Perseverance or Obsession

This is my 25th year teaching. In that time I’ve gotten 38 grants. I have been getting at least one grant a year for the last 17 years straight. I’m working on making that 18 years straight. Of those 38 grants, 17 were awarded for one project, my environmental stewardship project. I’ve learned that there …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2016/05/10/perseverance-or-obsession/

Backing up Claims

In my last post I shared learnings and takeaways from some Common Core ELA trainings I’ve attended around the CCSS-ELA Shift 2 (students need to engage in, “reading, writing and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational”). This post continues with more about Shift 2. Questioning!Now that you’ve selected the perfect complex …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2016/05/05/backing-up-claims/

PLC Work Takes Time

Our middle school’s second year participating in a WA STEM PD grant project is coming to an end. One thing I can see clearly is the time it takes to do PLC work right. Our plan has been to engage in professional development together in our teacher teams. PLC teams in schools are the best …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2016/05/04/plc-work-takes-time/

Salary versus Hourly Wages

I’ve heard this argument before. Teachers shouldn’t complain about having to work extra hours to get their work done. Other professionals get paid to get their job done whether they work a 60 hour week or a 100 hour week. Some of them work endless hours when getting a project done. So why do teachers …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2016/05/03/salary-versus-hourly-wages/

6th Grader’s Bullying Video

I have a 6th grader who wanted to post something different to our World Solutions blog. She wanted to tell a short story of bullying. She focused on kids who are bullied just for being who they are and how wrong that is. Head on over to our World Solutions Blog and watch her short …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2016/04/29/6th-graders-bullying-video/

Text is Boss!

In my last post I shared learnings and takeaways from some Common Core ELA trainings I’ve attended, specifically implications around the first shift of the common core that states that our students need to be reading complex texts. In this post I’m going share my learning about CCSS-ELA Shift 2. Common Core Shift 2 states …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2016/04/12/text-is-boss/

Food Miles 6th grade Blog Post

Food Miles? What is food miles, you ask? Check out this 6th grader’s summary of an awesome activity we did in class to raise student awareness of food traveling to get to your plates!

Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2016/04/11/food-miles-6th-grade-blog-post/

Older iMacs

Back in 1998 my school put the first model of iMac in my classroom, the Bondi iMac pictured on the left. I rotated groups of students through the Bondi iMac as they created websites using HTML as part of the projects they were working on at the time. We’ve come a long way since the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2016/03/28/older-imacs/

A 6th Grader’s View On Mindsets

Here’s the latest 6th grade post in our class’s World Solutions Blog: Does Having a Growth Mindset Over a Fixed Mindset Really Matter? Click on the link above and read her post, it’s really good and has a fantastic Animoto video! Leave her a comment and share her post, please!

Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2016/03/17/a-6th-graders-view-on-mindsets/

6th Grader Shares About His Stuttering!

One of our 6th graders recorded this short video to share what it’s like stuttering! It’s short and well worth watching! Click here to visit our World Solutions Blog to watch his video, feel free to leave Isaac a comment!

Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2016/03/14/6th-grader-shares-about-his-stuttering/

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