Working With High Achieving Students: Who They Are and What They Need 2006 NACADA Annual Conference

1
Working With High Achieving StudentsWho They
Are and What They Need 2006 NACADA Annual
Conference

• Presentation Code 903
• Panelists
• Rich Robbins, Cornell University
• Richelle Brown, Indiana University
• Marion Schwartz, Penn State University
• Moderator
• Iona Black, Yale University

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Outline of Presentation

• General characteristics of high achieving
  students
• Underrepresented student cohorts
• Designing an Honors course
• Discussion/Questions

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General Characteristics Personality/Psychological

• may be resistant to request help
• may be reluctant to admit need for help
• may be unaware of how to request help
• may need lots of encouragement and reinforcement
• may have difficulty focusing on just one
  major/career
• may equate grades with self-worth
• may possess poor time management skills
• may experience fear of failure reluctant to try
  new things
• may have inability or unwillingness to work with
  others

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General Characteristics Personality/Psychological

• may have difficulty socializing with anyone
  outside of their in group
• may feel that everything must be a challenge
• may possess little patience for formal procedures
• may have difficulty discerning genuine problems
  from panic issues
• may lack peer support or perceived connections to
  peers
• may lack ability to empathize with others
• may be overly-demanding with sense of entitlement
• may be manipulative and controlling
• may be perfectionistic

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General Characteristics Personality/Psychological

• may have expectation of high parental involvement
• may have done well at playing the game in high
  school
• may perceive a sense of competition with other
  students
• may experience a high level of stress to perform
  well for various reasons
• may have real clinical psychological issues that
  the student brings to college
• may have real clinical psychological issues that
  present after starting college

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General Characteristics Academic

• may possess minimal study skills
• may have to study for first time in academic
  career
• may experience not being at top of the class for
  the first time
• may focus on academics and miss out on other
  opportunities
• may be prevented from participating in
  opportunities
• may need to be reminded of deadlines, etc. that
  could affect their grades
• may focus on academics too much

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General Characteristics Academic

• may enter college on the fast track already
  possessing college credits, having unrealistic
  time lines, enrolling in large course loads, etc.
• may be a high school student who is balancing
  high school and college demands
• may have financial implications for academic
  performance
• may be international or ESL
• may have an unrealistic attitude toward academic
  difficulty of higher education

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General Characteristics Academic

• may enroll in a program with
• highly structured curricula
• accreditation requirements
• competitive admissions
• poorly defined learning objectives
• high academic support needs
• few students of same ethnicity or background

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Possible ApproachesGeneral

• Intrusive academic advising
• Mandatory first-year course/seminar that includes
  role play exercises
• Parallel academic advising
• Honors living communities
• Honors course on self-esteem, dealing with
  stress, etc.
• Professional development opportunities for those
  working with these students

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Possible ApproachesGeneral

• Parent newsletter
• hard copy or electronic
• Updates on events, deadlines, campus resources
• Parent website, FAQ
• Same purpose as newsletter but with in-depth
  information, links to other sites, hot topics,
  etc.
• The idea is not only to inform parents but to
  arm them so they are prepared when students
  contact them

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Underrepresented Student Cohorts in Honors

• Statistically, there is a low percentage of
  underrepresented groups within college honors
  programs. This makes for a disproportionate
  representation.

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Underrepresented Groups (for the purpose of this
presentation)

• Students of color
• Students from low income families or regions

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Possible Reasons

• The causes of this phenomena are complex and can
  include the following
• over-reliance on academic standardized tests
• different perceptions of giftedness between
  groups
• lack of K-12 programming
• norm-referenced intelligence
• cultural support

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Characteristics of the Gifted(stereotypical
mainstream ideals)

• High IQ
• High standardized test scores
• Top of his/her class
• Competitive
• Conspicuous achievement
• Assertiveness
• Self-promoting of talents
• Individualistic

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Characteristics of the GiftedThose Who are
Missed A Conceptual Problem? (Peterson, 2001)

• African Americans
• selfless contribution to the neighborhood
• handiworkmaking something out of nothing
• concern for family
• wisdom (in contrast to knowledge)
• ability to inspire others to a higher level

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Characteristics of the GiftedThose Who are
Missed A Conceptual Problem? (Peterson, 2001)

• Asian
• Education and adaptation
• Caring for family
• Asceticism and hard work for the future

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Characteristics of the GiftedThose Who are
Missed A Conceptual Problem? (Peterson, 2001)

• Latinos
• Art as a means of expression, not an
  achievement
• Humility over self-promotion
• Community service, not through organized
  activities
• Personal responsibility to help their extended
  family

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Characteristics of the GiftedThose Who are
Missed A Conceptual Problem? (Peterson, 2001)

• Native Americans
• Not standing out
• Not putting themselves above anyone
• Finding satisfaction in both cultures

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Characteristics of the GiftedThose Who are
Missed A Conceptual Problem? Peterson , 2001)

• Low Income
• Helping others, listening, and advising
• Child-rearing, teaching
• Manual dexterity, creativity
• Academic ability with practical application
• Overcoming adversity
• Non-bookish learning

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Characteristics of the GiftedThose Who are
Missed A Conceptual Problem? (Peterson , 2001)

• As you can see, the aforementioned
  characteristics differ from the generally
  accepted view of high-ability students
• How do we go about making a more proportional
  representation of all students within honors
  programs?

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Possible ApproachesUnderrepresented Students

• Develop K-12 outreach programming
• Use multidimensional, multimodal assessment
  strategies
• Develop cultural awareness within your program
• Appreciate diverse values
• Avoid imposing your own values
• Arrange a stereotype-free environment

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Possible ApproachesUnderrepresented Students

• Know your biases
• Build on your students cultural backgrounds
• Incorporate culture into your program
• Learn about and accept all
• Have student support groups
• Include events for all cultures

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Underrepresented Student Cohorts in Honors

• All students deserve the opportunity to become
  involved with and a part of an honors program if
  they wish to, no matter where they come from!

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Designing an Honors Course Goals

• Consider the mission of the program
• Professional scholarshipresearch
• Academic communitycollaboration
• Competitive awardspreparation
• Leadershipstudent initiation
• Serviceapplied learning
• Global understandinginternational

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Designing an Honors Course Goals

• QUALITY AS OPPOSED TO QUANTITY
• Seminar to introduce expectations of honors
  workstudy skills, transition
• Enrichment to deepen understanding of the subject
  matternot busy work
• Capstone to synthesize ideas of many courses or
  personschallenge, cooperate
• NOT SIMPLE ACCELERATION OR MORE WORK

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Active Learning Impatient Students

• For those who need challenge, dont like formal
  structures, courses should incorporate as much
  active learning as possible.
• Foster engagement
• Offer appropriate control

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Active Learning Structure

• Open-ended or problem-based learning
• Process of defining the task requires creativity,
  discourages perfectionism
• Analyze a real-world situation rather than a lab
  experiment
• Define a problem based on field work
• Make conceptual maps of a site

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Active Learning Research

• Not just recovering knowledge but creating new
  knowledge
• Independence from parents
• Connect to research teams, develop professional
  identity
• Scientific ethics
• Learn research methods
• Study skills at a new level
• Grasp place of conclusions in big picture
• Teamwork over competition or manipulation

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Active Learning Individualistic Students

• For those who are cut off from their peers or
  others, who prefer to learn alone, or for those
  who from their culture have a strong sense of
  group commitment, allow for individual creativity
  but teach the value and discipline of working
  together.
• Work with faculty on research or project
• Collaborative learning assignments in class
• Senior thesis or capstone project

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Active Learning Collaboration

• When students are doubtful about learning with
  others
• teach epistemology of collaboration
• Community of discourse, value of critique
• nurture it in close, intense groups
• Place for everyone, conscious inclusion
• explain the etiquette of discussion
• Listening, focusing, sharing, respecting
• be aware of cultural differences
• More communal habits of non-western societies

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Active Learning Projects

• Suitable embodiment of learning
• Create original artifact
• Substance for emerging ego
• Synthesize theory and application
• Reach beyond abstractions to complexity of
  individual cases
• Serve others to see impact of ideas
• Link to non-academic world
• Share projects to see larger picture

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Active Learning Service

• Community focus offers outreach beyond peers
• Application of learning to concrete situations
  enriches theory
• Diverse encounters broaden perspective
• Emotional or ethical challenges deepen
  understanding
• Leadership emerges in group effort

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Rigorous Learning Challenging

• Students who have not been challenged dont know
  why they should ask for help.
• Minority students may fear that they are being
  given a free ride, cant handle a real challenge
  when they meet it.
• An honors course can require more sophisticated
  thinking, incorporate appropriate accountability.
• Provide support for challenges so that they dont
  overwhelm

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Rigorous Learning structure

• Clear but negotiable goals
• Students help shape the course
• Tasks relatively high on Blooms
  taxonomyanalysis, synthesis, application,
  evaluation
• No busy work
• Wide range of information sources
• Different disciplines, levels of abstraction
• Deadlines to structure time
• Feedback, not micromanagement

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Rigorous Learning Critical Thought

• Opportunities for reflection, especially on
  methodology
• Explaining how the answer was derived
• Revising conclusions when necessary
• Develop nuanced judgment, humility
• Frequent feedback from supervisor or peer group
• Reinforcement when needed
• Minimum of standardized testing
• Minimize attention to numbers, grades

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Helping the Student Grow

• Out of fear, dependence, lack of resources
• Self confidence coming from structure
• Introduction to identifying and using resources
• Self-confidence from managing a larger world
• Into engagement, accountability, mutual support,
  creativity, resourcefulness
• Engaged by active learning
• Taken seriously, qualitative feedback
• Discovering leadership in community
• Making an impact

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Resources

• Bernice Braid and Ada Long, Place as Text
  Approaches to Active Learning, National
  Collegiate Honors Council, Monographs in Honors
  Education, 2000
• Paul Friedman and Reva Jenkins Friedman,
  Fostering Academic Excellence Through Honors
  Programs, New Directions for Teaching and
  Learning, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1986

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Questions?
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Thank You!

• Rich Robbins, Cornell University -
  rlr43_at_cornell.edu
• Richelle Brown, Indiana University -
  brownr_at_indiana.edu
• Marion Schwartz, Penn State University -
  mxs5_at_psu.edu
• Iona Black, Yale University - iona.black_at_yale.edu