Grade 6–8 science, and the evidence behind it
I am Nora Reinhardt, a licensed middle school science teacher in Aurora, Colorado, endorsed in science for grades six through eight.
This portfolio holds what an interview does not have time for: full lesson artifacts, how I know a unit worked, what I do when a class stops cooperating, and how families hear from me.
Everything here opens without a login. Read it in ten minutes before the call, or hand the whole page to the panel.
If you have one minute, read these four
What I teach
Grade 6–8 science: physical science, life science and earth systems, taught on a four-period rotation with two preps.
What I am licensed to do
Colorado teaching licence with a middle school science endorsement. Type, number and expiry are on the credentials page.
How I know it worked
Every unit begins with a pre-assessment and ends with the same questions asked again, plus one piece of work each student chooses themselves.
What families get from me
A first-week message before anything goes wrong, and a phone call for anything that would be hard to read in an email.
What is in this portfolio
Teaching philosophy
One page, in plain language, with the three things I actually do differently because of it. Written to be argued with, not admired.
Lesson and unit artifacts
Six units with the plan, the student task, the assessment and the note on what I changed the second time I taught it.
Evidence of student growth
Five kinds of evidence I collect, what each one can and cannot tell you, and how I use them to decide what to reteach.
Classroom management
The routines that carry a middle school class, what I do in week three when they stop working, and the restorative conversation I use instead of a referral where I can.
Family communication
First-week contact, the good-news call, the difficult call, and what I write down afterwards.
Credentials and references
Licence, endorsements, professional learning, teaching history and the three people who have agreed to speak for me.
Four artifacts, in brief
Density and buoyancy, grade 6
A three-day investigation where students build a hypothesis they can be wrong about safely, then revise it in writing. Includes the revision prompt that made the difference.
Cells and systems, grade 7
A modelling unit with a build-then-explain task, designed so that students who read below grade level can still show what they understand.
Earth systems and local water, grade 8
A four-week unit anchored on the watershed the school sits in, ending with a written recommendation to a real audience.
Lab safety, first two weeks
How safety routines are taught as a habit rather than a signed form, including the practice rounds and the reset when they slip.
Interviewing me this week?
Tell me which grade band and which building, and I will point you to the three artifacts closest to the job you are filling.