Additional Resources
Articles
20 Tips for Motivating Gifted Kids to THINK! - Often we just assume that gifted kids are motivated to achieve. That is not always the case. Here are some great tips for motivating gifted students in your classroom!
50 Tips, Tricks and Ideas for Teaching Gifted Students - More tips and tricks for engaging your gifted learners in order to maximize engagement and achievement while avoiding boredom and disruption.
Building Executive Function Skills Through Games - An article on the value of games in the classroom. I'm a big proponent of game-based learning! A good game can teach valuable critical thinking skills while encouraging kids to develop interpersonal skills as well.
Compacting Curriculum - Curriculum compacting is a technique for differentiating instruction that allows teachers to make adjustments to curriculum for students who have already mastered the material to be learned, replacing content students know with new content, enrichment options, or other activities. This overview from NAGC discusses some of the benefits. Check out the curriculum resources section below for a form to track compacting and other useful tools.
Habits of Mind Institute - This article from edutopia explains how to integrate the 16 habits of mind; this chart is a great visual explanation.
Serving Gifted Students in General Ed Classrooms - A great article about the importance of differentiation for gifted students in the general ed classroom that includes do's and don'ts for classroom teachers.
Curriculum Resources
Exquisite Minds: Free Gifted Resources, Lessons, and Curriculum - A curated list of (mostly free!) resources for challenging your gifted students in the regular classroom.
John Spencer's Resources - Great resources for encouraging creativity and collaboration through PBL and student choice! Although this particular list is geared towards distance learning, there are many practical applications for differentiation in the classroom setting.
Kaplan's Depth and Complexity Tools - A great resource for all students, the depth and complexity icons help students thinking deeply about subjects and make relevant connections to other curricular areas. This link provides a brief overview of the icons. If you'd like more information about using them in your classroom, just let me know!
Meeting the Needs of Gifted Students in the Regular Classroom - Practical tips and tools for meeting the needs of your gifted learners.
Ohio Gifted Resources - All Subjects - An amazing hyperdoc with links to extension activities for gifted students by subject area, grade level, and topic curated by gifted teachers around the state.
Differentiation
Compacting Curriculum is one of the most effective ways of aiding gifted students in the regular classroom. By establishing goals prior to the unit, pre-testing students to determine their level of proficiency, and identifying ways to enrich the topic for those who have already demonstrated mastery, students are able to work on the same topics as their peers while going deeper into the subject knowledge. This link takes you to a presentation which goes over how to implement curriculum compacting. This form is a great way to track potential areas for compacting while planning units. In addition, here is a free Learning Contract for Compacting Curriculum. If you ever need help coming up with extension activities for students in any area, just ask! I'd be glad to help!
Creating Extension Activities - Guidelines for creating extension activities for early finishers.
Depth and Complexity - Lisa Van Gemert is one of the masters of depth and complexity. She has free frames that are easily adapted to any subject and tons of resources!
PBWorks Tools For Differentiation - An older website that still has some great resources for differentiation!
Sample Layered Curriculum Units - Layered curriculum is a great way to differentiate for a variety of learning levels. This website has sample units that demonstrate how to layer curriculum for differentiation.
Strategies for Differentiation: Curriculum Compacting, Tiered Assignments, Independent Projects - A PowerPoint presentation covering strategies for differentiating in the classroom
Videos
Websites
The Gifted Guy - Teacher Resources - This page contains lots of resources teachers can use with students in either an in-person or virtual setting. Some of these resources include projects, enrichment activities, cases, and STEM challenges. (ALL RESOURCES ON THIS PAGE ARE FREE!)
Google Arts and Culture - Google Arts & Culture puts the treasures, stories and knowledge of over 2,000 cultural institutions from 80 countries at your fingertips.
Hoagie's Gifted Education Page - This is a GREAT site for all things gifted. The educator tab is a great place to look for resources if you are looking to go more in-depth on any topic regarding gifted students in your classroom, including differentiation, grouping, and social/emotional aspects of gifted children. There are also links to individual subject area giftedness.
PBS Learning Media - One of my go-to sites. PBS has amazing curated lessons that you can search by subject and/or grade level. Many lessons feature short, easily digestible videos that are perfect for the classroom!
Fact Monster - Fact of the day, fun games for students, and other resources for educators!
Virtual Field Trips - A wonderful site for a variety of virtual field trips! There are two types of field trips curated here: one is a virtual tour you can take with your students immediately. The second type is one that you will set up ahead of time and often includes a guide from the location to walk your students through the tour.
Ditch That Textbook - This website is an absolute TREASURE TROVE of resources... and they are all FREE! Another of my absolute favorite resources! Here you will find videos, the Google Teacher Podcast, e-books and Guides, and best of all FREE TEMPLATES that you simply download and edit for your needs! I highly recommend subscribing to their resource list, but if you don't want more e-mails to deal with simply bookmark this site! You can thank me later!
John Spencer - I mentioned John Spencer above, but I can't emphasize enough how awesome he is. I highly recommend his books, but if you don't have time to read a whole book then you should at least check out his blog! He also has great stuff on his YouTube channel. As the kids would say, like and subscribe!
Additional Resources
Blooms Taxonomy and Gifted Students - As educators, we are all familiar with Blooms Taxonomy! This site has a great breakdown of examples of how using the taxonomy can benefit all students. In particular, gifted students can deepen their learning by engaging in the more complex thinking processes of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
New York Public Library - 300,000 Free Books to Download
Toys and Games for Gifted Kids - Looking for games for your classroom? This is is a great place to start!
