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.
Sep 30
I came across this post by George Couros, 4 Reasons People Don’t Blog and Ideas to Help Change Their Mind. He gives some great ideas to the reasons people give. I have to admit that I’ve heard those reasons when I tell people how wonderful blogging is to me. In his post George shares this …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/09/30/sharing-is-a-good-thing/
Sep 29
Here’s the presentation that started the Voyages of the Starship Equinox. The Equinox is a Starfleet Science vessel that will propel me and my students on a voyage of the imagination as we learn Science this year. And here’s the latest installment: Star Trek Choose Your Own Adventure Class Story The Story Continues… Next Episode …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/09/29/the-story-continues/
Sep 26
Readers, I need your help, advice or let me know if this happens elsewhere. I recently wrote about my dilemma with either talking too much or letting students work independently to the point where they struggle. I have this preliminary assignment to get my students blogging. Students can access the assignment with written directions using …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/09/26/help-following-directions/
Sep 23
We kicked off the new school year with a tech training for the whole district. Here’s the Prezi we used for our kick-off tech training: As we train our district staff this year to implement our new Tech Plan, we are making use of the SAMR model (resources included in the above Prezi) to help …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/09/23/tech-via-samr/
Sep 21
This year I’m adding a new element to my gamified courses. I’m developing a fully gamified course based on the Science I’ve been teaching for years. The goal is to add a level of fun and engagement to Science both for those who love gaming, gamers, and for those maybe aren’t intrinsically motivated to learn …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/09/21/live-action-role-play/
Sep 20
I started this year off pretty well. I had some activities for students to work on such as the Marshmallow Challenge on the first week of school so I wouldn’t be talking too much or going over our rules and procedures right from the start. For the last few years I’ve tried to talk less …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/09/20/more-direct-instruction/
Sep 11
or So far I’ve only been using ClassDojo and Classcraft for a few days but I’m liking them both. I’ve been wanting to try ClassDojo for a while now and this year I finally took the plunge (I also have to admit that this is the first year I’m using Remind as well …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/09/11/classdojo-or-classcraft/
Sep 07
Our first week was four days long because of Labor Day and we got off to a great start! I had been teaching all three 6th grade Science classes and two of the three 8th grade Science classes but this year I only have all three 6th grade Science classes plus a 6th grade exploratory …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/09/07/great-1st-week/
Aug 29
One of the math teachers and I attended a BER Conference on differentiation to meet the common core. We got some really great ideas for helping all our learners engage with our curricula. We presented the first part of our three or four part training with ideas for offering more student choice. Here’s the Prezi …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/08/29/differentiation-training/
Aug 28
Our school was chosen as one of 45 schools added to a WA STEM innovative PD program! I will be sharing our professional development model soon. Here’s the official press release: Chimacum middle school to participate in Initiative to fuel professional development FOR TEACHERS in STEM education For Immediate Release (#wastem) August 26, 2014 Chimacum …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/08/28/innovative-pd-grant/
I'm a Curipod Ambassador! :)
I've presented at NCCE
2016, 2017, 2019, 2022,
2023, 2024, and 2025!
I presented at WSTA 2015!
