I regularly take photos of the many things happening in my junior high science classes. Sharing these pictures with parents gives them a window into the world of their young adolescent's school day. Parents have commented to me that viewing these pictures has opened up conversations with their child about topics they might not have otherwise had opportunity to discuss. At the same time, students love to see pictures of themselves and their classmates in action. My students often ask to include pictures we've snapped during science labs to help illustrate their procedures or results when writing lab reports. Read more.

If you are the teacher who is tech-savvy enough to logon to a blog such as the one you are reading now, it's time that you have a website of your own. A classroom website is an excellent place to keep students and their parents aware of class activities, inform them of upcoming events, remind them of class policies, and—my favorite—share pictures of school happenings. The good news: it is getting easier and easier to create your own "Home on the 'Net", and you don't even need to learn any arcane computer programming languages to do so. Read more.

I remember sitting in an education class in college when my professor said that to be a teacher, you need to be a scrounger. I remember this statement because it shocked me. I was under the impression as an undergrad that one day I would enter my idealized, abundantly supplied classroom with an incredible curriculum and a sufficient budget to meet my every whim. Read more.

When I first transitioned from teaching middle school math to science seven years ago, I lectured—a lot. I felt so much pressure to "cover" massive amounts of content; my teaching practice was mostly lecture. Of course, my students complained, but what was I to do? I had content to cover! At least there was one thing they didn't mind: I used presentation software to prepare my lectures. Presentation software—such as the ubiquitous PowerPoint and its slightly nicer, easier-to-use, Macintosh-flavored cousin, Keynote—offers a technological solution for producing visual aides for lectures. Read more.