Mark Blessington
28 Followers
Oxford, Massachusetts, United States
About the store
I have ten years full time teaching experience, two in a high-need urban district, two in an affluent suburban district, and currently work somewhere in the middle. My experience has included four distinct scheduling patterns with different needs and limitations, including 99 minute block periods. I have attended extensive professional development in pedagogy and the implementation of innovative 'canned' curricula. Additionally, I have worked on professional curriculum development for new or completely remodeled courses in two public school districts, focusing on Engineering and Environmental Science.
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Population Growth Modelling Game
In this activity, students play a game to model the changes in size a population may experience over time. Basic components such as birth rate, death rate, immigration, and emigration are all directly modeled, and a preliminary view of competition is included, making the game more fun for students! What is included? -Teacher Page -Student Instructions -Example Calculations -Analysis Questions (Three Levels) What else is needed? -Dice, 2 per group -Counters (I use beans) -Graphing Supplies Popula
9th - 12th
Biology, Environment
Evolution Deduction: Mystery in the Galapagos
! In this activity, students take a map of the Galapagos islands and a phylogeny of the finches that populate them, and try to deduce (theoretical) current locations and historical migrations. Set up like a complex riddle, students must figure out the homes of the most obvious species, and then deduce the more obscured ones. This activity strengthens students understanding of phylogenies and geographic isolation, while also exercising those all-important basic reasoning skills! What is included?
9th - 12th
Biology, Environment
Technical Drawings Through Creative Puzzle Design
Students learn isometric and orthographic projections while working on creative and difficult problem solving in this hands on design challenge. The challenge is to design a puzzle out of 27 small wooden blocks that will come together as a 3x3x3 cube when solved. Students are led through each step of the engineering design process and essential engineering projection methods, designing their own puzzle pieces and producing detailed isometric and orthographic images of each piece. Once the dr
9th - 12th
Engineering, Visual Arts
Invasive Species Identification Cards
Students learn about the threat posed by invasive species while linking the knowledge to their local ecosystem. They isolate the most important information into a concise ID card for the species, one that a community member could easily carry in their wallet and pull out if they saw something unusual - the type of citizen science actually used to reduce invasive species populations. Some of the cards end up very clear and professional - some kids have gone so far as to laminate them before subm
9th - 12th
Biology, Environment
Punnett Squares: Try a Trihybrid Cross
In this activity, students take Punnett Squares to the next level by analyzing a cross with three heterozygous traits. This is no small task, and students gain an appreciation for the real complexity of genetics and inheritance and the incredible leap of understanding completed by Gregor Mendel. At the same time, they get a lesson being patient and paying close attention to how you organize data - key aspects of scientific study. This is excellent as an extra credit assignment or as a single da
9th - 12th
Biology
Basic Genetics Practice, Almost 300 Problems!
This file contains almost 300 problems in basic genetics, arranged to act as well differentiated, scaffolded activators beginning your class for two weeks, ensuring that students have all of the basic skills from identifying alleles and phenotypes to predicting offspring percentages. The problems could also be used independently, for homework assignments, or as a longer practice segment of a fewer number of classes.
What is included?
-Teacher Page
-Progression Key
-Solution Key
-Almost 300 ques
7th - 10th
Biology
Dimensional Analysis Puzzles
Dimensional analysis can be one of the most challenging concepts for students in high school science. By turning conversion factors into puzzle pieces we can support those students as they develop their understanding on how to place and arrange those conversion factors, as well as which factors to use or not use. This is a great activity for a group struggling to understand the setup needed for proper dimensional analysis, and helps them see how versatile of a system it can be.
9th - 12th
Applied Math, Chemistry, Physics
CCSS
HSN-Q.A.1
, MP2
Dimensional Analysis Equation Frames
Support your students mastery of unit conversion with the math equivalent of sentence frames! This document contains 12 conversion word problems of increasing difficulty and decreasing support. In the first, the equations are single step and have several parts filled in for them already, they just need to complete and calculate to solve the problem. As the problems progress, more steps are needed and fewer pieces are given. By the end, only the fraction lines and function symbols remain - sti
9th - 12th
Applied Math, Chemistry, Physics
CCSS
HSN-Q.A.1
, MP2
Showing 1-8 of 8 results
About the store
Experience
I have ten years full time teaching experience, two in a high-need urban district, two in an affluent suburban district, and currently work somewhere in the middle. My experience has included four distinct scheduling patterns with different needs and limitations, including 99 minute block periods. I have attended extensive professional development in pedagogy and the implementation of innovative 'canned' curricula. Additionally, I have worked on professional curriculum development for new or completely remodeled courses in two public school districts, focusing on Engineering and Environmental Science.
Teaching style
I have a lot of experience with using small chunks of time, developed during my work in a high needs district - quickly switching from interactive review to lecture, to demo, to lecture, to lab, to vocabulary, and so on. I have worked with both traditional and flipped models, and now combine where two where effective to allow for extra lab time or a deeper exploration of a topic. I do a substantial amount of technological integration to my curriculum, and an even greater portion of hands-on activities. This leads students to uncover many of the unit's details and concepts independently, which leads to a greater concept retention while emphasizing creativity, collaboration, and individual responsibility.
Awards & shining teacher moments
My own education history
I attended Assumption College from 2004-2008, dual majoring in Biotechnology and Philosophy. After graduation I began work in a research laboratory while I worked on my teacher's certification. This has given me a wide breadth of academic and professional knowledge to teach from. Since then I have taken professional development, often for graduate credit, in pedagogy, chemistry and engineering education.
Additional biographical information
I gravitate strongly to the higher level questioning and out of the box planning. Bioethical and Environmental policy debates have featured strongly in my science classroom, as have traditional labs and nontraditional reading and writing assignments. Students in my room have had to design their own levees, towns, robots, and comic books. I'm always looking for what will work, not just what we've always done.
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