Learn, Regurgitate, Repeat: An endless, boring cycle
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Gifted students learn quickly -- it's what makes them academically gifted. But in today's classrooms, where teachers are expected to meet the needs of students from widely differing academic backgrounds, gifted learners sometimes get stuck in the "I learned this already" cycle. "In some urban schools, the most able academic students are at risk for becoming underachievers because of the lack of challenge they experience" (Renzulli & Reis, 2004, p. 88). In other words, they're bored. Without intervention from an educator or parent, a child stuck in this cycle can become increasingly disruptive in the classroom -- or give up entirely on ever learning anything of value. By their secondary years, gifted students whose needs have not been met "may already feel as if they have turned off to school and learning" (Renzulli & Reis, 2004, p. 89). This is a major concern, "as the drop-out rate for urban teenagers includes many gifted students who have given up" (Renzulli & Reis, 2004, p. 89).