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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 some of the best FREE online forensics activities for High School and Middle School Forensic Science (no Flash Player required)! Resources cover DNA, Anthropology, Autopsies and more! All free and available online.Â
Continue reading “5 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 hard 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”
We all want to save time grading. But is it possible to give assignments that not only help your students learn more, 
but reduce the time it takes to grade them? Yes it is!
I often feel overwhelmed by piles of student work. While I use Google Forms for quick and frequent formative assessment, multiple choice does not show the depth of student knowledge (or misconceptions) that you need to know in order to help your students.
Giving assignments that require reflection and critical thinking are crucial for student understanding and growth. The only trouble is grading those assignments! They are so time consuming!
But they don’t all have to be. Here are a few quick tweaks you can make to assignments you already have that will lead to both greater learning and save time grading!
The Classroom Management Miracle and 21st Century Skills.
This post is the second in a series that began with a desperate need to adjust my classroom management approach.
I was losing control of my classroom.
After five years of teaching with little or no classroom issues, I was now facing the toughest group of students I have ever had the challenge of teaching.
My struggle led to a system that,
Continue reading “Classroom Management and the 21st Century Skills”
This year I had a particularity challenging class. After just the first week of school I was desperate for a solution. Â
The class was at the end of the day, they were tired from being at school for eight hours and just wanted out. Students consisted of mostly boys who were best of friends and loved to goof around, with no regard for me or the other students in the room.
All of my usual classroom management methods and relationship building was just not working and I could clearly see this class was slipping out of control.
Continue reading “Points for Classroom Management in High School?”
Cellphones in the classroom – Â a blessing and a curse in one tiny, expensive package!
Leveraged for good, cellphones in the classroom can open up a world of technology based learning for students. But how can teachers utilize their amazing benefits, without the constant battle against distraction?
Continue reading “Cellphones In The Classroom? Not a Problem Anymore!”
Help your students learn and visualize the parts of a flower by making one! Simple and inexpensive supplies makes this an easy hands on learning experience – with ideas to differentiate difficulty level!
Continue reading “Fun Parts of the Flower Model- Elementary to High School”
Do you want to use more technology in the classroom, but you are not sure where to start?
Try out these three tech tools that are so simple and easy to learn, you can start using them in your classroom tomorrow!
Continue reading “Using Technology in the Classroom – Three Simple Tools to Start With”
Time is a four letter word for some teachers. It is the one thing we all wish we had more of. We need more time to get to the end of our to-do list – the daily tasks of planning, grading, and paperwork. But even more than that, we want time outside of school, with our family and friends, or just by ourselves and a good book (or Netflix!).
The clock does not have to be our worst enemy- use a few of these time saving ideas for teachers and you can get a lot of that time back, and use it however you want!
Its been a long day, molding young minds, making big differences, encouraging and inspiring. You have taught hard, graded tirelessly, and planned lessons for eight plus hours. You are ready to go home and relax.
But then the dreaded thought crosses your mind (or one of your offspring asks), “What’s for dinner?”
Making dinner is the last thing you want to tackle right now, but don’t be tempted to hit the drive through!
With these fast and easy meals for teachers, you will make a dinner you can be proud of, without spending the whole evening in the kitchen.
Each main course has just five ingredients (just one exception), and takes 30 minutes or less to make.
Plus, the total grocery bill for this whole week’s worth of meals is under seventy dollars! To feed a family of four – with leftovers for lunch the next day!
Continue reading “Five Easy Meals for Teachers (or anyone else)”
The first day of school is the single best opportunity to lay a foundation for the rest of the year. For new teachers it may feel overwhelming – but it doesn’t have to be!
My first year, I was so nervous on my first day of school! To be honest, I still get nervous on the first day. But I have learned a lot, after making a lot of mistakes!
It is time to conquer the first day of school with these five bell-to-bell steps!
Continue reading “Five Step Game Plan for Teaching the First Day of School: Middle and High School”
Continue reading “Seven NEW Ways to Use Google Forms In the Classroom”
Are you looking for a way to reduce conflict in your classroom? Want to improve student behavior? Increase student learning and motivation? Better classroom management?
All of these dreams can come true (or at least get closer to reality) with one simple change to your daily routine.
Continue reading “Simple Classroom Management Tool – Start Using Tomorrow”
Digital portfolios are a great way to showcase student work and progress throughout the year. You or your students can easily create digital portfolios using Google Forms.
For the teacher, this is an excellent way to track growth and keep a collection of assignments as data.
Continue reading “Use Google Forms to make Digital Portfolios”
Regular self reflection is a powerful tool for motivating students to do their best. It is also great tool for encouraging a growth mindset.
Using Google Forms will make self reflection easy, and give your students (and you) quick access to valuable data.
Continue reading “Use Google Forms for Student Self Reflection”
Information is important! Data about student behavior is so helpful when deciding how best to help our students.
But, to be honest, when I am in the middle of teaching, or helping other students, it is hard to stop everything and record student behavior.
Google Forms makes data collection a breeze!
Continue reading “Google Forms as a Super Easy Progress Monitoring Tool”
My teaching life changed after learning this super simple way to collect digital work from students. Organized and all in one place, so easy to access and grade!
My students used to send me an email with links to their digital work, but that meant me constantly searching though my inbox to find missing assignments!
But no longer! Google Forms to the rescue again!
Continue reading “Collect Digital Work with Google Forms: Digital Classroom Idea!”
Blended Learning is the answer to so many common challenges and frustrations for teachers. Blended Learning will transform the way you teach, and the way your students learn. It will…
And the best part? It is easy!
Continue reading “Blended Learning – Teach Your Students More in Less Time”