20 Tips for Motivating Gifted Kids to THINK!

…They do not have ‘growth mindsets.’ (Watch this YouTube this from Carol Dweck- it’s incredible stuff). Make a huge effort to reward and praise their effort , not their intelligence…

Task Card Talk: 6 Strategies to Boost Learning

…be constantly reinventing the wheel. Meaningful Task Card Talk Ultimately, it really doesn’t matter if your task cards are plain and simple or if they’re colorful and cute. What DOES…

Playing the Mystery Skype Game

…it a multiple of 5? Is it even? Since this game only takes about 10 minutes to play, I usually split my class into 3 groups and we play 3…

Getting Started with Whole Brain Teaching

…to write a series of guest blog articles on Corkboard Connections introducing these rules. Chris wrote about each rule individually, explaining WHY it’s important and exactly HOW to teach that…

The Magic Solution to Missing Assignments

effective system I’ve ever used for dealing with the problem of missing assignments. How Fun Friday Works Fun Friday is a weekly event that 3 or 4 teachers organize and…

The True Cost of Free Teaching Resources

…of providing free resources. Lately I’ve been seeing more comments like this than usual, probably because I’ve been enthusiastically promoting Angela Watson’s 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club. I’m not sure…

Plickers 102: Innovative Ways to Use Plickers

…hooked on Plickers when I tested it out at home. That’s when I truly understood how it worked and and saw its enormous potential. Since then, I’ve been enthusiastically sharing…

Math is More Than a Numbers Game

…Webinar Over the years, I’ve developed a collection of activities and games that are highly effective for building math vocabulary, and they’re super fun for kids, too. I enjoy sharing…