User Generated Education

MAY 22, 2023

I often give my students choice and voice which I discussed in my blog post, Giving Students Choice and Voice. This project, written, enhance, and performed by 6th graders, was truly an example of voice and choice along with having them do a Type III enrichment project. Three 6th grade girls began this project last year in their gifted class as a stop-motion animation.

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User Generated Education

FEBRUARY 12, 2023

During Spring, 2022, a student in my gifted education program suggested that they build a paper city. I loved the idea, suggested that they make a sustainable city, and gave them some additional resources to do so. It ended up being amazing (for more about this see Building a Sustainable City and Class Example of a Sustainable City ). Along with teaching these gifted elementary students (who I teach for multiple years), I teach graduate courses for Walden University.

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Elementary Course Meeting Groups 156

User Generated Education

MARCH 12, 2023

I’ve discussed offering electives to my gifted elementary students. My group of 2nd/3rd graders chose space. It began as one would expect any study of space would begin – watching videos, visiting NASA websites, even playing some online games. They then selected planets to learn and research about. They learned basic researching skills and created a guide to their planets.

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Groups Analysis Video Google 156

User Generated Education

MARCH 5, 2023

Our Title 1 school is lucky enough to have a decent size outdoor garden that is overseen by community volunteers. One of their goals is to teach our students about the garden. Because of the that, I offered gardening as a possible elective for my GT (gifted and talented students). See Offering Electives to Elementary Students for more about why and how I offer electives to them.

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Elementary Common Core Video Resources 303

User Generated Education

MARCH 3, 2023

This project takes the Monster Project and enhancing it with interactivity created through using Scratch and Makey Makeys. It was inspired by the Makey Makey Hack a Toy Lesson. Part of the lesson included the 5th graders interviewing 1st graders. This Edutopia article discussed the benefits of interviewing – Learning to Interview Builds a Range of Communication Skills [link] Standards Addressed Common Core State Standards – ELA Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (

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Common Core Study Google Resources 291

User Generated Education

FEBRUARY 12, 2023

During Spring, 2022, a student in my gifted education program suggested that they build a paper city. I loved the idea, suggested that they make a sustainable city, and gave them some additional resources to do so. It ended up being amazing (for more about this see Building a Sustainable City and Class Example of a Sustainable City ). Along with teaching these gifted elementary students (who I teach for multiple years), I teach graduate courses for Walden University.

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Elementary Course Groups Meeting 258

User Generated Education

JANUARY 22, 2023

I love educational technology. When technologies were first available online, I was an early adopter, and often got brutally criticized by administrators and colleagues in my K-6 settings for having students use the internet for research, use web tools, create webpages in wikis, and work virtually with schools in other states and countries (for example, see their work from 2008 at [link] ).

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Training Examples Wiki Technology 421

User Generated Education

JANUARY 2, 2023

Motivation is not only important in its own right; it is also an important predictor of learning and achievement. Students who are more motivated to learn persist longer, produce higher quality effort, learn more deeply, and perform better in classes and on standardized tests. It’s commonsense, but it’s also reinforced by hundreds of studies ( An Important Piece of the Student Motivation Puzzle ).

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Comparison Strategy Groups Study 378

User Generated Education

DECEMBER 11, 2022

I love celebrating the holidays and calendar events with my gifted students from my bilingual, Title 1 school. I ask them to make artifacts and displays that showcase both their talents and the holiday (see my blog posts about Dia de las Muertos and Pi Day for examples.) Not only are the projects fun, engaging, and exciting, they also provide opportunities for students to gain STEM/STEAM/STREAM knowledge and skills that address interdisciplinary standards.

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User Generated Education

NOVEMBER 27, 2022

Each week a master math teacher from Math Amigos comes to my GT classroom for an hour to present conceptual math problems. High ability math students from 4th through 6th grades attend. A few weeks ago he presented a problem that included chess knight moves. One of the students mentioned how much she loves to play chess. I asked her if she’d like to lead a chess class.

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User Generated Education

OCTOBER 30, 2022

I have the privilege of teaching gifted education in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Two unique characteristics of living and working here is (1) there is a strong Mexican population who have retained their beautiful culture – language, culture, food, and holiday, and (2) it is the birthplace of Meow Wolf, unique and immersive art installations with multimedia elements and a mysterious narrative throughout; whose mission is to inspire creativity in people’s lives through art, exploration, and play s

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User Generated Education

AUGUST 14, 2022

It’s the start of a new school year. I am often baffled why teachers (all levels including college) jump right into covering content when the students are in a state of disequilibrium. wondering about the other students, the teacher, and the classroom climate. As such, I begin my classes with experiential, personal connections activities. During the first days of class, the messages I want to give my students, through these activities, include: I want to see and get to know everyone of you

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Adobe Common Core Examples Game-Based Learning 389

User Generated Education

JULY 23, 2022

I am quite fond of facilitating physical computing activities with my learners as I’ve discussed in Scratch and Makey Makey Across the Curriculum . For that post I created the following graphic to represent the benefits of physical computing. I think it is important to extend the use of coding and microcontrollers into creating physical objects for the following reasons: Standards Addressed.

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User Generated Education

JULY 18, 2022

I am quite fond of facilitating physical computing activities with my learners as I’ve discussed in Scratch and Makey Makey Across the Curriculum. For that post I created the following graphic to represent the benefits of physical computing. I think it is important to extend the use of coding microcontrollers into making physical objects for the following reasons: Lip Syncing Characters with a micro:bit and a Servo.

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Robotics Examples Video Technology 167

User Generated Education

JULY 3, 2022

Number one on my love list of teaching is spending time with my fantastic students. High on my list is also my love of designing and creating learning activities for my students. I get such joy of seeing my designs come to life in the hands of my learners. Recently, I designed a pinball machine using a pizza box, Strawbees, Makedo screws, and an optional micro:bit scoreboard.

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Study Maker Movement Learning Education 363

User Generated Education

MAY 23, 2022

Toy Take Apart and Repurposing is always a great favorite both with my gifted students and with my campers during my summer Toy Hacking and Making camp. I purchase battery-operated toys from ebay and thrift stores. Because I am always seeking ways to improve my lessons, I was excited to add the repair mindset reflection, the micro:bit driven Plushpal, and circuit jewelry to this activity this past spring.

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User Generated Education

MAY 22, 2022

One of my favorite things to do as an educator is to create lessons plans that help students address content standards through authentic learning activities and develop transferrable skills. For the stop motion animations, both English Language Arts Common Core and ISTE Standards were addressed. Plus, students had fun, were fully engaged, and developed a greater tolerance for long term projects.

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Common Core Technology Education Examples 287

User Generated Education

APRIL 22, 2022

I have done a social entrepreneurship unit with three groups of gifted students, grades 3rd through 6th. It was one of my favorite units. ever, and from their reactions, I believe it was one of theirs, too. I call it a perfect STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) unit. The first part of this post explains some of the rationale for this project, and the second part describes the unit, itself.

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Elementary Survey Exercises Video 376

User Generated Education

APRIL 22, 2022

As I’ve discussed before, I offer electives to my 4th-6th grade GT students (see Offering Electives to Elementary Students ). They chose paper engineering. A few started making city structures. They then stated that they should make a city. I suggested that it be a sustainable city (Sustainable Development Goal 11). From there, the innovation, creativity, passion, fun, and final product exploded due to the efforts of the students.

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Common Core Libraries Elementary Assessment 270

User Generated Education

APRIL 9, 2022

STEM lessons are a strong focus in my 4th-6th grade gifted classes. I teach at two Title 1 schools with primarily Hispanic students. Our district works to identify students often underrepresented in gifted education programs. My mission in working with my students includes helping them gain knowledge and skills to situate them to be competitive with more privileged students when they get to high school and college.

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STEM Common Core Data Meeting 348

User Generated Education

APRIL 4, 2022

My gifted students, grades 4th-6th, selected Artificial Intelligence, as their elective during Spring, 2022 semester. (For more about this see Offering Electives to Elementary Students.) The Generative AI learning activities I describe below are part of their larger Artificial Intelligence elective as well as being part of the ISTE AI Explorations course I am taking.

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Google Elementary Video Technology 167

User Generated Education

MARCH 30, 2022

My gifted students, grades 4th-6th, selected Artificial Intelligence, as their elective during Spring, 2022 semester. (For more about this see Offering Electives to Elementary Students.) The chatbot learning activities I describe below are part of their larger Artificial Intelligence elective.Here is another. The Hook. Learners try out the following chatbot: [link].

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Elementary Course Video Learning 294

User Generated Education

MARCH 22, 2022

My gifted students, grades 4th-6th, selected Artificial Intelligence, as their elective during Spring, 2022 semester. (For more about this see Offering Electives to Elementary Students.) The machine learning activities I describe below are part of their larger Artificial Intelligence elective. Introduction to Machine Learning Via Videos. Teachable Machine Activities.

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Learning Software Google Elementary 394

User Generated Education

MARCH 13, 2022

As an educator who. began my career as an outdoor and experiential-based counselor; loves and studies educational trends; and teaches elementary students, and pre-service and in-service teachers; I believe good teachers naturally do what’s best for their students. This is in spite of (all meanings intended) of the multiple, and often conflicting and changing mandates placed on them.

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Elementary Education Trends Strategy 167

User Generated Education

MARCH 12, 2022

I have the privilege of teaching my gifted elementary students at two Title 1 schools for multiple years. Each year I have special thematic days for which the students get very excited, e.g., Halloween and Day of the Dead “Wars,” Valentines Day, Book Celebrations, and Pi Day. I love planning a variety of interdisciplinary activities for these days.

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Examples Common Core Accessibility Elementary 196

User Generated Education

FEBRUARY 27, 2022

As someone who, for years, has been using educational technology, I have said the often stated quote, Technology won’t replace teachers, but teachers who don’t use technology will be replaced. More recently I heard the quote from my brilliant colleague, George Couros , Technology won’t replace great teachers, but in the hands of great teachers can be transformational.

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User Generated Education

FEBRUARY 13, 2022

I really like using maker education and STEM/STEAM projects to celebrate holidays and special events. My method of teaching new concepts is to use the Stages of Make Education that I presented in Learning in the Mak ing: How to Plan, Execute, and Assess Powerful Makerspace Lessons : The following Valentine Day projects were completed by my 3rd through 6th grade gifted students.

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STEM Video Assessment Education 248

User Generated Education

JANUARY 30, 2022

As a kid growing up, I loved board games. loved playing The Game of Life , Clue , and Sorry with my friends as a preteen and then Backgammon throughout my undergraduate years. I definitely liked the thrill of winning but equally so interacting with my friends while we played the games. Years ago I brought board games into my classroom. but haven’t for several years focusing more on using video games with my students.

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User Generated Education

JANUARY 17, 2022

I’ve discussed experiential learning in The Imperative of Experiential and Hands-On Learning and the lesson I describe in this post meets the characteristics I described in that blog post: In an effort to engage students both in a STEM activity and learn more about the Olympics, I created a lesson on bobsledding. Standards Addressed. As a STE(A)M lesson, it addresses cross-curricular standards: Next Generation Science Standards (Science).

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STEM Data Meeting System 287

User Generated Education

DECEMBER 28, 2021

I love to blog. I do so for several reasons. First, it provides me with a means for reflecting on my teaching practices as well as having a written and often graphic record of my pratices. Second, my biography includes the statement, “I believe one of the roles and responsibilities of the modern educator is to share resources, lessons, ideas, thoughts, and opinions.” Blogging and Tweeting allow me to do so.

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Elementary Meeting System Resources 231

User Generated Education

NOVEMBER 1, 2021

Wow, wow, wow! My students finished their displays in time for Halloween after spending many, many hours working on them. Now, they are in display cases in the lobby of our elementary school. I am so proud of them and rightfully, they are very proud of themselves, too. They worked so hard on them. A little history. I love Food Channel’s competitions and Halloween Wars tops my list.

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Technology Robotics Software STEM 248

User Generated Education

OCTOBER 17, 2021

I have been very intentional in the public school teaching jobs I have chosen. First I was a PE teacher, now I am a gifted education teacher. I chose these jobs because I believe in active, hands-on, and joyful learning. I love being able to provide them with learning experiences not based on preparing them for toxic tests, but on how humans learn naturally outside of school settings.

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Learning Classroom Education 308

User Generated Education

OCTOBER 3, 2021

As is true for a lot of progressive educators, I have a belief in and attempt to practice the implementation of student voice and choice: Sometimes this means fully letting go of the reins so learners become fully self-directed. I had the privilege of witnessing this in action one afternoon last week. I use the word, “witness,” as it was fully and totally due to the actions of one student.

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STEM Groups Video Accessibility 416

User Generated Education

AUGUST 8, 2021

Electives, as we all know, are classes that students choose to take. Electives are typically chosen based on interests, passions, a need to learn something new, and/or because of future goals. It is not clear to me why elementary students are rarely offered elective courses. In addition to empowering practical skills, electives can help students find hidden talents or passions.

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Elementary Course STEM Study 433

User Generated Education

MAY 16, 2021

There has been a fair amount of criticism leveraged against “paint-by-numbers” types of STEM and maker kits. This criticism revolves around the stifling of the creativity of learners. I contend that learners need foundational skills so that they can be freed up to be creative. Think about learning how to cook or play an instrument. The basic and foundational skills need to be there in order for the makers to go in directions that are new and creative for them. .

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STEM Learning Education Assessment 296

User Generated Education

MARCH 28, 2021

[link]. This project was developed by Colleen Graves. I found information about how to do it at the Makey Makey blog post entitled, Scratch Coding Literacy Project Ideas for Makey Makey micro:bit Inventions. She designed it to be used with Scratch programming and the micro:bit micro-controller. I asked my students to create their monster mash ups using only Scratch programming.

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Technology Examples Video Resources 419

User Generated Education

MARCH 17, 2021

I wear many hats as an educator. I teach graduate courses in education and counseling. I am a seminar facilitator for student teachers, and I teach gifted education at three Title 1 elementary schools. I have said for decades that I love teaching but I hate grading. It puts me in a power position over students which is, for me, contrary to my teaching philosophy of creating a learning community where we all become teachers and learners.

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Course Elementary System Assessment 406