Archive for the ‘Humor’ Category
Cool Award
Posted on: August 16, 2011
I’d like to thank the academy, my family, my producer, my agent, Isaac Newton, Leonardo DaVinci, Richard Feynman, and all the people out there that voted for me.
Okay, I’m done being silly. I did really get this, although I only found out because I was on the site and saw I was one of the listed blogs.
So no, there was no cash award, no gold statue, not even an email telling me about it. And as the new school year approaches, the hit count is heading towards half a million. That just blows my mind.
Do click on the badge, there is a pile of great teacher blogs in the list.
- In: Assessment | Humor | Teaching Techniques
- 2 Comments
As I sit here grading my final exams, I realize I am putting in way more effort than my students. I am making a promise to myself and I intend to keep it.
My final exam next year will…
- begin with a multiple choice section on basic concepts & terminology
- have lots of basic problems with multiple choice answers
- have a very small written portion – I’m keeping the Road Runner cartoon, it’s my favorite part
- be graded in under two hours
One of the questions this year asked the students to discuss three principles used in their Rube Goldberg project and explain the application of the principle. I was looking for concepts like inertia, momentum, kinetic energy, and force. I just graded a paper where the principles listed were ball, dog, and ball.
If it’s multiple choice, I won’t have to learn that after a full year of physics, one of my students thinks “dog” is a physics concept. I just wish it was a joke and not the truth.
There has been a lot of talk on the NSTA Physics list server lately regarding a way to teach a measurement lab. I had one of my morning shower brainstorms. My thoughts went to the story of the MIT students measuring a bridge using a unit of measurement called the “Smoot,” named for Oliver Smoot.
I think many of us teaching a measurement lab have the same problem. The students don’t understand measuring or estimating. Given an object, they will always have the same answer, regardless of whether it is right or wrong. So I am hereby creating a lab using fictitious units. We will use a willing volunteer from each lab group and declare his or her height to be one “Smith” or “Jones” or whatever his or her name happens to be. We will then do some exercises to estimate fractional distances. I think I will give them string and make them use a meter stick to get a measurement of the “Smith.” They will need to figure out how to divide the string into tenths and hundredths and then estimate to the thousandths. I won’t tell them how to do it, they are going to need to figure it out on their own.
My hope is that they will come up with their own method and get a better understanding of estimation. The beauty of an inquiry lab is how little detail they get from me. Personally, I’m excited about this one. I think we are looking at a first or second day of school lab here.
Here is my first pass at the lab handout. Lab 00 – Measurement Lab
You can read about Oliver Smoot and hear an NPR interview here.
True Funny Story
Posted on: March 24, 2010
- In: Humor
- Leave a Comment
This isn’t a friend of a friend story, this happened in our school just this week.
Some of our students have excessive absences and were told they need a doctor’s notes or they will not be able to graduate without going to summer school. One of our boys brought in a note that was clearly, well … doctored. Where the patient’s name was written, the name was whited out and his name was written; the dates were changed using the same very advanced technique. The problem was that the note he changed was from his mother’s gynecologist appointment.
This is, by far, the funniest thing I’ve seen in seven years of teaching. I’m guessing some of you have some great stories too, I want to hear them.
Physics & Physical Science Demos, Labs, & Projects for High School Teachers 
Visitor Comments