Physics.Teacher.Momma.

How many times have you heard a student claim “I’m not a math person.” Better yet, how many times have you heard a peer or colleuge say something to the same effect when you tell them you teach physics! It’s typically followed up with “you must be really smart” or “I’m not smart enough for ____”. Coaching our students through their low self-efficacy in physics is often one of...

Engagement is one of those trendy buzz-words in education. From the Danielson Framework (domain 3) to SilverStrong to Marzano, engagement is a major focus of all of these evaluation tools and typically a “sell point” for curriculum packages and methods.

When Building Thinking Classrooms was gaining popularity, one of the frequent complaints from folks deeply ...

Towards the begining of this series we talked about Deliberate Practice, which is practice that is effortful, focused, and with a goal of ironing out the parts that aren’t quite synced up yet. I’ve used mild,

If there’s one thing I find myself iterating repeatedly to my students its the importance of writing things down. Students who are used to doing well in school, and especially in math, often find they are able to solve most problems without showing a great deal of work. In physics, however, that becomes nearly impossible. Aside from showing work for the strict mathmatical por...

“A bullet is dropped at the exact same time that one is shot horizontally from a gun. The bullets start from the same height. Which lands first?”

We know how this question goes when posed to students. Aside from the fact that we’ve primed them to answer one of the bullets, knowing full well the answer is “neither” we are leaning into studen...