The Sands of Time Project: Intro to Evolution

An engaging, interactive project to teach the timeline of life with modeling clay, sand, soda bottles, dirt, and a little mystery.

Take Action Project 2.0 is published!

After 6 years, 3 teachers and about 1,700 students have been through the Take Action Project, the revised and improved version is finally here! Check it out in it’s entirety at a great, new start-up, with an intro right here.

Energy Opportunity Finale: The “Marketplace” Game!

An ad campaign for energy opportunities has to be effective in the real marketplace for students to be successful innovators. This simulation helped my students to understand basic economics and political realities of 21st Century America. All made possible with the help of my economist husband. I love the intersection between subject areas, where the most interesting ideas are, and where there are rich possibilities for math, English and social studies links too.

Test Corrections, Corrected.

A better way to correct tests with more engagement and time for coaching – thanks to a fresh perspective from my student teacher.

Effective Grading Strategies for Written Assessments

Long answer and lab assessments are the most dreaded kinds of grading: Here are some step-by-step suggestions to help answer the siren call of the new Common Core Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards.

Sorting Sources from Reliable to Rubbish

Battling the young to think about where information comes from, giving credit and figuring out if it’s credible. They hate it, I hated it, the tedium of looking up references blah, blah, and yet, in the end, a life and death of democracy skill.

Scientists, naturally – the Pipe Puzzle Game

Exceptionally fun yet profound lesson lifted (and tweaked) from UCMP’s Nature of Science program. Works as well with kindergarten through Back to School Night parents.

Flipping? My sweet, smart neice says Yes!

Amazing how much more persuasive my niece is than all the bells and whistles of ISTE and Edutopia blogs, twitter feeds around the flipped classroom. Listening to the education experience of the young people I love, priceless.

F-words for the Final Weeks

It was cranky time in class. Here’s what helped, including a better-than-Jeapordy quiz game.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, but how do you get started with Project Based Learning?

Overwhelmed by advice? Not sure you want to build a papier mache whale in your multipurpose room like you saw in someone else’s school that your principal pointed out to you? Here’s a slightly more distilled version of advice to get started from the school of hard knocks.