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.
Mar 02
At the publication of this blog post I turn 48 years of age. What makes this age cool for me is that it marks exactly half my life spent educating youth in grades 4 through 8. I started teaching 4th and 5th grade in South Central Los Angeles in 1991. I was 24 years old. …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2015/03/02/half-life-as-educator/
Feb 25
In this mid-season finale to our ongoing Star Trek class story an incredible secret is revealed. The QR code is clickable. It has been awhile since the last part of our story, which was like a finale in itself. The place I put the QR code went pretty much unnoticed for about three weeks! I …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2015/02/25/class-trek-mid-season-finale/
Feb 24
This all started as a 6th grade Exploratory class offered to all 6th graders for one quarter at a time. Students got off to a great start last quarter, the first time this class was offered to 6th grade students. As students began the class they agreed to our class charter, thought and wrote about …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2015/02/24/1st-quarter-wow-complete/
Feb 23
The above brief snippet is very representative of a typical day in the computer lab last quarter (technically the 2nd quarter of the school year but the 1st quarter for our WoWinSchools class). I had 27 sixth graders in that class, the students from my 1st period Science class. Using parts of the WoWinSchools curriculum, modified …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2015/02/23/1st-quarter-wow/
Jan 02
After writing about the 21st Century C’s I added the Caring C to the list of skills I had put together. I also found some other skills to add to it. It seems to me that Caring fits better with life skills than the four C’s. If we can help students practice the following skills …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2015/01/02/skills-learned-in-school/
Dec 29
After reading Bill Ferriter’s post NEW SLIDE: SKILLS MATTER MORE THAN TOOLS I began to reflect on the skills my students are gaining as they work and learn in my Science classes. Students have access to technology in my classroom just as they have access to pencil, paper and textbooks in other classes. The tech …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/12/29/the-cs-revisited/
Dec 27
As if in response to my Relationships or Taskmaster post, the Smart Classroom Management blog published the following post called Are You Afraid to Hold Students Accountable? It’s definitely worth a read as they make a valid point. According to Smart Classroom Management following your classroom management plan is the best way to hold students …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/12/27/holding-students-accountable/
Dec 12
Here’s the next installment in the continuing Voyage of the Starship Equinox (the QR code is clickable): Star Trek Choose Your Own Adventure Class Story The Story Continues… Next Episode Following an Energy Trail Rule Out the Klingons? Away Team Mid-Season Finale Averting War Season Finale!
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/12/12/away-team/
Dec 12
This week I had all my 6th grade classes try their hand at coding and programming using the great Hour of Code resources. I could have just pointed kids to the part of the Hour Code website with all the tutorials but I decided to make myself an account and add all my 80 students …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/12/12/hour-of-code-week/
Dec 11
I struggle with this every, single year. The balance between being a taskmaster and building relationships with students. One way to think of classroom management, according to Lee Canter (Assertive Discipline) is that dealing with kids is like working with your bank account. Building relationships with kids can be seen as depositing money into your …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/12/11/relationships-or-taskmaster/
I'm a Curipod Ambassador! :)
I've presented at NCCE
2016, 2017, 2019, 2022,
2023 and 2024!
I presented at WSTA 2015!
