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Re: [Phys-l] Getting more physics classes offered...



Jon,
I notice you are not getting very many responses to your question. Maybe this is due to the weekend and many people are away. I hope this is the case because it is an important problem in the era of mandated testing of certain other curricula and increased applications to prestigious universities which preclude students taking classes they see as too difficult or not applicable to them increasing their GPA's and/or SAT's.

Paul's last statement ("valuable, fun, and visible") is most important in recruiting. And, that's exactly what you have to do... recruit and actively advocate for your class. How do coaches do it for their sports teams? By being successful and by gaining a reputation as a good and visible coach, one who is tough but is there for the kids off the field as well as on. He or she knows people and knows the rules and how to meet the challenges of the sport they coach: what the kids need (parents as well as athletes), how to meet their expectations with knowledge and PASSION for the sport, and at the same time knows how to get the best out of the players without being a little Napoleonianic dictator. (Don't scare off the lesser lights while pressing the stars of the team)

So, how can YOU apply this? First of all get the word out to the rest of the school with neat experiments and demos in the library and poster competitions and projects for all to see. You need to show that physics isn't just for the elite, but that it is a subject for the many. ("The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few (or the one)": Mr. Spock). You must carry yourself as a teacher who will help students in the classroom and get to know them in the halls and community as well. Know your subject, BUT know your kids more. Put the needs and problems of the students in the foreground EVEN if that means sacrificing time from the curriculum. If a substantial minority of the class doesn't understand a concept, you MUST find a way to change your approach to get most, if not all... sometimes it is impossible to get everyone to the highest standard... up to where you feel they should be. If that means coming in early and going home later than usual, then that's the job you must do. If that means giving up your private lunch time to eat with the kids then that's what you must do. You must be the one teacher they will go to for advise on colleges and careers. Set up your room with a bulletin board of physics and engineering in the real world... who won the Nobel prize? (TPT gives you a nice poster every year). What is happening at CERN? (My kids actually look up articles online about CERN and we debated the worth of doing multimillion dollar projects especially when the whole thing broke down last year due to an electrical problem). My wall was set up as a *Wall of Fame* where past students called or wrote where they were going to college and I put their names up with banners and hand-made logos of their schools for all to see. The wall became a focal point of the school and when graduates visited on breaks they all came to see their names on the wall. Guidance even came around to find out where certain people were going because the *Wall* was THE place to be seen. The physics lab became a vital place in the school along with the gym and office Physics and science itself must be on their minds as a *WOW!* item, and YOU are the one to make it so.

How can you work with guidance to get your class in their minds when the time comes to form class schedules? First of all, you must contact enough of the student population that they want to take physics. In my school some of the junior and senior counselors came to me and asked how I got so many kids who wanted to take physics next year and that they were a bit confused as to how to place all these new kids. That's where I jumped into the scheduling process and helped to set up classes so the roster of physics jumped from about 40 or so when I started teaching the subject, up to around 60 or 70 when I was into it for three years. (There was a bit of self interest there also... if I could get the physics numbers up I wouldn't have to teach 9th grade general science any longer... AND it worked!) Of course it helped that the guidance people were friends of mine, we had a sympathetic principal, and a science friendly vice principal who was in charge of scheduling, and I had been there innovating new elective courses in various sciences such as a very successful and popular science fair project course for over 20 years at the time. Still, if you are young and energetic and get along well with your colleagues and administration, know your subject, AND gain a rep. as a great energetic young teacher interested in your kids, you can do likewise. Within a few years you will see a physics program that grows and where kids want to take your classes and are actually turned away for lack of space.

Good luck.

Marty


On Feb 6, 2009, at 10:02 PM, Paul Lulai wrote:

Hello.


Make the course valuable, fun, and Visible. Students come.

Sent from my iPod

Paul Lulai
St. Anthony Village Senior High
Http://prettygoodphysics.wikispaces.com
US First RoboHuskie Team 2574


On Feb 6, 2009, at 7:56 PM, "Jon and Holly Dodd"
<doddinva@shentel.net> wrote:

Hello. My name is Jonathan Dodd, and I am a relatively new Physics
teacher. At my school, Physics is only offered every other year.
(Hard to believe, I know. I've been trying to change that.)
Currently, I teach Biology and AP Biology, but I am working on my
masters in Physics currently with UVA.

My school currently has about 650 students, and the Physics class is
only offered every other year. (That's 1 class out of 4 semesters of
classes) When I asked the guidance counselor why that was, the
response was that there was not enough interest to offer more
classes. Does anyone else have a school that is similar in size to
mine with more Physics classes taught?

With the number of students in my school, I would expect to see at
least 1 physics class offered each semester ( we run on a 4 x 4
block schedule). For the number of students that we send to college
that are getting science related degrees, I would think that it
would benefit them to have a high school physics class. (I majored
in Biology, and had to take two classes of Physics.)

Does anyone think that it should be the guidance department that
encourages students to take Physics?
_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l
_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l