The Experiences of a Gifted Student

When I entered elementary school, I already knew most of what was taught in the first year. Thus, I soon got bored. While I had been completely excited to enter school, I soon saw school as a necessary annoyance. My motivation had been replaced by boredom.

So, what went wrong? First of all, there was no test when entering school. A test, however, could have shown which pupils already knew how to read, write and calculate and to what extent. Secondly, when my teacher finally noticed that I was far ahead of my classmates, she did not think of sending me on into the second year. Instead, I was kept in first year and was completely bored most of the time. It was a wasted year for me.

I entered secondary school in my fifth year (I went to school in Germany so that was the normal way). Although I was far better in languages than most, my teachers treated me like everyone else. I was bored most of the time during language lessons and began to spend my time with other things. As a result, my oral grades became worse.

How could my teachers have reacted? They might have given me other, more demanding tasks during language lessons. I could have prepared presentations on upcoming topics or they could have given me more difficult work sheets on grammar and vocabulary. Maybe it would even have been possible for me to participate in language lessons for older students. The fact is, I could have learned a lot more in the same time.

At vocational school, I soon noticed that I was better than the rest. I was definitely not challenged in classes and my teachers let me do my homework during lessons. From the beginning, I was allowed to take the exams of all three languages instead of two. In addition, I participated in classes of a fourth language after my regular classes. After the first of three years, I was granted the possibility to skip a year. Therefore, I had the chance to save a whole year and to learn more than my classmates.

The principal saw my potential and gave me the chance to use it.

Although there might be many case studies and scenarios of gifted students, I think they all come to the same conclusion: Gifted students need special care. When gifted students are treated like any other student, they will soon get bored. Often, their grades will suffer and they will waste time and potential.

Gifted students need opportunities to use their potential even though that often means to treat them in a special way and to go new ways. That might mean additional work for you as a teacher but, honestly, is it not worth the effort to bring forth the best in your students?