Byrdseed is a site created by a gifted education teacher who was a gifted student when he was in elementary school. It contains a wealth of information for teachers involved with teaching gifted students. The site’s creator has a computer science background and has included some tech-integrated lessons.
When you click on the “Lesson Ideas” link, you get two lists of links sorted by Most Popular and Most Recent, rather than by grade level or subject area. However, many of his articles are generic and can be adapted for a variety of learning situations. He provides quality, well-organized lesson ideas. Given his background as a gifted student, teacher, and with technology, his ideas offer a unique perspective not found in many other gifted education sites.
Byrdseed also provides a couple of tools for helping teachers create lessons. The Student Grouper is a tool that the author created for helping teachers group students based on test scores. He also created The Differentiator, a utility that helps teachers visually create high-level lessons based on Bloom’s taxonomy. Both tools are easy to use and are worth looking at.
The copyright date on Byrdseed is 2010, so this is a current site. There is a search feature in the bottom right corner that allows you to search for lessons by subject area. You can even sign up to receive articles through e-mail, or subscribe through RSS.
If you have a free afternoon and you want to explore some novel gifted activities, this is the site to start with. I’ve added the site to my reader and am looking forward to reading its upcoming ideas.
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