Blog

PD Rule: Speak from Experience

The key to a great presentation? Only talk about things you have actually, personally done. Oh, and always start with your failure!

How To Use Depth and Complexity Digitally

While the official depth and complexity icons look great, they lead to all kinds of problems in the digital world and also take ownership away from students. Emoji are an elegant solution to both problems.

Don’t Just “Have A Discussion”

Why I now strike the phrase “have a discussion” from my lesson plans.

Running A Curiosity Project

Merlin Mann stated that employees’ motivation increases when they get to “build a robot” once in a while. That is, do something creative beyond regular work. Can we do this at school? Offices have “casual Fridays,” can we have “curiosity Fridays?”

Resources for Alabama Gifted and Talented Teachers

Five fantastic starting points for teachers in Alabama who work with gifted and talented students.

Depth and Complexity: ❓Unanswered Questions

By far, ❓Unanswered Questions was the prompt that I under-utilized with my own class. Now I see it in a whole new light, and boy is there immense power in prompting students to note and explore truly unanswered questions.

Depth and Complexity: 👄Language of the Discipline

Language of the Discipline is more than just slapping an icon next to an existing spelling list. It’s about digging into the words, phrases, symbols, and acronyms that an expert uses to discuss their field efficiently.

Why “Challenging” Isn’t Quite The Right Goal

“I want to challenge my students” is just about the most common goal out there. Unfortunately, I think it’s not quite the right word…

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – Book Study Ideas

Here’s how I’d wrap a big idea around our study of “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler”. We’d investigate the paradox that people want to both fit in and be unique! A quote from the author, E. L. Konigsburg, will be our entry point.

Choice Menus: Quality or Mere Quantity?

I used to create extension menus, thinking they were an essential tool for differentiation. Overtime, I’ve changed my thinking. Here’s why.

Matilda – Book Study Ideas

Roald Dahl’s Matilda, a childhood favorite of mine, opens up some fantastic discussions about adults, being brave, and how power can be used and abused.

Recommendations for a Book Study

Looking for some recommendations for a book study or reading group? Here are some of my favorites (although not necessarily directly about education!).

A Guide To Attending Gifted Education Conferences

What’s the best way to attend a conference? After going to hundreds of them, I offer a few stray thoughts on how I approach an education event.

Too Much Grading

If you ask a teacher to list their top three complaints about teaching, “grading” will be on just about everyone’s list. I know that I absolutely despised all of the weekends lost to grading essays, tests, quizzes, projects, and so on. But, the thing is, I never stopped to ask myself: do I actually need to do all of this grading?

Moving Between the Specific and Abstract

When differentiating, it’s helpful to note where on the “spectrum of abstraction” your content lies. Then, see what happens when you move that content to be more abstract or more specific. It often unlocks lots of new opportunities for thinking.

Fluency: Asking For (Way) More Than One Answer

Being able to generate many possible answers is key to high-level thinking. So why don’t we ask students to do it more often?

Experiment-Based Curiosity Project

How I’d build a curiosity project around an experiment rather than just research.

Book Recommendation: Living Gifted

Lisa Van Gemert gave me a copy of her new book: Living Gifted. Here’s what’s inside…

“Engagement” isn’t BAD, but…

“Engagement” is a nice by-product of a well-designed lesson, but it sure isn’t our actual goal as educators.

Depth and Complexity: ⚖️ Ethics and 👓 Multiple Perspectives

In this section, we introduce two more prompts of depth and complexity: ⚖️ ethics and 👓 multiple perspectives.

Depth and Complexity: 🌀Patterns and 🚦Rules

In this section, we’ll learn about two more prompts of Depth and Complexity that pair beautifully: Rules and Patterns. Because they share some similarities, I like to introduce them together and lean heavily on what makes Rules and Patterns different.

Depth and Complexity: 🏛️Big Idea and 🌻Details

When introducing the prompts of Depth and Complexity, I like to begin with Big Idea and Details. Here are some ways you could get started with these two thinking tools.

The Many Problems With That “Rethinking Giftedness” Video

In this “Rethinking Giftedness” video the filmmakers make a claim that gifted programs cause fixed mindsets. The three questions I immediately wondered were: Where is the research? How were the students in this video selected? Did they visit any great gifted programs? Let’s dig into it. Where Is The Research? The video and its accompanying […]

2018 Annual Review

The Byrdseed annual report for 2018 (plus a look at what 2019 might hold)!

Clearing Up Jargon

Clear communication is simple, succinct, and relies on words that people understand. Jargon is the opposite. Journey with me as I attempt to define some edu-jargon…

Depth and Complexity: Ethics… In Math!?

The Ethics prompt of depth and complexity fits so easily into the humanities… but what about ethics in math?!

Where Do I Start Differentiating for Gifted Students?

I get lots of questions from overwhelmed folks who have suddenly landed in a new job in gifted ed and have had little training. “Where do I even start!?” is a very common cry. Here are three places to begin differentiating for gifted kids.

Make The Case For Your Gifted Program

A common question I get is folks asking how to make the case for a gifted program. Usually someone is pitted against an administrator who doesn’t see the value in a gifted program. How do we change minds?

How many students are already ready (already) for next year?

In a climate where we focus on who’s below-level, how many students are already ready for next year (and beyond)? Research from Johns Hopkins sheds light on the (truly) shocking number of above-level kids out there.

Why I Had “Early Finishers”

Wondering what to do with your early finishers? This is probably the wrong question!

Creating Your Philosophy On Homework

I had a reader ask a question about homework and gifted kids and I figured this was a pretty common question. My thought: you need a philosophy about this.

Is NAGC’s Annual Conference Worth The Cost?

NAGC’s annual conference is great for academics. But is it worth the cost if you’re a teacher?

Paradox: Ship of Theseus

Here’s a fun thought experiment your students are sure to get a kick out of: when something is slowly replaced over time, is it still the same thing in the end?

Getting to the Root of Problems with “The Five Whys”

Often, the problems we try to solve are not the root problems. The Five Whys is a thinking tool to help you sift through the superficial to find the real issue.

The Inert Knowledge Problem

90 years ago, Alfred North Whitehead used the term “the inert knowledge problem” to describe an issue he faced while teaching. I’ll bet you’ve seen the same thing…

Recommended Greek Mythology Books

A reader asked for recommendations for books about Greek Myths appropriate for 5th graders. Many of you delivered!

The Resiliency Tournament

I got to work with several groups of students (of many ages) and I tried out this task: building a tournament to decide who was the most resilient historical figure or fictional character? Kids came up with some amazing ideas.

Raising Ceilings For One, Raise Ceilings For All

When we create tasks designed to meet the needs of our most obviously talented students, we make it possible for other students to rise up as well. This, except using basketball as a metaphor.

2017 Report

Here is the (slightly delayed) 2017 Byrdseed report!

The Curse of Knowledge in an Infant Safety Class

My recent experience as a learner and what it’s like when your teacher falls into the trap of Curse of Knowledge.

Mentoring Those Who Have Surpassed Us

This quick clip of Steve Kerr coaching Steph Curry gives us insights into how we can mentor our most advanced students.

A Wrinkle In Time – Novel Study Ideas

Madeleine L’Engle’s 1962 science-fiction classic, A Wrinkle in Time makes for a fantastic classroom novel study.

Four Books I’m Reading

Here’s a round-up of a few books I’ve either just finished or am in the middle of that I thought you might like. Rebellion Alis Wade has finished the third book in her Gifted Potentials series: Rebellion. She sent me a copy and I’m still working my way through it (you can blame the infant!). […]

Three Images To Explain Giftedness

Three images I’m using to do a better job explaining giftedness to parents of gifted kids.

What Differentiation Does NOT Look Like

There’s lots of faux-differentiation out there. In this article, I catalog a few anti-patterns: tactics that look like differentiation, but are actually quite the opposite.

What Textbooks Think “Differentiated Instruction” Looks Like

In a time when teachers feel prohibited from writing their own lessons, many are limited by what their textbooks offer. So what, exactly, do textbooks offer in terms of differentiation for gifted learners?

Thinking or Remembering: Abstract and Concrete

One way to emphasizing Thinking over mere Remembering is to consider the level of abstraction we’re asking students to use. You might think of abstraction as a spectrum from highly specific, concrete details to really big (but vague) ideas.

Enrichment Must Prompt Thinking

Enrichment is not merely about doing fun things. It should never be just a project-of-the-week. It must be about getting students thinking in new and interesting ways. Here’s how!

Divergent Questions (How To Ask ‘Em)

How to ask Divergent Questions and ensure that your students are thinking rather than merely remembering.

Are Students Thinking or Merely Remembering?

The more I started looking, the more I realized that most of my questions asked students to remember, not actually think.

Curiosity 6: Recipes for Curiosity

As we wrap up our curiosity guide, I share three recipes to help you cook up curiosity in your classroom.

My kid isn’t being challenged!

As a parent, it’s easy to be concerned about a blah teacher. But you have more power and influence than any one teacher. Be aware of your praise. Be aware of your actions.

Curiosity 5: Curiosity Is Slow

We’ve been digging into curiosity, and now we come to curiosity’s big downside: it’s slow. Let’s look at how films take their time to establish an audience’s interest before revealing the real conflict.

Creating Cultures of Curiosity (Part 4)

The biggest factor in our students’ curiosity at school is us! Teachers can create (or kill) cultures of curiosity. We’ll look at four qualities and a couple experiments run by Susan Engel.

Curiosity 3: Curiosity Is Social

When we’re curious, we can enhance that curiosity by discussing it with others. Our mutual confusion takes us deeper into the experience.

Confusion Leads to Curiosity (Curiosity Part 2)

So how do we make kids curious? We’ll cover two aspects: creating information gaps and (yes) purposefully confusing our students.

How To Pique Curiosity

In part one of this curiosity series, we explore the connection between curiosity, anticipation, and dopamine and discover why we remember things better when we are allowed to wonder.

A Gaggle of Gift Guides and Places To Give

Looking for gift ideas for your classroom or home? Here are my go-to gift guides as well as places kids might be interested in giving some money.

3 Things You Can Give Your Students (That Don’t Cost Anything)

As the holidays approach, few teachers can afford to buy each student a gift – but we all have the power to give students something meaningful that doesn’t cost a thing. Here are three ideas…

Stretching Students

I’ve been revisiting this lovely excerpt from Carol Ann Tomlinson’s article “Meeting Needs in Regular Classroom” and a few words really stood out to me…

Becoming A Meddler In The Middle

Here’s a reading assignment: Erika McWilliam’s “From Sage to Guide to Meddler.” This paper discuses how we can get in the middle of our students’ learning, creating productive struggle by allowing kids to sit in their own confusion longer than they might like.

Do You Know the Nuances of Mindset?

Before you implement an educational theory like Mindset, Grit, or Multiple Intelligences, make sure to read the original work, understand the limitations, and know the most common misunderstandings.

Torrance’s Manifesto for Children

My friend Brian introduced me to Torrance’s Manifesto for Children – and I wish I had seen it decades ago!

Ira Glass on Perfectionism

For people who do not suffer from perfectionist tendencies, it can be hard to understand the crippling feeling a student feels when their work doesn’t match their expectations. Ira Glass, who you know from This American Life, has a fantastic quote that gets to the heart of this problem.

Thinking From Anything’s Perspective

How a small change, with very little effort on the teacher’s part, leads to a delightfully complex task that can will get students thinking.

To Differentiate Go Faster. Or Slower.

Sometimes we need to speed up to serve gifted kids. Sometimes we need to slow down.

Why a Measurement Must Never Be the Goal

When we focus on a simple measurement to guide a complex goal, that measurement becomes the goal, and the measurement starts to work against the real goal.

Aim for High Ceilings and Low Floors

To differentiate, aim for one complex task that is well-scaffolded, not three completely different tasks. Aim high and scaffold down.

Books Featuring Gifted Guys

I’ve done a couple rounds of book recommendations featuring gifted female protagonists, so here’s one for the fellas: kid-friendly novels with a gifted male character.

Start With The Problem – Not A Solution

Before you try that next classroom idea, pause to consider the end by asking: how will I know if it worked?

Why I don’t include “Explain Why” in Questions

I used to think that adding “explain why” to the end of a question somehow made it higher-level. But now I see two problems in asking students to “explain their thinking”.

Misconceptions About 🏛️ Big Idea

Big Idea is often the first prompt of Depth and Complexity that I introduce to students. That does not mean, however, that it is basic or less sophisticated than the other prompts.

Messy Thinking and Neat Thinking

Why it takes a balance of chaotic and careful thinking to get to a high-quality final product.

My Worst Depth and Complexity Worksheet

Here’s the most common mistake I’ve seen in implementing Depth and Complexity. And I made it too!

Word Pyramids – A Delightful Vocabulary Puzzle

A fun, abstract vocab puzzle in which students can add one letter per line, forming a pyramid of words.

Beware “Real World Problems”

Why I stopped looking for “real world” problems and started aiming for “interesting.” The real world is often tedious and annoying. Interesting never is!

Mathy Art

A few artists who create awesome mathematical art!

Directly Teach Non-Academic Skills

Any time we complain that a kid always or never does something, we should consider this same question: has anyone ever taught them how?

The Least Popular Depth and Complexity Prompt

Last month, I asked which prompt of Depth and Complexity you’d get rid of. The results were pretty unanimous…

Summer Reading 2017

A handful of books I’ve read recently that stuck with me. Two teaching-related books, a biography, a book about, like, everything, and one great sci-fi novel.

Why Non-Examples Are As Important As Examples

Providing high-quality exemplars is only half the battle. Serve up a nice and terrible non-example, and you’ll highlight just what makes that great version so great.

When The Highly-Capable Don’t Understand That They’re Highly-Capable

The Dunning-Kruger Effect states that those with low-ability in an area tend to over-estimate their skills, while those with high-ability tend to under-estimate their skill. This has serious implications on classrooms and the way we communicate proficiency.

What “Gamification” Gets All Wrong About Games

I love Margaret Robertson’s piece about how typical gamification items like badges and levels completely miss the point of what makes games great. Take a look.

Knowing Our Own Mindsets

I continue reading my friends’ dissertations and stumble across how very “fixed” a teacher’s mindset can become. What do we do?

Narcissistic Teaching (and how to change it)

I’ve been reading my friends’ dissertations and writing up my discoveries. In this episode, I encounter the term “narcissistic pedagogy” and it rocks my world.

Building Sequences of Questions with Depth and Complexity

Understanding how to move students from abstract to specific and back again is a key to differentiating for the gifted. Reading through a pal’s dissertation gave me a new way of applying this to Depth and Complexity…

Depth, Complexity, and Graphic Organizers

Layer the prompts of Depth and Complexity onto any graphic organizer to increase the level of thinking required of your students.

Examples of Archetypes who are Ladies

Long ago, I created a lesson to help my students understand character archetypes. As I’ve revised this lesson, I’ve tried to balance the male/female ratio. For some archetypes, it’s pretty hard and I’d love your help!

Thinking Hats and Lunar Survival Skills

How Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats helped me solve a problem with my favorite group discussion task.

What “Chef’s Table” Taught Me About Success

Netflix’s delightful documentary about famous chefs brought to mind three patterns about success.

Raising Our Levels of Moral Development

Kohlberg’s levels of moral development are a fantastic tool for helping our gifted kids understand their advanced awareness of moral issues. But it also challenges us, as adults, to step up and push our own moral development higher.

Listening to the Elderly About Life Goals

After reading my post about promoting interests instead of passions, reader Nicole sent a link to this article about speaking to the elderly about finding a life purpose: Basically, the oldest Americans (most of whom also struggled with the question) tell you to relax. They say that you are likely to have a number of […]

Practical Tips For Pre-Assessments

I get a lot of questions about the practical details of running pre-assessments and setting up multiple groups in a classroom. I brainstormed a big ol’ list of tips I learned from my own experiments and those of my colleagues.

Highlighting the Messy Process Behind Beautiful Products

We’re very aware of our own messy processes, but end up comparing that with other people’s beautiful, final products. It’s a sure path to impostor syndrome, thinking you’re the only one who struggles to create.

Our Brains and Understanding Fear

Understanding our body’s feelings is important, especially for gifted students whose powerful minds often overthink problems, which in turn leads to perseveration and nervousness.

Delightful Math Data

I love collecting links to articles with fun math applications. Here are three of my recent favorites.

A Look Back At 2016

Here’s what happened in 2016 and what I’m planning for next year!

Puzzlement Tournament

Perfect to wrap up the year: a four-round puzzlement tournament.

Brain Friendly Puzzlements

I’m reading Teaching With the Brain in Mind and realized how my weekly Puzzlements mailer has some great connections to a brain-friendly classroom! The author, Eric Jensen, writes about creating a safe classroom in which the brain can learn. Here are a few notes I’ve made. Novelty Jensen explains how the brain loves new things. […]