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.
Dec 19
This post originally appeared on the CORELaborate blog. I’ve written about the state of the Scientific Method in the NGSS era and I’ve also written about the DOING of Science. Both those blog posts are about how the NGSS is helping teachers to educate students not only in the content of Science but how Science …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2017/12/19/science-and-engineering-in-the-real-world/
Nov 21
The culminating lesson of the first STEM Robotics 101 unit was quite enjoyable for me and for my students. This post will show how that engineering challenge aligned to the engineering standards. The Next Generation Science Standard (NGSS) for Engineering, MS-ETS1 – Engineering Design, has four performance expectations for students (read this post to see …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2017/11/21/stem-robotics-with-faraday/
Oct 24
This post was originally published on the CORELaborate blog! I have heard it before and I agree, school can be considered a game. Think about it. Those kids who do the best have the game all figured out. You show up, do what the teachers tell you to do, be quiet, pretend to listen (or …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2017/10/24/playing-the-game-of-school/
Sep 26
This post was originally published at CORELaborate! I participated in a webinar recently as part of my work with the Olympic STEM Pathways Partnership or OSPP. We focused on the dimension of the Next Generation Science Standards or NGSS known as the Science and Engineering Practices or SEPs. One of the things we discussed is …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2017/09/26/the-doing-of-science/
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2017/08/25/blended-or-hybrid-learning-infographic/
Jul 29
Do you listen to educational podcasts? If you do, see if you listen to the same ones I listen to, and if you don’t, then try some or all of the ones I’m sharing here. The BAM Radio Network is just awesome and here are my go to podcasts: Vicki Davis, The Cool Cat …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2017/07/29/my-favorite-education-podcasts/
Jul 15
Well, more like Watershed Guardians. Last year I found out about this NOAA project called Ocean Guardian School. When I read the description I knew Chimacum Middle School had to apply to be an Ocean Guardian School! Our Environmental Stewardship Project was perfect! Even though we focus mostly on our neighborhood creek, Ocean Guardian Schools …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2017/07/15/we-are-ocean-guardians/
Jul 14
At the beginning of the 2015-16 school year I was feeling some desperation. Our middle school had been pitching a plan to go 1:1 for all students and it just wasn’t happening. I represented our school on our district’s technology committee and the money wasn’t available to make our 1:1 happen. So I got an …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2017/07/14/student-tech-support-chimtech/
Jul 13
Back in 2011 I wrote a blog post about going full circle, kind of, from integrating technology by having students work 1:1 student to computer in a computer lab to having computers in my classroom. In the classroom I started with one computer for all students to use, then I upgraded to a 1:4 student …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2017/07/13/goodbye-to-my-imacs/
Jun 27
This post was originally published at the WA CORELaborate website. May 24 our Science Subject Area Committee (SAC) presented our plans for a new Science Curriculum Adoption. This is the third adoption in which I’ve played a role in the 20 years I’ve worked at Chimacum Middle School. I played a much bigger role …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2017/06/27/adopting-a-new-curriculum/
I'm a Curipod Ambassador! :)
I've presented at NCCE
2016, 2017, 2019, 2022,
2023, 2024, and 2025!
I presented at WSTA 2015!
