Hey guys, I want to show you something cool. [As they came in, you discussed the uber-important catching the cart with the student sitting near the end of the ramp.] Whoa, that was pretty cool, huh? Want to see it again? Of course you do. [Let the cart go down the ramp again.] Cool. Okay, so… Read More Building the Constant Acceleration Model
Sometimes when I talk about the way that I grade (or actually, sort of don’t grade) to other adults, they scoff at the lack of points. They say things like, “If I were taking a quiz that I knew didn’t affect my grade, I wouldn’t take it seriously. I would just write Monkey Monkey Monkey… Read More Monkey Monkey Monkey
Today was my first day of whiteboarding with one of my Honors Physics classes. My plan was to use The Mistake Game from the very beginning this year. I suspected it would help set the tone of normalizing mistakes and make students more comfortable. Brief interlude about the general structure of whiteboarding in my class.… Read More Whiteboarding with Mistakes
One of the handouts that comes in the binders that I give to students is some advice from past students. These bits of wisdom come from the course evaluations over the past few years. It’s really fascinating to see what they say (and for me to see how what they advise changes as my class… Read More Advice from former Honors Physics students
EDIT: For the latest version of my objectives (including the ones for my regular classes), see the 2013 school year post, Physics Objectives 2013. — Here are my updated objectives for the year. For information on how I use them, read about conjunctive standards-based grading or check out my SBG cheat sheet. I limited myself to 5… Read More Honors Physics 2012 Objectives
John challenged us to share our course syllabi. Here is my latest (possibly final?) draft for this year. I would call this more of a course reference sheet than a syllabus since it doesn’t talk about what we’re going to learn. It’s more about how we’re going to learn it. My document’s genealogy goes back… Read More Honors Physics Course Information Handout
So, you’ve decided to take Honors Physics. I’m so excited for you! You probably already know that it’s going to be challenging, and you might be a little nervous since you don’t know what to expect yet. What should you know before you get there? You should know that you learn by making mistakes. You… Read More What should I know going into Honors Physics?
My Honors Physics exam is a Big Deal. Most of my students do their best work of the semester, and the test itself is the most difficult they’ve seen. It is their final opportunity to demonstrate mastery, depth of understanding, and creative thinking. The final preparation for this test is therefore very important. For the… Read More Physics Exam Review: Recitation Problems
UPDATE: For an updated version, check out my 2012 lineup of Honors Physics objectives. This list is out-dated. To see my current list of objectives used for standards-based grading, please visit the newer post.
In response to a comment asking for a list of the objectives that I’ve been using in my classes, here there are. These are the objectives through the end of the third quarter in both of my classes. The lists are very similar. The main differences are: some of the A objectives in Honors Physics… Read More Physics Objectives So Far
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