In November, I tried this lesson (below) in my 10th grade physics classes. I’ve joined an “anti-bias task force” at my school made up of teachers from all divisions (lower, middle, and high school) who are looking at their curriculum and implementing lessons or other changes to work on removing bias and improving what and… Read More Values and Beliefs about Doing Science and Physics Class
In my college summers, I was a camp counselor at a Girl Scout camp in Michigan. (Bear with me, this is going somewhere.) During my first summer, I loathed having to spend one night per week sleeping outside and tried to find any way out of it. During the staff training week the second summer,… Read More This Class is SO My Class
The day-to-day work in my class happens in at tables in an “individually together” manner that I described in the Whiteboarding Mistake Game: A Guide post. Quick summary of “individually together”: Students work at tables on problems in their packets. They mostly work on their own, take a moment to consult and debate with the… Read More Physics Soul-mates
Or, No More Cherry Picking (and How to Stop Doing That) The Goal of Standards-Based Grading (SBG): Use standards to give students specific, useful feedback that will help students know what to practice to improve their understanding and performance and you (the teacher) know how to help the students and what to keep testing. The… Read More Offside Assessments
Prologue: I have been doing a lot of thinking this year about what I’ve learned so far about teaching physics (and about teaching high school students in general) both as general reflection and as part of solidifying my thoughts in preparation to look for a new physics teaching position for next school year. Occasional conversations… Read More The Right Thing, Said Once
Physics! Blog! 