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Inside the Rabbit Hole: Sea Turtles Head North

Every so often I come across a news story I can’t stop reading about, and this fall it was sea turtles. In September, two olive ridley sea turtles crawled onto beaches in Orange County, California, and laid their eggs, one near Seal Beach and one near the Huntington Beach Pier. According to NOAA Fisheries, they’re the first sea turtle nests of any species ever recorded on the U.S. West Coast. The closest place olive ridleys normally nest is near the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico.

Why did they come so far north? Scientists point to unusually warm ocean water from ongoing marine heatwaves and the El Niño expected next year, though NOAA says the exact reasons are still uncertain. With a hurricane approaching, the eggs were moved to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach for safekeeping. Incubation takes 45 to 60 days, so any hatching news could come any day now. No one knows yet whether the eggs will hatch.

Of course, I couldn’t read this without thinking about my classroom. Here’s how I’d use it with students:

Human-environment interaction. When my students study a place, one lens we use is how people and the environment shape each other. This story is a perfect example. I’d ask students:

1. What changes in the ocean might explain why the turtles nested here?
2. Who now has to make decisions because of these nests, and what choices did they face?
3. If more turtles nest in California in coming years, how might beach communities need to adapt?

Comparing sources. I’d also have students read the NOAA article next to a news headline about the same event, then ask: What does each source emphasize? Which details does the news story leave out? Which would you trust for the facts, and why? Questioning sources is a skill students need for every story they read, not just this one.

I’ll be watching for hatching news. If baby olive ridleys make their way back to a California beach, you’ll hear about it here. 

Names Matter: The Day I Almost Murdered the Attendance List

When I started this blog in 2021, I was a teaching student. Since then, I’ve earned my teaching license, spent five school years substitute teaching, and nearly finished my M.Ed., so the blog has a new name to match: Echoes in the Classroom, because what happens in a classroom keeps echoing long after the bell rings.

Years ago, while I was driving a school bus, I wrote a checklist for educators that still guides me (you can find it on my portfolio). Teaching content comes last on that list. Making students feel safe and making them laugh come first. I learned how true that is on a day I subbed for a high school art class.

I was calling in attendance to the office, and a few last names on the roster had me worried. I didn’t want to mispronounce anyone’s name in front of the class, so I gave the attendance secretary the last initials and asked for help. She walked me through each one. I thanked her and said, with a laugh, “I didn’t want to murder them all.”

Then I hung up and looked out at a sea of completely silent faces with huge eyes.

The students had heard only my side of the conversation, and I had some quick explaining to do. “The names!” I said. “I didn’t want to murder the names!”

The room erupted. They laughed, I laughed, and for the rest of the period, I wasn’t a stranger at the front of the room anymore. When I told the attendance secretary the story at the end of the day, she laughed too.

That moment taught me two things. First, names matter. Taking a minute to say a student’s name correctly tells them they belong before you’ve taught them a thing. Second, a little laughter, even at your own expense, can turn a room of strangers into a class. Students learn best from people they feel comfortable with, and nothing builds comfort faster than a shared laugh.

In the posts ahead, I’ll write about literacy, fair grading, educational psychology, and the many paths students can take after high school. And every so often, I’ll take you along on a trip down a research rabbit hole.

Thanks for reading, and welcome to the new chapter.