Teaching

Click to go straight to Technology, Math, and Science resources.

I graduated from Whitworth University in 2010 and started teaching math and science immediately.  I've taught at several schools over the years (from your typical middle schools, to parent partner programs, to alternative schools for struggling students).  During my 9th year it education I studied and got my computer science endorsement allowing me to teach tech/STEM full time.  It was quite the shift from math/science but it's been fun to teach something I've been passionate about since I was middle school myself. 

I've got a few resources from my days teaching math and science, but I haven't been teaching those full time in a while.  Still, hopefully the resources may be helpful for some. 

While teaching technology, I designed my classes to cover a wide gambit of topics, allowing students to experience in subjects ranging from coding to digital art.  I would often get students who didn't want to be in tech. Switching topics regularly helped them find a topic they could connect with.

After reading John Spencer's book Empower, I was inspired to add more student choice and projects into my classes.   Switching to teaching tech allowed me to have the perfect place to let students choose projects relating to their interests while still covering a ton of technology standards.  These Genius Projects (aka 20% Time Projects) became my new favorite unit.  Allowing students to explore their own interests and helping them along that path is the most rewarding part of my job now.  I'll probably never have a year when I don't do these projects in sort or another.