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
I like Star Wars. I like it a lot. There are so many great lessons and quotes from the films. Yoda has to be one of the most quoted educational scholars ever. That includes even in the newest episode “The Last Jedi” He has a great line about failure There is great power in learning from failure and I think many educators are embracing this. At times, though, I feel like rather than learning from failure, we’re failing and just redoing. I’m forgetting to make the learning from failure intentional. Am I placing as much importance on the learning as I am the grade recovery? Am I failing my learners in the process? When I think about the teachers in Star Wars films, they are not so good at providing safe environments for learners to fail. Ben Kenobi who allows his student Anakin to burn in lava and leaves him for dead Yoda who lets Luke go off and have his hand cut off by Darth Vader Luke who is driven to the point where he almost murders Ben Solo while he sle