thoughts about this week.

This week has been both exhilarating and exhausting.  I had the privilege of being invited down to the state capitol to attend Superintendent's Technology Day.  I was supposed to talk with legislators about how I use technology in my classroom.  That didn't really happen since my people were busy with other stuff.  Apparently they were considering how they can persecute a man who doesn't share their value system by voting to not accept his prayer.  I think that's just pitful, but this isn't the time or place for that I guess.  It reeks of religious persecution and I thought our country was founded in part to avoid that kind of stuff. I was able to meet a great guy from the OSDE, @ittosde.  He and I were able to talk some about the online learning environment from my classroom, eg. discussion boards, online homework, and a blogging project I am rolling around in my head for after spring break.

Today was especially exhausting just because I was teaching material that is both important and difficult conceptually to explain.  In physics 1 we have been talking about color, specifically light color, and today was about blue sky, cyan water, and red sunsets. It was great to do away with some long held misconceptions and actually explain and help kids understand phenomena that occur and can be observed on a regular basis.  I think I was just exhausted because both phys 1 blocks were crammed full of material and the kids asked good questions and were engaged and that can be a bit draining.  Very fulfilling though.  I love teaching what I teach.

The easy thing:  I must say that SNU impressed on me the need to make my content relevant to kids.  When you are teaching them observable phonemena that can be seen later in the day or immediately, its really hard not to connect it to everyday life.  Physics is just fun!  Students hopefully leave my class challenged and better informed about the natural world around them.  They used to call it natural philosophy and I am a firm believer there is a reason for that.  It was "knowing" "nature".  Pretty cool.

This post is a bit disconnected and you can probably tell I didn't do a lot of pre-writing; I'm sorry @mishelleyb.  I never was one to make an outline, first draft, and all that other writing stuff you teach in Comp 1.  Maybe you could have the paper resource center look this over and get back to me with some edits.

Thanks for reading.

I have been reinvigorated!

So I have been inspired this week. I feel as if a breath of fresh air has been breathed into my attitude. I was really struggling over the last month or so. While I was doing okay in class, I had been putting a lot of stress on myself to do better. I didn't feel like I was accomplishing much; but one day off at a technology conference was all I needed.

I heard a great speaker, about educational technology, named Will Richardson who really made a difference in how I was feeling about the current educational climate. It was very nearly a religious experience for me.  I learned about new products offered for educational technology and I heard a phrase for the first time. I am almost embarrassed to say this...21st century skills. Honestly, I haven't been a reader of educational blogs. Ever. Now I have seen that word more often than I care to admit. I even talked to the English Teacher about it. She said, "Yes, that is what you guys (the high school teachers) are supposed to be teaching them before they get to us (the college community)." I guess that goes to show how little she and I talk about technology in the classroom. I mean she helps me with writing assignments, critical thinking activities, and she is a great resource for online activities; but we don't specifically talk about 21st century skills. I guess its just never come up in conversation.

It has been a tiring, exciting, exhausting, exhilarating week. While I am glad its over, I hope to have many more like. Look out Oklahoma legislators, here I come!

Students leaving my class

I have worried about students who leave my class. I wonder if they are going to "embarrass" me by not knowing anything when they get to college. I wonder if they are going to go somewhere and talk about how they didn't learn anything in my class. I mean what if I am just the "fun class" and they only had fun but didn't actually take anything other than fun memories?

The English Teacher has helped me to realize that no matter what kids do in my class, no matter what grade they get, I know that I am grading them in a fair, objective manner and what they do after they leave my class doesn't matter. They achieved in my class, or not, and they earned what they earned. They go out of my class and reflect on themselves, not on me. My favorite quote of myself about kids is "I can lead those kids to the water, but I can't dunk their heads in it. I'm afraid if I did I would hold them under until the bubbles stop."

I did have a student who sent me a message today: JW is in Physics I at OU and he said "You really taught me how to properly view these problems and now its a breeze!!!! Just thought you should know you did an awesome job man!"

Just let it go Bowie, let it go.

A historic day

Wow. What a day. I have truly witnessed history today. I watched this nation's first african-american president inaugurated into the office of President. This just 40 very short years after the nation's witnessed the assassination of a great Civil Rights leader. I know there are many who are what I would call cynical about President Obama's views, but I am supportive of something different. My political views have definitely mellowed over the last several years and I think the previous administration had something to do with that. I still appreciate some of the views of the Republican party, but I am ready for things to be different than what they are right now. That might have happened with McCain, but I am not sad we are looking at a black man as our leader. Nothing at all wrong with that.

I am personally excited about our future. Let's enjoy this time of cooperation between all races while it lasts.

The other end of the spectrum

Today I was struck by the dichotomy of my freshman class from last semester and my AP Physics 2 class that I am teaching this semester. Every student in the Phys. II class is a former student of mine and the vast majority are seniors. Both of those facts contribute to positive classroom behavior. Students come to my class knowing what my rules are, and yet are willing to come anyway. We have covered more in last 3 days than I would cover in 3 weeks with the freshmen. (okay, I admit that may be an exaggeration, but not by much). There is a something to be said for teaching the oldest students at a school.

Basically, with a freshman physical science class, students have not been successful in math and science and that is why they are in that class. By the same token, students have enrolled in physics II because they have been successful in math and science. In fact, they are most likely going to major in one of those two subjects in college.

Also, it was so rewarding to read why most of the Physics 2 students took my class again this semester. Apparently, I have been able to impact many students from last semester where science is concerned. Even when I have a semester and I don't feel like I am making a difference, students come and tell me that I did something that made them think about the world in a new (for them) way and my faith in myself is restored.

This morning in physics...

Immediately following my previous blog post I saw this commercial. I mentioned to @mishelleyb that I found it interesting that there was no data given in the commercial. I found it remarkable that BK is so bold as to expect us to "swallow the Elephant whole". Burger King expects us to buy into the idea that 31 seconds of information is enough evidence to show that the Whopper "tastes" bettter than the Big Mac. My bias against the Big Mac notwithstanding, there is just not enough information in this short commercial to settle the issue. Besides, how do you measure taste anyway? BK's use of the commercial as a good argument against the Big Mac is something akin to using this rap video as a good argument to fund the LHC.

After watching the commercial, @mishelleyb came up with the brilliant idea of asking my students to analyze Burger King's experimental design. What was wrong with it? What was right with it? I also asked them to analyze the manner in which the data was presented. We had a very productive discussion during which my students found some flaws with Burger King's methods, in both design and presentation. We then went here and got some more information about their "cultural experiment" and revisited our tasks. We decided that while Burger King was not completely free from fault by serving us this ad, we at least got a view of a larger section of their data set and were able to mark a few of the issues we had with their methods off of the list.

It was very rewarding to collaborate with @mishelleyb, who teaches english, on a critical thinking assignment as well as discussing critical thinking with my students. As I told them, one of my goals in physics class is to make them better at analyzing evidence and sometimes just getting them to dig deep enough to find it. I'm afraid some of them may be dangerously close to being cynics and not accepting ANY evidence; but I do think I am at least pushing them towards "looking closer at evidence" before drawing a conclusion. Some of their cynical issues are mostly due to their maturity level; I think most of that will work itself out as they get older.

Overall, a rewarding day. Don't even get me started on Physical Science.

The end of week 17

It's Friday morning and I couldn't be happier. I have been sitting here thinking about exactly what to do concerning a request from my school district. In Oklahoma, we have "Superintendent's Technology Day at the Captiol". My district has asked if there is something I could showcase which shows how I use technology in my classroom. I have some thoughts, but I was looking at last years presenters and I don't know that I can even be in the same "class" with these people. There is an elementary school in Pershing that makes a news cast everyday! How in the world do I compete with that? I don't want to go and look like some kind of 'Johnny come lately".

I just saw a commercial on tv for Burger King in which the "Whopper Virgins" appear to overwhelmingly choose the Whopper. I see some serious flaws in the design of their experiment and in the methodology with which they present the results. I think I am going to challenge my students today and see if they can recognize these same flaws or even catch something I missed. Part of what I do in my Physics classes is to try to get students to become better critical thinking. What better way to accomplish that task than to use a medium in which they "partake" everyday?