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How To Let Your Brain Exhale

For Teachers

As a teacher, I was constantly inhaling new ideas. I became overwhelmed. Then, because I was overwhelmed, I’d inhale more ideas – hoping to find a solution to my overwhelmedness. What I needed to do was let my brain exhale.

Graphic Organizers and Higher Order Thinking

For Teachers

A few quick tips on how to better use graphic organizers to support higher-order thinking.

Differentiate with Low Floors and High Ceilings

For Teachers

Stop starting at grade level and stretching up. Start high and scaffold down. It’s simpler, and it actually works.

Lesson Makeovers: 3 Big Ideas

For Teachers

After looking at dozens of lessons folks sent in, I came up with three big ideas to address.

Phrases to Join a Discussion

Want your classroom discussions to go a bit more smoothly? Train students to use a few simple phrases and it’ll make all the difference in the world.

Creativity Beyond The Fluff

For Teachers

Just because a task is “creative” doesn’t mean students are at the top of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Plant Adaptation Tournament

Who will win in a tournament of eight plants with Interesting adaptations!?

The 8th Wonder of the World Tournament

Which of these eight wonders deserves to become the Eighth Wonder of the World!?

Rethinking Extension Menus

For Teachers

Is creating nine, two-sentence tasks really an effective way to differentiate?

Building Creative Confidence with the Torrance Tests

For Teachers

Here are a bunch of ways to quickly practice creativity with your students for zero dollars.

Brain Needs or Heart Needs

For Teachers

We think of gifted kids as only having academic needs, but – in their own words – they also have many needs of the heart.

Unexpected Intensities

For Teachers

Do you know a student who’s a little bit… intense?

Why “Challenging” May Not Be The Right Goal

For Teachers

So many of us say, “I want to challenge my students!” But, would you want a job that you describe as “challenging”?

Addressing Disorganization

For Teachers

Know any kids who, despite their brilliant minds, have a bit of a hard time keeping things in order, turning things in on time, or remembering to put their names on their papers?

Content Imperatives

For Teachers

Learn to use the Content Imperatives, a set of five additional tools that work with Depth and Complexity.

Difficult vs Complex Tasks

For Teachers

What separates difficulty from complexity? And why do complex tasks lead to much more natural differentiation?

A Lunar Survival Mission

A favorite of mine! This task is delightfully complex and ambiguous, forcing students to make choices without enough information and with no right answer. How will they survive on the moon for three days?

An Escher-Style Tessellation Project

Create a piece of repeating art in the style of MC Escher!

Story Starter: Out To Eat

Students pick from 12 random phrases to create a story about an incident in a restaurant.

Word Ladders Introduction

You won’t believe how this spelling and vocabulary puzzle will get kids’ brains sweating over the smallest of words.

Math Curiosity: The Coloring Problem

No video gets me more email from students! How few colors can you use to color in any map so that no two, neighboring regions are the same color?

More Specific than “Smart”

When students are told that they’re “smart”, what does this word actually mean to them? (Psst. It isn’t what we intended.)

Synonym Graphs

So, which is happiest: happy, joyful, or ecstatic? Which is most temporary?

Differentiate With Frames Across Disciplines

For Teachers

One topic, four angles. The Frame graphic organizer gives every student a different way in — without you creating four different lessons.

Create A Civilization Introduction

Your students build a civilization from scratch — rivers, flags, calendars, currency, government. Social studies, science, and writing woven into one year-long project.

Educational Valentines

Let’s make valentines with an educational twist!

Greekymon

Rather than just memorizing word parts, students will use those word parts to create four possible products.

Reduce Anxiety: Change The Channel (Tool 2)

Reduce anxiety by learning to “change the channel.”

Reduce Anxiety: Square Breathing (Tool 1)

Reduce anxiety by breathing in a square pattern.

Students and Personality Types

For Teachers

How can our students be so different? And how can we help them to understand themselves and each other better.

Multipotentiality: Excellent at Many Things

For Teachers

Why being good at many things can be a bit of a burden.

Teaching Empathy With Faberge Eggs

The story of the Fabergé Eggs is heartbreaking. It’s also the perfect way to build empathy in your classroom.

Teaching Criticism

For Teachers

Ask students to go beyond “I don’t like it” and form critical opinions based on a set of criteria. Students can produce written arguments or turn their opinion into oral presentations.

Impostor Syndrome

For Teachers

The student who breezes through school may hit a wall in college. Here’s why — and what to do about it now.

Add Layers To Direct Instruction

For Teachers

Take direction instruction beyond a monotonous practice of the same skill over and over.