Tag Archives: teaching Strategies

Making a Makerspace: Planning the Steamworks

This fall, I move into a brand-spanking new classroom.  As part of this move, I’ve been heavily involved in the planning, organizing and logistics of moving my school’s Math & Science program into our new digs.  In the words of a close colleague of mine, what a great problem to have!  Long term readers ofContinue reading “Making a Makerspace: Planning the Steamworks”

This Week In the Shop: One Block Projects – Book Ends

A little while ago, I ran a book review on One Block of Wood.  I recently made a pair of bookends using Ms. Tolstrup’s plans out of salvaged pine and live oak.  Hope you enjoy the looksee.  Read a good book this week. Especially books on pirates! Make it safe & keep the rubberside down.

Why I Do This: Monday Nights

Why I do this is a continuing series of education..er…ahhh…editorials.  If you don’t like ’em, check out my projects!  I do a lot of woodworking here, but I do more teaching in real-life.  Teaching, whether a reader on these blogs, or at TX/RX labs, or at my work, is what I really love.  I’m a self-proclaimedContinue reading “Why I Do This: Monday Nights”

Why I Do This: Invest in Teaching and the Return on Adventure

I think we need a new measurement for tracking the success of our maker ventures, a new yardstick. I propose “Return on Adventure” via MAKE | Maximizing Your ROA (Return on Adventure). There’s been much discussion of the value, in dollars and sense, of a good teacher, via What is a Good Teacher Worth? – NYTimes.com. I’mContinue reading “Why I Do This: Invest in Teaching and the Return on Adventure”

This Week In the Classroom: Pendulum Art (Swinging From the Rafters)

A quick video of our last major math project in my co-taught Math/Sci course.  I will take no credit, Ms. J took the project out of my clumsy claws and completely rocked it! We nicknamed this the spirograph project and you can tell from the wikipedia link that we are WRONG!  It should probably be describedContinue reading “This Week In the Classroom: Pendulum Art (Swinging From the Rafters)”

Perplextion

Perplexity is the goal of engagement. We can go ten rounds debating eggs, broccoli, or candy bars. What matters most is the question, “Is the student perplexed?” Our goal is to induce in the student a perplexed, curious state, a question in her head that math can help answer. via dy/dan » Blog Archive » TenContinue reading “Perplextion”

This Week in the Classroom: Diddley Bows

Make: Projects has great instructions on how to build your own diddley bow. Make it safe & keep the rubber side down.

If I Had a Boat (Sailing Curriculum Unit)

In my middle school/junior high class, we’ve been exploring the relationship between sails, force, momentum, foam boats and area.  I’ve used the unit to assess the graphing labs we conducted last quarter and introduce non-linear graphs. I began the unit by asking students to research old sailing boats and draw conclusions from the material theyContinue reading “If I Had a Boat (Sailing Curriculum Unit)”

On Kindles, iPads, SmartBoards, Prometheans and Apps in the Classroom

The textbook is now digital but students still encounter it as they always have: wisdom to be received, perhaps highlighted, annotated, and memorized, but not created, constructed, or made sense of. Teachers still interact with students as they always have. The platform doesn’t offer them any new insights into the ways their students think aboutContinue reading “On Kindles, iPads, SmartBoards, Prometheans and Apps in the Classroom”