Featured Teacher: Karen Hester

  1. What is your most memorable field trip experience?

I was with some kids at the Texas State Fair, and we saw Oprah Winfrey!

  2. What is something you have learned from your time on Teachers Pay Teachers?

I need to be patient....

   3. What book inspired you as a student?

Several... All of the Little House books, Where the Red Fern Grows, and Caddie Woodlawn. Those are the books that lit my imagination and turned me into a lifelong reader.

4.. What is something you would like to see in the future, for education?

I would like to see educators treated with the respect they deserve.

 5. What is something fun about you that teachers don't know about you?

Well, I really love to read, and I am crazy about vampire stories. Right now I'm currently devouring the Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse series. The combination of supernatural and southern quirkiness cracks me up.

 6. What is an achievement, in education or otherwise, that you have accomplished?

In the past few years, I have had several former students that are now grown adults contact me and tell me that I made a difference in their lives. Wow!

 7. What was your first 'Free' item that you posted up on Teachers Pay Teachers?  What made you choose that?

I posted a set of clipboard organization sheets. I wanted to post something that I really used, was straightforward and easy to use, and could be modified for personal use.

8. What was your first 'Paid' item that you posted up on Teachers Pay Teachers? What made you choose that?        

My first paid item was "10 to 20 and Beyond!" which is a set of center activities. I chose that because after years in upper elementary, I am new to "little people". I really struggled last year, so I am working on creating center ideas that I would use in my room.

9.  Your favorite teaching quote is...   

"Right is right, no matter who around you is doing wrong."

10. What is your 'Go To' time filler?          

Exploring far away places on Google Earth.                                                                

 by Karen Hester

Karen’s TpT Store

10 to 20 and Beyond?

Ones, Tens, Hundreds

Teachers Pay Teachers Linkup: Math and Science Centers

Teachers Pay Teachers Link Up: Everything Earth Day

Teachers Pay Teachers Link Up: On Sale Science Resources!

Bring Science Alive with Technology!

As a science teacher, one of my greatest teaching tools is the Internet, and I marvel at some of the fabulous opportunities it offers for both teachers and students.   I try to keep the following words in mind when planning a lesson for students – "Provoke, Relate, Reveal and Involve'. Using the Internet allows me to PROVOKE the students with an interesting question or topic. I can RELATE the topic to them through videos, animations or first-person accounts. I can REVEAL information to them, and lastly (and most importantly), I can INVOLVE them in the process.  Here are some fun and easy suggestions for how you can incorporate the Internet into your teaching practice.

• Look up “animations” for your topic – I teach Geography / Earth Science and have found some excellent websites with quick animations to demonstrate plate tectonics, the rock cycle, weathering, erosion and more.  There are some excellent animation websites for biology, chemistry and physics.  Try the Interactive Activities page to get yourself started

• Use YouTube, Vimeo, SchoolTube, and TeacherTube – all are invaluable and I use them almost daily.  Instead of talking about avalanches, why not go to YouTube and watch a video of a snowboarder racing for his life?  The same can be said for just about anything else -the sound of volcanic mud pots gurgling and sputtering can never be put into words or pictures! Have students sign up to present their favorite “Science Video of the Week” to involve them in the process.

• I have a “current events” segment in my class at least once a week – science is happening, and it is happening right now!  Even if we’re not studying earthquakes, I’ll spend some time in class talking about what’s currently going on in Japan, because it’s science in action.  Why not keep up to date on NASA’s latest, keep an eye on crazy weather, have your finger on the pulse of biology research, or learn what’s happening in chemistry or physics? It doesn’t take long to find out by doing a quick Google search.  Have your students look up current events in your topic area, sign up for a week, and then present their information to the class.

• Your local news station is an excellent website to check out – I miss the days of a VCR when it was easy to tape a short news segment on a science topic and bring it in to class.  Now, I can visit the news website and easily show the clip I want.

• Subscribe to Free Technology for Teachers – some of my best Internet finds have come from this website.  

• It’s always important to preview anything you find online… you never know when someone’s going to say or do something inappropriate.  Remember to re-check websites you haven't visited in a while, as content on the Internet can change rapidly.

• If you don’t have access to the Internet at school, or if the video sites are blocked in your district, you can download RealPlayer so that you can save videos to your computer. Another option is to use the website KeepVid to download YouTube videos.

Have fun!

Addie Williams
Addie Williams' TPT Store



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Homework: Meaningful Reinforcement or Families’ Worst Nightmare?

With 27 years of experience teaching high school biology and chemistry and two teenage daughters in high school, I have developed strong views about homework. Actually, my views on homework have changed over the years. At the beginning of my teaching career, I gave homework every night, whether it was needed or not. When my own daughters entered school, however, I quickly began to realize that homework can be a nightmare once it leaves our desks and arrives at home.

I have found that many teachers are unrealistic in their expectations concerning homework. We have to remember that in high school, a student has 5 other classes in addition to our own. If we each give an hour of homework, the student then has 6 hours of homework at night. Some homework is of little value to students since it is never assessed. Other assignments are irrelevant to the learning in class, include vague directions or expectations, or cover material that has not yet been taught. It’s time to change the way we think about homework.

I am still a believer in homework. Students must review the material learned at school, and they must practice using this material outside of the school setting, but my views about homework have definitely changed. I now put more thought into each assignment, making sure that it is a quality assignment that will be beneficial to the student.

When I am considering giving homework, I think about the following points when preparing the assignment. Some teachers may agree with these points, and some may not. Please feel free to write a comment, and let the discussion begin!

• Homework is an essential part of the learning process, but should be assigned with care. The assignment should be meaningful and should contribute to student learning. What is your goal in assigning this work to the student?
• The homework should be directly related to the ongoing instructional process of the classroom.
• Homework assignments should be given to reinforce concepts already taught in class, not as a means of covering new material because the teacher ran out of time.
• Consider how much time will be required to complete the assignment, remembering that students have homework in all of their classes. It is not possible for students to complete two-hour assignments in every class, every night.
• Clear and concise directions for completing the assignment should be given. Students need to know specifically what they are expected to accomplish.
• If the homework is important enough to assign, teachers should take the time to discuss the assignment and to answer questions about it. That will mean leaving enough time at the end of class to explain directions and answer questions before students leave.
• Will students receive a grade for the assignment? Teachers should indicate in advance how the completed assignment will be scored, and how the scores will contribute to the overall grade.
• When the assignment is due, the teacher should take the time to do one or a combination of the following:
• take it up and grade it
• give individual feedback
• give some sort of credit for completion
• ask if there are any questions about the assignment
• Teachers should be cautious about making out-of-class group projects that require students to get together outside of school. Many students will experience difficulty meeting with their groups through no fault of their own.

I hope this provides food for thought and seeds for discussion in the comments section. Good luck in your teaching!

Amy Brown

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Science-Stuff



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