Are you proud of yourself? Great, I’m proud of you too.
Encourage students to be proud of themselves, rather than always telling them that you are proud of them.
When a student comes up to show me their work, I always ask “Are you proud of yourself?” When they respond with yes, I usually support that answer with, “Great, you should be because ____. I am proud of you too!”
By making them think about it and realize they are proud of themselves, they are developing intrinsic motivation.
Not praising for outcomes – praise effort
Oftentimes, our Gifted students can achieve outcomes higher than their peers with less effort. Praising these outcomes encourages students to put in minimal effort, because they know they’ll still get praised.
However, making an easy swap to praising effort will encourage students to put more effort into things.
Along the same lines… Don’t reward outcomes
This is a big one. And, maybe a controversial one. I do not believe that you should reward outcomes. Effort, yes. But outcomes, not so much. Like I said above, Gifted students and high achievers often don’t need to put much effort into something and still get a great outcome, or a high grade. Rewarding the outcome will only reinforce to these students that they don’t need to put all their effort in to receive a reward.
Also, outwardly rewarding outcomes can likely cause other students to feel down on themselves. Not all students have the tools, skills, or knowledge to score perfectly on everything – and rewarding the ones who do get high scores – or 100s – is an easy way to make these students feel discouraged.
Provide them with opportunities to explore topics of interest or passion
Gifted students often disengage from things that don’t interest them – although we can’t blame them, because I think everyone is like this.
I am the exact same way. When I get an idea that I’m excited about, I want to work on it immediately. I put 110% effort, energy, and focus into it – and I don’t stop until it’s done.
Providing your Gifted learners with opportunities to engage in exploring topics that they love will instantly foster intrinsic motivation. If you haven’t done this before, I highly encourage you to try it and see the amazing results it produces.
A great no-prep way to incorporate passion into your classroom is through Passion Projects! They’re great for your Gifted students and early finishers to work on whenever they have free time. I highly recommend it! Click below to grab a no-prep digital and printable Passion Project resource so you can implement Passion Projects right away!
How to Build Intrinsic Motivation in Gifted Students:
- Encourage them to reflect & be proud of themselves
- Praise effort – not outcomes
- Don’t reward outcomes
- Provide opportunities for them to explore topics of interest or passion