Excellent Teaching

Using Haiku Poetry in the Classroom

Haiku in the Classroom How can you use haiku do in your classroom? A quick list includes: It’s no secret that I love poetry. I love teaching it, reading it, and even writing it. In second grade, my classmates accused me of cheating when I wrote my first haiku. Their

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Can Spelling Bees Help Anxious Children?

Recently, I was a guest on the They’ll be Fine podcast, a fabulous podcast for those interested in gifted education done by the North Carolina Association for the Gifted and Talented. The super cool and sparkly Stephanie Higgs, better known on the ‘Gram as her alter ego, Little Miss Gifted,

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Misdiagnosis of Gifted Children Demystified

There are entire books written about misdiagnosis of gifted kids. Why? Because in a number of children, giftedness looks like an alphabet soup of issues and disorders. And the list goes on. And on. Of course, it’s not always misdiagnosis. Giftedness can coexist with many conditions. However, it’s very, very

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Why Gifted Students Need School

Recently, I interviewed a truly delightful sixth-grade student. At one point in the conversation, I ended up interrupting regularly scheduled programming to give her a micro-lecture. (You can read that interview here.) In the course of that, I decided that there was a message in it that more gifted students

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Tips for Using ASL in Your Classroom

ASL has a place in every classroom.  Because I specialize in the education of gifted and talented students, I often cross paths with students who have atypical learning needs. ASL is a great fit for students with learning disabilities, for students with amazing learning abilities, and for those who are

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5 Profound Mistakes Every Teacher Should Avoid in Their Career

Recently I hosted three other teachers at my home for dinner. We’d all taught together, and we have about 100 years of combined teaching experience. While we had different teaching styles, different strengths, and different weaknesses, what we shared was exceptional proficiency as educators. After journaling and thinking about the

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Depth and Complexity Poetry Annotation Activity

When teachers are working with Depth and Complexity, one of the challenges they face is how to adapt already-existing content to the framework. It can seem harder to take what you have and infuse it with high-level thinking than to just start from scratch. In addition to the articles on

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faces of diverse group of chidren

Top Articles about Gifted Children [2022]

According to Google Analytics, these are the top articles about gifted children on the GiftedGuru website. If you are trying to learn about gifted children or gifted education, these are all worth reading. Articles about Giftedness 6 Reasons Not to Give IQ Tests to Gifted Children Top Ten Ways to

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Best Toys for Kids and Toys to Avoid

Looking for great toys for bright kids? I’ve got a list of toys that make great Christmas gifts (or other holiday gift) or birthday presents. Choosing toys for bright kids can be tricky. Quality is an issue because they’re attuned to the aesthetics at an early age. Longevity is an

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teacher and students - 5 Great Picture Books for young readers

5 Great Picture Books for Young Readers

If you’re looking for great books for bright kids, I’ve got five great books for bright readers that I think you’re going to love. I’ve grouped them together because several of these books are about space or stars. Whether you are building a classroom or home library, or whether you

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7 Picture Books for Bright Readers

7 Picture Books for Bright Readers

If you’re looking for great books for bright kids, I’ve got seven picture books for bright readers that I absolutely love. Whether you are building a classroom or home library, or whether you are looking for great gift ideas, this list will help you find the perfect book. This is

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