Guest Post: Communication – An important part of Engineering Challenges in the classroom

Teaching the engineering and design process is all the rage in the classroom right now. We focus heavily on helping students identify a problem, conceptualize a solution that fits within given parameters, help them test their model, and then encourage them to modify their design based on the results. These are all very important skills …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2019/03/11/guest-post-communication-an-important-part-of-engineering-challenges-in-the-classroom/

This Year’s NCCE #NCCE19

I Tweeted out the sessions and workshops I attended at this year’s NCCE Conference so I could keep track of all I did so I put them together into a Wakelet. Here’s what I went to (the Keynotes were both amazing even though I shared a lot of pics from the 1st Keynote):

Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2019/03/04/this-years-ncce-ncce19/

I’m Drawing a Blank

My school district, Chimacum School District (CSD), has been experiencing an unprecedented decline in enrollment for the past bunch of years. When I started teaching at Chimacum Middle School (CMS) in 1997 there were about 370 students in grades 6 through 8. We had four classes at each grade level with approximately 120 students at …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2019/02/09/im-drawing-a-blank/

Genius Hour IS as Cool as I Thought

Genius Hour Image

For years I’ve been wanting to give my students 20% of their class time to work on projects that matter to them. Call it Genius Hour or Passion Projects or 20% Time, it’s something I’ve been wanting to offer my students, but I never did. “How can I prepare kids for state exams if I …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2019/01/30/genius-hour-is-as-cool-as-i-thought/

Guest Post on Climate Change: The Best Changes For Your Home To Help Reduce The Effects

Photo via Pixabay by Cuncon By Ginger Reid Climate change is something that’s on a lot of people’s minds these days, but many of us either aren’t sure how to make changes that will help or are unsure of exactly what climate change is. There have been many discussions on this controversial topic, and many …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2019/01/07/guest-post-on-climate-change-the-best-changes-for-your-home-to-help-reduce-the-effects/

Great Year!

The week before school started I managed to prepare enough to get through the first week with no problem! That was quite the relief. I did have to put in some hours late into each day and over the three-day Labor Day weekend, but I’m used to doing that. Had I been able to prepare …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2018/11/15/great-year/

Got Some Planning Done But Still Stressed

Ten days ago I decided to start planning early for the start of the new school year so I would be ready and not feel rushed that week teachers get back to work before the kids start. I found myself blocked and scattered  and that took me aback. I spun my wheels and decided to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2018/08/24/got-some-planning-done-but-still-stressed/

Gamification Grading – XP

Lucidchart Mind Map of part of my course.

I have always said and I continue to share that if you are going to start gamifying your courses and want to take one small step, start with XP. The way experience points, or XP, work in gaming makes for a decent way to grade our students. Here’s the main difference between traditional grading and …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2018/08/23/gamification-grading-xp/

Procrastination

I’ve managed to procrastinate for another two whole days! I had set aside time every day this week to get a head start on getting ready for school. Most of the day yesterday and some of the day today I spent working on a video my superintendent asked me to make for a STEM Kickoff …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2018/08/16/procrastination/

How to Start?

I’ve been procrastinating on getting ready for school. Now that school is a few weeks away from starting I decided to start getting ready. Well, I tried but I haven’t been able to start anything. There are so many things floating around in my head that I DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START! I can’t remember …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2018/08/14/how-to-start/

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