Some rights reserved  by zetson So I’m supposed to pick a topic that will ultimately flush itself out as a project that will be implemented over the course of second semester.  I can’t even figure out what I’m having for dinner tonight, never mind something I will solely be responsible for, for a five [...]

I remember when I had to walk up hill, both ways, to school in two feet of snow.  No, wait, that was my grandfather’s story. I remember back when I had to organize and tend to laptop carts.  Power cords strewn everywhere, except in their properly labeled bags.  Unsanitized, communal headphones (ick) laboriously signed out from [...]

Education 2025…what will it look like?  Some rights reserved  by Michele Catania   I imagine some similarities to the now. -Students will continue to be students.  They will ride the crests of excitement and wallow in the troths of frustration.  The young mind is capable of so much, but needs a guide to help along the [...]

I remember someone telling  me that a toddler needs to sometimes try a food over a dozen times before they accept it as tasty.  I’d like to think my critical reasoning skills don’t require such repeated exposure to something new, but alas, no.  Like a screaming child facing a bowl of broccoli, I too put my [...]

 Some rights reserved  by zen How do we know if we are meeting technology standards?  Let’s back up for a moment.  Isn’t technology a tool to help students achieve learning in the content areas?   Wikipedia shared ISTE’s definition of technology integration as:  Curriculum integration with the use of technology involves the infusion of technology as [...]

Yes, the NETs need to be taught, but by who?     Some rights reserved  by JanneM I really don’t think there is a overarching answer that can be applied to all learning environments.  Schools  need to determine how these standards will be addressed, yet aren’t schools facing these questions of delegation on a variety of [...]

When was the last time you actually looked at a periodic table of elements? I mean really looked! -6pt font -inconsistent formatting from table to table -university level information pressed up against the basic facts -numbers, letters, Roman numerals, color codes, columns, rows, patterns, exceptions… It really is just too much for most students.…[Read more]

I struggle with the academic application of Presentation Zen.   Most of my ” presentations” are given to a captive audience that are not necessarily natural listeners.   On those days that I spin a tale and tell a story woven through with the facts of science, I do see a marked increase in attention and interest.  [...]

During our recent study of chemistry, I had my eighth grade students create a comic strip of a rather complicated experimental method.  They drew this comic strip across the white board at the front of the room.  Each class contributed a section of the comic, and also improved on sections previously created.   By the end of [...]

The Law of Conservation of Mass simply states that matter cannot be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction.  What goes in must equal what comes out .  I went on a search to find images to support this scientific law.  The top contenders are shown below. Some rights reserved by  neurmadic aesthetic Some rights reserved by  [Read more]

As a start into purposefully thinking about visual literacy, I thought it would be worthwhile to look back and see how I’ve used, and misused, visual literacy in my classroom.  The first thing that comes to mind was a recent workshop I attended on using images to help teach vocabulary.  The main idea of the presentation was [...]