A strong physics start to the day - injecting myself with "radioactive Iodine" and looking at my veins with a gamma camera. 🤫 #iteachphysics#ChatPhysics
Was reflecting on going into my 14th year of teaching and remembered a curious incident, in my last school, when I didn't go through pay progression. All the result of a series of curious events...
First thing you need to know is I struggle if things are unclean. I need my classroom chairs all to be lined up and brought to the same height after each lesson. After my room is cleaned, I give it a quick clean myself. And people know this.
So performance management came up. My results were good. The kids were enjoying it. There wasn't anything bad to say. But at the bottom of the form it said my room was often left messy.
Today's project. #ClimbingTeacher These white V3s. A problem because one of the left hand holds is too far to reach when you are already pulled in on the right hand. 🤔 I will crack this. Just got to think outside of the box.
And here lies the problem. That hold is just too far away. There must be a different way of solving this.
Nope. ☹ I am not convinced this can be done static.
If I finish all of the physics a lesson or two before the end of term, I like to use those spare lessons to do something fun. For the last 12 years I have done a boys vs girls engineering challenge and the girls nearly always win. Here is why...
So, my experience of this is normally allowing 5 or so classes do this activity in any given year, always with the same set up and always with me observing just how it goes. In total I must now have observed the experiment about 60 times.
To be clear I am all for students choosing their own teams and such and I am aware of the false dichotomy of the situation. But generally due to sports, boarding houses etc my crew are quite used to boys as one gang and girls as another.
Happy Winter Solstice people. 10.02 am marks the darkest point in the year. The point where the nights are longest and the days are shortest. Tonight as the Sun sets through the stones of stonehenge the new astronomical year will begin.
The old celebration of this day is called Yule, and is the origin of much of our merriment at this time of year. The wreath on the door, the yule log, yuletide and Father Christmas - all a nod to our pagan history. But what is actually significant about the day?
It is the point in the year when the sun is lowest in the sky. This occurs because the Earth is tipped at 23.5⁰ to the plane of the solar system. Which means in summer we get a high Sun, long days and nice weather and in winter a low sun, short days and British weather.