable school success and social and emotional adjustment as they grew up (7: 123). This paper attempts to indicate constructive ways in which teachers may work with gifted children to help develop character and enterprise that will lead them to function happily and successfully as pupils in school and as adults in later life. It is concerned with the problem of motivation as the key to assuring these outcomes. It is based on two assumptions: (1) that by their nature gifted children normally are more strongly and dependably motivated than are most "average" children and (2) that the greater motivation of gifted children is related to their special qualities of giftedness. It also holds that utilization of the motivations of these extraordinary children is practicable, even in the difficult situation of heterogeneous and large class groups. It obviously raises a corollary question as to the adequacy of such "regular" class situations for the optimum development of the gifted (1). TAKING ADVANTAGE CHILDREN'S

OF

MOTIVES

One way to work with the motives of children is to try to induce pupils to do things that adults believe are good for them. That, in fact, might be said to be what teachers really are paid for, presum247

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ing that the teachers' ideas about what is good for children agree with those of the persons who employ the teachers. A good deal of variation in details is usually condoned by employers, and teachers tend in a wide field of activities to be flexible in the demands they make on the varied assortments of children in their classrooms. In the case of gifted children, however, it seems that even moderate flexibility on the part of teachers is much reduced or entirely lacking. Perhaps this situation results from the fact that some teachers are not sure of their ability to handle the motivations of any children. Others mistrust the free-wheeling motives of gifted children, although they may try hard to induce other children, particularly slow learners, to generate at least some token motivation. There are other teachers, however, who know the secret of guiding the development of children by working with their motives. Instead of mistrusting motives, they have seized upon them with delight, have nurtured them to make weak motives strong, and strong motives more sweeping and enduring. The record is replete with cases on end wherein motives of extraordinary children were recognized, fortified, and given lifetime inspiration by fearless teachers, undismayed by the fierce intensity and wide range of able children's drives. As a matter of fact, if teachers will accept the motives of gifted children and give them much free rein, it will soon appear that most of these children are, in reality, not difficult or problem cases. On the contrary, they usually become engrossed in following the lead of their drives and cause little trouble, except at times to make rush demands on their teachers for help or just to share some thrilling discovery or achievement. Often,

1957 February,

too, these strongly motivated youngsters draw other children into the driving stream of their activities and thus may be of practical help to teachers, as well as to classmates. The case of Jack, for example, a seventh-grade boy of high tested ability, illustrates these points. Jack had become bored with classwork; volunteered no answers, although giving good responses when called upon; and had lately been referred to the guidance office for "causing disturbance in special classes" and "insolent manner." Previous records showed such comments as "intelligent but lazy . .. attention-seeker .. . will not work to the best of his ability." His mother was disturbed by his lack of effort but reported that he co-operated well at home, being a willing baby-sitter for his year-old brother on frequent occasions when his mother visited friends. After making a preliminary study of the situation, his teacher believed that she had found in Jack a motivating interest in connnection with social studies. A through highway was under construction nearby, and the pupils decided that they would make a study of state history by following the route of the new road. Jack joined a group of the more interested (and able) children to do special work. He read about the Erie Canal, which the throughway paralleled in this locality, and decided to find out what changes in measurements were made when the barge canal was built. This led to the making of a floor display to scale in papier-mAch6.He selected a committee, and a reproduction was made of both the canal and the throughway. Part of the work was done with other boys at Jack's home while he "baby-sat," part at school where the teacher could give oversight to the production. She concluded that the project was much worthwhile and that Jack's leadership was good for him and for

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MOTIVES OF GIFTED CHILDREN 249

the other boys. His other teachers agreed that there had been a welcome change in his manner and effort. This not unfamiliar sort of pupil-motivated activity illustrates two particulars regarding the motivation of gifted children which teachers use. One, and sequentially the first, is discovery of what the current interest of these children may be. His teacher had little difficulty in finding out that Jack had a strong current of interest in the road-building project under way in the community. She tried out its motivating possibilities, encouraging the boy to follow its leads. He responded excellently, and the interest bloomed into a major activity of considerable duration and scope. It looked as if a deeper motivation had been drawn upon and as if it had been nurtured by the experiences Jack had in developing the group project. These wide-ranging interests of gifted children, prompted by deep motivational drives, explain in part the general willingness of able pupils to go along with school assignments. Sometimes this responsiveness misleads teachers to suppose that these relatively unimportant, subjectmatter interests are what really count, rather than the hundred-fold more vital, underlying motivations that lead these children to seize upon any passing opportunity which, perchance, might produce some satisfaction to them. The teacher sensed this deeper motivation in Jack and was sure that it was far more promising for his development than was the carrying-out of daily assigned work. The teacher's art with gifted pupils is to see beyond the momentary and superficial interest in daily classwork which most of them show, to lay hold on significant motivations directing their activities, and to nurture these to develop understandings, skills, and life purposes.

Since it also is often true that gifted children do not know clearly what their deeper and more significant motivations are, the importance of insightful teacher guidance is underscored. This royal road of pervading interests and drives which teachers may follow in guiding gifted children can be found by almost any teacher willing to risk taking it. Obvious ways of discovering it for one's class are to be friendly; to talk informally with children about many things; to note their free choices of reading, creative activities, and out-of-school hobbies and doings. At any level, children can be en. couraged to tell about things of special interest to them. Other clues are their free-choice reports to the class, club affiliations, chosen school activities, and many other things they do. Older pupils can be asked to write about favorite public figures or characters that they learned about in books, on television, and the like; on their future careers; their "Three Wishes"; and so forth. Many excellent tests or inventories of interests, preferences, and aptitudes are available. In addition to producing valuable information, these devices have the virtue of extending the range of children's self-examination in many fresh and challenging directions. Also, this is done in the favorable setting of privacy that is more impressive than are some teacher-pupil or parent-child situations, wherein yearning but discounted adults try to counsel resistant and suspicious children. Another proved means of finding and developing interests of gifted children, as well as of other children, is the provision of much variety and quantity of materials and equipment-books and magazines; art, craft, science supplies: and the likewith generous allotment of space and time for pupils to make free use of them. Included should be the services of experts to

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THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL JOURNAL

February,1967

help children in their utilization of such herently unique motives. For example, resources: trained librarians, art-and- attaching great approval to marks and crafts specialists, persons adequate in the disapproval to punishment may exaggerwide variety of scientific specialties (bi- ate unduly a child's interest in the adult ology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, estimation of his status (6) rather than medicine, etc.), writers, historians, law- his concern to know the what and the how yers, churchmen, politicians, economists, of things important in the thrilling world actors, broadcasters-ad infinitum, al- outside the school. Many of these children most! Many schools maintain card files have little difficulty in meeting and surof community persons who are willing passing the standards set for intellectual and able to contribute such help. Liai- activities and hence easily gain these son by the teachers with such indi- extraneously important approvals, year viduals will often bring to light among after year. It is rather surprising that not the pupils interests and underlying moti- all of them, by any means, become content vations which typical academic course merely to accept these strongly emphaactivities have all too successfully hidden sized superficial satisfactions, that so from view or, worse, have stunted or many press on, responsive primarily to starved almost beyond redemption. their own deep and driving purposes, which, alas, are so often disregarded by USING GIFTED CHILDREN'S their teachers. SATISFACTIONS AND DISSATISFACTIONS Many school people, however, are obThe second respect in which teachers jecting to the stress commonly put on work with motivations of pupils is to use high marks and the like. They believe that the satisfactions and the dissatisfactions gifted children, in particular, should be that experiences in school bring the chil- encouraged to find their major satisfacdren. This has always been recognized, tions in the activities which they can and teachers have used time-tested and, carry on so excellently, and especially to more recently, psychologically devised experience these satisfactions in the setmeans that are supposed to strengthen ting of group sharing and benefit. Many motives deemed desirable and to weaken of the ways used to discover interests, disothers held to be undesirable. Many of the cussed above, are also excellent resources present-day controversies about modern for developing the deeper motivational education are controversial because of dif- forces from which interests characteristiferences of opinion about the effects of cally arise. Teachers have found that it is some of these measures upon the motiva- feasible to arrange activities so that gifted tions of children. children will experience varied and conThe familiar and probably the most vincing satisfactions of the desires to know, widely used devices to motivate pupils are to understand why, to learn how to, and report cards, which grade children on rela- to achieve these goals in socially happy tive achievements, attitudes, effort, etc.; and approving ways (1, 4). Jack's case marks given homework; honor rolls, afforded this kind of satisfaction, as was prizes, and awards; and reprimand and shown by the boys' coming to work at his other punishments. It seems that the home after school and by the changes in effects of these devices on gifted children his attitudes toward school. Many teachmay be to center their efforts on superfi- ers report that gifted children seem by cial rather than on their deeper and in- nature to be more socially developed than

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MOTIVES OF GIFTED CHILDREN

other children (3). There seems to be every reason to hope that, if teachers provide continuing experiences that satisfy deeply lying drives through shared activities of interest, these children will become adults who will gauge their careers, at least in many respects, by the criteria of development of their special abilities for the benefit of the many and of enjoyment in sharing experiences with others. The teacher of a seven-year-old Armenian lad did this in her second-grade class. Michael, a shy boy, shunned situations that drew attention to him, although he was well liked by his classmates. He tended to withdraw into reading and, at home, playing with trains and collecting cowboy clothes and equipment. The teacher encouraged him to bring some of his interesting collections to school and to tell about them at snack time. In a unit on winter he showed special interest in games and brought some miniatures of sleighs, ice skates, and skis. Pictures for the bulletin board and several books about winter followed. It seems likely that, in addition to the satisfactions this boy enjoyed from social acceptance by classmates, he had also found intellectual and emotional pleasure by sharing his greater maturity in reading and understandings and by leading the group in some of its activities. So also did Ada Adams, the talented but socially unhappy Freshman in the educational film "Learning To Understand Children" (2), find emotional, social, and intellectual satisfactions in contributing her artistic abilities to an exciting and constructive class project, thanks to the skilful guidance of her English teacher. Various kinds of satisfactions and dissatisfactions can be recognized by teachers and used constructively. For example, Jack's dissatisfactions with ordinary class assignments were early signals to the

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teacher that something was wrong. The satisfactions resulting from her tryout of another course were many, including not only intellectual achievement but also pride and pleasure in craft-type construction and down-to-earth emotional and social delight in working with others on something worth a lot of out-of-school time and effort. It seems logical to suppose that clusters of such satisfactions may become the bricks out of which may be built lives of richness to the self and to others. If these are the repeated experiences of gifted children year after year, through kindergarten, elementary and secondary schools, and college, realization of the promise of their extraordinary contribution to society will be much enhanced. Adverse effects of continued dissatisfactions need little argument to convince one of their contribution to damaged development. The fact that the damage may not be recognized does not excuse teachers who unintentionally contribute to it. Psychiatrists have shown the many devious and evil ways in which excessive disappointments have warped children's growth and contributed to unhappy and delayed maturity in adulthood. They have given convincing evidence that feelings of resentment, hostility, and inferiority, which accompany long-continued minor but keenly felt disappointments, do not disappear in time but rather become part of the growth materials out of which individuals construct their natures, in a thousand incredibly unconscious and hurtful ways. In adult years these may hamper not only one's functioning as a person but also one's interpersonal relations to a most disturbing degree (5). Teachers have the obligation to take those steps in classrooms that will avoid the possibilities of contributing such dire results and to counterbalance as far as

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possible harmful effects that may develop from untoward out-of-school conditions. For their gifted pupils in particular, they may do much to prevent these sad results by making sure that children's satisfactions are closely bound to their deeper motivations. This is the open-sesame to the development of exceptionally able children into citizens of a free society, wherein all achieve reasonable realization of potentialities and each fosters the fraternity that is called democracy. CONCLUDING

COMMENT

Not every gifted child will be reached by these procedures; for the lures of selfish gain and the pressures by persons otherwise oriented are too many and too strong, while the "fury of genius" makes some unsuited to ordinary steps that the school can take. But, assuredly, many of the tens of thousands of able youth who now are believed to be so unmotivated that they refuse even to consider entrance into college may be stimulated to do so if their deeper motives are nurtured. Only through preparation in college and in advanced institutions can most able individuals in these days make the highly valuable contributions which by nature they are equipped to undertake. The challenge to the elementary and secondary schools is to nurture the motivations flowing from the giftedness of these children so that they will eagerly

1957 February,

seek admission to college and passionately fit themselves to fulfil their raison d'dtre. To such endeavor classroom teachers, supervisors, and school administrators owe their most faithful and fateful allegiance. REFERENCES

1. HILDRETH, GERTRUDE H., BRUMBAUGH, FLORENCE N.,

and

WILSON, FRANK

T.

Educating Gifted Children at Hunter College Elementary School. New York: Harper & Bros., 1959. 9. Learning To Understand Children, Parts I and II. New York: Text Films, McGrawHill Book Co., Inc., 1947. 3. LIGHTFOOT, GEORGIANA F. Personality Characteristicsof Bright and Dull Children. Teachers College Contributions to Education, No. 969. New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1951. 4. MEISTER, MORRIS. "A High School of Science for Gifted Students," The G(fted

Child, chap. x. Edited by

PAUL WITTY.

Boston: D. C. Heath & Co., 1951. 5. O'KELLY, LAWRENCE I., and FREDERICK A. Introduction

MUCKLER,

to Psycho-

pathology. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1955. 6. STRANG, RUTH. "The Psychology of Gifted Children," Journal of Teacher Education, V (September, 1954), 915-17. 7. TERMAN, LEWIs M., and ODEN, MELITA H. The Gifted Child Grows Up. Genetic Studies in Genius, Vol. IV. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1947.

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