After 20 years of teaching at Brookfield Central, I am saying goodbye. Although I spent the majority of that time in the physics classroom alongside my learners. That changed for my last 18 weeks. I ended up in a place similar to where I started, teaching chemistry and biology. So, rather than dealing with juniors and seniors at the end of their high school careers, I was in classrooms with freshmen and sophomores still trying to find their place. At the same time, I was learning and teaching a set curriculum I hadn't taught in over a decade. So, we were learning. But, of course, I already knew the content. The point of this post is to take a step back, take in, and share the gratitude from the last students I had in my 20 years at Brookfield Central High School through the cards and notes they made for me on my last day with them. I don't take many yay me moments. But after 20 years, I think I'll soak this one in.
As a teacher, I am always looking for highly engaging activities. It takes time, though, to craft ones that can be seen to hit the standards of a course. Or, maybe it takes a little time to realize that the skills students are being asked to employ are in the standards. It is just a matter of finding ways to make this learning visible. This week, we had the finals of the Sphero Chariot Challenge. Students designed and built Chariots for Spheros. They then programmed them to travel a short course with a couple of turns. While this culminating activity was a great driver for many of the students, the results of this race did not determine any grade. The content and skills were addressed along the journey to the end. At the end of last year, my co-teacher Andelee Espinosa and I did a maker project in our Fabrication Lab involving Sphero Chariots. Read here post on the activity here. I was excited to have the opportunity to complete this project again the last mon...