I teach 5th and 6th grade STEM in the lovely Pacific Northwest in a small, rural town called Chimacum. My goal is to help students discover that all learning is life-long and that 21st century tools can be used for work as well as fun.
Aug 24
Ten days ago I decided to start planning early for the start of the new school year so I would be ready and not feel rushed that week teachers get back to work before the kids start. I found myself blocked and scattered and that took me aback. I spun my wheels and decided to …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2018/08/24/got-some-planning-done-but-still-stressed/
Aug 23
I have always said and I continue to share that if you are going to start gamifying your courses and want to take one small step, start with XP. The way experience points, or XP, work in gaming makes for a decent way to grade our students. Here’s the main difference between traditional grading and …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2018/08/23/gamification-grading-xp/
Aug 16
I’ve managed to procrastinate for another two whole days! I had set aside time every day this week to get a head start on getting ready for school. Most of the day yesterday and some of the day today I spent working on a video my superintendent asked me to make for a STEM Kickoff …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2018/08/16/procrastination/
Aug 14
I’ve been procrastinating on getting ready for school. Now that school is a few weeks away from starting I decided to start getting ready. Well, I tried but I haven’t been able to start anything. There are so many things floating around in my head that I DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START! I can’t remember …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2018/08/14/how-to-start/
Jul 25
For my gamification workshops I created a Rezzly course, Gamification 101, to have teachers learn about the more popular gaming elements or game mechanics often used when gamifying a course. By learning about gamification taking a course using a gamification learning management system (LMS) made sense. That way teachers can experience the gaming elements while …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2018/07/25/gamification-elements/
Jul 11
I just read this article on Mindshift, Will New Standards Improve Elementary Science Education, and it made me think of something we teachers talk about often, the natural curiosity that kids come to school with when they first enter school. Something about the way traditional schooling is done to children strips that natural curiosity. In …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2018/07/11/ngss-and-enjoying-science/
May 31
Yesterday I wrote a post about partnerships especially as they apply to projects teachers are creating for their students. Having a local partner, such as the North Olympic Salmon Coalition (NOSC), work with my classes has helped make my Environmental Stewardship Project better than I could have made it alone, and has made the project …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2018/05/31/getting-even-more-money/
May 30
When I first started working at Chimacum Middle School I noticed that Chimacum Creek ran right by the main campus. As a matter of fact, there was an old fish hatchery that hadn’t been used in years on school property. Turns out it had been used by high school students years before I started working …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2018/05/30/beyond-tree-planting/
May 29
If you subscribe to Dan Pink’s email updates, his From the Desk on Daniel Pink, then you came across this Jeff Bezos memo that Dan shared on May 15. (Jeff Bezos is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Amazon in case you didn’t know.) I agreed with Dan that Jeff’s memo was totally worth reading. …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2018/05/29/success-secrets/
May 28
Updated on 8-1-19. There are a lot of amazing teachers out there leading the way in Game-Based-Learning (GBL) and Gamification. I’m sharing some of the ones whose blogs I read regularly and follow using Feedly. I list them here in no particular order and recommend anyone who is interested in learning more about GBL or …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2018/05/28/gbl-and-gamification-people-to-follow/
I'm a Curipod Ambassador! :)
I've presented at NCCE
2016, 2017, 2019, 2022,
2023 and 2024!
I presented at WSTA 2015!
