Educators Blog

Teaching to the Edges Using Project-Based Learning

For these two teachers, PBL is the key to differentiating lessons for students of all ability levels.

What do special ed (SPED) and gifted students have in common? They both have unique educational challenges and are often removed from the […]

Girls and STEM: One School District's Success

If you’re the parent of a girl, you probably tell her she can be anything when she grows up—even the President of the United States. Somehow, though, a lot of girls don’t hear or believe this message. Women are underrepresented in all of the STEM […]

Why losing control of your classroom is a good thing

Schools can see big gains in creativity by letting students take charge of their classroom —and their learning.

Even when students aren’t sitting through lectures, they’re still accustomed to letting their teachers dictate the pace, style, and […]

Inspirational Stories from Trailblazing Teachers

To help provide inspiration and new ideas for engaging your students, we’ve put together a list of articles featuring a few of our favorite trailblazing teachers.

5 stories featuring inspiring K-12 educators: 

I made my classroom look like the […]

Building Life and Workplace Skills through PBL

I often see former students of mine around town. Inevitably, I ask them what they remember from class and I expect them to talk about photosynthesis, mitosis, and food webs, but that is seldom what is discussed. Instead, they mention the skills […]

Differentiating Instruction through Project-Based Learning - Part Two

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-part blog series on differentiation in the classroom.  Click here for part one. 

Differentiation is an instructional strategy employed by many classroom teachers around the world. It is based on the […]

Defined STEM Awarded 4-Stars by Common Sense Education

"A stellar collection of STEM resources that support project-based learning"

-Common Sense Education

Defined STEM was recently rated 4-stars by Common Sense; the leading independent nonprofit organization dedicated to helping kids thrive in a world […]

Strategies that Help Students to Dream and Innovate

Dream and innovate - these are goals that I set for my students. Finding opportunities for them to realize these goals has grown complicated because, as educators, it’s mandatory for us to focus on standardized tests in our current educational […]

How to be an Award-Winning Teacher

On the first day of school, I issue my students a PASSPORT (which stands for Preparing All Students for Success by Participating in an Ongoing Real-world simulation using Technology) and explain that their yearlong adventure to “Johnsonville” […]