Thu 18.09.2014 - 08:15-08:45 - Plečnik 5

An Individual Programme for a Gifted Teenage Girl: Development Support Considering Personal Barriers by Using Social (Digital) Networking  Demonstration  Presentation

Presenter: Tamara Maleševič
Author(s): Tamara Malešević, (The National Education Institute of Slovenia, Slovenia)

The article presents an individual activities programme for a 15-year old girl identified five years ago as a gifted student in accordance with the Slovenian Concept of Recognising and Working with Gifted Students in Slovene Primary Schools (1999). 
The programme is based on the girl’s profile of diagnosed potential abilities and academic results as well as other achievements. The individual programme pays particular attention to her developmental and personal characteristics. According to Sally Reis specific personal barriers typical of gifted teenage girls include: fear of success, absence of or poor planning, hiding and doubting abilities, the Impostor syndrome, perfectionism, criticism and comparisons, loneliness and problems rising from physical attractiveness.
The programme also focuses on learning and educational activities based on the use of digital social networks.
The INDIVIDUAL PROGRAMME FOR GIFTED TEENAGE GIRL contains activities which encourage  the development of:
•    COGNITIVE/METACOGNITIVE level by developing  effective reading and study skills, creative thinking skills, critical thinking skills, time-management skills.
•    MOTIVATIONAL/EMOTIONAL level by developing self-regulation skills.
•    SOCIAL/MORAL level  by developing cooperative learning skills,  digital and media literacy skills and decision making (moral vs. utilitarian) skills.

The activities are grouped under these three points, each of them featuring a presentation of goals, references, and methods of monitoring. In their implementation, some rely on the individual contact between the girl and her counsellor, either live or online. Some other activities are limited to interest groups found in digital social networks.
The programme is based on a holistic principle of taking care of the gifted, while building on personal development as a decisive factor for long-term fulfilment of children’s and youth’s potential, as demonstrated by research (J. Freeman, 2010).

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