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
I’ve always had my students do test corrections. When I used to award points, I would give some out (or “back”) for doing good corrections. I asked my students to complete them without consulting peers (though they could use their notes and could talk to me). They also had to make a statement for each… Read More Usefulness of Test Corrections
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
We don’t use a textbook in my class. So my students’ binders are their key physics possession. When I first started teaching, I foolishly just assumed that when I told them to get and keep a binder for my class, that they would know how to do that (and would do it). During that first… Read More Delicious Physics Binders
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
This page is one of the several documents that come in the binders that I distribute to students (post on that soon once I get photos of assembling them this week). It is a quick reference sheet about some of the aspects of the grading policy for my class.
I’ve had a lot of requests lately to explain my grading system, so I thought I would outline it in as much detail as possible here. I learned this summer that what I do is apparently called “conjunctive scoring”. That is, students cannot compensate for a low score in one area (say, their understanding of forces)… Read More Conjunctive Standards-Based Grading
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
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