To understand how giftedness and physical energy are connected, stop picturing a fidgety kid interrupting the class. Instead imagine him deeply engrossed in his favorite activity.
Year: 2014
Taxes, Language Arts, and Social Studies
It’s tax season here in the US! The obvious classroom application is a math lesson about percents, but taxes can lead to an even more interesting discussion within language arts and social studies.
Why Gifted Kids May Not Be Great Tutors
It’s so easy to assume gifted kids will be the academic leaders in a classroom. Beacons of light for the other kids to follow. Dina Brulles and Susan Winebrenner explain the problem…
A Millionaire By Doubling Pennies
How long will it take to get a million dollars if you start with a penny and double it?
Olympic Medal Math Project
In the paper, I read about Norway’s dominance of the Winter Olympics, despite being a tiny country. I love this juxtaposition of unexpected data! Let’s turn it into a math project. Here are some questions I thought of…
Gifted Children and Anxiety
The obvious benefit of gifted students’ increased sensitivity is that they learn faster, since they pick up on so much more. But this sensitivity also has a dark side: turning our kids into anxious worriers.
Create A Civilization: Governments
My students, as part of their Create A Civilization project, had to select a type of government and explain its consequences. So I loved finding this list of all the different types of government.
Good At Too Many Things?
Multipotentiality is a fancy way of saying “good at many things.” It’s a defining trait of gifted kids, and you’ve probably seen it in action: a student writes beautifully, has mastered a musical instrument, excels in math, and still gets picked near the top in PE. Yet, this trait is one of the Eight Great Gripes of gifted kids.
Advanced Vocab: Words With Foreign Origins
Don’t bore students with another dull list of spelling words. Challenge them with weekly lists of common English words and phrases borrowed from another language.
Garden Path Sentences
Garden Path Sentences seem to begin one way, but quickly fall apart, forcing the reader to start over and interpret words in a new way. A simple example is: “The old man the boat.”