Once again I'm appropriating my friend Della's blog from Colorado. Lucky for me, last week her TED-Ed Tuesday was based on the speaker of one of my favorite TEDYouth 2015 talks. We were able to see her at TEDYouth in November 2015. Having worked with gifted learners for 9 years now, I love this message. Kids can do SO MUCH MORE than we think they can. I have had students who wrote novels, made beautiful, original artwork. I have had students who were leaders of their peers. I've had students who could build robots! Students who can do so much more than many adults give them credit for. Ishita Katyal may be small but she is mighty. People wonder why I am so excited about TED and TED-Ed. If you watched this video, I hope that you can understand why! As a gifted education specialist, I have never found a better way to bring students a voice, to give them opportunities for leadership, and to use every 21st century skill.
How do you get kids to be innovative? You let them. You get out of their way. -Nicholas Provenzano from the TED-Ed Blog Katyal's message is that we should encourage students to work toward their dreams right now. If they want to be a writer, let's not restrict them to five paragraphs. If they want to give a TED talk-- why not? What do you want to do now?
0 Comments
The week of Feb 1-5, GATE visited the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Certified Master Gardeners gave courses about plant propagation, including the methods of cuttings, seeds, and division. it was great weather for this trip and we wish to thank the Junior League for sponsoring our transportation costs. The photo with two students and two grownups includes Ms. Ellen Hardy, the education coordinator for BBG, and Mr. Phillips, Master Gardener. Below is a letter from London, a 3rd grader from EPIC, reflecting on her experience. When I went to the Botanical Gardens, I felt excited. We learned about the Japanese Garden. Every end of March, the tea house is open. The tea house is in the Japanese Garden. They had a green house with cacti in it. I learned that propagation meant to make more of something. In the library, they had a little tea house model. It was a fun trip!
London EPIC 3rd Grade MANY thanks to Ms. Ellen Hardy who made the trips possible. And to Mr. Timothy Hogan, GATE teacher for organizing the trip. We are so thankful to wonderful community resources like the Birmingham Botanical Gardens who extend the walls of our classrooms. Humor can help your writing stand out, so it's great to know some strategies for making your writing funnier. Do people tell you that you are funny? Do you love to make jokes? Well a fun job for you might be a comedy writer! Today's TED-Ed lesson by comedy writer Cheri Steinkellner tells you how to spice up your writing with humor. You don't have to be the class clown to be funny, there are many kinds of humor! Cheri takes us through the Who, What, When, Where, and Why of comedy. Can you take an existing story and add in some comedy? Did you watch the Superbowl? Which commercials did you find funny? Which were not so funny? Why? Take out your pen and paper as Cheri has lots of great ideas for getting creative and brainstorming new ideas. Mistakes are OK! The most important rule of writing funny? ... have fun! Last week, Jan 25-29, the Birmingham Audubon Society visited our GATE classes and conducted courses on bird identification. Students participated in a seminar where they used professional grade binoculars to observe and identify birds in our community. A student shares their perspective on the experience: The Audubon Society taught us how to identify birds. They taught us about cardinals, chimney swifts, the woodpecker and more. We can identify birds by actions. We went outside to see birds in their natural environment. We saw birds near the soccer goals. They taught us how to use binoculars safely. The different birds i saw were the robin, cardinal and woodpecker. I hope they can come again. Denman 4th grade EPIC Elementary. Post courtesy of Della Palacios' Gifted & Talented Pathways All are welcome to create TED-Ed Lessons, including teachers and students. The process is simple. You will need....
Step One: Log in to your TED-Ed Account at ed.ted.com. Step Two: Click on "Create a Lesson" from the homepage. Step Three: Search for a youtube video or load your preselected video by cutting and pasting its URL. Step Four: Select the video, and Launch Lesson Editor. Step Five: Customize your lesson using up to five sections: Think, Dig Deeper, Discuss, ...And Finally. Step Six: Review, revise and Publish your lesson! Check out the finished lesson: A Sage's Journey: The Story of Tangrams.
If the TED-Ed Team feels it is appropriate for a larger audience, they may make your lesson a TED-Ed Select! |
Welcome!Please click on the "Menu" Feature above to learn more about the Gifted and Talented Program. Archives
April 2016
Categories
All
|