February 18, 2025 • 32 mins
Can mastering only 70% of the material at a high level of mastery truly prepare students for life’s scientific challenges? Join us on the Minimalist Educator Podcast as we chat with Lisa Fort, an accomplished earth science teacher from New York State, who believes it can. Lisa shares her expert strategies for organizing science curriculum and planning lessons that emphasize a deep understanding of core concepts through backward planning. She stresses the importance of reinforcing practical skills like measurement and graphing, ensuring students build a solid foundation that equips them for real-world applications. By prioritizing depth over breadth, Lisa aims to cultivate informed citizens and lifelong learners.
Discover the secrets behind effective science teaching as we discuss methods for engaging high school students through interactive activities and real-world connections. Lisa talks about the significance of relationship-building in maintaining classroom focus, especially in the age of social media distractions. From memorable Mars exploration projects to hands-on activities that simulate real-world scenarios like forensic crime scenes, Lisa’s approach fosters curiosity, problem-solving, and communication skills. Tune in to learn how nurturing these foundational skills and curiosity in students can prepare them for more complex scientific challenges ahead.
Lisa continues her almost 20 year career as a science teacher in New York State. Lisa’s classroom is a rigorous learning environment with strong collaborative relationship-driven education. In addition to constantly improving the inquiry student-centered learning, she works with teachers around the state to create assessment kits for the new science standards. She continues to share her love of science and classroom structure at a variety of conferences and social platforms.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Welcome to the Minimalist Educator Podcast, a
podcast about paring down torefocus on the purpose and
priorities in our roles withco-hosts and co-authors of the
Minimalist Teacher Book, TammyMusialski-Borneman and Christine
Arnold.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
In this episode, lisa shares her love of science
education with us.
Her Pair Down Pointer is allabout the brilliance of
organizing.
Her pare-down pointer is allabout the brilliance of
organizing.
Lisa Fort continues her almost20-year career as a science
teacher in New York State.
Lisa's classroom is a rigorouslearning environment with strong
, collaborative,relationship-driven education.
(00:56):
In addition to constantlyimproving the inquiry
student-centered learning, sheworks with teachers around the
state to create assessment kitsfor the new science standards.
She continues to share her loveof science and classroom
structure at a variety ofconferences and social platforms
.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Hello everyone and welcome to today's episode of
the Minimalist Educator Podcast.
Today, christine and I aretalking with one of my very good
friends, lisa Fort, who is ahigh school science teacher, and
she and I met, oh geez, like 18years ago.
I think it was Lisa, right.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Almost 20.
Almost 20.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
So crazy.
So Lisa and I both moved to NewYork City at the same time to
start teaching there, but I, ofcourse, was moving from West,
from Edmonton, and she wascoming from Ontario, but we
converged in the same place andhave been friends ever since.
So welcome to the show, lisa.
(02:02):
How are you today?
Speaker 4 (02:03):
I'm good.
Thank you for having me.
You're a good opportunity.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
And how are you, Christine?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I'm doing very well.
Thank you Good good, good.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
So I'm excited to talk to Lisa today because, well
, I've known over the years justlike how very organized you are
with things and I feel like atthe high school level, how very
organized you are with thingsand I feel like at the high
school level, so you're an earthscience teacher and I feel like
science is an organizedsituation.
I'll call it phenomenon, right.
There's like so many thingswith like rules and all these
(02:35):
things.
But I feel like I like I'm justnot super familiar with the
high school world becauseChristina and I are both
elementary people, but you havesome really like we've talked
about a lot of the things you dowith your high school students
that are just so thoughtful andstrategic.
I think that really, um, Ithink people would benefit from
(03:00):
hearing from them because youhave a lot of content to cover
and and we know that, you knowwe try to we try to get past
this idea that teachers are justdeliverers of content.
But at the high school level,like you have exams that the
kids need to take and there's alot of content to cover.
So what are some of the thingsthat you put in place in your
planning?
let's say before we even talkabout the teaching that ensure
(03:24):
that you're going to get to asmuch content as possible, but
ensure that the kids are alsolike getting those skills that
they need.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
That's a great question.
You're right, we do have a lotof content in earth science,
which is what I do teach now.
I did start off as a biologyslash, living environment
teacher and so similar.
Just lots of content for thestudents.
I think the biggest thing formyself is early on in my career
I really learned to look at whatI wanted the students to be
(03:53):
able to do and almost backwardsplan.
You know that's sort of longago.
That was sort of the idea isdecide what you want your final
assessment, summary assessment,to be like and what.
How are you going to get thestudents there?
And I think that's the biggestthing.
You know where I teach now.
(04:15):
Yes, we have a final exam.
That is a ballpark, but I alsoknow I can't get to everything
and so I really am kind of afirm believer in students.
If they know 70% now weprobably get past 70%, but if
they know at least that 70% at100% level, that's much better
(04:39):
than getting through 100% of thematerial and I'm only knowing
it at 70%.
So for me I really try to focuson the stuff that interconnects
.
That really works at anoverarching understanding.
I really think that for myselfI look at as my students are
(05:00):
going to be individual citizensof this world, not only this
country and what is it that theyneed to know to be individual
citizens of this world you knownot only this country and what
is it that they need to know?
To be lifelong learners andlifelong understanders of media
that they see and events thatare happening.
And ultimately, I try to makesure that I'm covering that
breadth.
When it gets down to like thenitty gritty skills, I have to
(05:21):
follow a little bit with what mycolleagues do, so we start off
the beginning of the year withsetting up those skills.
I have to follow a little bitwith what my colleagues do, so
we start off the beginning ofthe year with setting up those
skills.
And then there's like there'stwo sets of skills.
I think there's the skills ofcan they actually like measure
using a ruler and understandcentimeters versus millimeters?
Because we don't, even thoughhere in the United States we
(05:43):
don't use the metrics as we doin science, and so they do have
to understand centimeters,meters, kilometers and all that
stuff.
So there's those basicunderstanding of using those
measurement tools.
There's being able to do somebasic math skills, which is
always fun, and some basicgraphing skills and we start off
(06:04):
the year by building those andthen they come into play over
and over and over again, whichis really nice.
They can keep saying I know youdon't remember, back in
September we learned this, buthere it's coming back at us
again and that you know.
Some of the students laughalong with me when I sort of
mentioned that, because it feelslike September may have been
(06:26):
only a couple months ago, butyou know, by the time you get
closer to the end of the yearit's like nine months ago and
you're kind of like, ah, did wedo that?
What was that?
We watched a video.
They seem to forget thosethings.
I think that in the same veinthere's those skills, but at the
beginning of the year, and Ithink there's.
(06:47):
I'm going to kind of go offtrack a little bit here.
I think there's a misconceptionthat you have to start
everything at the beginning ofthe year.
I'm also a firm believer thatif I get to October, November,
december, january, whatevermonth it is, and I'm like this
is just not working or thestudents need this skill, we
need to take a step back.
I take ownership of it with mystudents and I say you know what
(07:08):
, guys, I've noticed we are notgetting this, and it's, you know
, my bad.
Let's step back, let's do thisthing, let's reorganize, let's
change seats, whatever that isthat needs to happen.
And because I always say, youknow my, I made you a promise in
September that I was going tohelp you learn this content, and
(07:29):
what I'm seeing in front of mein this classroom is not
supporting that promise, and soI think maybe what we need to do
is do a few of these littletweaks, or I need to introduce a
new way of working in ourclassroom and we're going to
kind of build and scaffold whatthat'll look like.
But you know, ideally maybe youstarted in September, and so I
(07:50):
think, along with building thoseskills of what do they need to
be able to do to handle thecontent, there's also the skills
of how do we talk in class, howdo you know?
Just those little like how do Iask to go to the bathroom or
whatever it is?
When is it appropriate to askto go to the bathroom?
You know, when you walk intoclass and the bell has gone, is
(08:11):
not the time when I say, get outyour notebooks, to be saying,
oh, can I go to the bathroom,you know Ms Ford's going to look
at you like, really is this thebest time when you're going to
miss instruction?
Really is this the best timewhen you're going to miss
instruction?
So we try to set those kind ofprocedural things up at the
beginning and then reinforcethem, you know, throughout the
year.
But, as I said, you know, ifsomething doesn't feel right and
(08:34):
it was like it works for one ofmy classes and it doesn't work
for the other, then I changethings up for that class and we
we look at how do we worktogether and a lot of this stuff
.
At the beginning I have likelaminated question sheets.
So when we're working in groups, here's some sentence starters,
so this is how we talk to eachother.
Um, and I think that that'svery similar to elementary in
(08:58):
some ways.
Um, you may have um shortersentence starters where we're
like I really like how youtalked about X, y and Z.
I'd like you to consider thisand it's a deeper content piece.
But I think there's still thatreally important scaffold piece
(09:18):
that oftentimes I think thatsome of my colleagues overlook
and they just assume thatstudents they're in high school,
they should know how to do thisby now.
But I think each one of us, asa teacher, has a different
expectation for our room and ifwe don't decode it for our
students, then they're leftguessing and that's why we don't
see the results we want,because they're like I don't
(09:40):
know what this teacher wants andif I bring in what I do in my
English class, they get mad atme or I don't get the content.
So we have to teach them whatwe want in our classroom so that
they can be successful.
I think that was a long-windedanswer to your question.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
I really liked what you said, though, about not
being afraid to go.
Okay, stop, we need to rethinkthis, restart this, try this
again in a different way.
I think that's a reallyimportant one, because, you know
, if we do get caught up in thatidea of coverage, you can feel
like I don't have time to goback, I just need to keep going.
So I think that's a goodreminder for us.
I have a bit of a double barrelquestion for you, lisa, oh no,
(10:29):
so I'm thinking about you knowwhat you you know.
How do you decide strategically, what are those core concepts,
core skills and knowledge thatyou need your students to have,
and how do you get rid of all ofthe extraneous things that are
not that helpful and not servingyour students?
And the second part of myquestion is do you, do you feel
like those core concepts andskills and knowledge?
Has that changed over thecourse of your career, and what
(10:51):
sort of influences have changed?
What's at the core of thescience for you?
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Oh goodness, that is a loaded question.
But you might have to remind methe second one, because I'll
start with the first, about howI decide what to cover, and then
you might have to remind methat you had that question about
how that's changed.
So I think the biggest thingwhen I think about how to pare
down the content is I literallyhave on my wall the calendar for
(11:23):
the year and I have stickynotes with all the content and I
just start putting it up.
Where does it fit?
And then that of course, getsall shuffled around as soon as
the calendar for the school yearcomes out and they say, oh, oh,
by the way, on this date we'regoing to have assemblies for all
of the students or whatever.
(11:44):
But ultimately I look at the big, like big topic concepts.
How much is that?
So, if I, if I can go specific?
So in earth science, if I'mlooking at, well, our new earth
and space science, so if I'mlooking at space, you know, I
think okay, in order for them tounderstand, ultimately, earth's
(12:07):
place in space, we need tounderstand how the Earth came
about.
Well, then we need tounderstand, you know, the solar
system and how it was developed.
But then we need to understandwhat was out there before and so
we start like building in thisbackground knowledge.
(12:28):
And I think you know,ultimately it's really important
not only for me to kind of havethis scheme of what I'm going
to be covering and this timeframe of doing that.
And that goes back to what Ialluded to earlier, that I am
kind of under with my colleaguesunder a time frame.
(12:49):
I do have to get throughcontent in a certain to stay
together.
We have quarterly commonformative assessments, so you
(13:20):
have to make sure you're throughthe content by certain times.
But ultimately I look at what Ican build on and I think that
year I kind of have this likeplan and I've went from the wall
to it now being on paper andit's on my clipboard and sort of
my.
It's sort of like a pacingcalendar, I guess you would call
it and.
But ultimately that can shiftbecause if I get feedback from
(13:43):
my formative assessments fromstudents and I'm like, okay,
they don't have this, I need totake a step back and figure out
where.
But I start most units with kindof figuring out, trying to
figure out where they're at,what they remember and
unfortunately, in the way thatthe my state system works.
The last time many of them sawI teach their 10th graders with
(14:11):
9th grade accelerated students.
So they took living environmentin 8th grade.
So they didn't even get thegeneral science or science in
8th grade.
So they haven't seen it since7th grade, if that, and my 10th
graders haven't seen it becausethe year before was biology for
them.
So they've also been a yearremoved from earth science.
(14:35):
And unfortunately, I think manyand I'm guilty of it too of
teaching in such a way that it'sjust delivery of content and
just have to like, almost likethe memorization of this.
These are the facts you need toknow, and the students are
great at memorizing for thattest at the end and then as soon
(14:57):
as that test is over, it's likethey press delete, dump, like a
computer, and then you're likewhere is it?
And so I often try to start aunit with activities that pull
out and tease out almost like acomputer technician.
Right, that is like goingthrough is there any data still
(15:18):
left on?
Here I have the ones and zeros.
Can I translate that back toanything of value?
And so once I have that kind ofunderstanding of where students
are at, it's much easier tobuild and I know that, like
brain science says, if you canbring back that background
knowledge, it's easier to putnew material into the brain
(15:40):
because they have something tolink it to.
If you're just randomly feedingthem data, that's why at the
end they forget it, because theyhave nothing to build it onto.
So I really try to make sure.
That's why I say like when I'mdoing astronomy, I think, okay,
the end goal is that theyunderstand Earth's place in our
solar system, with the sun andthe moon interaction.
(16:02):
But in order to understand that, we do have to build back and
thankfully for us I think it'ssixth grade they do the solar
system and they go into it insome depth and they typically
have done like the modelbuilding or whatever.
So I like, pull that back out.
Remember when you were usingthe styrofoam balls and you made
(16:24):
the solar system and they'relike oh, and so we do that.
How has it changed over thecourse?
Is I probably got morestrategic about making sure that
I'm really finding thatbackground knowledge and also
the delivery method that I use?
I think when I first started Itried to really do kind of like
(16:47):
a 5E model, where theyinvestigate and then I teach
them, and now I probably stilldo that.
I've just revamped it a littlebit in terms of, you know,
getting that backgroundknowledge content first, letting
them explore and then talkingabout it in the classroom and
(17:08):
giving them notes.
Or if I give them notes first,which sometimes I do, it's very
short.
I don't talk much more than 20minutes to my students because I
know their retention span islike and my particular blocks
have been quite long, and so ina typical period I might
(17:30):
actually get through two piecesof content because I'll stop
them after some time.
Doing lab.
We have the fortunate piece ofhaving lab time, but I would say
for non-science students itwould be break it up Like don't
talk, for you know, 50 to 80minutes, whatever your class
time is.
But I think that's the biggestchange is trying to, because
we're fighting against socialmedia.
(17:52):
To be honest, my students, ashigh schoolers, they are totally
invested in social media what'sbeing said, who's saying what,
snapchatting all the time, andthat's what I'm fighting their
attention for.
And so to get their attentionspan, I have to do a little bit
more whiz, bang, showmanship,whatever.
(18:13):
I mean, we've always I guessI've always heard that you're
kind of like actors on a stageanyway, but it's just a little
bit more like hey, this isreally cool, look at how this
happened, or whatever, and yeah,so I think that's I've become
better at how do I bring themback to my class.
And some of that just has to dowith relationship building.
(18:35):
If they they feel like you careabout them, ultimately they'll
give you more attention.
And if they're off track andyou call them on it, they're
like oh, sorry, sorry, miss,that's not my bad, you're right
back to their, their work.
Um, but if you don't build thatrelationship, they're just
going to fight you on it or twominutes later they're going to
(18:57):
have their device back out again.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Right, yeah, you've mentioned a lot of things about,
like that, memory retention andlike how to build the knowledge
.
So, like you know, accessingtheir prior knowledge and the
relationship piece, like thatemotional connection to this
We've talked about just gettingsome of the feedback from your
students too, because they willtell you you know, this was
(19:20):
great, you know, and you havekids from previous years coming
back to you and you still havethat connection with them.
What are some of the thingsthat your students have said to
you that do really stick intheir memories?
From some because you'vecreated some very interactive
units over time andinvestigations, because you used
to also teach forensics, whichis really interesting and cool
(19:43):
and so like yeah some of thethings that students have come
back to you with and just said Istill remember this or that.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Yeah, well, aside from when you bring in food, um,
for them, which is always a hit.
I do a glacier lab where Ibring in ice cream and cookies,
and that always is a comeback.
But I think that stuff whereyou get them to do the thing,
you know, I'll stick with space,because that's what I was
(20:10):
talking about, but I have anactivity that's really centered
around Mars and Mars exploration, because that's that's going to
be their generation.
Within, supposedly within thenext 10 to 15 years, we're going
to put humans on Mars.
Well, what does that look like?
And so I have the studentsbuild rockets and we launch
(20:32):
those rockets right in theschool.
We have a we are very fortunateto have an entryway that has a
high ceiling and we go out and,uh, they're just stomp rockets,
so nobody listening or excited.
We I am actually the rocketadvisor as well and we do go
outside and launch the ones withthe chemical, but in the
classroom we just do stomprockets and then they have an
(20:55):
opportunity to look at what theybuild and fix it, to launch it
again, to, to kind of and gothrough that.
You know, scientific process ofmine didn't make it to mars.
What do I need to change to getit to mars.
We do activities where we lookat materials that with would
withstand meteor showers,because mars atmosphere is very
(21:18):
different than ours, someteorites and stuff the
particles from space could flyright at you and go right
through your space suit.
So we need to make sure that wehave, you know, not Kevlar
stuff that is super heavy andcumbersome to move around, but
something that's sturdy enough,and so I have little propulsion
devices that they push on and itlaunches something at different
(21:42):
materials that they're holdingon a device and have them do
communication.
One of the favorites that alwayscomes back is I do a
communication thing where thekids are in two different spaces
and it's like Earth and Marsand the people on Earth have the
booklet of instructions and thepeople on Earth have the
booklet of instructions, so asmy son would call it, the map of
(22:02):
how to build the thing, and thepeople on Mars just have all
the parts.
And you know I do explain tothe students.
This would normally take like a17 minute lag in between your
conversations, but you can talkback and forth People on Earth.
You can't show what the pictureis because right now we don't
(22:22):
have the technology to sendpictures but people on Mars,
because you'll be there withdifferent technology, you could
show what you're building andthen they can say, yes, no, fix
this, whatever it is.
That's one that they alwayscome back with and you know I
can hear people saying, well,that where does that fit in the
content?
And the reality is, is thequestions that we're being asked
(22:45):
now are more applicationquestions.
You know, how do you do this?
How's this future?
This is building those, youknow, communication skills in my
students to be able to talkwith somebody else and not get
frustrated about it.
That is one thing that theyoften say.
I'm like, so frustrated theywon't listen, and it's like,
okay, well, this is going to bea skill that is going to be
(23:07):
important for your future,because, no matter what you do,
you're always going to betalking to somebody and feel
like they're not listening toyou, like you haven't been heard
.
So there's always value inthose skills as well, even if
it's not truly in my content,but I try to get something like
that in every unit my landscapesystems unit they actually play
with sand and Lego and they movewater around like the earth
(23:30):
would, and they really enjoythose kinds of things, those
connections of being like realworld scientists in a very small
scale, because everything hasto be downsized for the
classroom.
I would love to be able to getthem out and I'm very jealous of
colleagues in other schools andother districts that have the
ability to take their kids outbecause they have a creek
(23:52):
running through their propertyor whatever.
But ultimately I just try tobring everything into the
classroom so that my studentscan get that experience.
Yeah, you mentioned forensics.
Forensics is this year mystudents and potentially what
would they look at?
Things like, you know, beingblood splatter experts.
(24:15):
And actually I think thebiggest thing is, every time I
asked them to make a crime scene, they're like I'm not this
violent and they're like I don'tthink like this.
They get worried that I'm goingto like think of them as murder
criminals and stuff like that,and I'm like it's okay, like
it's never crossed my mind.
I'm asking you to do this, tothink about it, and then you,
(24:38):
you know, then another groupwill come and analyze that and
see if they got it, got it right, and they kind of like that.
I hear from them a lot that theyreally like solving, like
that's really it's about solvingthese cases that somebody else
has created, and ultimatelythat's what they do.
As their final project theythey create a case.
I give them a sample one sothey can kind of mirror off of
(24:58):
the one that I've done.
And then they create one andthey have classmates that solve
it, and so, and then they judgeeach other's.
You know, did they get all thepieces, did they not?
And I think that's the same inearth science.
I try to have the students, youknow, communicate with each
other in.
You know, I said it before likethis is an interesting thought.
(25:19):
Did you think about this, or Ididn't think about that?
Could you explain it to me more?
That sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
As elementary school teachers.
We I'm sure Tammy, I'm speakingfor Tammy now as well but we
would love to hear what do you,what would you love to see from
our little budding scientiststhat are coming up through
elementary school?
You've talked aboutcommunication and you know some
of those foundational knowledge,but, as kids coming into the
high school with you, what aresome of the key things that
(25:48):
you'd love to see from them?
Like curiosity or risk-takingor like what?
What sort of things would youwould you love to see from the
kiddos as they're coming to you?
Speaker 4 (25:57):
You nailed it actually, as you were saying
that exactly your question is.
What I was thinking is,oftentimes, by the time the
students get to high school,they've lost the question of why
, and I don't know what that isthat you know, we go through
that stage as young people wherewe just ask why of everything
and finally people start yellingat us and say stop, stop asking
(26:19):
, stop asking.
And I think that's the hardestthing as a high school science
teachers try to bring back thatcuriosity and to say I want you
to wonder, I want you tocontinue to ask.
And and maybe likeunderstanding that as a teacher
we don't always have the answers, I tell my students all the
(26:40):
time if I don't know, I'm goingto tell you I don't know.
And wouldn't it be fascinatingfor us to find out together?
And I think that's the biggest,probably the biggest thing is
just letting students be curiousand and I know that that
sometimes it's tough becausesometimes they have a curiosity
and within our times, you know,within the silos of elementary
(27:04):
just, you don't have the time tobe able to spend that extra 20
minutes on that question.
But I would say don't forgettheir question, you know if
there's an opportunity later tocome back to it or when it's,
you know, your special oflibrary or something.
Tell the librarian that theyhave this curiosity and help.
(27:24):
Let the librarian help them finda book about it or something
like um, not only does thatbuild the relationship between
you and the student because thestudent feels heard, but it
keeps them curious and itdoesn't like, well, nobody cared
about my questions, so I guessI don't really have good
questions or whatever, like Ithink that's the big thing.
(27:45):
I try to support my studentslike that too.
We actually just had a studentwho was writing an English paper
on climate change and I wastalking to her about the
weathermakers from Tim Flanneryironically Australian source
book and we got it.
We didn't have it in ourlibrary, but we got it from
another library and I talked toher about the chapters and I and
(28:07):
it was just you know, thatlittle support just really
connected and you know, and andit doesn't just stay within that
student they let all theirfriends know I was doing this
thing and this teacher like wentabove and beyond to help me
with this and and you know itdidn't take any time from me I
gave it to the librarian andsaid could you find this book
for us?
(28:27):
You know, so I think that's thebiggest thing is trying to make
sure that kids don't lose thatsense of wonder.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Yeah, I definitely would have, I think, prospered
more in high school had I had it.
And maybe this was me as astudent too, Maybe I was the
student who didn't really askwhy, Not that I didn't want to
learn things, but you know, Ijust feel like I really only had
one standout teacher in all ofhigh school where I was actually
interested in learning, likemath.
But anyway, had I had ElisaFort in my life in high school,
(29:00):
I think I would have had morefun.
You've said so many justthoughtful things about your
planning process and what youoffer to the students.
We're at the time of the showalready where we ask our guests
for a pare down pointer.
So just any kind of little tipthat you can give to, you know,
just help people pare back orprioritize or anything.
(29:24):
And it could be a personalthing that you do at home or
something at school.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
I think I might bring it right back around to the
start of the conversation, whereyou flattered me with my
organization, and I think that'sthe big thing is that when you
do find things that work or havea system where all the material
like for me for science, allthe material for that goes into
one place so that when I need itI just pull out that bin or
(29:53):
that piece, I think that's a big, big piece of the puzzle.
If you don't have that, thenyou're scrounging and you're
like what can I pull together?
And then I think from that thatorganization piece goes as well
, just with how do you organizeyour classroom?
You know, I have my stations upfrom day one, my agree disagree
(30:15):
posters up and day one, andusually students are like what
are all those for?
And I'm like you'll see, it'sall.
You know.
We're going to be doing labactivities and you're going to
move between those labactivities because we can't all
do the exact same thing at thesame time because they don't
have enough material.
But it's knowing that all thatmaterial is in one bin, all
(30:36):
eight stations come out at thesame time, and I think that's
the big thing that really helpsme in terms of just looking at
content and prioritizing, asjust staying organized with
stuff and knowing exactly whereit is.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Exactly yes, yeah, just save your time and sanity.
Just keep it in the bin.
Bins are wonderful.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
Yes, yeah, absolutely .
You don't have to go out andbuy a label maker.
Those little white sticky notesor masking tape with a Sharpie
work just great.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Exactly exactly.
Thank you so much for your time, lisa.
That was great chatting withyou about something that you
know I wish I just enjoyed morein high school high school
science.
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Oh, thank you for having me.
It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Today's episode was brought to you by Plan Z
Professional Learning Servicesforward-thinking educator
support.
Find out more atplanzplservicescom.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Be sure to join Tammy and Christine and guests for
more episodes of the MinimalistEducator podcast.
They would love to hear aboutyour journey with minimalism.
Connect with them at PlanZPLSon Twitter or Instagram.
The music for the podcast hasbeen written and performed by
Gaia Moretti you.
Welcome to the Minimalist Educator Podcast, a
podcast about paring down torefocus on the purpose and
priorities in our roles withco-hosts and co-authors of the
Minimalist Teacher Book, TammyMusialski-Borneman and Christine
Arnold.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
In this episode, lisa shares her love of science
education with us.
Her Pair Down Pointer is allabout the brilliance of
organizing.
Her pare-down pointer is allabout the brilliance of
organizing.
Lisa Fort continues her almost20-year career as a science
teacher in New York State.
Lisa's classroom is a rigorouslearning environment with strong
, collaborative,relationship-driven education.
(00:56):
In addition to constantlyimproving the inquiry
student-centered learning, sheworks with teachers around the
state to create assessment kitsfor the new science standards.
She continues to share her loveof science and classroom
structure at a variety ofconferences and social platforms
.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Hello everyone and welcome to today's episode of
the Minimalist Educator Podcast.
Today, christine and I aretalking with one of my very good
friends, lisa Fort, who is ahigh school science teacher, and
she and I met, oh geez, like 18years ago.
I think it was Lisa, right.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Almost 20.
Almost 20.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
So crazy.
So Lisa and I both moved to NewYork City at the same time to
start teaching there, but I, ofcourse, was moving from West,
from Edmonton, and she wascoming from Ontario, but we
converged in the same place andhave been friends ever since.
So welcome to the show, lisa.
(02:02):
How are you today?
Speaker 4 (02:03):
I'm good.
Thank you for having me.
You're a good opportunity.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
And how are you, Christine?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I'm doing very well.
Thank you Good good, good.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
So I'm excited to talk to Lisa today because, well
, I've known over the years justlike how very organized you are
with things and I feel like atthe high school level, how very
organized you are with thingsand I feel like at the high
school level, so you're an earthscience teacher and I feel like
science is an organizedsituation.
I'll call it phenomenon, right.
There's like so many thingswith like rules and all these
(02:35):
things.
But I feel like I like I'm justnot super familiar with the
high school world becauseChristina and I are both
elementary people, but you havesome really like we've talked
about a lot of the things you dowith your high school students
that are just so thoughtful andstrategic.
I think that really, um, Ithink people would benefit from
(03:00):
hearing from them because youhave a lot of content to cover
and and we know that, you knowwe try to we try to get past
this idea that teachers are justdeliverers of content.
But at the high school level,like you have exams that the
kids need to take and there's alot of content to cover.
So what are some of the thingsthat you put in place in your
planning?
let's say before we even talkabout the teaching that ensure
(03:24):
that you're going to get to asmuch content as possible, but
ensure that the kids are alsolike getting those skills that
they need.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
That's a great question.
You're right, we do have a lotof content in earth science,
which is what I do teach now.
I did start off as a biologyslash, living environment
teacher and so similar.
Just lots of content for thestudents.
I think the biggest thing formyself is early on in my career
I really learned to look at whatI wanted the students to be
(03:53):
able to do and almost backwardsplan.
You know that's sort of longago.
That was sort of the idea isdecide what you want your final
assessment, summary assessment,to be like and what.
How are you going to get thestudents there?
And I think that's the biggestthing.
You know where I teach now.
(04:15):
Yes, we have a final exam.
That is a ballpark, but I alsoknow I can't get to everything
and so I really am kind of afirm believer in students.
If they know 70% now weprobably get past 70%, but if
they know at least that 70% at100% level, that's much better
(04:39):
than getting through 100% of thematerial and I'm only knowing
it at 70%.
So for me I really try to focuson the stuff that interconnects
.
That really works at anoverarching understanding.
I really think that for myselfI look at as my students are
(05:00):
going to be individual citizensof this world, not only this
country and what is it that theyneed to know to be individual
citizens of this world you knownot only this country and what
is it that they need to know?
To be lifelong learners andlifelong understanders of media
that they see and events thatare happening.
And ultimately, I try to makesure that I'm covering that
breadth.
When it gets down to like thenitty gritty skills, I have to
(05:21):
follow a little bit with what mycolleagues do, so we start off
the beginning of the year withsetting up those skills.
I have to follow a little bitwith what my colleagues do, so
we start off the beginning ofthe year with setting up those
skills.
And then there's like there'stwo sets of skills.
I think there's the skills ofcan they actually like measure
using a ruler and understandcentimeters versus millimeters?
Because we don't, even thoughhere in the United States we
(05:43):
don't use the metrics as we doin science, and so they do have
to understand centimeters,meters, kilometers and all that
stuff.
So there's those basicunderstanding of using those
measurement tools.
There's being able to do somebasic math skills, which is
always fun, and some basicgraphing skills and we start off
(06:04):
the year by building those andthen they come into play over
and over and over again, whichis really nice.
They can keep saying I know youdon't remember, back in
September we learned this, buthere it's coming back at us
again and that you know.
Some of the students laughalong with me when I sort of
mentioned that, because it feelslike September may have been
(06:26):
only a couple months ago, butyou know, by the time you get
closer to the end of the yearit's like nine months ago and
you're kind of like, ah, did wedo that?
What was that?
We watched a video.
They seem to forget thosethings.
I think that in the same veinthere's those skills, but at the
beginning of the year, and Ithink there's.
(06:47):
I'm going to kind of go offtrack a little bit here.
I think there's a misconceptionthat you have to start
everything at the beginning ofthe year.
I'm also a firm believer thatif I get to October, November,
december, january, whatevermonth it is, and I'm like this
is just not working or thestudents need this skill, we
need to take a step back.
I take ownership of it with mystudents and I say you know what
(07:08):
, guys, I've noticed we are notgetting this, and it's, you know
, my bad.
Let's step back, let's do thisthing, let's reorganize, let's
change seats, whatever that isthat needs to happen.
And because I always say, youknow my, I made you a promise in
September that I was going tohelp you learn this content, and
(07:29):
what I'm seeing in front of mein this classroom is not
supporting that promise, and soI think maybe what we need to do
is do a few of these littletweaks, or I need to introduce a
new way of working in ourclassroom and we're going to
kind of build and scaffold whatthat'll look like.
But you know, ideally maybe youstarted in September, and so I
(07:50):
think, along with building thoseskills of what do they need to
be able to do to handle thecontent, there's also the skills
of how do we talk in class, howdo you know?
Just those little like how do Iask to go to the bathroom or
whatever it is?
When is it appropriate to askto go to the bathroom?
You know, when you walk intoclass and the bell has gone, is
(08:11):
not the time when I say, get outyour notebooks, to be saying,
oh, can I go to the bathroom,you know Ms Ford's going to look
at you like, really is this thebest time when you're going to
miss instruction?
Really is this the best timewhen you're going to miss
instruction?
So we try to set those kind ofprocedural things up at the
beginning and then reinforcethem, you know, throughout the
year.
But, as I said, you know, ifsomething doesn't feel right and
(08:34):
it was like it works for one ofmy classes and it doesn't work
for the other, then I changethings up for that class and we
we look at how do we worktogether and a lot of this stuff
.
At the beginning I have likelaminated question sheets.
So when we're working in groups, here's some sentence starters,
so this is how we talk to eachother.
Um, and I think that that'svery similar to elementary in
(08:58):
some ways.
Um, you may have um shortersentence starters where we're
like I really like how youtalked about X, y and Z.
I'd like you to consider thisand it's a deeper content piece.
But I think there's still thatreally important scaffold piece
(09:18):
that oftentimes I think thatsome of my colleagues overlook
and they just assume thatstudents they're in high school,
they should know how to do thisby now.
But I think each one of us, asa teacher, has a different
expectation for our room and ifwe don't decode it for our
students, then they're leftguessing and that's why we don't
see the results we want,because they're like I don't
(09:40):
know what this teacher wants andif I bring in what I do in my
English class, they get mad atme or I don't get the content.
So we have to teach them whatwe want in our classroom so that
they can be successful.
I think that was a long-windedanswer to your question.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
I really liked what you said, though, about not
being afraid to go.
Okay, stop, we need to rethinkthis, restart this, try this
again in a different way.
I think that's a reallyimportant one, because, you know
, if we do get caught up in thatidea of coverage, you can feel
like I don't have time to goback, I just need to keep going.
So I think that's a goodreminder for us.
I have a bit of a double barrelquestion for you, lisa, oh no,
(10:29):
so I'm thinking about you knowwhat you you know.
How do you decide strategically, what are those core concepts,
core skills and knowledge thatyou need your students to have,
and how do you get rid of all ofthe extraneous things that are
not that helpful and not servingyour students?
And the second part of myquestion is do you, do you feel
like those core concepts andskills and knowledge?
Has that changed over thecourse of your career, and what
(10:51):
sort of influences have changed?
What's at the core of thescience for you?
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Oh goodness, that is a loaded question.
But you might have to remind methe second one, because I'll
start with the first, about howI decide what to cover, and then
you might have to remind methat you had that question about
how that's changed.
So I think the biggest thingwhen I think about how to pare
down the content is I literallyhave on my wall the calendar for
(11:23):
the year and I have stickynotes with all the content and I
just start putting it up.
Where does it fit?
And then that of course, getsall shuffled around as soon as
the calendar for the school yearcomes out and they say, oh, oh,
by the way, on this date we'regoing to have assemblies for all
of the students or whatever.
(11:44):
But ultimately I look at the big, like big topic concepts.
How much is that?
So, if I, if I can go specific?
So in earth science, if I'mlooking at, well, our new earth
and space science, so if I'mlooking at space, you know, I
think okay, in order for them tounderstand, ultimately, earth's
(12:07):
place in space, we need tounderstand how the Earth came
about.
Well, then we need tounderstand, you know, the solar
system and how it was developed.
But then we need to understandwhat was out there before and so
we start like building in thisbackground knowledge.
(12:28):
And I think you know,ultimately it's really important
not only for me to kind of havethis scheme of what I'm going
to be covering and this timeframe of doing that.
And that goes back to what Ialluded to earlier, that I am
kind of under with my colleaguesunder a time frame.
(12:49):
I do have to get throughcontent in a certain to stay
together.
We have quarterly commonformative assessments, so you
(13:20):
have to make sure you're throughthe content by certain times.
But ultimately I look at what Ican build on and I think that
year I kind of have this likeplan and I've went from the wall
to it now being on paper andit's on my clipboard and sort of
my.
It's sort of like a pacingcalendar, I guess you would call
it and.
But ultimately that can shiftbecause if I get feedback from
(13:43):
my formative assessments fromstudents and I'm like, okay,
they don't have this, I need totake a step back and figure out
where.
But I start most units with kindof figuring out, trying to
figure out where they're at,what they remember and
unfortunately, in the way thatthe my state system works.
The last time many of them sawI teach their 10th graders with
(14:11):
9th grade accelerated students.
So they took living environmentin 8th grade.
So they didn't even get thegeneral science or science in
8th grade.
So they haven't seen it since7th grade, if that, and my 10th
graders haven't seen it becausethe year before was biology for
them.
So they've also been a yearremoved from earth science.
(14:35):
And unfortunately, I think manyand I'm guilty of it too of
teaching in such a way that it'sjust delivery of content and
just have to like, almost likethe memorization of this.
These are the facts you need toknow, and the students are
great at memorizing for thattest at the end and then as soon
(14:57):
as that test is over, it's likethey press delete, dump, like a
computer, and then you're likewhere is it?
And so I often try to start aunit with activities that pull
out and tease out almost like acomputer technician.
Right, that is like goingthrough is there any data still
(15:18):
left on?
Here I have the ones and zeros.
Can I translate that back toanything of value?
And so once I have that kind ofunderstanding of where students
are at, it's much easier tobuild and I know that, like
brain science says, if you canbring back that background
knowledge, it's easier to putnew material into the brain
(15:40):
because they have something tolink it to.
If you're just randomly feedingthem data, that's why at the
end they forget it, because theyhave nothing to build it onto.
So I really try to make sure.
That's why I say like when I'mdoing astronomy, I think, okay,
the end goal is that theyunderstand Earth's place in our
solar system, with the sun andthe moon interaction.
(16:02):
But in order to understand that, we do have to build back and
thankfully for us I think it'ssixth grade they do the solar
system and they go into it insome depth and they typically
have done like the modelbuilding or whatever.
So I like, pull that back out.
Remember when you were usingthe styrofoam balls and you made
(16:24):
the solar system and they'relike oh, and so we do that.
How has it changed over thecourse?
Is I probably got morestrategic about making sure that
I'm really finding thatbackground knowledge and also
the delivery method that I use?
I think when I first started Itried to really do kind of like
(16:47):
a 5E model, where theyinvestigate and then I teach
them, and now I probably stilldo that.
I've just revamped it a littlebit in terms of, you know,
getting that backgroundknowledge content first, letting
them explore and then talkingabout it in the classroom and
(17:08):
giving them notes.
Or if I give them notes first,which sometimes I do, it's very
short.
I don't talk much more than 20minutes to my students because I
know their retention span islike and my particular blocks
have been quite long, and so ina typical period I might
(17:30):
actually get through two piecesof content because I'll stop
them after some time.
Doing lab.
We have the fortunate piece ofhaving lab time, but I would say
for non-science students itwould be break it up Like don't
talk, for you know, 50 to 80minutes, whatever your class
time is.
But I think that's the biggestchange is trying to, because
we're fighting against socialmedia.
(17:52):
To be honest, my students, ashigh schoolers, they are totally
invested in social media what'sbeing said, who's saying what,
snapchatting all the time, andthat's what I'm fighting their
attention for.
And so to get their attentionspan, I have to do a little bit
more whiz, bang, showmanship,whatever.
(18:13):
I mean, we've always I guessI've always heard that you're
kind of like actors on a stageanyway, but it's just a little
bit more like hey, this isreally cool, look at how this
happened, or whatever, and yeah,so I think that's I've become
better at how do I bring themback to my class.
And some of that just has to dowith relationship building.
(18:35):
If they they feel like you careabout them, ultimately they'll
give you more attention.
And if they're off track andyou call them on it, they're
like oh, sorry, sorry, miss,that's not my bad, you're right
back to their, their work.
Um, but if you don't build thatrelationship, they're just
going to fight you on it or twominutes later they're going to
(18:57):
have their device back out again.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Right, yeah, you've mentioned a lot of things about,
like that, memory retention andlike how to build the knowledge
.
So, like you know, accessingtheir prior knowledge and the
relationship piece, like thatemotional connection to this
We've talked about just gettingsome of the feedback from your
students too, because they willtell you you know, this was
(19:20):
great, you know, and you havekids from previous years coming
back to you and you still havethat connection with them.
What are some of the thingsthat your students have said to
you that do really stick intheir memories?
From some because you'vecreated some very interactive
units over time andinvestigations, because you used
to also teach forensics, whichis really interesting and cool
(19:43):
and so like yeah some of thethings that students have come
back to you with and just said Istill remember this or that.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Yeah, well, aside from when you bring in food, um,
for them, which is always a hit.
I do a glacier lab where Ibring in ice cream and cookies,
and that always is a comeback.
But I think that stuff whereyou get them to do the thing,
you know, I'll stick with space,because that's what I was
(20:10):
talking about, but I have anactivity that's really centered
around Mars and Mars exploration, because that's that's going to
be their generation.
Within, supposedly within thenext 10 to 15 years, we're going
to put humans on Mars.
Well, what does that look like?
And so I have the studentsbuild rockets and we launch
(20:32):
those rockets right in theschool.
We have a we are very fortunateto have an entryway that has a
high ceiling and we go out and,uh, they're just stomp rockets,
so nobody listening or excited.
We I am actually the rocketadvisor as well and we do go
outside and launch the ones withthe chemical, but in the
classroom we just do stomprockets and then they have an
(20:55):
opportunity to look at what theybuild and fix it, to launch it
again, to, to kind of and gothrough that.
You know, scientific process ofmine didn't make it to mars.
What do I need to change to getit to mars.
We do activities where we lookat materials that with would
withstand meteor showers,because mars atmosphere is very
(21:18):
different than ours, someteorites and stuff the
particles from space could flyright at you and go right
through your space suit.
So we need to make sure that wehave, you know, not Kevlar
stuff that is super heavy andcumbersome to move around, but
something that's sturdy enough,and so I have little propulsion
devices that they push on and itlaunches something at different
(21:42):
materials that they're holdingon a device and have them do
communication.
One of the favorites that alwayscomes back is I do a
communication thing where thekids are in two different spaces
and it's like Earth and Marsand the people on Earth have the
booklet of instructions and thepeople on Earth have the
booklet of instructions, so asmy son would call it, the map of
(22:02):
how to build the thing, and thepeople on Mars just have all
the parts.
And you know I do explain tothe students.
This would normally take like a17 minute lag in between your
conversations, but you can talkback and forth People on Earth.
You can't show what the pictureis because right now we don't
(22:22):
have the technology to sendpictures but people on Mars,
because you'll be there withdifferent technology, you could
show what you're building andthen they can say, yes, no, fix
this, whatever it is.
That's one that they alwayscome back with and you know I
can hear people saying, well,that where does that fit in the
content?
And the reality is, is thequestions that we're being asked
(22:45):
now are more applicationquestions.
You know, how do you do this?
How's this future?
This is building those, youknow, communication skills in my
students to be able to talkwith somebody else and not get
frustrated about it.
That is one thing that theyoften say.
I'm like, so frustrated theywon't listen, and it's like,
okay, well, this is going to bea skill that is going to be
(23:07):
important for your future,because, no matter what you do,
you're always going to betalking to somebody and feel
like they're not listening toyou, like you haven't been heard
.
So there's always value inthose skills as well, even if
it's not truly in my content,but I try to get something like
that in every unit my landscapesystems unit they actually play
with sand and Lego and they movewater around like the earth
(23:30):
would, and they really enjoythose kinds of things, those
connections of being like realworld scientists in a very small
scale, because everything hasto be downsized for the
classroom.
I would love to be able to getthem out and I'm very jealous of
colleagues in other schools andother districts that have the
ability to take their kids outbecause they have a creek
(23:52):
running through their propertyor whatever.
But ultimately I just try tobring everything into the
classroom so that my studentscan get that experience.
Yeah, you mentioned forensics.
Forensics is this year mystudents and potentially what
would they look at?
Things like, you know, beingblood splatter experts.
(24:15):
And actually I think thebiggest thing is, every time I
asked them to make a crime scene, they're like I'm not this
violent and they're like I don'tthink like this.
They get worried that I'm goingto like think of them as murder
criminals and stuff like that,and I'm like it's okay, like
it's never crossed my mind.
I'm asking you to do this, tothink about it, and then you,
(24:38):
you know, then another groupwill come and analyze that and
see if they got it, got it right, and they kind of like that.
I hear from them a lot that theyreally like solving, like
that's really it's about solvingthese cases that somebody else
has created, and ultimatelythat's what they do.
As their final project theythey create a case.
I give them a sample one sothey can kind of mirror off of
(24:58):
the one that I've done.
And then they create one andthey have classmates that solve
it, and so, and then they judgeeach other's.
You know, did they get all thepieces, did they not?
And I think that's the same inearth science.
I try to have the students, youknow, communicate with each
other in.
You know, I said it before likethis is an interesting thought.
(25:19):
Did you think about this, or Ididn't think about that?
Could you explain it to me more?
That sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
As elementary school teachers.
We I'm sure Tammy, I'm speakingfor Tammy now as well but we
would love to hear what do you,what would you love to see from
our little budding scientiststhat are coming up through
elementary school?
You've talked aboutcommunication and you know some
of those foundational knowledge,but, as kids coming into the
high school with you, what aresome of the key things that
(25:48):
you'd love to see from them?
Like curiosity or risk-takingor like what?
What sort of things would youwould you love to see from the
kiddos as they're coming to you?
Speaker 4 (25:57):
You nailed it actually, as you were saying
that exactly your question is.
What I was thinking is,oftentimes, by the time the
students get to high school,they've lost the question of why
, and I don't know what that isthat you know, we go through
that stage as young people wherewe just ask why of everything
and finally people start yellingat us and say stop, stop asking
(26:19):
, stop asking.
And I think that's the hardestthing as a high school science
teachers try to bring back thatcuriosity and to say I want you
to wonder, I want you tocontinue to ask.
And and maybe likeunderstanding that as a teacher
we don't always have the answers, I tell my students all the
(26:40):
time if I don't know, I'm goingto tell you I don't know.
And wouldn't it be fascinatingfor us to find out together?
And I think that's the biggest,probably the biggest thing is
just letting students be curiousand and I know that that
sometimes it's tough becausesometimes they have a curiosity
and within our times, you know,within the silos of elementary
(27:04):
just, you don't have the time tobe able to spend that extra 20
minutes on that question.
But I would say don't forgettheir question, you know if
there's an opportunity later tocome back to it or when it's,
you know, your special oflibrary or something.
Tell the librarian that theyhave this curiosity and help.
(27:24):
Let the librarian help them finda book about it or something
like um, not only does thatbuild the relationship between
you and the student because thestudent feels heard, but it
keeps them curious and itdoesn't like, well, nobody cared
about my questions, so I guessI don't really have good
questions or whatever, like Ithink that's the big thing.
(27:45):
I try to support my studentslike that too.
We actually just had a studentwho was writing an English paper
on climate change and I wastalking to her about the
weathermakers from Tim Flanneryironically Australian source
book and we got it.
We didn't have it in ourlibrary, but we got it from
another library and I talked toher about the chapters and I and
(28:07):
it was just you know, thatlittle support just really
connected and you know, and andit doesn't just stay within that
student they let all theirfriends know I was doing this
thing and this teacher like wentabove and beyond to help me
with this and and you know itdidn't take any time from me I
gave it to the librarian andsaid could you find this book
for us?
(28:27):
You know, so I think that's thebiggest thing is trying to make
sure that kids don't lose thatsense of wonder.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Yeah, I definitely would have, I think, prospered
more in high school had I had it.
And maybe this was me as astudent too, Maybe I was the
student who didn't really askwhy, Not that I didn't want to
learn things, but you know, Ijust feel like I really only had
one standout teacher in all ofhigh school where I was actually
interested in learning, likemath.
But anyway, had I had ElisaFort in my life in high school,
(29:00):
I think I would have had morefun.
You've said so many justthoughtful things about your
planning process and what youoffer to the students.
We're at the time of the showalready where we ask our guests
for a pare down pointer.
So just any kind of little tipthat you can give to, you know,
just help people pare back orprioritize or anything.
(29:24):
And it could be a personalthing that you do at home or
something at school.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
I think I might bring it right back around to the
start of the conversation, whereyou flattered me with my
organization, and I think that'sthe big thing is that when you
do find things that work or havea system where all the material
like for me for science, allthe material for that goes into
one place so that when I need itI just pull out that bin or
(29:53):
that piece, I think that's a big, big piece of the puzzle.
If you don't have that, thenyou're scrounging and you're
like what can I pull together?
And then I think from that thatorganization piece goes as well
, just with how do you organizeyour classroom?
You know, I have my stations upfrom day one, my agree disagree
(30:15):
posters up and day one, andusually students are like what
are all those for?
And I'm like you'll see, it'sall.
You know.
We're going to be doing labactivities and you're going to
move between those labactivities because we can't all
do the exact same thing at thesame time because they don't
have enough material.
But it's knowing that all thatmaterial is in one bin, all
(30:36):
eight stations come out at thesame time, and I think that's
the big thing that really helpsme in terms of just looking at
content and prioritizing, asjust staying organized with
stuff and knowing exactly whereit is.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Exactly yes, yeah, just save your time and sanity.
Just keep it in the bin.
Bins are wonderful.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
Yes, yeah, absolutely .
You don't have to go out andbuy a label maker.
Those little white sticky notesor masking tape with a Sharpie
work just great.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Exactly exactly.
Thank you so much for your time, lisa.
That was great chatting withyou about something that you
know I wish I just enjoyed morein high school high school
science.
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Oh, thank you for having me.
It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Today's episode was brought to you by Plan Z
Professional Learning Servicesforward-thinking educator
support.
Find out more atplanzplservicescom.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Be sure to join Tammy and Christine and guests for
more episodes of the MinimalistEducator podcast.
They would love to hear aboutyour journey with minimalism.
Connect with them at PlanZPLSon Twitter or Instagram.
The music for the podcast hasbeen written and performed by
Gaia Moretti you.
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