What Does It Means To Be An AIG Student

What does it mean to be an AIG student? We tend to hear this being referred to only certain students. Parents and teachers have different views on what it means to be a gifted child. Also, AIG students and students who are not AIG differentiate in their opinions. Teachers sometimes find it challenging to teach AIG students and end up not teaching them anything.
When we first hear the letters "AIG" or the words "gifted student", what comes to mind? To some those three letters do not mean anything. “When parents think of their children as gifted, they usually think of high IQ scores, high SATs, high ACTs, high grades, and the like”. AIG is an acronym for Academically/Intellectually Gifted. An academically gifted child will learn more quickly

and will probe more deeply into the topics than his or her average ability classmate. They will also display a greater interest in reading, a greater independence and self initiative, and transfer learning from one area to another than their ordinary peer. “Joseph Renzulli developed the three ring conception of giftedness that has been a popular view of giftedness for over thirty years.” The three rings represent three clusters of traits that according to Joseph Renzulli combine and interact with each other to form a creative accomplishment or gifted behaviors. “Those three rings are above average ability, creativity, and task commitment. Renzulli also realized that for those three rings to develop personality traits such as optimism, courage, romance with a topic, physical and/or mental energy, and vision/sense to destiny were needed to develop student potential.” In other words an above average student is one who relates their learning to outside topics and are able to “think outside the box” is considered gifted.
Moreover, some teachers may have a misconception of the needs of gifted students.

There are teachers that believe a gifted child should be able to do well, need little to no assistance, and should work with other less gifted students to assist them. Other myths about gifted students include “they are good at everything and should be reminded of that when they fail to perform at high levels and they do not need special programs as they will be able to perform at high levels regardless”. These myths come from not understanding gifted children. Teachers often want each of their students to gain knowledge in their classes, this can often be a challenge when having gifted students. Cathy Kroninger, a former educator from the Chatham County schools, stated that she believed that “gifted students usually learn less new material than any other group in an academic year” and this is often caused by the “lack of curriculum modification, a lack of exposure to higher level thinking skills, and lowered expectations”. To be able to teach a gifted child Kroninger suggests it is best to first identify them. There are students who are bright and students who are gifted. “A bright child enjoys school and understands ideas, while a gifted child enjoys learning and constructs abstractions. A bright child is a good memorizer, a gifted [one] is a good guesser. A bright child will work hard while a gifted child plays around, yet tests well… A bright child is pleased with his or her own learning,

while a gifted child may be highly self-critical”. Kroninger found it helpful to make cluster groups, where gifted children are with other gifted children. Doing this provides the gifted students with the same learning challenges that other students have. “It also allows the teacher to give gifted students greater depth at their own cognitive level rather than simply having them “work ahead” with lessons or resources designed for older students”. As a former teacher Cathy Kroninger always wanted to provide enough resources to help her students and be able to meet their needs.
Equally important is what the AIG or gifted student thinks about themselves, other gifted students, and their teachers.

Most gifted “students [are] intrinsically motivated, earn high grades, and perform well at tasks. [Also, they tend to] take pleasure from the achievement, effort, and successful completion of a task”. When interviewing Ivette Martinez, an AIG student that is currently a ninth grader attending St. Stephens High School, on what she thought it meant to be an AIG student, she responded with “the first words that come to mind are above average, high recognition, determination, and hard work”. She continued on to state she “feel[s] like it is a recognition, [she] consider[s] it a good thing when [she is] being called an AIG student because [she has] worked hard to get there. [She also feels] important because it is hard to get there. It is an overall good feeling”. When asked if she had any worries or doubts when being referred to as an AIG student Ivette said, “I feel like I have to keep up with the label by not slacking off or doing anything to not be considered an AIG student… because if I did, for example stopped doing my homework or not tried my best and gave my one hundred percent in everything I do, I feel like I would be downgraded”. Also, when asked how she viewed herself when being compared to other students who were not AIG Ivette simply stated that she “would not like to be in the same core classes as them because that would make [her] feel dumb”.

Competition was the first word Ivette said when questioned about what her views were on other gifted students. She went on to say that she wants “to be the top student, the best of the best”. When later asked for her opinion about how teachers taught students like her, she responded with, “I feel like they could do more. I mean I didn’t feel challenged until I entered high school because then I could choose my classes. I chose classes in which I knew I would actually have to do work, try hard to pass and get good grades”. To put it briefly some gifted students do not feel challenged during primary and intermediate grade school. Gifted students also feel competition between themselves and other gifted students, in this case it is good because that encourages them to do better in school.
Overall when asking what it means to be an AIG student, you will receive answers that vary from one person to another. A simple and brief answer to that is, one who learns more quickly, displays more interest in subjects, transfers their knowledge from one field to another more easily, reads more, and has a greater sense of independent learning than the average student.