If you’re looking for great books for bright kids, I’ve got 5 new chapter books for middle grade readers, 5 older favorites, and one bonus non-fiction picture book for older readers that I think you’re going to love. Whether you are building a classroom or home library, or whether you
Quality review activities are essential for content mastery. I’ve written about my favorite ways to review (boring) stuff, and one of those suggestions was review games. Bingo in particular makes a great review game, and there are some best practies for making it as effective as possible. If you like
I’ve got ten strategies I follow when to create quality review opportunities, even of boring stuff. Let’s face it: sometimes there are things our students (or children) need to know that aren’t that exciting. We know that review is essential to deep learning, but how do we create quality review
To celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week (celebrated the first full week in May each year), I decided to save up my allowance and recognize some teachers. I sent an email out to the Gifted Guru Insiders (you can become one here), asking for people to nominate a teacher they thought would
When you’re new to the world of gifted children, it can be daunting. Whether you’ve just found out your child is gifted, you’ve just been made a teacher of the gifted, or you are a gifted student who is just accepting that you are in a slightly different world than
Almost every teaching idea about New Year’s Day focuses on making resolutions. I wanted to create something different for teachers, and I wanted it to be something that had a variety of ideas. Of course it had be able to done virtually and it had to look good. Oh, and
If you’ve got students or a child struggling to keep track of assignments or feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work they need to accomplish, a Kanban board may be the answer. A Kanban board is simple to use, motivating, and has proven its usefulness over decades. It’s odd to
Gifted students should not be used as tutors for other students as standard practice. This should not be a controversial statement, and yet somehow it is. Gifted children should not be used as short little mini-teachers for other students for a number of reasons, not the least of which is
Teachers shifting to virtual learning from an in-person only environment can feel overwhelmed. It’s hard not to get caught up in logins and device issues and constantly shifting requirements and keep focused on the core issues. I’ve written about steps to take to prepare for online teaching, and I’d like
Are you facing a year’s worth of learning experiences designed for regular classroom instruction, not knowing where to begin to convert it to a whole new world of learning? (But not in a cool Aladdin/Jasmine kind of way with a song and a flying carpet.) You probably aren’t describing the
We can make distance learning more engaging for learners. I know this is true because I’ve been engaging hundreds of students simultaneously in distance learning, and I’m going to tell you all of my secrets. The key to engaging students in distance learning is energy. You know how they say
Saturday morning at 7:28am I became the country’s English teacher. I didn’t know it at the time, of course, which is how these things usually work. The Idea for an Online Course Appears I had been thinking about the implications of school closures due to COVID-19, and my mind was
