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 13
That’s what Seth Godin, author of Linchpin and other books, is asking us in his blog post www.stopstealingdreams.com is ready to read and share. Stop Stealing Dreams is a free book Godin wrote to get discussions around education reform going. Why did he do that? Because his readers ask him, “What do you think we …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/03/13/what-is-school-for/
Mar 12
I think about student engagement, what we call on-task behavior, a lot. All the time it seems. I’ve written a few blogs on the subject. I wrote What is On Task back in April of 2011, I wrote How Much Socializing Can You Put Up With on August of 2011, I wrote, I’m Bored, So …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/03/12/student-engagement/
Mar 08
Our amazing water quality project has come to an end. Students have been busy the last few weeks sharing presentations of their work with each other, writing final conclusion blogs (#comments4kids), and self-assessing their understandings of the Science standards that most closely fit our project. Since we are beginning a completely different unit studying physical science …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/03/08/6th-graders-finishing-water-quality/
Mar 06
Why collaborate? That is the question. Let me focus in a bit on a more specific question. If you, in a middle and a high school, were given the opportunity to meet regularly with your peers why would you want to? What could all the Science teachers in grades 6 through 12 meet about if …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/03/06/why-collaborate/
Feb 26
I’ve written some posts about awards not being very useful when used as reward and punishment. I’ve written some posts about grades not being very useful when used as reward and punishment. I try to create an environment in my classroom where kids aren’t competing for points or an A but are instead learning and …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/02/26/not-against-competition/
Feb 25
It was about this time last year that I wrote a blog on some lessons I was learning from my students with regards to blogging and their blogs. I was getting the clue that assigning blog assignments as homework didn’t work. Merely having a tech component wasn’t enticing enough for kids to do school work …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/02/25/lessons-from-student-bloggers/
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/02/16/awards-as-a-habit/
Feb 14
How cool to get interviewed! Laurie Hansen contacted me for an interview about our WA STEM grant project. It was such a cool experience. Check it out at her blog, Vicariosity. 🙂 Thanks again, Laurie!
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/02/14/interviewed/
Feb 13
Public schools exist to ensure that everyone has an opportunity for an education. An education is supposed to be the equalizer that prepares everyone to achieve their American Dream. Whether your dream is to open your own business, be a doctor, a lawyer, a football star, a baseball star, an actor, a famous musician, or …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/02/13/school-accountability/
Jan 30
It all started when I read on Twitter about Dan Pink’s Fedex Day post for fostering innovation. This sparked something in many educators. Josh Stumpenhorst initiated an innovation day at his school after another teacher, Matt Langes, tried it. Josh’s innovation day even hit the news and Dan Pink himself contacted Josh! The idea of …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/01/30/innovation-passion-engagement/
I'm a Curipod Ambassador! :)
I've presented at NCCE
2016, 2017, 2019, 2022,
2023 and 2024!
I presented at WSTA 2015!
