Competition

and Pressure

Caleigh De Luca, Faith H oward, Priyanka Joshi

Being told you only
need to do your best is
no different from being
told you need to be
perfect, when your best
equates to perfection
(Hately).
Waterfall
In the chat, answer the question:

“What does it mean to be a good sport?”

Please do not press enter until your instructor says

“waterfall.”
What does it mean to be a good sport?
You may notice participants:
Play fair; follow the rules of the game; encourage
their teammates; respect the judgement of others;
treating opponents with respect

Whether this happens in academia or in sports,

sometimes students begin to feel pressure from other
parties. Today, we wish to talk to you about the
problems and solutions gifted students experience
from pressure and competition.
Explain how competition
and pressure affect
gifted children.
Issues Gifted Children may suffer from the
scrutinizing lense of competition and
pressure...
● Gifted students have high levels of depression due to the pressure their parents put on them
for higher achieving.
○ Solution: Parents should be alert to the signs of depression and take their child’s
concerns seriously. It is the responsibility of the parents to teach their children not to be
afraid of depression (Hately).
● Gifted students often suffer from ADHD. While they are capable of completing the work, they
often forget to turn assignments in or are unable to focus for large amounts of time.
○ Solution: Provide supports for students as needed such as extra time to turn in
assignments, preferential seating, or allowing music to play during learning. Important
to still hold students accountable but be willing to provide accommodations.
● Students suffer from high levels of stress that cause burn-out from the pressure that is put on
them.
○ Solution: For example, parents may model an attitude of quitting too quickly if a problem gets
difficult, of avoiding any type of competition, or of habitually blaming external sources for their
own shortcomings or lack of effort. A possible restructuring of parental attitudes and
expectations, therefore, may be the first priority for helping children who are not achieving
well in school. “Children should be taught to identify creative alternatives for their losses
or failures” (Rimm)
● Anxiety is also present in students at various levels dependent on the
amount of pressure and competition present in their life and how they
choose to respond to it.
○ Solution: Allow students that suffer from high anxiety to use
music as a calming tool or strategies to prep students for the
day’s lesson.
● Students feel pressured to be perfect at all things.
○ Solution: Encourage and motivate students. By saying “you
can’t,” you are training your mind to think that. Train your mind to
succeed within your limits. Don’t push yourself to burnout.
● Are expected to win and be first.
○ Solution: A questioning approach, rather than a lecture, may
better help children understand that (1) they cannot always win,
(2) disappointment does not mean they are failures, (3) the
particular experience simply was not as successful as they had
hoped it would be, (4) everyone would like to be smarter than
they are, and especially, (5) the main goal is to play the learning
game at their best performance level, regardless of their
competitive ranking. Effort counts. (Rimm)
● Having unrealistic expectations and goals for themselves.
○ Solution: Students must be taught and encouraged to work in
areas they are not completely successful in for their cognitive
development. By learning to function in areas they may not be an
essential component, they are learning to still work in a
competitive society realizing that effort is sometimes more than
enough.
Advanced here , but not there...

Although their intelligence is (by definition) advanced beyond their age, other
traits may be slower to develop, matching grade-level peers or even lagging
behind expectations.

It is called as asynchrony or, simply, developing out of sync.

The X-Men, Spiderman, and the children of The Incredibles all have superhuman
physical abilities. Yet rarely does a superhero develop equally super-human
emotional or social skills to accompany their physical gifts.

Solution:

Because of their extreme asynchronous development, they need especially wise

mentors to guide them through their youth
 Discussion Question 1:
What are some instances gifted
children experience from
competition and pressure?

Mastery
 Teachers can support gifted
students when experiencing high
levels of competition and pressure
by developing appropriate and
challenging learning experiences
for them.
 Enabling gifted students to work together in
Making sure that all students are able
groups boosts their academic achievement and
to cope with the stress that comes
benefits other students in the classroom, as
with being competitive and pressure.
well. When gifted students work together, they
challenge themselves in unexpected ways.
Allowing students to problem solve
They bounce ideas off one another and take a
their own problems but guiding them
peer's idea to a new place. (Azzam)
from behind. For example, use
creative problem solving and
hexagonal thinking as a visual The implication for adults in this situation is to
presentation to show students that recognise that competitive situations may be a
one problem has multiple aspects.
major source of motivation for the gifted
Implement interactive activities into individual, and therefore a necessary part of
the classroom centered around the the learning process. (Ballam)
learning. Teachers may teach a
mini-lesson but then incorporate a
scavenger hunt to formatively assess
the student without close proximity.
Discussion Question 2:
Do you think gifted students
prefer competitive or
noncompetitive learning
situations? Explain your
thinking.

Interpersonal
 Discussion Question 3:
Identify an example of how to be a guide for gifted
students in the midst of experiencing high levels of
competition and pressure.

Understanding
 Advantages
&
Disadvantages
Advantages Disadvantages
Higher risk of social life and unhappiness.
Competition among students are a fun way
to teach gifted students how to handle real Having burn out in learning.
life challenges they might face.
Higher stress and anxiety.
Be able to work under pressure.

There are proven benefits of structural Students might feel guilty of being
intelligent and feel that they have to give
competitions and several researchers have
back.
explored the role of these in learning and
achievement in general and more The way in which a child is motivated
specifically. (Ballam) influences their behaviour in competitive
situations and their relationships with their
Gifted children might appear to be peers(Kao, 2011).
competitive because they are given more
opportunities to compete as a result of their
abilities. (Ballam)
 Discussion Question 4:
Have you ever had a student you realized began to suffer from the
pressure their parents were putting on them? If not, imagine what if you
had a student who began to do things outside of their normal routine
because they may be suffering from competition and pressure from the
peers or parents. How did you or how would you choose to support them
as an educator?

Self -expressive
Alternative Resources
“Asynchrony and X-Men.” Byrseed LLC. 2009.
https://www.byrdseed.com/asynchrony-and-x-men/

Azzam, Amy. “Six Strategies for Challenging Gifted Learners.” 2016.

https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/six-strategies-for-challenging-gifted-learners

Ballam, Nadine. ‘Let’s all hold hands and cross the line together!’ Competition and gifted learners.
https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10289/11884/Ballam_140615_Competitio
n,%20motivation%20&%20gifted%20learners.pdf;jsessionid=0C331BD131D2C791B9950D44D4E6
17F7?sequence=29

Dower, Erin. “9 Challenges Facing Gifted Children (and How You Can Help!).” 2021.
https://www.familyeducation.com/school/coping-giftedness/9-challenges-facing-gifted-children-ho
w-you-can-help

Hately, Shawn. “Perfectionism and the Highly Gifted Child.” Hoagies’ Gifted, Inc. 1997-2020.
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/perfectionhg.htm
Alternative Resources
Kao, C. (2011). The dilemma of competition encountered by musically gifted Asian
male students: An exploration from the perspective of gifted education. High Ability
Studies, 22(1), 19-42.

“Pressure, Stress, and the Gifted Student.” 2021.

https://www.education.com/download-pdf/article/63552/

Rimm, Sylvia, Ph.D. “Learning to Cope with Competition.” 2010

http://www.sylviarimm.com/article_copecomp.html

Rimm, Sylvia, Ph.D. When Gifted Students Underachieve: What You Can Do About It.
2006.
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qN0Kdlqz9iEC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=
competition+and+pressure+in+gifted+students&ots=2qeG0HFJhS&sig=2eJWoxCw8
yFNLh4-q2xQSRwk-50#v=onepage&q&f=false
Timeline:

Slide 1: All individuals will introduce themselves.

Slide 2: Priyanka reads slide two. Ask for volunteers to
share what they think about this quotes.
Slide 3-7: Faith Howard
Slide 8: Priyanka Joshi
Slide 9: Faith Howard
Slide 10-12: Caleigh De Luca
Slide 13: Priyanka Joshi
Slide 14-16: Caleigh De Luca
Priyanka Joshi: “So what is your take-away? Teachers can
positively support and help guide students who are
struggling from competition and pressure. “ Thank you
for your time.