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
When I saw Dave Burgess present this week, the buzz in the room after was amazing. But it seemed like the many of us felt that we could never do that , myself included. A big takeaway from Dave is not that he wants us to do that but do that . Let me explain what I mean. Dave is a teacher who brings his interests, his strengths, and his passions to his teaching. He is using who he is to create his voice as a teacher. That means he will do magic tricks. That means he will use his love of theatrics. That means he will bring his mad MC skills to throw down some high velocity prose. Teaching like a Dave doesn’t mean trying to do magic or trying to speak at 200 words per minute. It means bringing yourself into the classroom. If I’m going to teach like a pirate, it won’t be by putting on a Dave Burgess mask. To teach like a pirate, I need to be comfortable with putting who I am in front of my classroom and leveraging everything I bring to engage and empower my learners. So that r