35 year veteran teacher, Elementary & Middle School, hwk coach

Eileen F.

I have been a middle school science teacher for 35 years and retired in June 2023. I have a Bachelor's in Education and a Master's degree in Environmental Education. Of those teaching years 12 were in 8th grade science, the other 23 years were teaching 6th grade science. Throughout the years, I've worked to adopt a more student-centric presentation and I worked with our district to incorporate the NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) into our curriculum. There was a lot of emphasis on kids asking questions, teaching them to listen to each other, analyzing data given or collected in an experiment and applying that information to a new situation.

Throughout my 35 years, I have tutored students 1:1 and in small group settings. Often those sessions involved remediation of the current content. That might involve reading the information over with them, reviewing their answers from a recent quiz or test, asking questions to move their thinking forward, working with them to take notes, study vocabulary and/or give examples related to the concept. Sometimes, I used educational technology programs to introduce or review a concept (Kahoot, Quizizz, Boom cards).

Before quizzes, I often hosted a review session in which they asked a question and I'd encourage another classmate to answer. Other times, I would throw out questions that would force them to use the information that they were learning. My questioning would be a good review of the topics on the upcoming assessment.

There were many times over the years where I worked with students on study skills and/or organization. Sometimes, I'd help them lay out a calendar of deadlines that would organize their upcoming assignments either in written or digital form. Many students benefitted from creating and using flashcards to learn vocabulary and other concepts. I worked with students in note-taking and summarizing content in a variety of ways.