As you may know, I will be teaching both Grade 7 & Grade 8 science in the upcoming school year. As I work my way through my planning for the year I am consistently working towards making my lessons relevant and meaningful for the students in my classroom. It is important to me that my students get excited about what they are learning and can be self-motivated when it comes to experiments and research projects. As such, I have been looking for new and interesting ways to introduce information to my students as well as resources to engage… Read More
Blog, Website, or Both?
Our school year begins in less than two months and I am spending this summer trying to get as organized as possible. In addition to the million-and-one things that are required of teachers, I know that I want to have my students blogging as well as have a classroom website. I have two science classes, Grade 7 & Grade 8, who I want to start blogging projects with. These are two of my smaller classes as I am nervous that I will get too overwhelmed if I tried to get ALL 7 of my different subject-area… Read More
mRLC Backwards-By-Design Planning
If you are a teacher in Manitoba who is also utilizing backwards-by-design planning then you definitely need to check out the resources available through the Manitoba Rural Learning Consortium (mRLC). My principal shared this with us this week and I am so glad she did because it is going to save me a lot of work in my planning! The backwards-by-design method of planning (sometimes called understanding-by-design, backwards planning, or planning with the end in mind) involves planning out the “big ideas” or main goals for a topic first, then selecting the best assessment options, and finally determing instructional methods… Read More
Let The Prepping Begin!
Last week I shared some of the awesome resources that I had found for one of the classes I was prepping for: Grade 7 Science. As of last week, this was the only class that I had started my prep work for as I was still waiting for my final teaching schedule to be solidified. Well the wait is now over, as I picked up my official schedule yesterday after school! Just a few of the many resources I have available to start prepping! I am happy to announce that I will be the Grade 8… Read More