noads
Rewrite It, But Don’t Use “E”
Here’s an interesting way to move students past mundane patterns in their writing. Ask for a rewrite, but without a letter (or two).
Reflecting and Planning With Four Lists
Four lists I update every time I sit down to reflect and plan.
Why I Stopped Giving Talks
I made my living talking about teaching. Here’s why I’m done with that!
Let Your Brain Breathe!
I was breathing in too much. I needed to exhale. I didn’t need more ideas. I needed to do less!
Does Your Website Tell Your Story?
Make sure you’re maximizing the #1 place to tell a story: your program’s webpage.
Running A Gifted Program: Parent Nights
I’ve been to over a hundred parent nights and my main takeaway is this: use the time to build a community and get to know your parents’ needs. And stay away from PowerPoint!
Which One is Not Like The Others?
When we ask kids “which one is not like the others”, our cleverest students love to find ways to pick the non-obvious answer. So why not use this as a framework for pushing students deeper into our content.
Calculating the Volume of Laptops
So once your students can calculate volume… what do you have them do next? In this math project, kids will look up historic laptops, calculate their volumes, and note how technology has changed over time.
Depth and Complexity Frames: My Big Mistake
Frames, a graphic organizer often used with the Depth and Complexity framework, have one big trap that I fell into for years.
Synonym Graphs
Use a two-dimensional scatter plot to dig into the nuances of several synonyms.
Fill ‘er up with Clam Chowder!
Sure gasoline seems expensive. Until you try to fill your car up with other liquids!
2019 Year In Review
It’s that time of year when I look back and look forward. I’ve been writing these since 2011 and it’s always rewarding to look back at what I was thinking in the past and how it’s changed over the years. What Stuck (and What Didn’t) As I reviewed the past, here’s what I stuck with: […]
Making Awful Graphs
Sometimes we can learn a lot by doing something the wrong way. Here are six ways your students can purposefully design awful, misleading graphs.
Creating Seemingly Unrelated Analogies
Want to encourage students to find unexpected connections across content? Here’s a quick framework based on the most important terms from both bits of content.
Creating A New Mathematical Operation
Do your students realize that addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are all examples of the same idea: an operation? And that it’s quite possible to create a brand new operation? Let’s do it!
Creating A New Creature
We’re not doing a fluffy art project here. Kids are developing a realistic, made up creature that could have actually lived in a particular biome.
All of My Apps
A central repository for all of the little apps I’ve written here at Byrdseed.
The Many Problems With That “Rethinking Giftedness” Video
In this “Rethinking Giftedness” video the filmmakers make a claim that gifted programs cause fixed mindsets. The three questions I immediately wondered were: Where is the research? How were the students in this video selected? Did they visit any great gifted programs? Let’s dig into it. Where Is The Research? The video and its accompanying […]
2018 Annual Review
The Byrdseed annual report for 2018 (plus a look at what 2019 might hold)!
Clearing Up Jargon
Clear communication is simple, succinct, and relies on words that people understand. Jargon is the opposite. Journey with me as I attempt to define some edu-jargon…
Make The Case For Your Gifted Program
A common question I get is folks asking how to make the case for a gifted program. Usually someone is pitted against an administrator who doesn’t see the value in a gifted program. How do we change minds?
Why I Had “Early Finishers”
Wondering what to do with your early finishers? This is probably the wrong question!
2017 Report
Here is the (slightly delayed) 2017 Byrdseed report!
My kid isn’t being challenged!
As a parent, it’s easy to be concerned about a blah teacher. But you have more power and influence than any one teacher. Be aware of your praise. Be aware of your actions.
3 Things You Can Give Your Students (That Don’t Cost Anything)
As the holidays approach, few teachers can afford to buy each student a gift – but we all have the power to give students something meaningful that doesn’t cost a thing. Here are three ideas…
Mathy Art
A few artists who create awesome mathematical art!
Sharing Byrdseed
Frequently, people email to ask my permission to share a resource from Byrdseed in a presentation. Yes! Absolutely. Don’t even ask!