One of the easiest ways to make a parent angry is for people who do not have children of their own to give parenting advice. Now suppose that those childless people were given the power to make rules that parents had to follow. This is the situation in education—educational policies are forged and enacted by people who have an agenda and zero classroom experience.
Yesterday was the last day of school. As I said “Good bye. Thanks for a great year and have an awesome possum summer!” several of my students said that they wanted to take the class again next year. One student even asked if it was too late to fail the course for the year. (I told him that in his case, it was mathematically too late by the end of third quarter.)
The other nice thing was when I told one of my classes that I figured they’d want to socialize on the last day, but in case they wanted one more physics demo, I could show them why the sky is blue, why clouds are white, and why sunsets are red. Not surprisingly, the majority asked for the demo and watched with interest as I taught them just a little more physics before sending them on their way.
A couple of times each year I survey my students to find out what they liked and didn’t like about my classes. Every once in a while, I see something in their comments that makes me feel really good. This year, it was the following comment, in response to the question, “What advice would you give to future students who have Mr. Bigler?”: Continue reading
Yesterday I had prepared one of my favorite physics lessons: a lecture/discussion with demos that explains various aspects of music. My seniors (3/4 of my students) are heading into their final week of high school, and a class that’s about something many of them are interested in was the perfect way to wrap up the current topic and end the year on a high note (pun intended). Continue reading
For the past week, social media has been buzzing with a 90-second video of Jeff Bliss, a Texas high school sophomore, giving his World History teacher a piece of his mind about the endless packets and worksheets, and what he feels is lacking from his teacher. Not surprisingly, the video has sparked a fresh round of teacher-bashing.
For my part, I feel lucky that I have the freedom to be a lot like the kind of teacher that Jeff Bliss is calling for. Continue reading
When children play “school,” usually one child is the “teacher” and the others are the “students.” The “lesson” in these games is almost always based on low-level recall of facts or mastery of a one-step skill or process. The idea is pervasive in our culture. Many adults conjure up the same images in their minds when they think of schools. This probably has a lot to do with why so many of the career-changers of the 1990s and early 2000s were so unsuccessful in the classroom. It probably also has a lot to do with why many educational policies are doing such a spectacular job of failing to bring about the promised improvements. Continue reading
Back in 1993, the National Council of Math Teachers (NCTM) published standards that changed the way math was taught in schools. The “reform math” movement, as it has come to be called, called for more problem-solving and understanding of why mathematical operations work the way they do, and less “drill and kill” practicing of low-level skills.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Most people have a mental image of what happens when a teacher is absent and a substitute teacher needs to cover the class. The typical mental image includes the substitute trying desperately to implement the teacher’s simple, iron-clad lesson plan over the protests of the students, who are trying desperately to avoid having to do any work. This, however, is not one of those situations.
When I give tests/exams to my physics students, the tests are usually comprised of problems that range from straightforward to a little challenging to very challenging. I let them use their notes, textbooks, old homework assignments, and anything else on paper (except for questions and answers that are specific to the test). If they get stuck, I help them get unstuck during the test. It does lead to a high percentage of high grades, but the trade-off is that students make a lot of mental connections during the test, which means the test itself is contributing to their learning, as long as they actually do the work themselves.
On Saturday morning I found myself in a classroom at a local charter school (grades 5-8), and the motivational sign on the classroom wall contained the following quote:
Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle: when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.
—first published by Dan Montano in 1985 in The Economist
