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.
Apr 07
Ever since our district made the decision to reconfigure our main campus from a grades 3-5 Elementary, a grades 6-8 Middle School, and a grades 9-12 High School to a grades 3-6 Elementary and a grades 7-12 Jr/Sr High School I have been thinking a lot about next year. The reconfiguration forces me to choose …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2019/04/07/a-student-comment-has-me-thinking/
Mar 11
Teaching the engineering and design process is all the rage in the classroom right now. We focus heavily on helping students identify a problem, conceptualize a solution that fits within given parameters, help them test their model, and then encourage them to modify their design based on the results. These are all very important skills …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2019/03/11/guest-post-communication-an-important-part-of-engineering-challenges-in-the-classroom/
Mar 04
I Tweeted out the sessions and workshops I attended at this year’s NCCE Conference so I could keep track of all I did so I put them together into a Wakelet. Here’s what I went to (the Keynotes were both amazing even though I shared a lot of pics from the 1st Keynote):
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2019/03/04/this-years-ncce-ncce19/
Feb 09
My school district, Chimacum School District (CSD), has been experiencing an unprecedented decline in enrollment for the past bunch of years. When I started teaching at Chimacum Middle School (CMS) in 1997 there were about 370 students in grades 6 through 8. We had four classes at each grade level with approximately 120 students at …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2019/02/09/im-drawing-a-blank/
Jan 30
For years I’ve been wanting to give my students 20% of their class time to work on projects that matter to them. Call it Genius Hour or Passion Projects or 20% Time, it’s something I’ve been wanting to offer my students, but I never did. “How can I prepare kids for state exams if I …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2019/01/30/genius-hour-is-as-cool-as-i-thought/
Jan 07
Photo via Pixabay by Cuncon By Ginger Reid Climate change is something that’s on a lot of people’s minds these days, but many of us either aren’t sure how to make changes that will help or are unsure of exactly what climate change is. There have been many discussions on this controversial topic, and many …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2019/01/07/guest-post-on-climate-change-the-best-changes-for-your-home-to-help-reduce-the-effects/
Nov 15
The week before school started I managed to prepare enough to get through the first week with no problem! That was quite the relief. I did have to put in some hours late into each day and over the three-day Labor Day weekend, but I’m used to doing that. Had I been able to prepare …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2018/11/15/great-year/
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/
I'm a Curipod Ambassador! :)
I've presented at NCCE
2016, 2017, 2019, 2022,
2023, 2024, and 2025!
I presented at WSTA 2015!
