Sometimes the non-school related blogs I follow do a blog hopping where they share other people’s blogs.  I thought that would be a great idea to do this with Family & Consumer Science teachers who write their own blogs. The featured blog in this post belongs to Kayla Pins, a Health and Family & Consumer Sciences teacher, who hails from Iowa and teaches grades 7-12 at Cascade Jr.-Sr. High School. I email interviewed Kayla some questions about her blog…so read on to learn more and see some of the impressive lessons she has to offer!

Why Blog?

• Teaching is weird because you are surrounded by people all day but can still feel lonely. I like blogging because it helps me socialize with other Family and Consumer Sciences teachers. I also appreciate the free resources that are available online and want to contribute to that community. As a student teacher I had lots of ideas for individual activities but was really confused on how to link them all together. When I started teaching I always had my lesson plans online to give an example to new teachers.

Blog Ideas

• When I have an idea for a blog post I create a draft with a working title. Then when I have more time I finish writing the post and add pictures. I tend to work in creative spurts, completing several posts at once, so I schedule my posts to be more regular. I also schedule social media to correspond with when a post will go live.
• So far I only blog about things I’m currently using in my classroom so polishing things into a blog post only takes a little extra time. Ideally I would post two or three times each week and spend about two hours working on my blog and social media. Lately it has been hard to find those two hours. There are many drafts waiting for me to develop!
• This year as I manage new ages (recently changed job/school) and content, it has been such a relief to find projects that are easy to implement without a lot of preparation (Like the Superfood Comic Activity from this site!). That’s the kind of project I like to be sure to write a blog post about. I know technology integration can be challenging as well. Whenever I do an activity that has students creating and collaborating with technology I am sure to post about it.

Blog Highlights

• Learn Human Reproductive Anatomy with Brain Rush
• Illustrating Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs with If You Really Knew Me
• Monster Cookie Math and Measuring (This recipe truly works out every. single. time. It’s whole grain too!):
• Polyvore Technology Tutorial (My first attempt at a video!)
• Food Adjectives That Are Better Than Good