Our WA STEM grant work is coming to an end. My Math and Science middle and high school PLC team has been immersing themselves in the world of social networking by blogging and tweeting for the past year. For some it’s been toe dipping that is becoming a walk up to the hip while other …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/01/09/blogging-tweeting-wa-stem/
Jan 08
Tough Decisions
Sometimes, when faced with a tough decision, I choose one that leaves me feeling bad for a long time. I can justify the decision and do so over and over. The reason I have to justify my decision is because it’s one where kids miss out. Every year for the past ten years I’ve been …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/01/08/tough-decisions/
Jan 06
Guest Post: Science that Sticks
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/
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/01/03/wa-stem-1-5-12-agenda/
Jan 02
My Fave 11 of 2011
It’s that time of year again. Where people look back and reflect on their top posts. I was reading Pernille Ripp’s top blog post and she made a great point. Instead of listing the posts that got the most hits list the ones that mean the most to you! I love it. And actually I …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/01/02/my-fave-11-of-2011/
Jan 02
Learning About Cells
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/
Dec 28
Evolution of 1:1
When I began teaching in 1991 I brought in my Tandy laptop to have my students word process their writings. Then I’d print them out to put on our bulletin board. My next year I got a grant to purchase a Mac LC 520. With that Mac I used my AOL account to bring the …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/12/28/evolution-of-1to1/
Dec 21
Comparing Traditional and Alternative Grading Schemes
This is a guest post by Elaine Hirsch. Movements for change and reform in the US educational system challenge nearly every aspect of the student’s experience, and grading systems are certainly not exempt from this. In an ongoing struggle to best measure the effectiveness of our education system, traditional and alternative grading systems have been …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/12/21/comparing-traditional-and-alternative-grading-schemes/
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/12/12/unstructured-ipad-time/
Dec 05
Questioning
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/