Looking for Teacher professional development options for your school?
Active learning
Aphantasia: How It Feels To Be Blind In Your Mind (written by a Facebook engineer)
10 Ways to Bring Active Learning To Your Classroom
Elon’s admissions challenges for 2019/2020.
Links — Online Learning
Khan Academy: Online learning for free
Devised by Salman Khan and sponsored by Bill Gates, Khan Academy offers free online videos for teachers and students.
Byrdseed: Resources for teachers of high performers
Ian Byrd’s written tips, practical exercises, and online teaching videos for teachers and students (includes premium content using Byrdseed.TV).
Youtube Education
Videos including secondary school content. “Whether you’re doing research for a project, need help with homework, or just want to learn something new, YouTube EDU features some of our most popular educational videos across YouTube.”
Mozilla Thimble: Learning coding
For students interested in programming. An online code editor for teaching the basics of HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
iTunes University (Australia)
Offers online course material from Australian schools and universities.
apple.com/education/ipad/itunes-u
Cerego
Helping students manage and schedule their learning for optimal performance. Cerego’s guidance helps people learn, remember longer, and then quantify their knowledge.
Links — The Research
Gifted and Talented Education PD package for Teachers
Provided by the Australia Government’s Department of Education, Science, and Training (DEST) to all schools in Australia in 2005. This PDF package by UNSW/GERRIC is for secondary teachers.
DEST Gifted and Talented PD Package for Secondary School Teachers (2005)
This PDF package by UNSW/GERRIC is for early childhood teachers.
DEST Gifted and Talented PD Package for Early Childhood Teachers (2005)
Acceleration
Acceleration is a strategy that allows a student to progress through school at a faster than usual rate and/or younger than typical age. There are 18 types of acceleration to consider for Australian pupils.
www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10487.aspx
Positive Education @ Geelong Grammar School
Literature review from Professor Martin Seligman’s $11m project at Geelong Grammar School in Victoria, Australia.
ggs.vic.edu.au/School/Positive-Education/What-is-Positive-Education-/Key-Concepts
Self-esteem in Schools
Dr Nathaniel Branden presents tips for schools and teachers on guiding children’s self-esteem.
esteemedself.com/applying-self-esteem/self-esteem-in-schools
Dr Greg Baer’s Real Love (in Teaching)
Research on ways teachers can fill essential emotional and spiritual needs before the student can really listen and effectively learn.
reallove.com/blog/2015/09/02/tale-two-teachers/
Articles by Australian Child Psychologist Louise Porter
Louise provides targeted resources for many different issues in children (emotional difficulties, shyness, discipline, learning styles).
Practical Tips — All
- Focus on strengths and talents. Recognise (and consider measuring) unique strengths in each student.
- Learning styles. Deliver content in multiple formats including video, audio, upgraded visual/written (colours), and interactive.
- Positive environments. Increase your classroom’s “positivity ratio” using more supportive language.
- Don’t reward, and don’t praise. Acknowledge efforts rather than successes. Be specific and open with your acknowledgment.
- Track goals. Be open about your own life and goals. And allow students to design and persist with their own goals.
- Provide resources to learn about other people’s goals (and successes). Eminent people, celebrities, autobiographies, stories from local speakers, and even other successful students and alumni.
- Physical intelligence. Add physical movement into classes (Not just PE—all of them!). When children can get up and move, their brains work more effectively.
- Teach study skills. Show students how to study. Includes time management, task analysis and breakdown, and planning.
- Remember play. Play is vital in learning. “Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning.” – Fred Rogers (American television personality)
Practical Tips — Gifted
- Accelerate. Not just grade skipping—there are 18 types including curriculum compacting! Acceleration should be addressed individually.
- Challenge. Ensure that the teaching and task difficulty are just ahead of the student’s level of development.
- Testing accurately. Above-level assessments should be at least three years above current age/grade placement.
- Work closely with parents to design learning. Parents have known their child for a long time! There is a lot to be gained by working cooperatively with parents.
- Ability grouping. Teach to capacity. For gifted students, keep these to small groups of three students. Leverage technology as much as possible—allow them to use current resources.
- Mentoring. Bright students benefit hugely from one-on-one mentoring with an adult or older student. Where possible, facilitate this introduction.
- Allocate private time. Similar to a professor’s “office hours” in university, allow time for students to approach you after class about sensitive topics or queries.
- Use this practical concept immediately as a teacher. Ask powerful discovery questions. Stay focused on the present and future. Communicate effectively. Help each student and parent find their own answers.
- Have fun with them. Remember that gifted students have an incredible sense of humour, though it can be easily forgotten. School should be a fun place for teachers and students.