Stepping Back into the School Year

The time has arrived to enter into a new school year. This summer I focused on decompressing from the previous 18 months of pandemic teaching. I found the need to decompress and remove myself from all things associated with teaching was very necessary for my overall well-being. Additionally, the process of decompressing was difficult and unnatural. As an educator, my summers traditionally center on professional learning throughout to improve my abilities. Yet, this summer I found my brain could not handle any form of learning. When I would attempt to do anything related to school, my brain just shut off. This was really telling. 18 months of intense teaching and learning clearly took its toll on my ability to process and engage. My body was literally telling me to stop all that I had traditionally done throughout the summer and focus on rebuilding, restoring, and recalibrating. Continue reading Stepping Back into the School Year

Why We All Need To Focus on Geo-Inquiry More Than Ever!

Schools, districts, and government agencies have all done their best to step up and try to create plans that don’t focus on deficits, but instead find opportunities to help students that create conditions for success. More and more, we are seeing these plans include opportunities for exploration, student-led learning, and reconnecting to the world they were shut out from. What’s more, recent guidelines released by the Department of Education supported these same ideas, creating a “trail” of sorts that schools and teachers can employ to help return students to a sense of normalcy that has escaped them during this past school year. Continue reading Why We All Need To Focus on Geo-Inquiry More Than Ever!

How will you tell your students about YOU?

It’s August. Everywhere you look on education blogs or edu-Twitter, there are posts about going back to school. I know—I’ve written my fair share of them. Last year, I wrote about using centers for the first day of school and this year I wrote about relationships mattering more than content. But as you read about great ideas for the first day of school and building … Continue reading How will you tell your students about YOU?

Weekly Warm-Up: STEM Education Resources

This week is National Robotics Week! It’s a great time to get to know robots—and design one yourself! It’s also a great time to revisit STEM and some great ways to incorporate these concepts into your classroom.  It seems like every school year there is a new buzzword, everything from rigor to flipped classroom to grit. Time will tell which of these concepts have staying … Continue reading Weekly Warm-Up: STEM Education Resources

Teach Complex Issues in the Energy Conversation

Whether you teach grades 4-8 or 9-12, find all the free resources you’ll need to fill out your energy curriculum this year. Explore fun, grade-specific educational activities: Engaging interactive maps: Videos made specifically for the classroom: Media-rich encyclopedic entries: Teacher guides and more! Explore all of our energy resources here.   Continue reading Teach Complex Issues in the Energy Conversation