Creativity · 11-19-2014
I had a great time at last week’s National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) conference in Baltimore. The conference offers countless professional development opportunities and learning experiences. This year’s theme, “Making Inroads for Gifted Learners” reflects “the headway made by the field over the years, as well as the larger reason we gather together to learn and grow: to make a difference for gifted and high ability children around the country.” Presenting at Friday’s...
Creativity · 08-22-2014
The new school year is upon us with new beginnings and goals. One important goal, whether you’re a teacher, parent, or administrator, is to include the arts in daily instruction. Numerous studies indicate how arts opportunities benefit students. According to a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) study, “at-risk students who have access to the arts in or out of school also tend to have better academic results, better workforce opportunities, and more civic engagement.” Recently, the...
Resources · 06-24-2014
Teaching gifted and talented children requires a flexible and supportive learning environment filled with interesting and challenging material. The following list of questions is designed to help teachers assess the effectiveness of the learning environment for gifted students. These helpful questions (and many others) can be found in the book, How the Gifted Brain Learns (second edition) by David A. Sousa. Have you helped students become more aware of their learning styles? Have you asked...
Resources · 06-05-2014
Fans of children's books will appreciate my recent good fortune in meeting two Caldecott Award-winning writer/illustrators: David Wiesner and Paul O. Zelinsky. I can't tell you how many times I have shared their books with children, but I can tell you that both men were funny, observant, and generous with their time. I was able to meet them thanks to Mr. If Then Creativity. He was returning their artwork, which was included in an exhibit he had recently curated, Beyond Words, The Artistry of...
Creativity · 04-19-2014
It's amazing what filmmakers can do in 6 seconds! As Genna Terranova, Tribeca Film Festival's Director of programming, said, "Making a successful 6-second film is really a true test of creativity and skill. The tools may be simple, but the time is short and the task to do it well is large...." Enjoy two of the 2014 #6SECFILMS competition winners below. Watch all 6 winners at tribecafilm.com.
Museums · 03-12-2014
Research in Brief In the classroom, students often tune out teachers who talk too much. Likewise, in the museum, too much information about art can cause eyes to glaze over. What follows are 3 guidelines for sharing information while promoting dialogue about art. Question: How can we use information effectively within dialogues about art? 1. Be informed, yet consider the relevance of the information to the audience. "What an adult finds helpful might not be useful to an 8-year-old." 2. Invite...
Activities · 02-26-2014
Numberphile provides imaginative links to videos of creative math content and problems. The blog, Visualizing Math, is a visual delight and run by two amazing high school students in Minnesota. If you need a math definition or formula, try Mathwords which includes information from beginning algebra to calculus. If you know someone who likes playing SET, the challenging game of memory and visual perception, share the SET puzzle of the day. Designed for use with introductory college math courses,...