Special thanks to Dr. Linda Silverman and the Gifted Development Center @GiftedDevCenter for sharing the article, “Strategies for Teaching Underachievers” (pdf) which I drew from for the chat! A full transcript may be found here.
In answer to our first question, “What characterizes an underachiever?”; replies included that “underachievers tend to have underdeveloped sequencing skills & high spatial abilities”, their “obstinance often masks their inability to do the work rather than unwillingness”, those with “high spatial strengths have a sophisticated sense of humor & understand complex relations & systems” and they “can become a problem in mainstream classes. More likely to be referred for behaviour/LD”.
The discussion then turned to “Why do students underachieve?” Krissy Venosdale @venspired said that, ” Work presented to them is often not “deep” enough; shallow work becomes mundane; kids check out.” Susanne @Susannewith5 added, “boredom, perfectionism scaring them from WANTING to perform, a lack of work ethic, LD’s, disaffectedness” also are contributing factors.
For teaching strategies, please see the links below. Thank you to Leslie Graves for the Livebinder links.
Links:
“Underachieving Gifted Students” Prezi by Rebecca Christensen
“Assisting Underachieving Gifted Learners” (pdf)
“How Can You Help Gifted Underachievers?” Victoria Butler
“Using Peer Coaches to Explain and Tackle the Underachievement of Gifted Students”
“Tips for Teachers: Volume 1 Classroom Arrangement and Class Discussion” (YouTube)
“Strategies for Students Gifted in ICT”
“Underachievement” from Duke TIP
“Gifted Underachievement: The Who’s, What’s, Why’s and How You Can Help” Livebinder
“Culturally Diverse Gifted Students” Livebinder
“Family Dynamics Related to Underachievement” Livebinder
“Social Emotional Needs of Gifted and Talented Students” Livebinder
“Web Resources for Underachievement” Livebinder
Global #gtchat 
Reblogged this on pause 2 play and commented:
Pause to Reflect…
Sometimes in the classroom we wonder why students are not engaged; we may think the students are unable to do the work; we may simplify the ideas again. But this post shares another possibility: the lesson is too shallow, or the student is a perfectionist, or… other factors.
What can teachers do to engage the underachievers? Read the post by “Global #gtchat” to learn strategies for teaching underachievers.
Play to Learn…
I’ve found two posts today that will consume much time as I learn more strategies on Questioning (http://cybraryman.com/questioning.html) and more strategies and information about underachievers in this reblogged post.
Questioning engages students in the lesson and the content, which could work well with the strategies in this post about underachievers. As you consider either of these, which did you find most helpful?