Author Archives: Mr. Bigler

About Mr. Bigler

Physics teacher at Lynn English High School in Lynn, MA. Proud father of two daughters. Violist & morris dancer.

Trauma-Sensitive Christmas Message

While the seasons of Yule and Christmas are upon us, I thought I would share this week’s message to my students. First, for context, I need to back up to my Thanksgiving message. If you haven’t been following me for … Continue reading

Posted in Trauma | Tagged | Leave a comment

Fight, Flight, Freeze or Fawn: Leveling Students by Trauma Response

My students are working on solving physics word problems systematically. This is one of the most frustrating (for the students) assignments I give them, but a valuable one because it’s essentially end game for every assignment they will see for … Continue reading

Posted in Challenges & Frustrations, Philosophy, Science | Tagged , | Leave a comment

How Did Teaching Get So Hard?

Every teacher has opinions about why the past two years have been much harder for teachers than previous years. Recent studies, including a February 2022 Gallup poll, show that teachers have the highest rates of burnout of any profession. +20

Posted in Challenges & Frustrations | Tagged | 3 Comments

Failing With Low Stakes

I’ve learned quite a few things in 20 years of teaching, and one of them is the motivational value of failure with low stakes. One of the best-known examples for most of us is video and arcade games. We lose … Continue reading

Posted in Philosophy | Tagged | Leave a comment

Trauma Bingo

One of my close friends has a lot of trauma associated with her family, and I often help her manage that trauma whenever she finds herself facing an unavoidable family visit. About a year ago, we came up with something … Continue reading

Posted in Trauma | Tagged | Leave a comment

Wise Fools

As you may or may not know, the etymology of the word “sophomore” is “wise fool”. The term is usually used for second-year students in high school or college because they often know enough to understand how the system works … Continue reading

Posted in Challenges & Frustrations, Philosophy | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Quotes from Students

It’s almost the end of the toughest school year in the career of every teacher I know, including myself. As a present to myself, I made this slide show out of appreciative quotes from my students throughout the year.  +10

Posted in Challenges & Frustrations, Miscellaneous, Philosophy | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

PEMDAS is Not a Conspiracy

Today in one of my physics classes, I was explaining how to determine the voltage across and the current through resistors in a mixed series & parallel circuit: +10

Posted in Anecdotes, Challenges & Frustrations | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Holiday Wishes

It’s December 25, a time when much of the world, whether for religious or personal reasons, wishes each other well and thinks about making the world a better place. Here are some of my wishes for you, my students: +90

Posted in Philosophy | Tagged | Leave a comment

Follow-Up to Resiliency & Pandemic Fatigue

Two weeks ago, I posted (https://blog.mrbigler.com/2020/11/18/resiliency-and-pandemic-fatigue/) about students who were struggling to do much of anything this year because of their situations. In many cases, these students have difficult home lives. The messages coming at them have been negative (and … Continue reading

Posted in Challenges & Frustrations, Philosophy | Tagged , | Leave a comment