These are blogs about Science or about the Science we do in my classes.
Apr 01
I wrote two grant proposals this year and did NOT get either of them. With that came an end to an incredible 13 year streak of getting at least one grant per year. I have been very fortunate. But with failing and broken equipment and the threat of losing the 1:1 environment that I have …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/04/01/the-end-of-a-great-streak/
Mar 14
Friday, March 9, we had six Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) crew members visit all five of my Science classes to talk conservation, watersheds, pollution, our creek and to share a rain garden they planted on our campus. It was a great experience for my kids to see a group of highly motivated young people who …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/03/14/rain-gardens/
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/
Jan 06
As teachers, we hope to do more than just teach kids information they need to pass tests and score well on end-of-grade exams. We hope to teach information such that the kids remember it five, ten, and even twenty years later. We hope to imbue students with useful facts and figures and to teach critical …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/01/06/guest-post-science-that-sticks/
Jan 02
This year my Science PLC is focusing on using learning progressions. We’ve worked for years on eliciting evidence so we moved on to a new focus, namely sharing learning expectations. [Disclaimer: I’ve read some bloggers who raise some great points about sharing learning expectations and using rubrics with our students so I’d like to note …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/01/02/learning-about-cells/
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/12/12/unstructured-ipad-time/
Dec 05
Through my work with the Olympic Math and Science Partnership (OMSP) I have been learning a lot about the formative process. One aspect of formative assessment or assessment for learning that is of extra interest to me has been questioning. Questioning used to be one of the five key strategies of assessment for learning but …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/12/05/questioning/
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/11/29/what-is-stem/
Nov 21
Content area teaching, teaching subjects in isolation, separate of each other, is a common practice in school. I’m guilty of continuing the traditional practice of specializing and teaching only one subject. And the funny thing is that my national board certification is on integration (generalist)! I started my career as an elementary teacher, 4th and …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/11/21/habits-of-mind/
Oct 31
Should I take time to teach my students in Science reading strategies to help them with our Science readings or should Language Arts teachers use Science readings as they teach kids to read? I’m all for integration. My national board certification is in early adolescent generalist (which, btw, doesn’t even exist anymore!) so integration was …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/10/31/reading-strategies-in-science/
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I've presented at NCCE
2016, 2017, 2019, 2022,
2023 and 2024!
I presented at WSTA 2015!
