SOCS-P
"You got to do inquiry, You got to do inquiry, You got to do inquiry." This was preached to us, (Utica Teachers) at the beginning of this past year. Not one damn example, lesson, methodology, or instructional practice was givin. It was the "here's the theory, do it!" plan. Skip ahead to today, as I walk off Mount Sinai with my two David Hestenes articles in my arms, which will require many rereads. Ok, more like me walking out of the Oakland Schools center with my whiteboard stand and a new lease on teaching. Oh, no, I've misplaced my metaphors.
"Modeling Methodology For Physics Teachers", by David Hestenes, Proceedings of the International Conference on Undergraduate Physics, College Park, August 1996.
Tuesday, July 09, 2013
Monday, July 08, 2013
Quick Before It Dries
I decided a last year to actively engage my students on the very first day. Students where presented with a question regarding the speed of a hot wheels car (at the time I had no lab equipment). We discussed what could be measured, data to be collected, and factors that could affect its speed. They were in shock, "a lab on the first day," "this is going to be fun" we're a few of the remarks I remembered. The students had to collect data from 10 other students and make a data table. I've never had a better opening day. For the first time, I didn't pass out once I got home from exhaustion.
Tuesday, July 02, 2013
SOCS #10 Arons 3.1-3.12
SOCS-I
If feel as if Arons has been my observing administrator for the past 22 years. He has repeatedly entered my classroom, sat quietly in the back and tenaciously scribbled into his little yellow pad of paper, nodding and shaking his head. June 20th he hands me my evaluation, Teaching Introductory Physics. The reoccurring observation is the fact my students have no assurance of understanding, regardless of test scores. Which is an absolute joke based upon our current teacher assessments, the fact that I can be a highly effective as a teacher because of high test scores, even though they still don't understand. Even though the content of this material is a bit over my kids, I have confidence in my knowledge of the content to help bridge contextual gaps in their learning. Newton's laws of motion have not been treated with enough context, with that, I know my students didn't get it.
If feel as if Arons has been my observing administrator for the past 22 years. He has repeatedly entered my classroom, sat quietly in the back and tenaciously scribbled into his little yellow pad of paper, nodding and shaking his head. June 20th he hands me my evaluation, Teaching Introductory Physics. The reoccurring observation is the fact my students have no assurance of understanding, regardless of test scores. Which is an absolute joke based upon our current teacher assessments, the fact that I can be a highly effective as a teacher because of high test scores, even though they still don't understand. Even though the content of this material is a bit over my kids, I have confidence in my knowledge of the content to help bridge contextual gaps in their learning. Newton's laws of motion have not been treated with enough context, with that, I know my students didn't get it.
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