Joke of the Week: Out of this World

After eating his first meal on the moon, the astronaut reported, "The food was good, but the place lacked atmosphere".

Universal Design for Learning

To read my very own UDL book, go to Book Builder and click on "Public Library Books". Then type "Topics in Physiology: Vision" into the search terms and click "Search". A link to my book will appear, simply click on "Read" to access the book. To the right is a picture of the cover that should appear. I hope you enjoy it, please leave me any feedback so I can improve on my next UDL book!

Topics in Physiology: Vision qualifies as an UDL book because it is designed to be functional and beneficial for different learning styles and needs. It is interactive (there is a quiz and you can click on words to bring up definition) and uses multimedia. Students can learn the information on each slide by listening to it, reading it, or looking at a picture. Having three ways to delivery the same information re-enforces the ideas in the student's mind and allows them to chose the method they are most comfortable with.

Joke of the Week: Chemistry Cat

Social Media for a Social Age

This table gives some descriptions of popular social networking sites and how they can be used in a classroom setting. Using sites like Twitter or Pinterest, which are already popular with high school students, is an easy way to get them interested and engaged in the task at hand. However, teachers need to be very careful when deciding what sites to use.

There are many social networking sites that I do not think are appropriate for classroom use. Among these are Facebook, Reddit, Tumblr, and StumbleUpon. These sites contain so much controversial and/or inappropriate material that it is a liability to use them in a professional setting.

The Good and The Bad of The Web

How do you decide what to use as a source for yourself or for your classroom? You need to analyze the sites and articles that you are considering by using these "clues" to bring you to a "conclusion" of good or bad. I recently found many instructional simulations to aid in the learning of astronomy, biology, chemistry, and physics concepts. I found these on Merlot, a site just for educators that helps assure the information you putting out into your classrooms is peer reviewed. Whether you decide to use this site or another, all teachers need to be very careful and precise in making sure the information they choose to give to their students is appropriate and accurate.

Science for Science Teachers

I am, above all, here to become a high school science teacher. I am doing this because I have a passion for science. I think that the best way to describe how I feel when I learn a new concept is giddy. I make jokes that no one else gets (I'm as paw-sitive as a cat-ion) and answer rhetorical questions (you actually need to go to the bathroom more because caffeine suppresses the amount of antidiuretic hormone you produce). I love science, and I hope that everyone going into my field also feels the same way.


However, Michael Ruse's article leads me to believe otherwise, and I find that scary. He begins by describing a high school biology teacher's testimonial against a Bill that would force Arkansas teachers to read the book of Genesis to their students. The teacher said, "I’m not a scientist. I’m a science educator. I love science, I really do. And I love my students. My job is to take the science and teach it to my students. I am not a leading researcher. I am an educator, and I have my pride and professional responsibilities." Ruse then goes on to say that in 2007 Florida hired 1,154 science teachers; of these 282 had science qualifications.


These new teachers are sent our into the world and charged with educating the future generations, but how can they do this without having the necessary education themselves? I love science, and I try to learn everything I can about it. I do this to further my own self, as well as being able to answer the questions my future students may have.

Joke Of The Week: Showing Your Steps

In The Wide World of Technology

I recently discovered a whole new plethora of technologies. While they initially may make your life harder, after using them for a week or so they can become second nature and add depth to the classroom.

A class website is key to teaching in the twenty-first century. It does not have to be fancy, but at least functional for your students to find information of on assignments, tests, and projects as well as due dates, grades, and outside resources. Using Google Sites you can easily create the perfect website that is suited to the needs of your class.

I plan on using social bookmarking in two ways for my class. First, can share with my students what I bookmarked and the notes that I associated with that site so they can get a peak into my brain. Second, I will have my students use Diigo or a similar site to highlight and sticky note the sites they are researching while at school so they can go home and continue their research without having to waste any paper or backtracking time.

The more technologies that become prevalent in our society, the more teachers have to work to find ways to incorporate these new techniques in the classroom. I hope that I can successfully do this for my classroom, in the mean time I will keep trying to master the newest ways to use the world wide web.

Interested in Making Your Own Instructional Video?

In an early post I described what I would do differently for the instructional video I had done, but it occurred to me that you might want to make your own. So I played around with some more technology and made a Prezi with a step by step guide to making your own instructional video. Enjoy and good luck!