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"I believe that every single child is gifted and that every kid has a talent which we as educators should help uncover. This is not easy when you have a curriculum to follow and tons of material to teach. But that given we need to make time to work with kids in a different and more creative setting. It's important to let them explore new things that may not be present in your curriculum but are in your students' heads all the time. This is how we can awaken curiosity in young children and help them develop creative thinking. Interestingly though, this idea does not originate in education or teaching practice. It was actually inspired by Google's "20% Time" rule, which encourages employees to spend 20% of their time working on their own projects and ideas outside Google. This concept inspired the idea of a "Genius Hour" at school."

"THE TECH-BUYING PUBLIC is all abuzz about drones! Even drones are abuzz about drones, because that's generally the sound they make! But there's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all drone. Whether you're looking for a fun flying toy, a UAV that can take some serious lumps, a high-speed racer, or a professional flying camera, here are the hot picks this holiday season."

"I agree with Brene Brown about developing "shame resilience" and have found the usual tug of war between with teaching and mistake making diminishes when we introduce students to a mindset in which they appreciate the importance of recognizing our errors and strive for constant improvement. When I think about design thinking, I believe it could be a powerful way for students to experience their vulnerability and develop perspective taking, all the while creating real cool stuff-whether it is a piece of writing, a t-shirt, a rollercoaster, an app or, in my Early Year's classroom, a garden. They learn how to fail forward and create another prototype. This design sprint is not a destructive but constructive element because, although they spent a lot of time developing their idea, the focus shifts from the product itself to the user-who will reap the benefits of this redesign. It gets the kids to detach from what they are making to who they are making it for. This nuance has a relatively big impact on the process of improvement."

"Tis the season to be jolly, especially with the newest interactive and multimedia apps available to celebrate. Children, adolescents, and teens can create very meaningful gifts for friends and family members or get into the holiday spirit by using the suggested apps below. The apps are very easy to use, often free, and have various multimedia options. These apps integrate images, audio, text, video and extras."

"FaceTime is Apple's video chat service. It allows anyone with a recent iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Mac to make free calls to any other Apple user over Wi-Fi or cellular connection. On the iPhone, FaceTime is bundled into the Phone app. On the iPod touch, iPad, and Mac, FaceTime is a separate app. On all devices, FaceTime can connect to any Apple-registered iPhone phone number or email address. That makes it perfect for keeping in touch with family who lives far away, with the kids while traveling, with business partners at distant offices, or even with that special someone while shopping for the perfect gift."

"Parents and teachers who trust little Muffy and Junior with their shiny iPads don't have to worry about how access to shoot-'em-up video games will rot their precious little gifted and talented program minds. Instead, they can download some of the following alternatives to help them build up their brilliant brains that will totally go on to win Nobel Prizes someday."

"Ginger Gregory is the Gifted Resource Teacher at Lakeview Elementary School in Yukon, Oklahoma, and currently has 117 videos on her classroom YouTube channel. Ginger has used the six iPads in her classroom and her free, district-provided YouTube channel (since the Yukon school district participates in the Google Apps for Education program) to help her students develop oral communication skills, oral fluency, as well as digital literacy skills this semester. In the following six minute video, Mrs. Gregory and eight of her students explain what they have learned as a result of their assignments this year using iPad videos and YouTube."

"At the beginning, people thought she was nuts. Sue Mellon, the Gifted support coordinator for Springdale Junior and Senior High/Colfax School in the Allegheny Valley School District, thought 7th and 8th graders could develop a deeper understanding of poetry by playing around with robotics."

"I know everyone is in those final days before break, so it seemed fitting that there a TON of free apps to share today instead of waiting until Friday. A few that I know for sure are time sensitive.. download ASAP! "

"Quite few families are planning to give a tablet to the kids for a holiday gift. After getting the device, it is time to find the good apps to put on the iPAD or iPod Touch. I am going to start listing "Best Educational Apps for Kids" by age and subjects. As a starter, today's list is Math Apps for Kindergarten and Early Elementary Kids. I am sure there are a lot more apps out there, if you have an app you'd like to add to the list, please add the app's name at the comment area. I will periodically update the lists based on readers' inputs. It will be very helpful if you can attach a link to the App Store. Since some apps have the same titles, a direct link to the app store can help minimize potential confusions. B"

"Did you receive a gift of a new iPad this year? If so, you're probably spending this holiday vacation week trying out all kinds of new apps. Here are ten that I recommend getting started with."

"Did you receive a gift of a new iPad this year? If so, you're probably spending this holiday vacation week trying out all kinds of new apps. Here are ten that I recommend getting started with."

"In my work through school and organization visits, I have been fascinated to see the correlation between the speed of change and an individual who is "leading" the charge. The schools that have someone (or a group of people) helping to push the boundaries of what can be done in schools seem to move a lot quicker with a larger amount of "buy-in" through the process. As Malcom Gladwell describes in his book, "The Tipping Point", he states: The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts."

"Thankfully, there's more information on introverts out there than ever before. I tapped into my amazing personal learning network of educators and gathered a towering pile of books on my nightstand, topped by Susan Cain's book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking. In her book, Cain champions the often-overlooked talents and gifts of introverts, and offers parents and educators strategies for communication and evaluation. This year, I drew on this advice and made a number of changes to my classroom in order to improve learning opportunities for my introverted students."

For Halloween 2016, I did a version of Halloween Wars (a Food Network show) with my two classes of gifted elementary learners. I am sharing this lesson through my blog post as it reinforces how I approach lesson planning and teaching. Background Information Principles that drive my instructional approach. regardless of theme, include: Instructional challenges are hands-on and naturally engaging for learners. There is a game-like atmosphere. There are elements of play, leveling up, and a sense of mastery or achievement during the instructional activities. The challenges are designed to be novel and create excitement and joy for learners. There is a healthy competition where the kids have to compete against one another. Learners don't need to be graded about their performances as built-in consequences are natural. There is a natural building of social emotional skills - tolerance for frustration, expression of needs, working as a team. Lessons are interdisciplinary (like life) where multiple, cross-curricular content areas are integrated into the instructional activities."

"This year I have been focusing on design challenges and design thinking with my gifted elementary students, grades 2nd through 6th. Last semester I introduced a series of activities to have them explore, learn about, and interact with design thinking principles and strategies. For a description of those activities, see https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2016/09/25/introducing-design-thinking-to-elementary-learners/ To re-introduce design thinking again for this spring semester, this week I asked them to do the Extraordinaire Design Studio:"

"Toy take apart and hacking is a high engagement activity that works for kids of all ages, including adults who haven't lost their sense of kid, and both genders. I have done it multiple times during my summer maker camp for elementary level kids, my gifted students, and at conferences as part of teacher professional development. Here is a description of this activity from the tinkering studio at the Exploratorium: Do you ever wonder what's inside your toys? You'll make some exciting and surprising discoveries about their inner parts when you don some safety goggles and get started dissecting your old stuffed animal, remote controlled car, or singing Santa. Use screwdrivers, seam rippers, scissors, and saws to remove your toy's insides. Check out the mechanisms, circuit boards, computer chips, lights, and wires you find inside. Once you've fully dissected your toy, you can use the toy's parts, your tools, and your imagination to create a new original plaything.  (https://tinkering.exploratorium.edu/toy-take-apart)"

"Generating a love of reading is one of those gifts that benefit a child throughout their whole life. These apps and storybooks are a couple of ways that you can use the iPad to develop this passion. Some are beautiful illustrated others have cool narrative while some just use the touch and swipe technology in a new way. Check out a couple of these titles the next time you want to get a kid into reading."