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.
May 30
Olympic Odyssey is what we call our week-long, outdoor education, 8th grade field trip. We take 8th graders to Camp David, Jr. on beautiful Lake Crescent and use that as our take off point to their odyssey. This is the time of year where some of the things they are learning in school come to …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/05/30/outdoor-education-rocks/
May 13
I found this video on Mr. Bogush’s blog about the Finland Phenomenon aptly called, “The Finland Phenomenon.” I think that we can learn a lot from Finland. From 2000 to 2009 Finland has scored #1 in the world in Reading, Math, and Science. Yet in Finland students start school later, spend less time in school, …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/05/13/finlands-race-leads-somewhere/
May 12
Tuesday night at 6pm Chimacum Middle School hosted a screening of the movie Race to Nowhere. We had 92 people from our community, our schools, Sequim, and Port Townsend attend the screening and afterward many stayed behind to discuss the movie’s content. Speaking for myself, the movie was amazing. At a few points throughout the …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/05/12/our-race-to-somewhere/
Apr 21
On Tuesday, May 10, from 6 to 8pm at the Chimacum Schools auditorium we will be having a screening of the movie Race to Nowhere (buy your tickets here: http://www.racetonowhere.com/epostcard/4935). Tickets to the screening are being sold online for $10, plus a processing fee, per person and will be available at the door on the …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/04/21/race-to-nowhere-comes-to-chimacum/
Apr 15
Cross post I wrote for the Inquire Within Blog. A few years back I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in an online media production professional development toolkit for middle school educators. Vulcan Productions teamed up with Education Development Center to create Success at the Core. Registering for free at their site gives …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/04/15/promoting-inquiry-through-exploring-predictions/
Apr 09
What does on-task look like in a 21st century classroom? How do you get your students engaged in learning? I think about the types of learning that take place in my classroom a lot because I don’t know if the things I’m doing actually help my students learn. Is it enough to abolish grades so …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/04/09/what-is-on-task/
Mar 23
Yesterday was a pretty darn cool day. From 8am to 2:30pm I was able to sit in comfy chair at Northwest Kiwanis Camp house that we rent to work on PLC stuff near gorgeous Beausite Lake here in Chimacum, WA. I met and worked all day with our middle and high school Math and Science …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/03/23/can-i-be-excited-now/
Mar 17
Okay, so in a ten and a half hour average work day I go to the restroom three times. I try to make sure I go by 7:30am before the kids get to my room when the bell rings at 7:40am (unless there’s a morning meeting when I have to skip my morning restroom break). …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/03/17/just-saying/
Mar 09
Going grade-less has opened me up to giving students feedback that will help them move their learning in the right direction. I no longer spend my time trying to find a percentage or letter or mark to reduce their work. I read it and tell them what is working and what they still need. My …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/03/09/giving-feedback/
Mar 03
Last week our 8th grade Bacteria Labs went all wrong. Student teams went all around the school swabbing different places to see where they would find the most bacteria. What happened was something I didn’t expect, not one single petri dish showed any growth. No bacteria, no mold, nothing. We discussed possible sources of error …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/03/03/lab-saved/
I'm a Curipod Ambassador! :)
I've presented at NCCE
2016, 2017, 2019, 2022,
2023, 2024, and 2025!
I presented at WSTA 2015!
