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My eBook “Think Like a Scientist: Understanding Weather & Climate” is now available through NSTA Press. Learn more about this and other NSTA ebooks for the K-5 classroom here.
Category Archives: Professional Development
Empowering Student Empathy and Risk Taking through “The [Climate] Talk”
Climate change is hard and I don’t just mean teaching the science behind the overwhelming data supporting its existence, or even executing solutions designed to reduce or limit its effect on our global systems. I mean talking about it, like … Continue reading
Posted in 6-8, Classroom Activities, Professional Development
Tagged #innovateinsidethebox, climate, earth science
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Better Integrating “Keys to Literacy” Scaffolds and Strategies Across the Science Curriculum
Over the past several years our Burlington elementary educators have been inundated with changes. Besides the upending of our K-5 science and engineering curriculum classroom educators were introduced to “Keys to Literacy” a K-12 ranging program designed to boost student … Continue reading
Posted in 3-5, Curriculum, K-2, Professional Development
Tagged Keys to Literacy, writing
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Supporting Informal Educators Navigating the Currents of NGSS
Over the past two months I have had the pleasure of supporting NSTA’s pivot to a more inclusive “National Science Teaching Association” by assuming the role of editor for the NSTA’s “Next Gen Navigator” monthly e-newsletter. The role provided … Continue reading
#NSTA 2019 Takeaways
NSTA 2019 marks my sixth national conference and the start to a 51-week countdown to NSTA’s 2020 National Conference in Boston! Plenty of personalized learning opportunities and professional networking happens at an NSTA conference, even if you can only attend … Continue reading
Posted in NGSS, Professional Development, Professional Reflections
Tagged #NSTA19, NSTA, NSTA2020
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Community Building through Curriculum Mapping
“It takes a village” can be used in several contexts, particularly when it comes to education. While overhauling the Burlington elementary science curriculum the saying has only been reinforced as Wendy Pavlicek and I have leaned on classroom teachers, curriculum … Continue reading
Posted in 6-8, Curriculum, Professional Development, Professional Reflections
Tagged curriculum development
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Incremental Improvement through Student Discourse
Over the summer I took in a rebroadcast of the Freakonomics podcast episode titled, “In Praise of Incrementalism”. The featured authors, economists, and guests of the show touted the power of incremental changes in a world where our attention is … Continue reading
Developing Learning Strands: The Making of a NSTA National Conference – Part 1
It can be a surprise to many (including me!) but a conference as big as the NSTA’s National Conference takes more than two full years to develop. As the chairperson for the upcoming 2020 NSTA National Conference in Boston I joined … Continue reading
‘Unoriginal Ideas’ that Improve our “Ability to Share a Message”
In the midst of holiday merry making and Christmas cleanup I was able to take a bite out of my podcast backlog; including several episodes of the “Innovator’s Mindset” MOOC series currently being chewed on by teachers and administrators in … Continue reading
Modeling Celestial Motions and Next Generation Professional Development
The video, “Private Universe” showcasing Harvard graduates stumbling over the reasons for the seasons has thousands of views on YouTube and has been shared countless other times in science-ed classrooms. The sometimes laughable explanation are enough to make any space science educator … Continue reading
Musselman / Science 