Category: Ed News

These blogs have to do with education as a whole. I write about different topics concerning ed reform and educating our 21st century youth.

WA STEM Grant Proposal

My awesome PLC has accepted the challenge of social networking. I shared the WA STEM grant idea and they all jumped on board. So I wrote a proposal and sent it in! I sure hope we get the grant because I think it’s a great project for us to work on. (If you want to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2010/12/18/wa-stem-grant-proposal/

Small Successes

It’s nice to celebrate the small successes, it keeps us sane. 🙂 In my post about microorganisms I shared some of, what I thought, were wonderful critters. A bunch of students in both of my 8th grade classes were right there with me, finding great critters, identifying them and drawing them. Maybe it was because …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2010/12/18/small-successes/

Social Networking Opportunity

So last Thursday I got a call from the project director of the North Cascades and Olympic Science Partnership (NCOSP), Dr. Carolyn Landel. I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in the NCOSP trainings and summer academies from 2004 to 2007. It was an incredible boost to my learning about Science and how …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2010/12/13/social-networking-opportunity/

Formative Process

No Assessment Image.

We read another excellent article at my teacher leader training, Next-Generation Assessment Systems: Are We Losing an Opportunity? by Margaret Heritage (this one is a pdf file). One thing I took away from the article is how easy it is to think we’re doing formative assessment when we’re not because of the word assessment. After …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2010/12/06/formative-process/

Inquiry for Teachers

At a teacher leader workshop we learned some valuable lessons about how to get the most out of our Professional Learning Community (PLC) work. One thing I noticed is that the type of deep thinking that is needed for PLC’s to do their job well is the type of discourse I see often from my …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2010/12/06/inquiry-for-teachers/

Sharing Learning Expectations

As I continue to learn more about Assessment for Learning (AfL) I find ways to hone my craft. One of the five key strategies of AfL is to share learning expectations with students. I’ve used rubrics on and off for years not sure if I like the transparency of them or hate how they don’t …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2010/12/04/sharing-learning-expectations/

Can Inquiry Be Structured?

Short answer, yes. There is a time and a place for everything. And even with inquiry there is a time and place for structure. I think learning a structure like the one in this blog is great for elementary teachers who teach Science. Is this the only way? No. Should you do this all the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2010/11/29/can-inquiry-be-structured/

Feedback with Google Forms

I’ve used Google Forms to create surveys for my students. I’ve gotten some great feedback from students at the end of course. It was easy to create and I got a spreadsheet with all their feedback. I could read through all the student responses. I never used Google Forms for quizzes but finally decided to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2010/11/27/feedback-with-google-forms/

Extend the Lesson for Inquiry

Science kits are great for elementary and many middle school teachers. I’m a generalist (got the early adolescent generalist national board certification before it went away), which basically means I dabble in everything, so the fact that I’m teaching only Science is through some fortunate circumstance. I saw fortunate because I love teaching Science and …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2010/11/23/extend-the-lesson-for-inquiry/

Technology as a Tool

After seven weeks (28 actual class days) of working with iPads, netbooks and desktop computers in the classroom in a 1:1 environment, my students have settled into a pretty swell routine. The apps most used by students to get their work done are Safari for Internet research, and Office2 HD for creating documents and/or adding …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2010/11/14/technology-as-a-tool/

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