Secondary Gifted Programs

 Motivation: Evidence of desire to learn.

• Demonstrates persistence in pursuing or completing self-selected tasks.
• Focuses motivation on non-school activities rather than school activities.
• Is an enthusiastic learner of non-school or school subject matter.
• Aspires to be somebody or do something.
• May be easily bored with routine assignments.
• May want to do things their own way.
• May have difficulty transitioning or stopping a project.
• May dislike interruptions.
• May challenge authority.
• May refuse to do work because they already know it.

Interests: A feeling of intentness, passion, concern, or curiosity about something.

• Demonstrates unusual or advanced interest in a topic or activity.
• Is a self-starter.
• Pursues an activity unceasingly.
• Shows interests beyond their age group.
• Shows concern for local and global issues.
• May read constantly, often at inappropriate times.
• May dominate discussions.
• May go on tangents with no follow-through.
• May neglect other responsibilities.

Communication Skills: Highly expressive and effective use of words, numbers, or symbols.

• Demonstrates unusual ability to communicate verbally, physically, artistically, or symbolically.
• Uses strong examples, illustrations, or elaborations.
• Uses this ability in or out of the classroom.
• May show off.
• May create peer resentment.
• May monopolize the teacher’s time.
• May lose other students with high-level vocabulary.

Problem-Solving Ability: Effective and inventive strategies for recognizing and solving problems.

• Uses effective and inventive strategies to solve problems.
• Can change strategies when a solution does not work.
• Creates new designs or invents.
• Uses this ability in or out of the classroom.
• May interfere with others.
• May be perfectionistic.
• May avoid reflective or divergent responses.
• May be too innovative or stubborn.

Humor: Connects unrelated ideas in a recognized relationship.

• Has a keen sense of humor.
• Shows exceptional timing in words or gestures.
• Demonstrates unusual emotional depth.
• May be out of sync with classmates and become socially isolated.
• May make jokes at the expense of adults or classmates.
• May play cruel tricks on others.
• May act as the class clown.

Inquiry: Questions, experiments, and explores.

• Asks unusual questions for their age.
• Plays around with ideas.
• Explores materials, devices, or situations to gather information.
• May go on tangents or ask excessive questions.
• May try to stump teachers or classmates with hard questions.
• May dominate discussions.

Leadership: Displays leadership among peers.

• Is quick to help others.
• Carries out responsibilities well.
• Leads others on the playground or in unstructured situations.
• May become bossy.
• May be unwilling to listen to classmates.
• May lead others into negative behavior.
• May be authoritative.
• May be impatient with others.

Reasoning: Uses logical approaches to find solutions.

• Makes generalizations.
• Uses metaphors and analogies.
• Thinks through problems logically.
• Thinks critically.
• Develops plausible answers.
• May notice everything and appear off task.
• May not readily follow directions.
• May overlook details.
• May tell the teacher better ways to do things.
• May be unwilling to show work on math problems.

Imagination and Creativity: Produces many original ideas.

• Shows ingenuity when using everyday materials.
• Has unusual or seemingly silly ideas.
• Solves problems through nontraditional thinking.
• Produces ideas fluently and flexibly.
• Is highly curious.
• Displays visual or verbal creativity.
• May get lost in their own thoughts.
• May appear to be daydreaming or inattentive.
• May not follow through.
• May constantly doodle or draw.

Insight: Quickly understands new concepts, makes connections, and senses deeper meanings.

• May suddenly discover the correct solution after trial and error.
• Shows strong ability to draw inferences.
• May appear to be a good guesser.
• Sees unusual and diverse relationships.
• Integrates ideas and disciplines.
• May overlook details.
• May be out of sync with classmates.
• May appear to show off or make classmates feel inadequate.
• May correct adults impolitely.
• May be overly concerned with social problems.