Teaching Honors Students

One would assume that if given a choice, teaching honors or gifted children would be much easier than teaching the average or below average student. I too used to fall in this category. However, after going from teaching freshmen algebra to calculus students, I have discovered first hand, that it's not as "easy" as I thought it would be. Edutopia's article The Challenges of Teaching Honors Students by Heather Wolpert-Gawron, discusses some of the differences between teaching the mainstream child and teaching honors students.

One of the biggest things I have noticed and something that the article points out is the honor students ability to accept "failure". Failure meaning, not coming up with the excact answer or getting an A- instead of an A. Honor students appear to have a hard time adjusting to these. Additionally, I have found that when given the opportunity to work in groups, they would much rather work by themselves to ensure that the project is done "right". I have actually had instances where I have had to make the students work together.

Additionally, I have had honor student that get so wrapped up in the academics, that they forget about real-world applications. It's almost as if things exist only in a theoretical and ideal world. When they face a problem with an open-ended answer or worse yet, a problem with mulitple solutions, it's almost as if these students do not know what to do.

On the flip side, I have found that the honors students can be pushed to a higher level of thinking and that they are more than willing to accept new challenges. They are also more responsible when it comes to getting homework and assignments completed in a very timely manner - if not early. Teaching both levels has definitely mad me a more rounded teacher and has taught me quite a lot!

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-honors-gifted-students-challenges