My 5th and 6th grade STEM classes have been working on robotics using the Lego Mindstorm EV3 kits since December. Students built their first robot then took the Lego Mindstorms programming lesson tutorials before we began some activities and challenges. We still have two major challenges left in this unit before we transition to our …
Category: Tech Integration
These are blogs I've written about integrating technology into my Science classes.
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2023/02/19/students-excited-by-robotics-and-ai/
Dec 29
Chat GPT for Lesson Planning
I used Chat GPT to write a blog post so I thought I’d play around with it some more and try it out to help me lesson plan. I asked Chat GPT some questions about the unit we’re working on in my STEM classes to see what it knew. It surprised me because I didn’t …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2022/12/29/chat-gpt-for-lesson-planning/
Dec 14
Are They Helpful or Crutches?
My first ever blog post written with the help of an AI! I am adding my own commentary and adding to the blog post the AI wrote for me so from this point on anything you see italicized is written by me. Normal text was written by the AI! I have continued to be active …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2022/12/14/are-they-helpful-or-crutches/
Jul 05
Do your students have tech fatigue?
I thought it was just me. Just my students. Then I read this EdSurge article, Students Got a Crash Course in Tech During the Pandemic. Now Some Want a Break. I had been experiencing a bit of cognitive dissonance because I envisioned more and more teachers and students using tech in school because they experienced …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2022/07/05/do-your-students-have-tech-fatigue/
Jul 01
Is Live Better Than Virtual? #ISTELive #NCCEchat
This was my setup for this year’s ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference. Due to circumstances, one of them being available funds from my school district – we get about $275/yr to spend on any PD that we want and we can bank our funds for a few years – I was able …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2022/07/01/is-live-better-than-virtual-istelive-nccechat/
Oct 29
Leveling the Playing Field?
I’ve been thinking about how we are working at leveling the playing field between our haves and have-nots. The pandemic has made extremely clear the advantages that our haves have over our have-nots. A couple of ways our district worked at leveling the playing field was to provide every student a laptop to take home …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2021/10/29/leveling-the-playing-field/
Aug 26
Google For Edu Ramps up Age Restrictions
I am responsible for bringing Google Apps, now Google Edu, to my district by in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. I have my Google Educator Levels 1 and 2 badges because I have seen first hand the power of Google’s suite of excellent tools for educating our young people. My district is also a …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2021/08/26/google-for-edu-ramps-up-age-restrictions/
Dec 31
Grants and Prizes
In my 30 years teaching I’ve gotten 48 grants in 24 years totaling just under $371,000. In the last 22 years straight I’ve gotten at least one grant per year every year. That’s quite the streak and the Ocean Guardian Schools project is one of those grant opportunities that I can apply for year after …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2020/12/31/grants-and-prizes/
Jun 15
13th and Final Week for Chimacum
Week 13 (Last Week) – June 15 to June 19:School Closure PlanningWeek 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6Week 7Week 8Week 9Week 10Week 11Week 12Week 13 Recap of Week 12 My top five 6th grade Science students, who completed the most assignments while at home, completed an average of 16 assignments of the 21 I had …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2020/06/15/13th-and-final-week-for-chimacum/
Jun 15
10 Things To Do for 20-21
1. Make Connections The BIG #1 thing to do with any face time we get is to hit the ground running on making relationships and strong connections! One way is to have regular, weekly or even twice weekly class meetings. We used to do that when we were a middle school and had a strong …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2020/06/15/10-things-to-do-for-20-21/