It’s the end of the quarter, and I admittedly did not do a very good job of preparing myself mentally for what was to come today. I knew it was going to be a short period (65 minutes instead of our usual 75 minutes). It wasn’t until I was chatting with another teacher did IContinue reading “Physics Day 20: I survived another year of teaching position graphs”
Tag Archives: computational modeling
Day 14: Physics and Algebra
Today was Day 1 of 4 of the Frosh Retreat. For Block 5, I had 6 students present for class, and everyone else was rostered to be at the retreat. I don’t actually know if anyone was absent, but I expected them to be at the retreat. Block 6 – everyone was present. This 4-dayContinue reading “Day 14: Physics and Algebra”
Physics Day 10: Buggy Lab
The beginning of the velocity unit has always been a bit hairy. This is when the “true” modeling part of teaching comes out. I ask: “is the buggy moving?” In the past, it has become a controversial question and students leave the room wondering if it really is or isn’t. This year, the students wereContinue reading “Physics Day 10: Buggy Lab”
Day 7: 2-Argument Functions
It has finally dawned on me why teaching Pyret felt both foreign and familiar. We are teaching the same material, but in a different order. At this point, we would have drawn some pictures using Pyret already. I absolutely understand why we skipped the playing with Pyret portion of the introduction. We simply don’t haveContinue reading “Day 7: 2-Argument Functions”
Physics Day 3: Variables
Day 2 schedule had me flustered. When speaking with others, they felt the same way. So I started Day 3 by apologizing the students for allowing my frustration with the time constraints to fly. We spent the first part of class reviewing all the things we should have covered the previous class. I’m not soContinue reading “Physics Day 3: Variables”
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”
Day 6: Station Observations Part 2 #cmpfb
For Part 2 stations, I picked the more exciting three stations: Airzooka, Mass on a Spring, and Ball Drop. I gave the groups 3 minutes and 6 seconds at each station. After the rotation, we gathered back together to complete our whiteboards (which I did on Jamboards again). I told them about how Mrs. FContinue reading “Day 6: Station Observations Part 2 #cmpfb”
Day 5: Observation Stations Part 1 #cmpfb
Started the class with having students reflect on their Pyret homework assignment. They came up with some great reflections about what they noticed about Pyret. There are still a lot of students calling the feedback messages errors, so that just means I’ll have to be way more intentional about calling them FEEDBACK instead of errors.Continue reading “Day 5: Observation Stations Part 1 #cmpfb”
First 2 Days of Physics #cmpfb
Alleluia! We are back in person. It’s not exactly back to pre-pandemic times. We are masked indoors (so yes, that means the classroom) and the windows have to be open. Right now, the Bay Area weather is lovely so I’m happy to have the windows wide open and to be outside to enjoy lunch. I’mContinue reading “First 2 Days of Physics #cmpfb”
#cmpfb Day 11: Conditionals and Conventions
Birds in Space– We started our day off with discussing the forces acting on a bird sitting on a perch. Then someone asked if the bird was on Earth, which lead to a nice comment about a bird not wearing a helmet so that it could breathe. Someone else sent a link to a shutterstockContinue reading “#cmpfb Day 11: Conditionals and Conventions”
Learning with Ms. Medrano 