Author: nextperiodscience
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Why Direct Instruction Still Deserves a Front Row Seat
If you’ve been teaching long enough to remember when overhead projectors were cutting-edge technology, you’ve probably also noticed that education trends come and go like the seasons. One year it’s “inquiry-based everything,” the next year it’s “collaborative learning for all,” and by the following spring, someone’s convincing us that our students can teach themselves entirely…
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Dear Journal, My Students Are Actually Learning!
Welcome back to Next Period Science, where science is serious business… but not too serious. Today’s topic is near and dear to my teacher heart: science journals, the quiet heroes of my classroom. They’ve saved me from behavior battles, made assessments easier, and believe it or not, actually helped students learn something. Imagine that! Why Science Journals? Because Chaos…
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Why Consistency is Your Secret Weapon (and Your Lifeline)
Next Period: Science with Mrs. B Every year, right around mid-July, I pull out my laminated, color-tabbed, well-worn copy of The Classroom Management Book by Harry and Rosemary Wong. It’s not for decoration. I read it. Again. Cover to cover. Because no matter how many years I’ve taught, no matter how confident I feel in…
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A Notebook Worth Grading (Yes, Seriously)
Let’s talk about the sacred artifact of middle school science: the science notebook. Some call it a journal. Some call it a composition notebook. I call it non-negotiable. From day one, we set up these bad boys to be the ultimate science survival guide. We start with the basics a table of contents (first four pages, thank…
Next Period: Science! 