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Less Physics Mo Problems

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Why am I writing this personal entry? Well, it is not an attempt to gain any sympathy. It attempts to show what is possible if a clear intention and goal serve the learner's needs.  In May of 2022 just near the end of another fantastic school year, I do not remember what happened. But, I was unable to finish the school year and was unable to teach the following year.  Why? On May 21st, 2022, I fell down a flight of 16 stairs (luckily carpeted) from the 2nd to 1st story of our home.  I was found at the bottom of the stairs. I was found foaming at the mouth. This would lead to a 2-month hospital stay which included an induced coma because my seizures would not stop, several rounds of lumbar punctures, and relearning basic physical movements like something as simple as being able to roll in the hospital bed. Simply put, when I was admitted to the hospital, I was diagnosed as being “critically ill.” Please take a moment and read those words: critically ill. They are not terms...
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I Have a Voice

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It's been a while since I've written a post.  The transition to term 3 with new courses all around has delayed my ability to reflect.  In addition, I just had LASIK surgery so, I've been trying to limit screen time a little bit.  But, it's officially been 14 days.  So, here we go! Well, the Oscars were last week and I've been thinking a bit about best picture winners and memorable quotes.  When it comes to educational buzzwords that have been floating in my head, this is the one that keeps springing to my mind. One of the biggest pushes in education these days is personalization.  There is a phrase that is constantly floating around the idea of what personalization entails and that is "student voice and choice".  In this post, I intended to focus wrapping my head around what we mean when we say student voice.  In my next post, hopefully it'll be soon, I'll try to tackle the idea of choice. Let's wait on defining what we mean by voic...
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Have It Your Way

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It's finals time here at Brookfield Central High School.  It is a time for reflection as we give our final assessment for our course. I asked my students to reflect on which type of assessment allows them to best demonstrate their understanding. When growing up in the 70's and 80's, I remember there was a heated rivalry between McDonald's and Burger King.  Some may remember the argument over flame-broiled vs. fried.  But, I remember the difference between the Whopper and the Big Mac.  One you could have your way.  The other was so regulated, it spawned its own song. I collected feedback from my students on what helped them learn in my class this term.  The number one piece of positive feedback students provided was the ability to have individualized assessment options.  Below is my final feedback board of the year on "This Helped Me Learn". The number one piece of positive feedback based on this board is the ability to complete a m...
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One Doc to Rule Them All

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Over the course of the last two school years, I've been looking for the most efficient way for students to keep track of their progress towards objective mastery.  I've used several different forms in a single unit.  But, I've been looking for that one magical document to rule them all. In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings , the dark lord creates a ring in secret to rule over all others.  It is a ring of darkness that gives power to the one who possess it.  It carries with it a great burden as well as it consumes the soul and becomes the be all end all of one's existence. Well, I wasn't exactly looking for a document forged in darkness.  I was looking for one that would give my students power over their own learning but not consume them or their souls.  I wanted a document that would reduce the number of progress and reflection documents my students had to keep track of.  The document I forged was able to come into being because of...
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ePortfolios as Summary Assessment

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An ePortfolio is a chance for a student to make the argument that they have mastered all the objectives in a course.   In the climax of Oliver Stone’s film JFK, Jim Garrison sums up his entire case by providing pieces of evidence in the hope of finding Clay Shaw guilty of conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy.  Although the accuracy of many of the facts in the movie have been brought into question,  there is no doubt that the entire closing argument sequence of the film is a masterclass in editing and screenwriting.  Stone uses multiple film stocks to create the sense of cinema verite alongside of stocks that denote a subjective perspective.  If you have never seen it or haven’t seen the section in a while, seek it out.  I could probably teach an entire semester course on it. The ultimate goal of the ePortfolio in my class is to take the  place  of a traditional paper and pencil final exam.  The portfolio has a home...
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My First PDSA Cycle

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After visiting the Menomonee Falls School District I came away with a better idea of what the Plan, Do, Study, Act cycle looks like in the classroom.   Tony Stark did not build Iron Man in a day. (OK fanboys I should really be talking about the Mark II suit not "Iron Man")  He followed a cycle of failure and learning from that failure. This can clearly be seen in this clip from Iron Man I know I've talked about failure from success before, but that process is formalized in the PDSA cycle I saw in full effect in the Menomonee Falls School District.  My first true running of the cycle was in my last unit which covered rotational motion. This is a brief rundown of my first attempt at the cycle with my students. Plan  To make the plan process more personalized, I had students draft their own goal for the unit.  That goal was then placed in what I was calling the objective progress sheet.  It was a Google Sheet with a space of the unit goal, trackin...
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Kahoot! and the Pressure of High Stakes Testing

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In my AP classroom, I have presented my students with a conundrum.  I have created an environment where it is OK to fail because they will get an opportunity to try again.  But, many of them will be taking the AP exam for the course in order to get college credit. This is a high stakes, high pressure test.  How do I prepare them for the test but still allow them the freedom to fail on a daily basis? There are many high pressure professions in the world.  I can't imagine a greater pressure cooker, though, then active military duty.  Within that microcosm, it doesn't get any more life or death than being part of an explosive disposal team.  Katherine Bigelow's best picture winning film The Hurt Locker puts the viewer into the high stakes world of these brave soldiers.  It is important to note that Katherine Bigelow won the Academy Award for best director for her work on this film, the first woman to ever win this award. This leads me to a re...
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It Takes Failure to Succeed.

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Non-content skills are what help to separate a traditional classroom project from one in a project based classroom.   In our current unit in AP Physics, students a critiquing how well a specific project teaches rotational motion to students. They are playing the role of a science teacher to see how well the project they found teaches the concepts tied to the unit's learning objectives.  The first step of this project is attempting to build a car powered by a mousetrap.  This is a process with a high failure rate.  Students need to use non-content skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, flexibility, and adaptability to build a working product. The video below highlights how some students used critical analysis of their failures to change their designs and find success. As a teacher it is really important to let students struggle but not feel hopeless.  It's a fine line the teacher has to walk between giving useful suggestions and giving a...
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