I make Byrdseed, a lesson library for gifted and talented teachers. Email me! [email protected]
Oahu, Hawaii
Joined July 2009
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Minecraft Dungeons II release day was very fun with the 8yo. His first preorder game and day one experience. We found some bugs to exploit 😆
8yo enters my office, "Byrdseed has a problem."
<Heart rate increases, imagining crashed website or broken videos>
"The maze generator isn't complicated enough."
hahaha.
He designed the maze generator a few months ago.
Heck yes the 8yo picked The ‘Burbs for movie night.
But only wanted “a glass of water” for snacks. 😒
Putting together a small book called “Overwhelmed to Whelmed” about how overwhelmed I was as a teacher.
The plan is to give it away once it’s finished!
Part 1’s draft is available here: byrdseed.tv/overwhelmed
I am a happy ex-teacher because right now 3 of my 5 active text conversations are with former 6th graders now in their late 20s who have somehow kept in touch with me.
Am I right that there’s no way to make a Gmail filter from the iOS/iPad apps? Gotta get these goofy Amazon emails out of the inbox!
I hoped Gemini could handle it, but he doesn’t know what a filter is haha
“That was the greatest conversation of my life,” the 8yo after talking to ChatGPT about Terraria while playing Terraria
The 8-year-old quoted National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation in August, so I guess I’ve nailed parenting.
One of my Rules For Professional Development is to solve problems - not give information.
Teachers have too much to do. PD should solve a problem and *reduce* their work.
But most PD I led just gave information. And teachers walked out with *more* to do.
If professional development doesn't clearly solve a teacher's problem, it needs a reframe.
Teachers need solutions, not more work!
I wrote more here: byrdseed.com/pd-rule/
If you hope Depth and Complexity will lead to high level thinking, it won’t. That’s not the problem is solves.
D&C will just lead to questions like “What are the 🚦 rules? What are three 🌼 details? What’s the 🏛️ big idea?” All identify level thinking.
If the problem is “low level thinking” the solution is Blooms Taxonomy, not D&C.
The hard part for me is that happy newsletter subscribers never reply. But if I make a typo or post a broken link… oh boy.
So, typically, the only replies are complaints of some sort!
The lesson: occasionally reply to newsletters with a kind note!
Making intro videos for each Module at ByrdseedTV: byrdseed.tv/scope-and-sequen…
As a teacher, my quest to add "more ideas" made me overwhelmed.
Because my problem was never "I don't have enough teaching ideas." My problem was… well, I never defined my problem!
Instead, I kept adding random solutions, like someone who grabs every medicine at the pharmacy without first having a doctor diagnose them.
If you're overwhelmed, "more ideas" will only make you more overwhelmed. You ALREADY have too much to do!
So get a diagnosis! Have a knowledgeable educator watch you teach for 10 minutes. They'll find something you can work on.
It will be mundane but important.
More (including a YouTube video!) here: byrdseed.com/more-ideas/