Elevating Teacher Practice: Introducing Our Newest Laureate, Meg Richard

Teaching is a rewarding profession on its own, but we also know the importance of elevating teachers that take initiative. The ones who put themselves out there and respond to the needs of their colleagues. Teachers like Meg Richard, a seventh grade science teacher at California Trail Middle School in Olathe, Kansas.

Meg has been an active content contributor as an NGSS Squadster, offering ideas and strategies which have proven to be of great interest and value for our followers. In response, we’re now re-introducing Meg as a Teaching Channel Laureate so she can share even more of her practice with our Tch audience.

If you’ve not read any of Meg’s blog posts, you should. She brings creativity, goodwill, and ideas grounded in science to life with her teaching. Her co-authored blog post on fidget spinners was our most-read post in 2017, so we trust that some of you have seen her in action. She’s even shared about singing in science to engage her students!

Meg's Laureate Work

As part of her work as a Tch Laureate, Meg will extend her contributions by further sharing her practice through video to showcase science snippets of her classroom. The content will focus on creating relevance and engagement for student learning in the science setting, while also being cognizant of the Next Generation Science Standards. The methods presented will focus on the science setting but will invite conversation for vertical alignment and cross-curricular implementation.

You can expect topics such as:

• Taxonomy, Pseudopods, Symbiosis

• Cultural Relevance to Bacteria Cultures and Beyond

• Strategies for Connecting Students and Creating Citizen Scientists

• Genetically Modified Debate

• Virtual, Real, and Affordable Field Trips

We’re very grateful for Meg’s inspiration for our Tch Community and look forward to seeing where she takes us next!

Catherine White Guimaraes is an Engagement Manager at Teaching Channel. Prior to her work with Tch, she led a team in designing online learning courses, served as an assistant principal at a middle school, led educators across New York City in the transition to the Common Core, and taught in middle schools in Boston and Washington, D.C. You can connect with Catherine on LinkedIn.