A 6th grade social studies teacher who attended a session I did on effective grouping strategies for students asked if I would help out with an assignment she had been given. She realized it wasn’t set up effectively and wanted my thoughts. Warning: I’m about to point out some problems
I’ve never met a parent of any kind of kid who felt that they knew all of the answers. This isn’t a new issue. In the 17th Century John Wilmot said, “Before I got married I had six theories about raising children; now, I have six children and no theories.”
Peggy Speaks This interview with a grown-up gifted kid is a series within a series. It is the latest in my Interview with a Gifted Kid series. In this episode, we meet the matriarch of three generations of a gifted family. In this installment, Peggy, a retired school librarian with
I love books, so when I was at the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children Conference in Nashville, TN, I went to every session about books. Luckily, there were several great ones! At one of them a fave person of mine, Lynette Breedlove from the Gatton Academy, shared a
I got an email from a member of the Gifted Guru community recently that asked this question: How can I help teachers understand that just because a child doesn’t understand it right away or without help, they still may need advanced work? She explained that some teachers she works with
Students’ grades should never be dependent upon the work or lack of work of other students. No exceptions. Ever since group work came to the fore of preferred pedagogy, this issue has remained ignored. Most teachers don’t even think about it when they’re assigning group work. They simply put the
Looking for a quick differentiation technique any teacher can use? I made this one up, and it’s worked really well for me for years. I call it “Scholar Extension Opportunity.” Scholar Extension Opportunities (SEOs) are optional opportunities for students to extend their learning experience. They may include creativity, product complexity,
I received an email from a parent who had asked the high school to allow her 9th grade daughter to enroll in AP English, rather than in Honors 9th Grade English. The school declined, and the parent wanted my suggestion on what to do. Note: Frequently I get questions from parents
Our kids can’t cut. It’s costing us a lot of money. It’s costing them a lot of learning. Normally, I don’t write articles for the website with lots of citation to research, saving that for journal articles. However, I’ve put some in here because I think it’s important to recognize
As of this writing, the mayor of New York is considering a proposal that would completely dismantle the school district’s Gifted & Talented program in the name of equity. A committee found that the system is inequitable, and in their report they advocated the destruction of services for gifted children
The spread of one-to-one devices in schools has meant that some people believe we’ve waived a magic wand and solved the differentiation problem. It’s easy! Simply plug the kid in and let the computer program pace and level their learning. Mischief managed! This is wrong thinking, and here’s why.
As a teacher, one of the most important skills my students need to develop to have healthy relationships with their peers is to learn how to offer an apology. A mumbled, “Sorry” with the head down and the toe of the shoe scuffing the floor is not what I
