It’s summer vacation where I live right now (shout out to my Southern Hemisphere peeps in the middle of winter), but if you peek over the shoulder of tens of thousands of students theoretically on vacation right now, you’d never know it. All over, instead of being outside climbing
“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” – Henry James Well, Henry clearly did not live in North Texas where I do, but summer is magical, even in when it’s hot. There are some things kids should do to
When a student is struggling in school, a family is struggling in school. I once heard Dr. Phil say, “When you’re a parent, you’re only as happy as your saddest child.” #truth I frequently hear stories of school struggle from readers. Sometimes the stories just break my heart. Sometimes they
In speaking of the efforts of Britain’s Royal Air Force, who were then tirelessly fighting the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain, Winston Churchill said, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” School isn’t a war, but it sure feels
Sometimes it’s the little things that make a difference in life. Things like changing the color palette in Word, PowerPoint or Excel. I know it sounds like a small thing, but it really does make a difference. Today, I’m sharing a little trick to do that I use all of
I’ve written about the homework battle before, and I don’t mean to discourage anyone, but it doesn’t usually get better as the student gets older. Gifted kids frequently resist homework and have other executive function issues that lead to stress and mismatched expectations. Will someone please tell me again why
When I was the Youth & Education Ambassador for Mensa, I tried to run for an at-large board position at NAGC. I received a phone call from an NAGC employee telling me that they were not going to allow me to run because I was “not enough of an advocate
I wrote about how to NOT to tell a child he/she is gifted, and now I’m sharing my thoughts about how to do it well. Pick a time when you have time. There needs to be time for a real conversation, not a random comment tossed over a parent’s shoulder
I’m a big believer in gifted identification. Both I and my colleague Ian Byrd have written about it. Once a child is identified, you’re going to have to tell him/her. Like most things, there’s a right way to tell a child he/she is gifted, and a wrong way. In fact,
Interested in sketchnoting? Here’s how I learned and what you need to know.
It’s so helpful to see ideas from real, live teachers. I’m so excited to share these ideas with you for differentiating for the unique nature & needs of gifted students. The teacher I’m highlighting is Susan Day, a teacher at Fairview Middle School in Bremerton, Washington. I think we can
Even without the intensities/overexcitabilities so common in our gifted population, kids can be overly emotional. What do I mean by overly emotional? I mean that they: overreact to even mild stimuli; and/or base decisions on emotions rather than reason at a level inappropriate for their age; and/or engage in a
