re: being really good at difficult things and bad at/bored by basic skills, I just wrote a profile section on people expanding science education. The whole time I kept thinking, ok, these things are great for people who don't like/don't get science...but I was bored out of my mind every time someone unleashed one of these strategies on me! And arguably did worse because I hated playing along with it. The best thing my teachers could have done was give me a pile of books and leave me alone, which they eventually did.