12 Ways to Use Sort Cards in the Science Classroom Do you need some ways to use sort cards in the science room to get the students engaged while learning concepts? I used to believe that matching sort game cards were for the younger classes. Once I started using them with my middle school students,…
10 Ways to Assess Students in the Science Classroom It’s not so easy to assess students in the science classroom since it is not as straightforward as other subjects. Students are actively working out of their seats, working on projects and following procedures. I am a strong believer in multiple ways to gather data on…
Teach Biodiversity in Food Webs With a Dice Roll Game Are you looking for an engaging way to teach biodiversity in food webs? Let’s do it with a game! My food web, dice roll biodiversity game helps students understand that man-made or natural events can cause serious consequences in a food web. They will realize…
How Do You Develop Relationships with Middle School Students? Have you heard that it is crucial that you develop relationships with middle school students, but you don’t know where to start? After teaching middle school science for over 30 years, I feel that developing relationships is definitely the most important tool. Let’s go over some…
Review Made Fun: Science Classroom Gamification Can classroom gamification rev up the engagement and attention spans in your science class? “Can we play the review game?” This is the question I have heard for over 25 years of teaching middle school science. Many years ago I got bored reviewing for tests so I created a spelling…
Teaching Students Organizational Skills Teaching students organizational skills is critical and will stay with students long after their time in your classroom. I have often had alumni students come back to tell me how much they appreciated my “forcing them“ to do proper Cornell notes and to keep an organized notebook. They tell me that…
End of Year Science Teacher Reflections As a science teacher, it is powerful to use end of year teacher reflections to review successes and areas needing improvement. I strongly believe that the first few days, after the school year ends, should be spent analyzing and evaluating. End of school reflections don’t take much time, but…
72 Tips Your College Never Told You About Being A Teacher What your college never told you about teaching is a lot! Are you a newer teacher? You have probably realized that teachers are basically expected to “learn on the job” in many essential areas. Unless you have a full time mentor teacher, it can…
Dealing With Difficult Parents as a Teacher Are you dealing more and more with difficult parents in your teaching job? Have you received an unexpected nasty email? Has a parent become angry about something in your classroom? What strategies can you use to diffuse the situation? Dealing with difficult parents, as a teacher, can be…
Planning Lab Activities for Middle School Science Class Are you struggling with planning lab activities while teaching middle school science? How do you introduce the lab, execute it, clean up and draw conclusions in one class period? I use a method that I call “backwards lesson planning” as I am planning lab activities for my…
