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Looking for a fun way to review the Cell? This activity combines creativity, competition, and collaboration – your class will love it!
The goal is for students to make analogies between the parts of the cell and the very random objects I have give them.
BONUS: post includes idea for making the activity Digital for distance learning!
Continue reading “Review the Cell With This One Easy & Unusual Activity!”
Differentiation in the classroom is one of the best ways to meet students where they are, and move them forward. But how do you find which students need re-teaching, or just a bit of extra practice, or are ready for something more?
Daily monitoring of student progress is so important – but it does not have to be hard, or take a long time! This simple and fast method lets Google Forms do all the work!
Continue reading “Daily Differentiation in the Classroom with Google Forms”
Many of us are starting the school year doing virtual classes. It is a tough situation – for a lot of reasons. I think the worst part is how difficult it will be to connect with my students. This blog post came out of a deep need for ways to build relationships during distance learning. It is also a sincere invitation to offer your own ideas that we can all benefit from.
Continue reading “4 Ways to Build Relationships During Distance Learning”
With one simple Chrome Extension, you can easily turn any website into an interactive virtual lesson- in minutes! Highlight text, insert questions, initiate whole class discussion, include videos and even embed Google Forms! It is like a miracle, and I am hooked.
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Teacher communication with parents and students is always important. Somehow, though, I imagine that this coming year communication will be even more essential. There will likely be (many) days that I do not see my students in person. Parents will need to be in close connection with the workings of the classroom and the school. I need a communication tool that can do…a lot.
Continue reading “ClassTag: New Favorite Tool for Teacher Communication with Parents & Students”
Forensic Science is an awesome class. With topics like ballistics, blood, and dead bodies – it is almost hard to make it boring! But how do you start? What can a teacher do on the first day that hooks students and lays a solid foundation for the rest of the course?
Continue reading “Ideas for the First Day of Forensic Science Class!”
Making this bitmoji virtual classroom for my students was so much fun! Google Slides makes it simple to create, and easy to share with my class. Here is a quick tutorial on how to make your own interactive virtual classroom!
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Many teachers in the country are in the same boat right now. We are all searching for ways to engage and motivate our students from afar. Not an easy task!
My own principal keeps reminding us to focus on quality over quantity. Every assignment has to be worth the time to complete it (for the student) and to grade it (for the teacher). It must be both rich in learning and obtainable for students who have less support at home.
That is why I love this particular assignment idea so much – it does all these things and is adaptable to just about any subject.
Continue reading “eLearning Project: Make a Gif With Google Slides”
If you are like me, you have spent hours trying out interactive biology websites, only to get frustrated and overwhelmed. Many of them are overly complicated, or require so many instructions that the message of the activity is lost to your students.
Compiled here are six of the best interactive biology websites. These online activities are well designed and easy for students to understand. Post includes tips for how to use the activities with your students.
Continue reading “Six Best Interactive Biology Websites!”
You and I are probably in the same boat – trying to figure out how to take months of instruction and make it available to students for Remote Learning. There are many ways to do this, the learning curves of some ways are steeper than others! That is why I love Padlet. Padlet provides a simple and easy way to give students notes, videos, links, and instructions – with their responses – all in one place, and all online.
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Can 21st Century Skills be used for classroom management in High School? Yes!
This is the third and final post in a series that explains how one teacher turned around the toughest class she has ever taught.
Continue reading “Results! Classroom Management & 21st Century Skills”
Last week I was in Lowes Hardware and I found a bag of little skeletons for a price that I could not pass up. For years I have wanted to use little skeletons in Anatomy class to learn the bones and the major muscle groups! Now (near Halloween) is the perfect time to find skeletons at a good price!
Continue reading “Skeletons, Play Doh and Muscle Groups!”
Using an Escape Room in the classroom is a super fun way to engage your students in any topic. But you do not need to spend countless hours making one, nor do you need to buy locks and boxes.
It is easy to turn (almost) any worksheet into an Escape Room!
Continue reading “Make Any Worksheet Into an Escape Room in the Classroom”
Here is a fast, simple way to make digital lessons using Google Forms! Google Forms provides an easy, organized way to present information and guide students through a lesson.
Digital lessons are great for differentiation for your students, making Distance Learning work, or when you turn over your class to a sub! BONUS: Free Google Forms digital lesson template available at the bottom of the post! Fully editable for use in your own classroom!
Continue reading “How to Make Digital Lessons with Google Forms”
We all want our students to learn from their mistakes. Tests are not just a grade, but a measure of where a student’s understanding is. We want to help fill in the gaps. This usually includes going over the test, or some form of test corrections.
But what is the best way to do test corrections? I was searching for a way that truly helped students learn from their mistakes, but did not take up a lot of time. I needed a test correction method that was meaningful, and motivated even hard-to-motivate students.
And I found it! It even works for Distance Learning!
Continue reading “Best Way to do Test Corrections: Simple & Engaging”
We have all been waiting, and the day has finally arrived – access to the new AP Biology 2019 Course and Exam Description! What does this new curriculum mean for AP Biology teachers next year? Will we be spending summer break re-making our entire course?
Continue reading “The New AP Biology 2019 Curriculum Resources”
As the school year is winding down, do your students seem to be more wound up each day? They are excited to begin summer, but you don’t want them to check out on you too soon. Use just a few of these ideas to make those last weeks of school the best weeks of the year – for both you and your students!
Continue reading “24 Ways to Add Fun To the Last Weeks of School”
Here are eight of the best FREE online forensics activities for High School and Middle School Forensic Science! Includes links and teaching ideas!
Resources cover Evidence Basics, Arson Investigation, Blood Spatter, Anthropology, Autopsies and more! All free and available online.
Continue reading “8 FREE Online Forensics Activities & Teacher Resources”
Being a new teacher can so overwhelming! If you are a new teacher, be encouraged, we all felt the same way that first year.
You have come so far already, you have a lot to celebrate!
Next quarter is a chance to grow just a bit more. Take what you are already doing well, and with just a few simple changes, make it great!
My favorite subject to teach is Forensic Science. It is the perfect mix of applied Biology, Chemistry, Math, and the Yuck-Factor that students just love!
And no topic in Forensic Science has more ‘yuck’ than the study of dead bodies. Students look forward to this unit all year! They are never disappointed.
Reading, hearing, and seeing pictures about Autopsies just doesn’t cut it. Students need hands-on experience to really learn and appreciate the work of Forensic Medical Examiners.
But murder victims are had to come by for use in the classroom!
So in my forensic science class, we use Rats. This post is all about how to turn a Rat into a murder victim!
Continue reading “Forensic Science Autopsy Activity for High School”