Mindfulness and self-care are essential skills that I do not practice nearly enough. In terms of a self-care routine, I try to focus on the foundational layers in what Leo Weidner refers to as the Relationship Pyramid for an ideal self in his book "The Slight Edge." The…
Thinking about the work that we have done and how busy we are. I think it's important to think about how we take time to recharge. What do we do to recharge with the depleted energy. I want to hear some ideas. What specific things that you do?…
I read an article this last week in Education Week titled "How Schools Are Putting Equity First in Math Instruction". How Schools Are Putting Equity First in Math InstructionEducators are changing instructional priorities, altering lessons, and working on ways to help teachers grow professionally, all in an effort…
I believe the best ways we can connect our lessons to the science standard's and engage student's thinking is by first introducing the content and letting students explore the material. It is easy to just tell students what they need to know, but when this happens…
One of the most important insights I have obtained from my experience thus far in the MAT program is how vital it is for a teacher to assume multiple roles both in and outside of the classroom. A role that I believe encourages student voice is when the teacher becomes…
So many math classrooms of my childhood were filled with voices from the teacher and a squeaky whiteboard marker. There was very little discussion, collaboration, group work, creativity, or engagement. The Standards for math, especially number three, point to forming arguments about math, and critiquing your own work as well…
A great resource I found that allows students to really engage with science in the context of NGSS is Next Generation Storylines ( https://www.nextgenstorylines.org/high-school). This is an online resource that connects a topic/unit with an overarching story, while ensuring that all three dimensions of NGSS are…
Math and science are not easy subject. Both need focus and practice to be understood. Students need to engage in tasks to learn, otherwise they keep memorizing rules and use numbers that doesn't make any sense to them; or just be lost, and these periods will be their…
(Alternate title: The person doing the talking is doing the learning) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In both math and science education the work we do is partially guided by Standards that connect both the content we want our students to learn and the way we want students to engage in thinking about being…
As a child I was always a little different from my peers. I had to move frequently and during the school semesters I lived with my father in a small country town in northeast Connecticut. Every school break I would go to my mothers in an even smaller mountain town…
