A central repository for all of the little apps I’ve written here at Byrdseed.
Year: 2019
PD Rule: Speak from Experience
The key to a great presentation? Only talk about things you have actually, personally done. Oh, and always start with your failure!
Emoji as Digital Depth and Complexity Icons
While the official depth and complexity icons look great, they lead to all kinds of problems in the digital world and also take ownership away from students. Emoji are an elegant solution to both problems.
Don’t Just “Have A Discussion”
Why I now strike the phrase “have a discussion” from my lesson plans.
Running A Curiosity Project
Merlin Mann stated that employees’ motivation increases when they get to “build a robot” once in a while. That is, do something creative beyond regular work. Can we do this at school? Offices have “casual Fridays,” can we have “curiosity Fridays?”
Resources for Alabama Gifted and Talented Teachers
Five fantastic starting points for teachers in Alabama who work with gifted and talented students.
Depth and Complexity: ❓Unanswered Questions
By far, ❓Unanswered Questions was the prompt that I under-utilized with my own class. Now I see it in a whole new light, and boy is there immense power in prompting students to note and explore truly unanswered questions.
Depth and Complexity: 👄Language of the Discipline
Language of the Discipline is more than just slapping an icon next to an existing spelling list. It’s about digging into the words, phrases, symbols, and acronyms that an expert uses to discuss their field efficiently.
Why “Challenging” Isn’t Quite The Right Goal
“I want to challenge my students” is just about the most common goal out there. Unfortunately, I think it’s not quite the right word…
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – Book Study Ideas
Here’s how I’d wrap a big idea around our study of “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler”. We’d investigate the paradox that people want to both fit in and be unique! A quote from the author, E. L. Konigsburg, will be our entry point.