Learner Analysis: Rory Gilmore

Rory Gilmore seems to defy all the odds. Her mother, Lorelei Gilmore, had Rory when she was only sixteen years old. This caused her elitist and very wealthy grandparents to become angry because Lorelei was meant to uphold their high standards. Lorelei ran away shortly after giving birth to Rory and found a job as a maid working at an Inn and living in the shed behind the Inn. This is where Rory grew up, until her mother saved up to buy a home and begins to make money of her own to support them both. 

Rory has always been an excellent student. She is extremely intelligent and dreams about studying at Harvard University, which for her, is completely possible. She attends an elite private school in Connecticut, Chilton Academy for her high school years. Her grandparents supported Rory’s academic success by funding her very expensive education, with the requirement that her and her mother must visit them weekly. Rory is very engaged in her school work, which is sometimes a negative for her because she has obsessive behavior to be a perfectionist in everything she does. Anything but an ‘A’ is simply not an option for Rory. She wants to stand out and she wants to be the best so that she can achieve her dreams. Rory is definitely “college ready” academically. She has her strategies for studying and managing her school work. However, I do worry about Rory in a social sense being “college ready”. She becomes easily caught up in school work, which leads to obsessive behavior and her to forget about how important it is to go out and socialize. 

Rory’s interests are mostly academic. She is a very avid reader and spends most of her free time figuring out how to manage her school work. Because she goes to such an elite school, the pressure is very much so on the students and they are expected to do well. This is a school where the students are expected to go to Ivy League Universities. As a student in my class, it would be a challenge to keep Rory busy. The traditional work and curriculum would come much too easily for Rory and she would be left feeling bored. I would be sure to have materials for Rory that can challenge her such as extra worksheets, advanced level books, and I could suggest apps for her to use that have higher level materials on them.