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Category Archives: Philosophy
Pushing the Reset Button
On Friday, while I had cafeteria duty, I noticed a girl with a bruise on her face. I asked her what had happened. She said with a sheepish half-smile, “I got into a fight. But don’t worry. It wasn’t on … Continue reading
Demonstrations and Experiments
On 3/25/2012 11:03 PM, Drew Melby posted to the ChemEd-L discussion list “I’ve never felt the need to ‘entertain’ students by making things ‘memorable’. Chemistry is a serious business, not a magic show” +5-4
Some Thoughts About Classroom Management
I was talking with some of my colleagues yesterday about classroom management, and about a colleague of ours, a second-year teacher who is struggling a little with finding that magic balance. +6-2
Seizing the Moment
When I’m teaching, I live for teachable moments. Right now, I’m teaching my physics students about fluids—pressure and hydraulics, to be followed by buoyancy, gas laws, and Bernoulli’s Principle. However, today one of my students innocently asked, “Maybe you can … Continue reading
Open Friend Quiz
An “open book test” means students are allowed to use their books, and an “open notes” test means they’re allowed to use their notes. I’ve become fond of “open friend” quizzes. My students took one today. +3-3
Posted in Philosophy, Science
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Escalating and De-Escalating
One of the things I have the hardest time watching at school is when a teacher or administrator starts challenging a student over some infraction, and the student doesn’t immediately capitulate. +2-4
Egg On My Head
Today two groups of students successfully dropped raw eggs onto my head from the roof of the school as I walked underneath. Last week another group of students did the same thing. +2-4
Students Taking Charge of Their Learning
One of the things I appreciate about this year’s students is the way they take charge of their own learning. +3-7
Self Esteem
Most teenagers are fragile. Their self-image is often built on a shaky foundation and altogether too often hinges on things their friends, parents, teachers, and other might say by chance. +80
“We’ve never had this problem before.”
That was my department head’s tongue-in-cheek comment to me on Friday morning when yet another student asked for her signature to switch into physics. Some of the students had successfully switched in. Some clearly did not have the math background … Continue reading