Mason County teacher named “Outstanding Earth Science Teacher”

Rob Weber


“It’s really about critical thinking, developing an argument or solution to whatever problem phenomena you are presented with and how well you can back up an argument and how good is your solution,” Garrison said.
 
Garrison’s classes favor assessments based on projects and activities rather than traditional tests.
 
“Student don’t remember content. They remember experiences,” Garrison said. “Rarely in a job will you have to take a test. …  It’s going to be projects. It’s going to be collaboration: How well did you work with your team and group members to get a job done? Did you meet your deadline and was your project successful? … This year I didn’t give a single test in biology. It was all project-based assessments. It could be a presentation. It could be presenting your model to the class of whatever concept we were covering. But I heard a lot of students say they are glad we didn’t have tests and they appreciated the authentic assessment.”
 
Garrison said approach to teaching is motivated in part by the experiences that created strong memories in her in previous jobs, internships, and fellowships.
 
“That’s what inspired me, just my life experience and knowing I wanted to give (students) those phenomena-based and experiment- based and problem-solving experiences,” she said.