Advanced and Alpha students

Advanced students can be the hardest to engage and motivate in classroom material, while alpha students tend to prevent engagement of those around them in the class. New teachers often worry about how to motivate and engage the kids at the lower end of the achievement scale in their class, believing these are the students that have the largest impact on their class success. However, it is the super advanced and “alpha” students who have the most influence over class culture. So how do we handle these highly influential students?

First, let’s distinguish between advanced and alpha students. An advanced student already has mastery over the material covered in class to the point where they are bored by the content, and when they participate, they finish assignments very quickly. This boredom can lead to behavior issues that spill over to disrupt the other students’ learning in the classroom. Alpha students are the student who takes over due to excitement about knowledge- think Hermione Granger from Harry Potter. The alpha student’s hand pops up after every question and is pushing to be the one who answers the question. When asked to work in groups, this is the student who pulls the assignment towards themselves and jumps in with enthusiasm, leaving the other students out in the cold. Alpha students prevent other students from engaging in the material and can be the most detrimental to overall learning in the classroom. Students can be both advanced and alpha, but I will deal with each as a separate learner type.

I  know these student types well, because this was me. From experience, I know intimately the driving need to answer any question asked in my vicinity - I still struggle with holding my tongue and letting others have opportunities to participate. My husband often gives me “the look” when I instinctively answer a question that was directed at one of our children - once an alpha, always an alpha, I guess....

The advanced student

How do we engage the advanced student in a way that doesn’t create additional work for an over-worked and often overwhelmed teacher? Leadership. The advanced student can be given the opportunity to take on leadership roles within the classroom. As they finish assignments early, the teacher can ask the advanced student to step up as a secondary instructor and help students who are not yet done. By having the advanced student teach what they know to other students, they actually learn the material better - since we know it’s through teaching that you truly master understanding. Less advanced students often learn better from peers than from teachers, so having the advanced student tutor the less advanced students can be a win-win.  

In cases where the advanced student is not able to effectively take on instructional roles in the classroom - perhaps because of an introverted personality or anxiety - providing other leadership opportunities within the classroom is appropriate. Depending on the school regulations, the student could assist with grading, another effective way of helping advanced students master deeper understanding of the material. They can also take on other roles in the classroom, such as helping with classroom preparations (e.g. cut out or put together items for the next activity). Finally, advanced students can pick a supplemental research topic of interest. They can use their extra free time, after assignments are complete, researching the chosen project. This motivates them to engage in the classroom content, in order to do something they enjoy, after they are done. I caution, however, that while this is a widely used way of occupying an advanced student, its impact is minimal. The student is likely already versed on basic researching methods, and while they are learning more about a specific content area, they are not building more valuable skills, like those of responsibility and leadership.

As a parent, beyond suggesting additional leadership roles for your child in their classroom, you can challenge your child to find ways to engage with material they find easy. For the advanced math student, you can ask your student to create math word problems that they can have you solve at home - also a great way to bond with your child. Perhaps they get a reward for stumping you! If they excel at reading and literature, you can ask them to spend their extra free time, after completing a project, writing a poem for a relative or family event.  I’ve given my son a science problem and asked him to develop an experiment that we can run at home to answer the problem. It often takes several iterations and can keep an advanced student occupied for several days or weeks.

The alpha student

As indicated, the alpha student jumps whole heartedly into learning. The goal of an instructor is to focus the student’s enthusiasm and energy for learning so that it doesn’t impede other students’ opportunities to learn in the classroom. 

In group settings, if there are more than one alpha student in a class, it helps to put these two (or multiple) students together in a group. This may seem counterintuitive, but two alpha students help to balance each other, as neither will allow the other to monopolize an activity. Over time, alpha students working together will start to teach each other how to take turns and allow opportunities for others.  In either this two-alpha situation or in a single alpha situation, providing clear roles during group work can help students participate equally. Instructors should place the alpha as the “leader” of a group, with very clear directions that the leader is the person who makes sure everyone is participating equally.  What the leader doesn’t do:

• Write on the worksheet/activity, that would be the “writer”,
• Read the material (aloud), that would be the “reader”, 
• Look-up information, that would be the “researcher”.

Instead, the leader makes sure that everyone has opportunities to do their jobs and contribute equally. The instructor should check in with the leaders of each group to verify that the group is on track, and everyone is contributing to the activity.

In non-group settings, it helps to provide an alpha student an alternative way to express their knowledge. Often alpha students have a desperate internal drive to demonstrate their knowledge, and when asked to NOT answer a question, this causes anxiety for an alpha student. Therefore, an instructor can give an alpha student a small sticky note pad to write down the answers to questions. The student can hand the sticky note to the instructor, thus fulfilling the student’s need to demonstrate knowledge, but still allowing other students opportunities to answer the questions in class.

As a parent, you can suggest these alternatives to your child’s teacher. You can also instruct your child on doing these things on their own. For example, if you know your child is a Hermione Granger alpha student, tell them that you would love if they wrote down their answers to the teacher’s questions in their notebook, instead of saying them aloud, so that you can go over the answers together when they get home. This gives them an opportunity to be responsible, a task to fulfill, and a way to bond with you while fulfilling their need to demonstrate knowledge.  Also, be sure to praise an alpha child’s knowledge of material while reminding them that others also need opportunities to show knowledge; often alphas dominate siblings at home by answering questions for their siblings (I did… my poor sister!). Interventions with the alpha to gently remind them that you know they know the answer, but you want the sibling’s response, will help to balance the sibling dynamic.

What methods have you used effectively with advanced students and alpha students at home or in the classroom? Share your experiences in the comments below!