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.
Jun 11
I’m looking for some feedback for this school year. What am I doing well? Where could I improve? I’d love to hear from my students’ families. You can take the survey by clicking on the following link: http://goo.gl/WpJ1n Thank you!
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/06/11/2011-12-parent-survey/
Jun 11
This past Thursday Nicholas Provenzano hosted a Twitter chat at #NerdyChat on the topic of Gamification (see transcript here). Gamification is the idea of using the best of video gaming in the classroom. Why? Watch a kid play a video game. Video games hook the player and motivate the player to persevere through failure and …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/06/11/alternate-reality-game/
Jun 04
We talk a lot about preparing our students for real life. We entice them with the reward of high marks (A’s, 100%’s, 3’s and 4’s) and we threaten them with failure (F’s, 0’s, 1’s and 2’s). It’s easy to think that enticing kids with high marks works because of the kids who work hard for …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/06/04/real-life/
May 22
I blog and share posts about my dislike of standardized tests. I especially hate when these tests are made high stakes to determine what kids know and how well teachers are teaching. And yet both my kids take them. Why don’t I opt them out? My son is 15 years old, a freshman in high …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/05/22/my-own-children/
May 21
This week, May 21 to May 25, 8th grade teachers at my school will be taking over 85 8th graders along with 20 HS counselors to Camp David, Jr. on gorgeous Lake Crescent for an Olympic Odyssey outdoor education experience. One aspect of this trip that stresses out a bunch of our students, including yours …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/05/21/week-long-field-trip/
May 12
This is so cool! Go from the observable universe to a hydrogen’s proton! Copyright 2012. Magnifying the Universe by Number Sleuth.
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/05/12/magnify-the-universe/
May 08
I’ve had mixed results using social networking media for class discussions. Because of that I haven’t even tried to have students use it for backchanneling. It’s hard enough to get them to listen as I give instructions and I don’t lecture all that much anyway. I’ve had this vision of engaging more students in class …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/05/08/how-to-make-social-networking-work/
May 07
Ronnie Burt wrote a blog post about a debate he’s been having with Sue Waters, Edublogger Debate: Scaffolding vs. Struggling – Can You Be Too Helpful? I found the topic quite intriguing as it fits perfectly into what I spend a majority of my time worrying about, Student Engagement and Student Discipline. So the question …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/05/07/the-scaffolding-vs-struggling-debate/
May 02
I struggle with reading. It’s not that I can’t decode or that I am dyslexic or anything like that. It’s not even that my first language was Spanish and now I’m fluent in English (I can barely get out a complete thought in Spanish without having to switch to English, so English is my dominant …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/05/02/reading-ability/
May 01
It’s not like I have the money to buy any more iPads or any more Netbooks but I’ve been thinking about which one to recommend if the question comes up at our district tech meetings. I’m basing this pro and con comparison on my classroom. I have 14 first generation iPads and I’m borrowing five …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/05/01/ipads-vs-netbooks/
I'm a Curipod Ambassador! :)
I've presented at NCCE
2016, 2017, 2019, 2022,
2023 and 2024!
I presented at WSTA 2015!
