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 25
I need a fresh perspective on something I’ve been struggling with this school year. My reason for gamifying my courses was to motivate and engage more of my students whether they are gamers or not. Last week I reiterated something in blog post that I’ve learned in over 22 years of teaching, that no ONE …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/03/25/what-am-i-missing-here/
Mar 24
I put together this Prezi with my thoughts and takeaways from this year’s NCCE Conference. I will be sharing this with my District Tech team as we work to make a new district tech plan. The conference was a great experience full of great learning and great people. Here’s a link in case the embed …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/03/24/my-ncce2014-takeaways-csd49/
Mar 17
I have to keep reminding myself that one size, of anything, does not fit all. I have to remind myself of this when not all my students come to me loving Science. When not all my students want to make a video to show what they are learning. When not all my students want to …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/03/17/one-size-does-not-fit-all/
Mar 15
I haven’t been to a conference in a while. I haven’t entirely isolated as I have able to attend trainings outside my school with the North Cascades and Olympic Science Partnership (NCOSP) and the Olympic Math and Science Partnership (OMSP) and West Sound GreenSTEMs and Washington STEM as well as working with my Science PLC, …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/03/15/ncce2014-and-csd49/
Mar 11
I haven’t been to a conference in sooooo looong. And tomorrow I get to go to the NCCE 2014 Conference in Seattle! Just two hours away, and a ferry ride, from where I live and I’ll be there! Tomorrow morning! I’m so excited! Our new Superintendent, @Rich_Stewart1 , is sending our District Tech Committee to …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/03/11/im-going-to-ncce2014/
Mar 11
Oh I fall into the trap. I spend every morning and every evening checking my Feedly RSS feeds and reading many awesome blogs. Lately I’ve been reading a few who apologize for not having blogged in a while and I start to feel it. Holy cow! I haven’t blogged in a while! I need to …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/03/11/the-tao-of-blogging/
Feb 10
In our last round of training on our new WA State evaluation system, Teacher/Principal Evaluation Project (TPEP), many of our small group discussions came back to the question of student learning (as it should!). I became fixated on one particular core idea from the CEL 1 Foundational Ideas Applied to Instructional Frameworks that read: “If …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/02/10/are-students-learning/
Feb 09
In response to my questions on the Inquiry Dry Spell post I wrote Edna (@whatedsaid) posed some questions to get me thinking about inquiry in my Science classes. She wrote the following on her post, Response to the dry spell… Inquiry encourages students to be actively involved in and to take responsibility for their own …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/02/09/inquiry-in-science/
Feb 09
I use Carolina’s STC/MS Energy, Machines, and Motion kit (EMM) with my 6th graders. The lessons in this kit are well structured to take advantage of how people learn by making sure every lesson starts by eliciting prior knowledge of students with questions that students investigate through different labs. The procedures are laid out, step …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/02/09/adding-inquiry/
Feb 07
I have question about standardized test remediation courses. I know the answer to my question but I still have a strong, almost masochistic, desire to ask it. So let me start with the answer to my question. “You’re right, Al, and I agree with everything you say but (yes, I, Al, know there is a …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/02/07/test-remediation/
I'm a Curipod Ambassador! :)
I've presented at NCCE
2016, 2017, 2019, 2022,
2023, 2024, and 2025!
I presented at WSTA 2015!
