Paddle boards are currently one of the latest fitness trends around the nation. So how did Turner High School end up with four paddle boards? There are no lakes, rivers or oceans in Turner. There happens to be the Turner Recreation Pool that is attached to the Physical education wing of the building, here students are […]
Different learning styles? No problem!
Pardon the mess, we are learning! The MaurerHaus classroom may look a little chaotic to outsiders looking in, but it is driven by student need. We gave our students learning style inventories at the beginning of the year and were shocked at the number of not only kinesthetic learners, but multi-modal learners as well. We […]
Welcome to the Machine: Teaching and Technology, vol. 1
Recently, I overheard a few of my colleagues discussing an issue that has been on my mind a lot lately. Instead of recounting their conversation verbatim, I’ve decided to distill the gist of it into a single, overarching question: how do we—teachers—remain relevant in the 21st century? At THS, we are in our second year of […]
DonorsChoose Gratitude
We would like to give a big shout out and heartfelt THANK YOU to DonorsChoose.org, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and David and Angela Filo for funding our 5 Turner High School projects–overnight! Yes, overnight. We found out yesterday, March 10, that the remaining balance for each of our projects was “Flash Funded” thanks to David and Angela Filo. […]
The Good Fight
I have anxiety. It’s not largely debilitating or life-altering, but it does make tasks that might seem easy or trivial to others feel like a ton of bricks to me. I could, and hopefully will, write pages about my students and the million things they do each day that amaze me. Today, though, I want […]
The Struggle is Real, and Learning is Really a Struggle
Things have “gotten real” in my Economics class thanks to our new TAG specialist, Mrs. Virginia “Ginny” Hammes. About a month ago, she sent out an email soliciting volunteers to play the “Stock Market Game.” This game affords students the opportunity to buy and sale real stocks, bonds, and mutual funds online—in real-time, just like real […]
The Sweet Taste of Motivation
Yesterday, I had the sweetest gig at THS: judging the “Cupcake Wars” in Dawn Ayers’ culinary class. Every time Dawn calls for judges–I answer. The first reason is because I love to eat, and Mrs. Ayers always pays us in food–tasty food! The second reason is because I love her students’ work ethic. A […]
Welcome to our Turner High Schools Blog!
We are so excited to begin documenting all the awesome teaching and learning going on in Turner High School and Journey School of Choice–through the minds and hearts of our teachers! This blog is a place for teachers to share their favorite lessons, discuss big ideas and philosophies, and peek into the internal thinking/planning of colleagues. […]