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.
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/
Dec 10
This past May and just recently in November I was fortunate to be able to present a session at two wonderful leadership conferences for newly certified National Board Certified Teachers or NBCTs. Washington state’s Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession or CSTP invited me to show some of the ways that I was sharing what …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/12/10/navigating-systems-for-students/
Dec 09
Our class ship, the USS Equinox, was dispatched to investigate the mystery of the destruction of the Bombay when they discovered another destroyed ship, the Tholian Aen’q Tholis. Unlike the Bombay, the Aen’q Tholis was destroyed by what appears to be phaser fire from another starship. Whatever destroyed the Bombay was not responsible for destroying …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/12/09/rule-out-the-klingons/
Dec 08
I found this cool infographic on personalized learning: Find more education infographics on e-Learning Infographics
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/12/08/personalized-learning/
I'm a Curipod Ambassador! :)
I've presented at NCCE
2016, 2017, 2019, 2022,
2023, 2024, and 2025!
I presented at WSTA 2015!
