Here are six interesting links to inspire and ignite! Originally posted on Twitter. Follow me there: I’m @ByrdseedGifted.

• Amazing stop-motion jelly bean music video. Even better: includes a behind the scenes video.
• “Research strongly suggests that people are more creative when they enjoy privacy and freedom from interruption.” Is group-work counterproductive to our most creative people?
• The importance of frustration: Don’t Prevent Students’ Mistakes, Prepare for Them. From @GiftedEdIrving and @educationweek.
• What can you do with this? An image of iPods’ incredible change over time
• Great winter ideas, including: “Recreate Van Gogh’s Starry, Starry Night as Snowy, Snowy Night”
• Yes! 150 Words that are nouns and verbs. Multiple point of view practice!
• Striking photos of China’s fake Disneyland. Used these to inspire writing during a grammar lesson.

Thanks for reading Byrdseed.com. Here are some free resources to download.

Related: Another Seven Resources from Twitter Seven resources from around the web. From beautiful volcanos, winter...

Seven resources from around the web that might be useful in your classroom. Originally posted on Twitter. You can find me there as @ByrdseedGifted. If you’re new, Deborah Mersino has a great introductory write up.

• Incredible Volcano Photos – Great for a volcano study or a setting for some narrative writing.
• Fostering A Growth Mindset – Make your gifted students feel comfortable with taking risks and even failing sometimes! Thanks to @GiftedHF
• 10 Winter Carnivals – Go beyond the well-known winter celebrations. From National Geographic.
• Bored People Quit – Geared towards managers, but I know I could use some of these pointers.
• Shading Tutorial – Could make a great art skill lesson.
• The Blogotwittersphere is My Ideal Math Conference – How the online community acts as a never ending conference
• A Study of Gingerbread Man Stories – For the younger ones, from Not Just Child’s Play.

Let me know if you strike gold with any of these!

Thanks for reading Byrdseed.com. Here are some free resources to download.

Related: Seven More Resources from Twitter Six word stories, transforming children's drawings, the most expensive photograph...

One week before my first classroom opened its doors, I attended a workshop by Rick Morris, who, among dozens of amazing tips, highlighted the ways he uses music to manage his classroom.

Ever since, I’ve used the theme from The Andy Griffith show as a cue for students to return to their seats. These musical transitions have saved my voice years of wear and tear.

Here are some of the ways I’ve been getting music into my classroom.

Smart Playlists

Playlists are a simple idea in iTunes: just drag the songs you want, and they will play in the order you desire.

However, a smart playlist is far more powerful for the classroom. A smart playlist automatically picks all songs that meet certain criteria that you select.

The most useful application in the classroom is that a smart playlist will find songs you haven’t listened to recently and play those first, keeping your classroom music from growing stale.

For example, I have a smart playlist that automatically pulls in all songs in the “classical” genre that do not have a “one star” rating. The smart playlist orders these songs according to “least recently played.” Here’s what it looks like:

These keeps the playlist fresh, since only unplayed songs are at the beginning of my playlist. It automatically includes any song labeled classical, and I can remove songs from the playlist simply by rating them with one star.

I named this playlist “classical” and simply double click it when I need some background music in the classroom.

The best part is, if I download or import a new CD of classical music, those songs are automatically included into this playlist. And these songs will be put first on the list, since they haven’t been played yet.

Here’s a more complicated smart playlist that will automatically include songs that I haven’t listened to in two weeks, have at least four stars, are less than five minutes long, and are no older than 2009. iTunes will pick 25 songs that meet this criteria, and sort them randomly.

Here’s a Lifehacker article on 10 useful smart playlists.

Pandora

Pandora is a streaming service that offers a free plan (with commercials) or a paid plan that is ad-free. Using Pandora, you develop your own radio station by typing in an artist you want to listen to.

Pandora then plays songs that are similar to that artist. You can give feedback by clicking thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Pandora then tweaks your radio station based on this feedback.

Anytime you are listening to a song, you can ask Pandora why it picked the song and it will give you the criteria. Here’s why Pandora picked “Man In The Mirror” for me:

Naturally, you can create multiple stations for different occasions. For example I have created everything from a holiday station to a station based on video game theme songs.

The downside to Pandora is that you cannot simply request a certain song or artist. My Michael Jackson station plays songs by Janet Jackson, Jackson 5, Prince, and other artists deemed “similar” by Pandora.

For the holidays, Pandora has been fantastic in the classroom. I just turn on my holiday station and we are treated to a variety of wintery music that I don’t have to spend a dime on.

Want some quiet work music? Create a James Taylor station and enjoy some gentle singer-songwriter tunes.

Pandora is available as a free app for your smartphone and can also be played through the Pandora.com website. Note that using the smartphone app is a great way to get around potential district blocking.

Here’s Pandora’s how-to page.

Rdio

Rdio is a pay service, with a monthly fee. This gets you direct access to almost any song you can think of without needing to actually buy the songs.

For example, I wanted to use the theme from I Love Lucy as students approached the projector to present a sample project. A couple taps on the Rdio app on my phone, and we were listening to this TV classic.

During Halloween, I made liberal use of the themes from Ghostbusters and Thriller, both available through the Rdio app.

As my students developed movie trailers, I quickly brought up the evocative soundtrack from Tron: Legacy as background music while they worked.

Rdio doesn’t have every song or album (The Beatles are notably missing), but there’s an amazing selection that has rarely let me down. For $5 or $10 a month, it offers a great value for people who frequently listen to a variety of music.

It’s also useful for rainy days when students are stuck inside, we can cue several requests during lunch and hear the songs they are interested in (which otherwise I would probably not own).

Again, your district may block streaming sites such as Rdio, but I simply use my phone and plug it into a set of speakers.

Here are Rdio’s frequently asked questions

DIY With Garageband

I had so much success with using The Andy Griffith song as a transition, I decided to find a quick, 45 second math transition. Unable to think of a fitting tune, I opened up Garageband on my laptop and wrote my own!

With a surprisingly loud beginning, a strange low-voice, and an opera-style singing part, it’s the song my students love to hate. They playfully grumble and roll their eyes as it starts up, yet by its conclusion, their homework, notebook, and whiteboard are ready to roll (and sometimes I even catch them dancing in their seat to it!).

Feel free to use this math transition (mp3) in your classroom to get kids ready for a math lesson.

I bet you have a few students who would love the chance to write their own transition songs for your classroom.

So, how do you use music in your classroom, any tech tips for making the most of it?

Thanks for reading Byrdseed.com. Here are some free resources to download.

Related: Google’s 20% In A Gifted Classroom Do you give your gifted students room to explore personal...

Halloween is coming up, and it’s a hard one to ignore in the classroom. Sure, you can always use the traditional cut and paste pumpkin activity, but let’s think about how we can capture students’ excitement and use it to deepen thinking and increase knowledge?

Origins

It’s always interesting to see how things started, and Halloween has been through an interesting change over time. While exploring Halloween’s history, students are sure to encounter ideas that offer new perspectives.

You class might begin by learning about Halloween’s connections to All Saints’ Day (also known as All Hallows’ Day, from which the name All Hallows’ Evening transforms into Hallow’een).

Students can also investigate the Gaelic festival of Samhain, occurring at the end of the fall harvest and celebrated from the 31st through November 2nd.

Both of these holidays will connect students to some pretty ancient ideas that cut cross several cultures.

The Pumpkin

The pumpkin, Halloween’s signature decoration, is actually a relative newcomer to the holiday. Originally, there would have been carved turnips, potatoes, and even beets decorating windows and doorways! Here’s a pretty horrific-looking carved rutabaga from an Irish Museum. Maybe your students can judge the best fruit, vegetable, or tuber to carve on a holiday. Have a debate (and see how far out their ideas get)!

The term Jack-O-Lantern evolves from an Irish myth about Stingy Jack, who became Jack of the Lantern. If students took a liking to carving a different food, let them concoct a myth explaining the origin of their idea.

Other Cultural Views

Our own culture’s view of Halloween is just one of many. Expose your students to some other takes on this holiday:

• In southern California, we see lots of influence from the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos, including the sugar skulls known as calaveras de azúcar.
• A Cornish tradition on October 31st called Allantide uses apples as its central imagery.
• Mischief Night is originally a British tradition occurring on November 4th (the night before Guy Fawkes Night). Halloweenish pranks are played throughout the night.
• Walpurgis Night occurs six months after Halloween and is celebrated in Europe (and is the setting of Fantasia‘s “Night on Bald Mountain” segment).
• And of course, after expiring these existing ideas, you can always let students invent their own variant on the theme.

Authors

Naturally, we want to expose our gifted students to the classics, and what classic writer fits Halloween better than Edgar Allen Poe? I always read The Raven to my class several times as we lead up to the 31st. What a rich collection of figurative language!

Of course, you can host some spooky poem readings with tales written by your own students. Encourage variations on Poe’s wickedly complex rhyme scheme and meter!

If your class can handle it, I also love The Tell Tale Heart for its amazing portrayal of inner dialog and increasing tension (and it’s short enough to fit on one page!). I’ll never forget acting this one out in my seventh grade English class!

Older students can explore classics such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, whose characters are now linked in with modern Halloween imagery. Compare and contrast the classic movie versions of these stories as well.

Finally, Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hallow is a classic American short story that goes hand and hand with Halloween.

Other Media

I love the mishmash of holidays in the film *Nightmare Before Christmas *. What an interesting study in how perspectives can influence understanding. I bet your students could create some equally interesting holiday collisions (Leprechauns delivering Easter Eggs?).

Mentioned earlier as part of Fantasia, but Mussorgsky’s “Night On Bald Mountain” is a rich piece of music to expose your students to. Can your students create stop motion films or skits to go with this evocative song?

Finally, how many of your students are familiar with the hilarious misadventures of Peanuts’ Linus while waiting for The Great Pumpkin? Perhaps your class can invent a generous, mascot for Halloween like the mysterious Great Pumpkin.

Update: As usual, the Not Just Child’s Play blog gives some amazing advice for younger students. See: Adding Rigor To Halloween Activities, Halloween Perspectives, and The Runaway Pumpkin.

Thanks for reading Byrdseed.com. Here are some free resources to download.

Related: Thanksgiving’s Thursday Origins Teaching students about the first Thanksgiving feast is standard fare...

As I prepared for several speaking engagements this summer, I came across the following seven useful articles and resources:

1. Experience of Giftedness: Eight Great Gripes, Six Years Later Learn about the eight great gripes that gifted students have.
2. Curriculum Sites That Support Differentiation A set of websites collected by Dr. Jann Leppien.
3. A Depth and Complexity Wiki with student samples, presentations, and ideas for differentiation. Started by Paula Wilkes, Mark Szymanski, and Karren Timmermans.
4. Moral Sensitivity of Gifted Children An illuminating article from SENG on the need to understand gifted kids’ moral development. By Linda Kreger Silverman.
5. Introversion: The Often Forgotten Factor Impacting the Gifted From Jill D. Burruss and Lisa Kaenzig, a discussion on the impact of introversion on our gifted students.
6. Ascending Intellectual Demand A website put together by high school teacher David Chung, collecting multiple ways to increase rigor for students.
7. Back To School Snowball Fight Finally, a fun back to school idea from Rachel Lynette.

Photo by Petercastleton

Thanks for reading Byrdseed.com. Here are some free resources to download.

Related: 7 Gifted Resources – March, 2011 Another list of links bursting with ideas for your gifted...

Nine interesting resources from around the web to inspire your classroom and ignite some creativity!

1. Nice PDF of Universal Themes and Generalizations.
2. Great read: “Top 10 things I wish all teachers knew about giftedness“
3. “Turn that Countdown Around” by @4thGrdTeach on Twitter.
4. A new book I bought: Shakespeare’s Wordcraft. Features amazingly advanced figurative language I’m using for end-of-the–year sonnets.
5. National Geographic’s Map of the Universe.
6. Using Skype in the classroom: “The Mystery Skype Call.”
7. Analyzing the math behind MC Escher‘s art.
8. Speaking of Escher, your students will flip for these impossible figures.
9. Archive of Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented’s Tempo journal.

Photo by River Beach

Thanks for reading Byrdseed.com. Here are some free resources to download.

Related: 7 Resources For July 2011 Seven gifted education resources from around the web. Learn about...

I’ve gotten an overwhelming about of feedback from you all regarding the site. Probably the most common request is for more primary resources.

Since my hands are pretty full working with 6th graders, it’s difficult to write about anything other than my daily explorations, but I do want to point you to a handful of useful primary resources:

• Not Just Child’s Play is a phenomenal site featuring articles about depth and complexity in the primary classroom. I even use her ideas with my 6th graders!
• Empower Primary and Inspire Change is a resource written by Cynthia Kirk and Katherine Squires for K-2 classrooms. It features the tools of depth and complexity quite heavily.
• Teaching Young Gifted Children In The Regular Classroom is a brief article written by Joan Franklin Smutny from HoagiesGifted.org.

Let me know if you have anything else worth sharing!

Photo by woodleywonderworks

Thanks for reading Byrdseed.com. Here are some free resources to download.

Related: Teaching with Literature in the Primary Grades By and large, we underestimate the learning capabilities of young...

1. Several Creative Strategies for Teaching Language Arts to gifted students, from Joan Franklin Smutny.
2. “To Teach Gifted Learners Well: The Do’s and Don’ts” from Carol Ann Tomlinson via NAGC.org
3. Nurturing curiosity & inspiring the pursuit of discovery from PresentationZen. Fantastic read on developing an environment that allows trying and failing.
4. An awe-inspiring visual journey through advanced studies from Tamara Fisher’s gifted program via EdWeek.org.
5. A meaty read detailing varios Definitions, Models, and Characteristics of gifted children. By Susan Johnson via Prufrock.com.
6. “It’ll Never Work!” Incorrect predictions from smart people. Great read for those gifted students who are afraid to take a risk. Also a great read to remind teachers not to box our gifted kids in
7. Developing Creativity in Gifted Children through motivation and classroom climate. By Beth A. Hennessey via www.gifted.uconn.edu.

Thanks for reading Byrdseed.com. Here are some free resources to download.

Related: 7 Resources For July 2011 Seven gifted education resources from around the web. Learn about...

Earlier this month, Ken contacted me to see if I’d review the recently published series, called Challenging Units for Gifted Learners. Would I? I’ve been talking my colleagues’ ears off about that golf course unit I saw! I couldn’t wait to see what else was in the books.

The series recently arrived, and consists of three books, covering math, social studies, and language arts. Each is designed for 6th to 8th grade classrooms.

Targeting Gifted Students’ Thinking

Ken Smith, who authored the series, has a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology and also runs the enrichment program for his school district. The balance of these two perspectives makes this series uniquely useful. The ideas behind the units clearly target the minds of our gifted learners, but the lesson design clearly targets us busy teachers.

Each book opens with an overview of research into gifted students’ thinking processes. Smith discusses what makes gifted students’ brains different and addresses the impact this has on the classroom. This information serves as a backdrop for the bulk of the book, which is packed with practical units divided into daily lessons and built upon “ill-defined problems.”

Ill-Defined Problems

Ill-defined problems are tasks with open constants. Instead of clearly defined rules and requirements, open problems have countless correct solutions, and require creativity, adaptability, and high-level problem solving. Smith explains that, because of their unique abilities in thinking and remembering, gifted students are especially attracted to ill-defined problems. Here are the ill-defined problems that Smith has built these units on:

Language Arts

1. writing a mystery story built around richly developed characters
2. writing group stories in which students write the same story from different characters’ perspectives
3. creating deep poetry using high-level academic vocabulary
4. analyzing literature using a Freudian perspective

Math

1. creating a math “fun fair” centered around probability
2. developing a working golf course built on geometry and physics
3. making profitable investments
4. running a small business

Social Studies

1. simulating Antebellum America
2. planning an African economic summit
3. simulating The Supreme Court
4. investigating the struggles of the original American colonies

Research-Based And Teacher-Friendly

Smith takes each of these complex, “ill-defined problems” and breaks them down into well-constructed units. He introduces each unit with a research-based “cognitive connection” and then transitions into step-by-step, teacher-friendly lessons.

These units are hefty, too, weighing it at around a dozen lessons a piece. Each lesson sets up the next, lending structure to open-ended projects. The units conclude with possible adaptations for your class along with necessary handouts, scoring guides, and links to more resources. There’s even nightly homework ideas at the end of each day’s lesson!

After looking through the unit on mystery writing from the language arts book, I felt comfortable bringing it right into my classroom and knew I was increasing the level of complexity in my students’ writing.

I really appreciate the creativity of the units combined with the simplicity of the daily lessons. It’s the exact formula that I feel teachers need. Plus, these units will truly challenge my 6th graders. I’m so used to having to increase the rigor of all my curriculum, it’s quite a great feeling to plug something right into my schedule and not feel like I’m shortchanging my students.

In Closing

Each book in the series offers four units made up of around a dozen lessons each. The books are available as paperbacks as well as PDFs. Click through for more details and a look at a few pages of each book:

• Language Arts
• Social Studies
• Math

Thanks for reading Byrdseed.com. Here are some free resources to download.

Related: Language Arts Needs Of Gifted Learners How can you start meeting gifted learners' needs in language...

Here’s eight links I’ve stumbled upon in past month. Hopefully a few might prove useful to you and your classroom:

1. A great treasure hunt powered by math.
2. FutilityCloset.com posts some interesting chess puzzles. Here’s a simple one to get started (and here’s the solution).
3. A database of enrichment ideas from University of Connecticut.
4. How to  use tests to benefit student learning.
5. Lists of reading resources for gifted kids and educators, from HoagiesGifted.org.
6. Dan Meyer uses an Orbeez commercial to investigate volume.
7. A math and physics lesson based off video of a car’s dashboard.
8. A paper on differentiation (pdf) detailing eight practical ways to differentiate.

Photo by craiglea123

Thanks for reading Byrdseed.com. Here are some free resources to download.

Related: Eight Gifted Education Resources Eight ideas for your gifted classroom. Computational thinking, unbelievable origami,...