Pat W

Ahsoka 104-106 Right that Ship?

Has Ahsoka gotten into my good graces? For the moment, yes. I am very into Baylan Skoll (although the death of the actor, Ray Stevenson, is a super bummer) and what he’s all about. Thrawn has appeared. That was great. Even Anakin got some screen time. Hayden Christensen got a raw deal in the trilogy,Continue reading “Ahsoka 104-106 Right that Ship?”

Mike Tyson Was Right – AP Research

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. I have been loving this first year of teaching AP Research. I’m still not sure I’m doing everything well, but I enjoy it and the students are engaged. Research requires me to be so much more flexible than any other course I’ve ever taught. Continue reading “Mike Tyson Was Right – AP Research”

Ahsoka 103 – Blast that Ship

The lack of discipline among supposed military professionals is shocking in Ahsoka. I already whined about how the Republic is unable to secure their own docking bays, now it is time for the ex-Imperials/Sith to get dumped on. The quick setup. Ahsoka and Sabine are being chased and shot in a hostile system. Their shipContinue reading “Ahsoka 103 – Blast that Ship”

Ahsoka 101: Vent that Ship

I never have been and never will be a starship captain. But I have played a lot of FTL and know a little bit about basic human physiology. Standard operating procedure for allowing unknown ships to board a New Republic cruiser should be, lock down the blast doors then check the new arrivals. If theyContinue reading “Ahsoka 101: Vent that Ship”

The Hive Photo Safari

This is a great post by BGG user @dodger. They used their learners’ love of Hive as an excuse to lead a photo safari and find insects (and a spider) living in natural environments. Ideas like this are what make teaching fun. @dodger combined a game and field trip into a creative activity. There areContinue reading “The Hive Photo Safari”

Defining “Better” with Toy Cars

High school students often struggle narrowing and defining their research topics. A common topic looks something like “To what extent do short videos affect teenage health?”. That’s an incredibly difficult topic to research, in large part because we haven’t defined “health.” Are we talking obesity? Blood pressure? Kidney stones? The possibilities are endless. Helping ourContinue reading “Defining “Better” with Toy Cars”

There’s no More or Less, you need to cite sources

I recently came across a copy of the More or Less card game even though it’s a UK exclusive. In my continuing quest to jam games into my clases, I found a fun way to incorporate it into my AP Research course. First, More or Less is an extremely simple party game. One side ofContinue reading “There’s no More or Less, you need to cite sources”

It’z ‘Merikan Godz ya git!

In Warhammer 40K lore, there is some loose evidence that the Orks are able to control reality through belief. The most commonly cited example is that Orks believe that red is a fast color, so they paint their vehicles red and, then their red vehicles do go faster. True 40K lore aficionados will dispute thisContinue reading “It’z ‘Merikan Godz ya git!”

War of the Numbers

In a recent BGG forum thread Defending BGG’s most hated games!, the thread creator called out the old card game War, the game we all played with our grandparents where two people draw from a 52-card deck and whoever has the highest value card wins them both. Like so many games that gamers (myself included)Continue reading “War of the Numbers”

Final thoughts on differentiation

I think every teacher differentiates their material. I believe that because when I started reading about “differentiation strategies” I noticed that I had been doing many of them already through trial and error. I think the biggest hangup people have with the term “differentiation” is the idea that each lesson should be differentiated forContinue reading “Final thoughts on differentiation”