Google Suites


  • #smithingifted Teacher Lab: Where Teaching Ideas Get Tested

    #smithingifted Teacher Lab: Where Teaching Ideas Get Tested

    The #smithingifted Teacher Lab is a place where teaching ideas move from theory into real classrooms. I’ll share the successes, challenges, surprises, and adjustments that come from using gifted education, STEM, robotics, technology, and creative-thinking strategies with real students. But the Teacher Lab isn’t just about my classroom—teachers who use #smithingifted curriculum can share their…


  • Every Drop Counts: Exploring New Mexico’s Water Resources in the Global Innovation Lab 💧🌵

    Every Drop Counts: Exploring New Mexico’s Water Resources in the Global Innovation Lab 💧🌵

    This blog post explores New Mexico’s water resources through The Global Innovation Lab’s Every Drop Counts challenge, helping students connect science, geography, agriculture, technology, law, and systems thinking. It also explains how the Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado Rio Grande case and the 2026 Supreme Court settlement affect groundwater use, farming, communities, industry, and…


  • Using Google My Maps in the Gifted Classroom: Mapping The Global Innovation Lab

    Using Google My Maps in the Gifted Classroom: Mapping The Global Innovation Lab

    The Global Innovation Lab is growing! 🌎🚀 In this post, I share how Google My Maps is helping us connect classrooms around the world so students can collaborate on real-world challenges like water conservation. If you want your students to think bigger, create meaningful solutions, and learn alongside students from other communities and countries, I…


  • Stop Giving Every Gifted Student the Same Assignment: A Better Way to Differentiate

    Stop Giving Every Gifted Student the Same Assignment: A Better Way to Differentiate

    Discover how the #smithingifted curriculum transforms differentiation by allowing gifted students to learn at their own pace through four levels of challenge: Explorer, Engineer, Innovator, and Visionary. Instead of giving every student the same assignment or making advanced learners wait, this approach promotes student choice, independence, creativity, and authentic problem-solving. Learn how self-paced learning, badge-based…


  • 📊 Google Sheets in the Gifted Classroom: Building Data Literacy for Future Innovators

    By Beth Smith | #smithingifted Could Google Sheets Be the Most Underrated Tool in Your Gifted Classroom? When most teachers think about Google Sheets, they think about gradebooks or budgets. In my gifted classroom, it’s something entirely different—it’s a tool that helps students think, collaborate, and solve real-world problems. My students use Google Sheets to…