In my previous school district, I was the only teacher teaching a physics course with set, district-wide learning outcomes. These same outcomes were also taught in physics classrooms at the other high school in our district. But at our school, I was one of the 2 physics teachers. The other teacher taught the AP-level physics courses. So, in many ways, I had opportunities to incorporate strategies I believed were best for learners and that I found worked best for them without being seen as out of alignment with anyone in our building. My amazing friend and one of my teaching philosophy goddesses, Katie Novak, stated the following misconception about alignment: All teachers must deliver instruction in the exact same way. True alignment, she says, is about shared goals, rigor, and outcomes. Thank you, Katie! Katie has taught me to truly believe that learner variability is the rule, not the exception. I encourage you to take 10 minutes to listen to Katie Novak explain it in the ...
No, its not Mr. Chips, Mr. Keating, Mr. Holland, or even Mr. Shoop (Summer School anyone?). The greatest teacher in cinema history has to be the piano teacher from Groundhog's Day as played by Peggy Roeder. (Forgive me if I'm stealing this argument from another person, I did a cursory search of the internet and didn't find anyone mentioning this.) If you forgot her already, maybe this short clip will jog your memory. For those of you who haven't seen Groundhog's Day (I doubt you are out there), let me give the one sentence premise. A superficial man, Phil Conners, lives the same day over and over until he is able to learn to better himself by providing service to those in the community around him. In the clip above, Phil hears a piece of music and is driven to learn how to play the piano. Each day, Phil goes to see the same piano teacher and by the end of the movie he has mastered piano playing. So what makes her the greatest teacher in cinema histo...