Hi there! I’m Ian Byrd, founder of Byrdseed. I started it in 2009 to help teachers get their students’ brains sweating.
Since then, it’s turned into:
- Byrdseed.TV — Byrdseed’s library of 750+ video lessons for gifted students, used in 1,700+ school districts
- Gifted Guild’s Guide to Depth and Complexity — the book I co-wrote with Lisa Van Gemert. The first book-length guide to the framework.
- Byrdseed.com — free articles on Depth and Complexity, differentiation, and gifted education since 2009
- 244 keynotes — I spoke at gifted education conferences for years before retiring from speaking to focus on Byrdseed.TV
I still run Byrdseed as a one-person company, Byrdseed, LLC. Sandra Kaplan and Bette Gould created the Depth and Complexity framework. I’ve spent 17 years building lessons and tools around it.
Why This Matters to Me
I was a model student from kindergarten through high school: great grades, well-behaved, lots of extra-curricular activity. As my teacher, you would have been very proud of me.
You might have thought, “We did a good job with that one.”
But you would have been mistaken.
When I got to college, something horrible happened. I had to think for the first time. And I didn’t like it. It made me feel embarrassed and inferior and, frankly, stupid.
I went through an identity crisis. I had been The Smart Kid in high school! How could I be struggling now? I still got As and Bs. But they were no longer easy.
It wasn’t the grades that bothered me. It was that I suddenly had to think so hard to get them.
Elementary school through high school taught me to expect high praise for easy As. Then, in college, when the work was suddenly complex and ambiguous with no clear path forward, I simply didn’t know what to do.
I Was Part of the Problem
As a teacher, I did the same thing to my own 6th graders. I’d praise them for getting everything right without needing help. I’d wonder what to do with “early finishers” without asking myself why the work was obviously too simple. I never called my highest-performing students over to work with me, accidentally teaching them that “smart kids” don’t work with the teacher.
I didn’t know how to ask complex, interesting questions. But I’ve gotten better. That’s what I write about here at Byrdseed.com.
I’m Not the Only One
When I speak about this at conferences, parents of college-aged students come up with tears in their eyes and tell me, “My son is going through the exact same thing right now!”
This is a pattern. But schools don’t see it. How often does your district reach out to students two years after graduation? Do they check if kids are having an identity crisis because they no longer feel smart?
As teachers, we should be wondering, “Am I preparing my students to think well, or am I training them to ace a test in May?”
That’s why Byrdseed exists. I want gifted education to start in elementary school. Not their first year of college.
Want a good place to start? How about Asking Better Questions!
Who Is Ian?
Ian Byrd grew up in Garden Grove, California. Then he taught 6th graders there. Before becoming a teacher, he earned a Computer Science degree and briefly played bass in an almost-successful rock band.
These days, Ian focuses full-time on gifted education through Byrdseed and Byrdseed.TV.
Have a question? Email me at ian@byrdseed.com.