Pitching pennies has been a childhood pastime for generations. The rules are simple: whoever lands their penny closest to the wall—or even better, gets a “leaner”—wins. A group of kids would play, and the winner took all the pennies. It seemed like just another harmless schoolyard game.…
Many people from my age group had off-the-books jobs before they turned 16. When I was thirteen, I worked at a rental store cleaning equipment as it was returned. My father worked there as a mechanic, and the owners were good family friends.…
It is fitting that the students sometimes are our best leaders. One of my memorable experiences is student activism. I was happy to be a part of the Black Lives Matter Protest a few years ago. It is also fitting that the date was 2 days before the Juneteenth celebration.…
Yesterday I spoke about thermofax machine. Today I will recycle a blog I did several years ago about the opaque projector. The connection to my current teaching is that we had a Social Studies teacher who was notorious for putting a text on the opaque projector and having students take notes on it.…
John Glover. Anyone who went to Lakewood Junior in the 70’s will remember that name. He was the person who found ways to get to me. Currently, there is a panic to get rid of the reading instruction I used when teaching elementary.…
Reverse engineering is an integral skill for my students in engineering class. We spend a few weeks on this task. We learn about the elements & principles of design. We do a visual analysis of a product and then do a functional analysis.…
I am going to recycle a post I did several years ago. It is a post about tragedy but also about why I teach and accept the good and the bad.
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We were given the question at an in-service about the day that we wanted to quit teaching.
This is the start of finals week and it is time to let the begging and pleading commence. I like to give production tests where a student creates something. It can be anything from a program, a cybersecurity incident report on an image, or a part and drawing in engineering.…
If I am going to be honest, there is one person that I have spent many hours with that has been a big influence. Tammy Strouse has been a steady force at Rangeview for the entire time I have been there.…
Every now and then you run across a storyteller with exceptional skills. Rob Schurich was one of these in the Business Department when I got to Rangeview. His favorite courses were his law classes and a class he did for Intersession.…
We have just completed the Thanksgiving weekend and I will take this time between this and the winter break to be thankful for colleagues. I am a strong advocate of focusing on the students but colleagues build your environment and create or destroy a happy workplace.…
This is from the movie Fame. If you haven’t seen it please take the time to find it. This song is very emotional for me because this is what I hope every student believes as they leave us and start building their tomorrow.…
This is one of my favorite stories. This one is about someone else but is well worth sharing. Different people have different takes on things. I don’t put bumper stickers on my car because I keep those opinions to myself most of the time.…
A teacher has a lot of choice in their environment. I did cause a little problem my first couple of years when I moved my room. The class was all in rows with the computer facing the front of the room.…
Some good old Folk music. It is a part of my war protest music and is a very fun song with a serious message. It sometimes gets lost on people who don’t understand satire but I hope you enjoy it.…
