Author Archives: sciencedlife

Asking Students to Question

Starting with intriguing phenomena and leveraging student questioning can transform a class, making it more interesting for everyone. The more we can step off the stage and ask students to contribute their ideas, questions and wonderings, then introduce our science curriculum as a useful tool in response, the more meaning our science class will have for all concerned.

Permission to Fail — In Order to Soar

The essential questions we develop for each unit help drive lesson planning and focus our choice of activities. But the strategic focus questions we develop for students will provide a bridge between their lived experiences and our curriculum, like a key to unlock their curiosity and reveal their prior understandings.

What teachers can do about feelings of isolation

Teaching is a strange combination of community and isolation. We work hard at establishing a welcoming community in our classroom for students because we know how important it is. We need to have the same for teachers as well. Here are six strategies that teachers with long careers have used to banish feelings of isolation on the job.

Classroom Community

When I was a brand-new teacher, I knew it was important to have my lessons planned carefully, and to learn my students’ names. Like most new teachers, I worked hard my first year developing curriculum and figuring out my classroom management strategies. I loved teaching biology to teenagers, I was fired up about inquiry teachingContinue reading “Classroom Community”