I know all of you are great teachers and cover all of your student expectations to the proper depth and complexity as outlined by your campus, district, and state. I on the other hand, am still striving to meet that expectation. Sometimes I must make a choice about where to trim some material; I sometimes don't get around to everything. So how do I decide where to trim? What's the criterion for what's most important? Doesn't the state know best?

Well.... I try to remember that teaching facts is less important than getting students to think. Cramming content down one's throat with a plumber's helper doesn't make one love physics or science. 

So... I teach concepts that I KNOW are foundational. I try to keep students engaged. I try to get them to think. I try to get them to wonder. I have ask several college professors and they agree that if they get students that know how to think and want to learn - they can fill a few gaps in knowledge.

So each year is a moving target. I put a great deal of thought into what I teach but I base my decisions on the students I have at the time. This may not be elegant but it's what I do.

Well let’s see….I’m trying to remember how to write a blog post – it’s been so long…

Time management has been an issue for me as well as my students this year. I have a student teacher for a full year; she’s working on her masters and we are conducting research together this spring. I have a great group of kids that are building high power rockets after school and learning advanced construction with composite materials. I have a group of students currently working on a full scale trebuchet. Uhmmmm, oh yeah I am a junior class sponsor so I am responsible for planning the prom. I’m participating in two teacher quality grants AND I’m doing my best to teach physics in the best way I know how. I can’t live without my calendar and sticky notes.

The only way I know to survive and how I’m teaching my students to survive is to be goal and product oriented. I tell them the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Each day I try to be productive and move one step closer to the goal or end product. We can’t afford “the suck”- that place where we get bogged down and fail to produce.

With flipclass videos we have often said, “Do we need it perfect, or tomorrow?” I have a similar approach to projects and deadlines. If I make an imperfect step forward today, it is better than no progress at all. It is possible to improve on something. It’s very hard to improve on nothing. Does that make sense?

One thing my students know for sure is that I don’t accept laziness. I expect incremental progress towards the end goal. I suppose that can be considered my class culture. It doesn’t work with 100% of the students, but they all understand the expectation.