On Friday, I was so pleased to be able to return to one of my favorite days of the year, High-Interest Day at Brookfield Elementary School. This is a day where I have been able to bring the concepts of physics to k-5 graders. You may be asking yourself, "Elementary students doing physics?" YES! Not just experimenting, but understanding the concepts behind the physics of electricity and sound. This is a very special day I have had the opportunity to be involved in since 2017. So, how are we able to bring the concepts of electricity and sound traditionally taught to high school 11th and 12th graders to the elementary level? There are a few keys 1) make it a hands-on experience 2) remove the mathematical calculations and make it practical. In the past, I had the luck of bringing a handful of my physics students with me to guide the elementary students through the concepts that they had learned over the course of the year. But in my new role as a Teaching and Learning Speciali
Yesterday was the second year I've introduced the idea of a passion project to my AP students after hour AP test has been administered. I have to say that although last year was a success, this year feels infinitely more exciting. Why? I think we had a better kick-off/brainstorming day than we did last year. I have to thank at Denise Krebs and Gallit Zvi at T he Genius Hour Guidebook and Don Wettrick at The Innovation Teacher for their tremendous ideas and resources. First was defining the purpose of the passion project. It is a matter of framing the project time as time to for learners to do something for themselves, not time to create something for their teachers. Compliant students are very quick to see this as a task to be completed rather than an opportunity for themselves. I ran into that in a handful of situations last year, and it really bothered me. I wasn't prepared for it. I didn't realize that many times, students aren't comfortable explori