Ms. Sam
@SciInTheMaking
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10th Year Secondary Science Teacher | Applying Cognitive Science 🧠 to Science Learning 🧪 | Scientists in the Making Blog | All opinions are my own
Los Angeles, CA
Joined August 2024
When you combine explicit instruction with high expectations and classroom rules. Don't take it from me. Take it from the kids. 😊
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During my first year, I gave students a choice board to assess them on molar mass. The options: create a poster, make a video, or do a presentation. Students just chose the easiest one and went with the poster. And some of them just drew digital balances. 😭
Many educators who later embraced the science of learning first went through a phase of constructivist ideals. Now posting clips like this on IG/FB/TikTok 👇 📸IG @chalkandtalkpodcast 🎵TikTok @chalkandtalkpodcast 📘FB https://t.co/qmB0Tc7sZP
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Why have I told my students to put up their Chromebook and phone during every lesson? This:
The more time students spend on screens, the less they learn. Ed tech does not belong in schools (until it is thoroughly tested & proven to help). Excerpt from Jared Cooney Horvath's excellent new book, The Digital Delusion, in @TheFP
https://t.co/FyS60zvBYE
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I’m not kidding when I said I’ve listened to this 3 times. So much gold in one episode. Thank you for putting this together. Looking forward to implementing these practices in my classroom next year!
Many students read below grade level. It can feel overwhelming, where can you start? Faith Howard breaks it down beautifully: what Tier 1 can look like, and how to build effective interventions that actually help. @goyenfoundation @StamStam193 @LearnLead_
https://t.co/zoB8rrG1LQ
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I have to give my district credit. NYS test scores just came out. At the elementary level (3-5), we ranked 4th out of 28 school districts in Erie county in ELA. Based on economic disadvantage data, we should have ranked 12th out of 28 districts. I hope we can keep improving!
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#LeitnerSystem+#RetrievalPractice in action! #ML students toss a ball while quizzing each other on Box 1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣ vocab. Wrong definition? Ball goes to someone else. Cognition and learning! Building knowledge and language.Inspired by @SoLInTheWild @C_Hendrick @AmberBHaven @smorrisey
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@SoLInTheWild - so grateful for this 🧵 As I pioneer the STEM program for my district, I strive to bridge this divide! When I challenge students to a “quick build,” they express that they wished they’d learned more about it first. I’d say I’m 70/30 rn. Much room for growth!
🚨 The explicit vs. inquiry debate keeps resurfacing, but it’s framed around the wrong choice. It’s not an either/or. It’s a question of how and when — and the learning science is clear that for acquisition, fluency, and generalization, the ratio isn’t close. It’s 90/10. 🧵1/5
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I could not have said it better myself. Direct instruction and inquiry are parts of the same learning continuum. Because students are novices, I believe it is important to provide foundational knowledge through di first and then have them explore through inquiry.
🚨 The explicit vs. inquiry debate keeps resurfacing, but it’s framed around the wrong choice. It’s not an either/or. It’s a question of how and when — and the learning science is clear that for acquisition, fluency, and generalization, the ratio isn’t close. It’s 90/10. 🧵1/5
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The goal of NGSS was for students to think and practice like scientists and engineers, but the instructional practices it promotes do not actually reflect how scientists and engineers develop expertise. I explain more in my new Substack post. Link below. ⬇️
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Working on a new book to support supply teachers,it contains insight from @Strickomaster @lamb_heart_tea @mradamkohlbeck @MrARobbins @SciInTheMaking @MrMetacognition @MrZachG and many more. If you would like to contribute especially if you have worked in supply send me a DM.
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Recently educators on X have been sharing snippets of the Word Mapping Project by @smorrisey I tried it as an intervention.Turns out the 30 min. W/these kids might b the most effective.I don’t typically promote educators as curr. writers, but WMP is 🧵⬇️ @PatriceBain1
@D99Cicero
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Something for my education wishlist: - an understanding from students, their counselors, and their parents that a C is fine if you put effort into your work and didn’t cheat.
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How to direct your students to active reading during read-alouds: •Explicitly state what you expect students to do before you start reading •Model those expectations •A 1-pg article=15 minutes full of active engagement, checks for understanding, and lots of learning.
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Knowledge isn’t the accumulation of disconnected and meaningless facts. Knowledge includes the declarative knowledge (knowing that…) and procedural knowledge (knowing how…). —Nathaniel Swain When it comes to learning, I suspect that a great deal of the challenges students
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Debating whether there's a causal link between social media and psychological problems is pointless. Even if there's only a correlation, making SM freely available for kids is unhealthy and therefore requires restrictions. Cause or enabler, what difference does it make?
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So many students come to me having never written anything other than "journal free writes". They've never been taught explicitly how to write.
The reason students can’t write is is embarrassingly simple: No one teaches them how. We stripped the curriculum of grammar, replaced it with “expression” and paradoxically created a generation incapable of expressing anything.
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Good luck to all my teacher friends tomorrow! Y’all got this!
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@LJ198767 @karenvaites Say it louder, please. If the district's plan is to pick a curriculum so convoluted that educators need to go home and spend all their non-work time preparing... then the plan was flawed from the start. It has to fit their teachers' context. Otherwise, it won't be systematic
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What do you notice? What do you wonder?
Let’s play a little game. I removed the title from this recent graph in the Economist so you could propose a title of your own for it. Go!
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