Mayerson Academy’s Karen Graves and Lynn Ochs recently co-authored, with researchers Justine Bates-Krakoff and Robert E. McGrath from Farleigh Dickinson University, an article in Gifted Education International addressing how a character strength program can be modified for more effective use with gifted students. Beyond a deficit model of strengths training in schools: Teaching targeted strength use to gifted students is now available through OnlineFirst from Sage Journals.
“Research and experience suggest that gifted students have unique social and emotional needs. This article showcases how a program like Thriving Learning Communities, that addresses social and emotional learning through the lens of strengths, can be modified to meet the needs of this special population.” Lynn Ochs, Senior Learning Designer for Mayerson Academy.
The article abstract further explains:
“We provide an overview of the program and discuss how it may be modified by the teacher to offer a more nuanced perspective on character strengths within a gifted student population. Specifically, within a gifted classroom setting, we discuss ways in which educators can encourage gifted students to understand the importance of balancing their strengths and effectively matching their use of strengths to the situation. In addition to focusing on the use of signature or top strengths, we suggest a program that would aid gifted students in deciphering when it is most and least appropriate to use top strengths, through a dial-up/dial-down framework for targeted strength use.”
Visit Gifted Education International to access the full article.
