Mariflor Medrano

Year 17: It takes a village

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” I thought it would only be appropriate to start a reflection going into my 17th year of education with scripture that was used at our faculty retreat.Continue reading “Year 17: It takes a village”

“Where Faith and Knowledge Meet”

Today, I was asked what my vision is for the school. It is daunting to think that one person’s vision will be used to guide the path of many. True leadership is to accept the joys and burdens of bearing the responsibility of an institution. With that said–I’m working on articulating my vision for theContinue reading ““Where Faith and Knowledge Meet””

Year 16, Week 8, 1st time Principal

For my 16th school year, in the year 2023, I literally answered a call about considering moving from teaching to administration. After much thought and conversations with my now husband, colleagues of past and present, and of course school leadership, I said yes. From when I said “Yes!” to Week 8 into the school year,Continue reading “Year 16, Week 8, 1st time Principal”

Pace Car

I was very nervous to start Pace Car. When Mrs. F and I originally learned to do this activity, I believe some tears ensued. I did warn my students that tears may fall during this learning exercise, and it might be me (again) or them (maybe again?), but that’s part of the learning struggle forContinue reading “Pace Car”

Day 30: Quiz and turning our motion maps

We’re about 10 days out from taking the final, and we’re just now taking the first quiz for velocity. During the next-x discussion, a lot of the students LOOKED like they were paying attention. There were lots of copying down whatever was being written down on the board. However, today, after looking at the quizzesContinue reading “Day 30: Quiz and turning our motion maps”

Buggy Lab & Simulated Motion

Started Unit 2 with a lot of grief. This year, Unit 1 ended with a lot of…fireworks. The Physics team reworked the Summative that we had created during the Zoom school days. It turned out that it didn’t necessarily work with our 9th graders this year. We’re rethinking the Summative, and instead of a project,Continue reading “Buggy Lab & Simulated Motion”

Day 11: Game Day and Flag Drawings

Game Day: System Schemas & State Diagrams Since I gave my test a day later than the other teachers, I had to create my own problems and make it just different enough. Introducing the conditions earlier caused some focus to be diverted away from the drawing system schemas and state diagrams. Students focused on weirdContinue reading “Day 11: Game Day and Flag Drawings”

Days 9 & 10: Whiteboarding System Schema & State Diagram

For the sake of time, I wanted to skip this whiteboarding session. During the #cmpfb sessions, they could not stop emphasizing how important this session was. So naturally, I thought it’d be a good one to skip. After talking it over with Mrs. F., it was determined that I should not skip this board meeting.Continue reading “Days 9 & 10: Whiteboarding System Schema & State Diagram”

Days 7 & 8: System Schema and State Diagrams

Day 7: Flipbooks Today, we finally go the chance to introduce the Physicists of 406. I normally like to do this on Day 2 or Day 3, with Day 1 being a 45-minute period. I had no idea that missing that normal Day 1 would throw me off my timing so bad. Regardless, students filledContinue reading “Days 7 & 8: System Schema and State Diagrams”

Days 5-6 Observation Stations continues

I really should have lumped Days 4-6 together since it covers Observation Stations, but it looks like I was feeling particularly ambitious about posting each day. Day 5: Progress Check + Presentations Since it was our first year last year rolling out the Computational Modeling- Physics First #cmpfb curriculum, it was not as intuitive forContinue reading “Days 5-6 Observation Stations continues”