Pedagogy
The Science Vocabulary Struggle Is Real (and This Fix Actually Works) If you’ve ever watched a middle schooler stop mid-sentence because the word photosynthesis looked “too long and suspicious,” you’re not alone. Science vocabulary can feel overwhelming for students—packed with […]
Let’s be honest— “Do Now” notebooks can be a nightmare. Pages get torn, lost, or mysteriously vanish into lockers. Trying to grade them? That’s a whole different headache. Flipping through spiral-bound chaos or collecting stacks of papers just to check […]
I used to give the old “Word”-formatted paper-based tests and quizzes. Believe it or not, when Google Forms was released and my students had 1:1 Chromebooks, I never even considered giving students a unit test as a Google Form on […]
Overwhelmed by grading?! I have lots of grading tips for you! Grading student work can be a daunting task for any teacher. As a young science teacher, I embarked on a grading adventure that turned into a misadventure with […]
As the school year draws to a close, it’s time to wrap up your science curriculum with a BANG! You middle school science students have put in a lot of hard work and learned so much, so let’s celebrate! And […]
As a middle school teacher, you know that it’s important to keep track of your students’ academic performance, as well as any behaviors, incidents, and other important details about them. This can help you tailor your teaching style and activities […]
What is Blended Learning? A blended learning environment integrates both digital and hands-on experiences in the classroom. Covid-19 forced educators to craft entirely new learning experiences for their students. These lessons were delivered online and frequently asynchronously. Today, we know […]
If you’re like me, you want to have engaging activities during the first days and weeks of your science class that will set the stage for a great year. In this blog post, I’ve rounded up a handful of my […]
Digital modeling has become a staple skill in my middle school science class. When my colleague and I decided to try going completely paperless this year due to the pandemic, we had to get creative with how to continue providing […]