Blogzulli

Thanks to popular demand, here are links to the PowerPoint presentations used during last night’s webinar with Drs. Joseph Renzulli and Sally Reis.

Research on Schoolwide Enrichment and Renzulli Learning;  Dr. Joseph Renzulli (14.6 MB)

Practical Applications:  Renzulli Learning; Dr. Sally Reis  (26.7 MB)

We’ll also be sharing our responses to some of the most popular questions we received during the webinar, but which we were unable to answer due to overwhelming number of attendees… so watch this space!

Unfortunately, due to technical issues beyond our control we were unable to recover the recording to archive this presentation. We are working now to plan another webinar with Drs. Renzulli and Reis as soon as possible.

Dear Friends,

2009 was a rewarding year for the tens-of-thousands of teachers using Renzulli Learning around the world (including new friends in South Korea, Turkey, and a dozen other countries).  We are especially grateful to the hundreds of teachers that applied to our inaugural, “Better Teaching & Learning through Technology” competitive grant.  These stories reminded us that teachers are doing great things for kids and saving hundreds of hours through the use of technology.  Existing lessons go smoother and children connect with the curriculum more readily thanks to a modest weekly infusion of our resource match-making tool.  Our favorite success story included the following: ”It’s like having a dozen teaching assistants in my classroom, every day, all day!”

The main reason we developed this program was precisely to accomplish this time-saving goal.  With so many diverse needs to serve, and with many teachers’ concerns about “initiative overload,” we wanted a tool to make their work easier rather than a new program added to their already busy schedules.  For those of you who are just beginning to use Renzulli Learning, please take a minute to look at our latest innovation – Curriculum Connections.  It was designed to automate the differentiation process with the teacher simply scheduling the basic lesson plan parameters in a few minutes.

As we begin making a difference in 2010, please join Sally and I for a free 90 minute “Virtual Keynote” on Thursday, January 21st @ 6:30 pm EST / 3:30 pm PST.  The theme of the session will be to re-invigorate and resolve our passion for raising achievement by celebrating ALL students’ strengths & talents rather than focusing on deficits!  Attendance will be limited to the first 1,000 to enter the room.  Please register using the following link as soon as possible: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/501122466.

I send to each of you my best wishes for a safe, healthy, and enjoyable 2010.  Sally and I look forward to chatting with you at the Virtual Keynote.

Regards,

Dr. Joe Renzulli

The Renzulli Personal Success Plan’s Heroes and Helpers Page is a great place to think and learn more about heroes – and more Renzulli students have identified Martin Luther King as one of their heroes than any other figure of the past or present, by a wide margin.

Monday, January 18th is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and a wonderful time to reintroduce your class to the ideals and values of this American hero.  As you might imagine, Renzulli offers a wealth of information about Dr. King’s life – and the lives of many of those community leaders and activists who were inspired by his work.

Here are some of Renzulli’s best resources for learning about Dr. King (you must be signed into Renzulli on this computer):

Citizen King

Martin Luther King Jr. Encyclopedia

The Seattle Times:  Martin Luther King

And, from a link in the Heroes section on the PSP, here’s a wonderful matrix for finding other heroes, where you can compare and contrast heroes based on their individual attributes. http://library.thinkquest.org/C001515/design/

“We need creative extremists.”  – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

holidays

Originally uploaded by Renzulli Learning

From the staff at Renzulli Learning, and of course, Joe and Sally –

Have a happy, safe, and engaging holiday break!

Our list continues:

31.  Create your own virtual assignment from scratch.  Do you have some great resources you’d like to assign your students – along with some guiding questions or tasks you want them complete?  Use the Renzulli Assignment Maker to build your own virtual assignment.  Be sure to click the orange “Create A New Assignment” button to start from scratch.  You can add your own directions, questions or guidance, and send immediately to student inboxes.

32.  Take the class on a virtual field trip. Did you know virtual field trips raise test scores?  Renzulli has nearly 700 virtual field trips in our database – from the Louvre to the inside of a human cell – so fire up your LCD projector, or your Smartboard, and take your class on a trip.  You can use Renzulli’s Advanced Search page to find virtual field trips – just click the Virtual Field Trips box under Select Enrichment Type, and enter any keyword to start your search.

33.  Have students critique websites they find. Students can critique each of the sites or resources they explore in a session, including the categories below. Teachers may want to discuss evaluation criteria with students in a whole class mini-lesson. The type of criteria that students may want to consider are:

• Can I read and understand this resource?
• Do the graphics (pictures, illustrations, print characteristics) grab my attention and make me want to explore the site more?
• Does this site have the type of information I thought it would?
• Does this resource have the kind of information that I am looking for?
• Is this resource something that will help me learn more about a topic or subject?
• Does this resource teach me something new or help me practice something I already know?
• Can I create a product (some type of work) on this site that I can share with others?
• What type of site is this?

34.  Create a Collaborative Learning Group. Renzulli provides a workspace for groups of students to collaborate in a safe, teacher-moderated online platform.  Check out this video for all the info you need to get started.

35.  Open-Ended Questions draw out even more about your students as learners. In addition to the 4-part Renzulli Profiler, Renzulli includes a number of thoughtful questions for your students that will help them to express their interests, and give you more ideas for connecting the curriculum to their lives.  Some of these questions include:

• Pretend that you are a photographer and you have one picture left to take on your roll of film or on your card. What will you take? Why?
• If you could conduct an interview with a woman you admire, past or present, who would you choose? What three (3) questions would you ask her?
• If you could be an exchange student in any other country for half a school year, what country would you like to visit as a student? Why?

36.  Help kids learn to deal with bullies. There’s a great collection of online resources that can help kids deal with difficult peer situations.  You can find a list of recommended resources on our Teacher Resources page – click “Top Rated Student Activities” – then “Specialties” – and click “Bullying Resources.”

37.  Use the PSP to teach math. Did you know you can use the Renzulli Personal Success Plan to teach subject-area content for the core curriculum (and beyond)?  Find a doc with some ideas to get you started on our Teacher Resources page – click PSP Help, then PSP Subject Area Starters – and select Math.

38.  Instant differentiation of content for any curriculum topic. Here’s the fastest way to give each student a completely differentiated set of resources for learning about the curriculum topic of your choosing.  With all of the students in the computer lab, direct each student to click Search Enrichment Activities.  Then give them the keyword(s) you want them to search.  Be sure the students select “Search Your Enrichment Activities”, and each student will automatically get a menu of activities that match the topic you choose AND their unique learning interests and strengths.

39.  Find a contest! With our constantly-updated database of nearly 200 real world contests, your students can find lots of great new opportunities to have their work exhibited, published and critiqued by their peers.  You can use Renzulli’s Advanced Search page to find contests – just click the “Contests & Competitions” box under Select Enrichment Type, and enter any keyword to start your search.

40.  Generate a bar chart of student learning styles (Manager Site only). With just a few clicks, you can create beautiful full-color bar charts reflecting the learning styles, interests and expression styles of all of the students you manage via the Renzulli Manager Site.  From the Manager Site, just click “Reports” in the blue menu bar, then click “Student Profile Report“, and follow the onscreen prompts.

101 Ways to Use Renzulli:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Soon, we’ll be hitting that time of year when it seems like the kids have more days off than days at school – but not to worry! Renzulli gives you a number of ways to keep connected with your students – and keep them working on enriching, engaging activities that will keep them signing in, even during their break.

Here are a couple ideas:

• Send your students a “Favorite” – they’ll get a note in their inbox that tells them you’ve sent them an activity – AND lets them know you’re thinking of them.
• Set up a collaborative group to lead a discussion among your students on an upcoming topic. You can even attach an assignment. This is a great way to keep students connected to you and each other during a break – and keep the content you need to teach in the forefront of your students’ minds.
• Set up a couple “Curriculum Connections” on topics you have coming up after the break. Direct your students to login during the break and explore a set number of these resources, and give them a couple guiding questions in the directions. This will allow the students the freedom to “dabble” in the resources Renzulli selects for them, but still be exposed to the new concepts they will have to master when they return to school.

Renzulli’s 3-Ring Conception of Giftedness

Originally uploaded by Renzulli Learning

No! All students have gifts and talents, and Renzulli Learning is an engine for developing the gifts and talents of all students, not just those of very high academic abilities. This approach – “teaching the giftedness”- to the development of high levels of multiple potentials in young people is purposefully designed to sidestep the traditional practice of labeling some students “gifted” (and by implication, relegating all others to the category of “non-gifted”).

All students should have the opportunity to develop higher-order thinking skills and pursue more rigorous content and first-hand investigative activities than those typically found in the traditional curriculum. This approach reflects a democratic ideal that accommodates the full range of individual differences in the entire student population and it opens the door to programs like Renzulli Learning that develop the talent potentials of many at-risk students who traditionally have been excluded from anything but the most basic types of curricular experiences.

Renzulli Learning creates a personalized menu of activities for each student based in part on that student’s grade level and academic ability – so no matter what each student’s unique strengths or need might be, Renzulli can find resources appropriate for challenging and engaging that student.

The saga continues…

1-10, 11-20…

21.  Create an Interest Development Center. Interest Development Centers differ from traditional kinds of “learning centers” found in many classrooms, in that the focus is not on skill development, completion of worksheets, or other basic activities – but rather on identifying and exploring areas of interest.  Teachers (or students) pick a topic, and work with the students to design activities to stimulate interest and understanding of the topic.  Given one or two web-connected computers in your classroom, Renzulli can act as the resource for introducing and researching the topic, connecting with professionals engaged in the topic, and managing student projects related to the topic.

22.  Engage ELL students. For students just beginning to learn English, Renzulli can play an important role in helping teachers understand student strengths and interests, and using dynamic, interactive web resources to involve these students in classroom activities.  Giving these students access to English web resources in their areas of interest can act as a powerful motivating force – and creates an engaging platform for students to encounter English. Even a tool as simple as the Renzulli In-Box As their English skills improve, students can benefit from more Renzulli features, from relatively simple tasks like exploring Curriculum Connections, up through more complex assignments and projects.

23.  Group students with the same preferred modes of expressing what they’ve learned. Use Renzulli to easily create homogenous groups of students by expression styles.  Go to My Students, then Manage Groups, then Add Group, and select “Student by Common Expression Style”.  Select the expression style you want to consider, and Renzulli will tell you which students share that expression style.  This gives you an easy avenue for differentiating products, as you’ll be able to assign product options to each group based on their preferences.

24.  Share your assignments with your colleagues. Have a great idea for using RLS resources in your classroom, that you’d like to share with the other teachers in your department, or grade?  Use the Renzulli Assignment Maker to record your plans – the resources you’ve identified, any files to upload, and the directions for the students – and then click “Publish” to make your assignment usable by any of your colleagues.  They’ll be able to pull up your assignment as a template they can edit and revise to suit their own needs.

25.  Print out a Project Plan. The Wizard Project Maker comes with a handy feature that allows you to print out all of your project information, and get students working – even if they don’t have direct access to a computer in your classroom.  Check out your library of Super Starter Projects, or create your own – and then once you’ve added the project to your project list, click the button marked “Review/Print” to access the entire contents of your project in a printer-friendly format.

26.  Attend virtual professional development. Renzulli offers an ongoing schedule of opportunities to participate in webinars with a Renzulli expert consultant.  Check out the calendar on the RLS homepage – pick any topic(s) of interest, and tune in to these 20-minute sessions where you can learn practical applications for differentiating instruction, and get your questions answered in real time by the presenter.

27.  Check in on your student’s web browsing. With Renzulli, you can access a timestamped copy of every URL your students access via Renzulli.  Just go to My Students, then select “Site Visited” from the dropdown menu marked “Display”.

28.  Help students identify people they know who will support them as they go after their dreams. The Renzulli Personal Success Plan includes a section devoted to “Helpers” -

Everyone needs helpers, role models who know you personally and provide assistance. This assistance may take many forms: teaching, mentoring, coaching, encouraging and believing in you, giving you financial or personal support, or just spending time with you. We always look up to heroes; we look up to, and sometimes also lean on, our helpers.

Use the PSP to not only help students think critically about who their helpers are – but also help students actually reach out to those helpers and create lasting relationships.

29. Save your students’ backs. We often think about our program as “Renzulli Next-book” – a next-generation textbook, that’s always up-do-date, always available, and custom-build for every student.  Renzulli can replace most if not all of the functionality of your class’s textbooks.  So save your students backs, and yourself the trouble of tracking down those lost and damaged books – by using Renzulli instead.

30.  Follow Renzulli on Twitter. Use our Twitter account to get the first word on new features and updates – or even get your questions answered.  Just tweet @RenzulliLearnin and say hello.

Here at Renzulli World Headquarters, located not far from the University of Connecticut, we are in a kind of “no-man’s land” between Red Sox and Yankees territories – and our main office is pretty evenly split between fans from both camps – so this year’s postseason baseball has been a hot topic of conversation!

Here’s some ideas for projects and resources you can use to bring a little baseball fever into your classroom:

World Series 2009:  New York Yankees vs. Philadelphia Phillies

A Class World Series Almanac

(Material:  Renzulli and a Farmer’s Almanac)

Using Renzulli Learning, have your students research through My Enrichment Activities these key words:

• Baseball
• World Series

Or provide the websites below thorough Share with Students/Teacher

Or Create 2 Curriculum Connections

1-using the keyword baseball

2-using the keyword World Series

Show the student’s the Farmer’s Almanac and provide the class with a definition of an almanac:    “a usually annual reference book, composed of various lists, tables, and often brief articles relating to a particular field or many general fields.” Have a class discussion and ask students what statistics about the World Series they think should be featured in their almanac.  Students will use Renzulli Learning to research these facts.

Divide students into five groups. Each group will research Renzulli Learning to find facts about the World Series.  In addition students will record their information and can use their Renzulli Journal. The 5 groups will be responsible for the following years:

* 1903-1925

* 1926-1945

* 1946-1965

* 1966-1985

* 1986-2005

Following the research, students will then be grouped by Expressions Styles.  Each group will have a specific task in preparing the Class World Series Almanac.

• Artist:  Cover and Illustrations for the World Series Almanac
• Written:  Compiling the information received from their classmates
• Technology:  Typing the information
• Audio/Visual:  Produce a commercial ad to promote the Almanac
• Musical:  Write a song about the World Series using some of the facts collected during research. (Add song to the Introduction of the World Series Almanac)
• Oral:  Visit classes to display and explain the making of the Class Almanac

Continue Reading »

Election Day is this coming Tuesday.  Here are some last-minute resources and ideas from Renzulli:

(As always, you’ll need to be logged into Renzulli in another browser window or tab to use these links.)

Election Day on Tuesdays?
Why does every American presidential election take place on a Tuesday in November? The answer involves farmers and the distances that people used to have to travel in order to vote. Find out why Tuesday was chosen over the other days of the week.

View Activity

Democracy Kids

All of us, and the people we elect, make democracy work.  Click on this website and find out just what our elected officials do, and how you might be able to get more involved in our democratic system.

View Activity

Voter Registration
You may be too young to vote, but do you know what to do when you turn 18? Find out how people register to vote by checking out this website!

View Activity

Step Inside the Voting Booth!
How does voting work and how important is each vote? Even though you are not yetold enough to vote in official elections, you can learn all about how our government works, and about the fascinatinghistory of voting. You can even make your own Future Voter’s Card!

View Activity

Ideas

1. Send the above websites by using the “Share With Students/Teachers”
2. Create an assignment and attach the above websites.
3. Create a Collaborative Group where the students can discuss interesting facts about the election after perusing the above websites.
4. Have students write in their Renzulli Journal explaining facts that they found interesting regarding the election.
5. Have students research local or state candidates and make class presentations on the strengths and weaknesses of each.
6. Hold a debate in which students uphold each candidate’s point of view.
7. Create a class government and simulate the process of an election. Student candidates must focus on classroom issues and solutions.
8. Have students prepare a presentation and explain the election process to younger students at the school.
9. Have students write letters to a congressperson expressing their ideas concerning the current election.
10. Have students interview a local politician and share their findings with the class.
11. Have students create bookmarks that encourage and provide reasons for voting and/or bookmarks that give some local election information.
12. Have students create a comic strip about the election