The hostility was palpable
when I gave back the final to the honors class. "It's your fault you didn't make us study hard enough!" I wonder how many parents will be calling my boss. This shuffling of responsibility is as much of a problem with the honors kids as with the "regular" kids, but at least the "regulars" sometimes admit they are lazy or have other priorities. I really do dislike disingenousness.
Meanwhile, I've realized I'm not teaching them enough flexibility in their knowledge. They want a problem to which I've shown them a solution, and then switch out the numbers and do the same exact thing on the test. I don't think of that as physics. On the other hand, I kinda didn't take my physics classes seriously in college - is this what you do?
I figure you put together different relationships to find an unknown quantity in a series of steps, not just plug in two variables into an equation and solve for the third. That's algebra, and while I do have my students practice it some when we learn a new equation, it's not the end in itself.
I guess I have high expectations. But I'm not making it up, I'm asking questions (sometimes) from the text. OK, now I have the second quarter slump. Back to grading the finals.
Meanwhile, I've realized I'm not teaching them enough flexibility in their knowledge. They want a problem to which I've shown them a solution, and then switch out the numbers and do the same exact thing on the test. I don't think of that as physics. On the other hand, I kinda didn't take my physics classes seriously in college - is this what you do?
I figure you put together different relationships to find an unknown quantity in a series of steps, not just plug in two variables into an equation and solve for the third. That's algebra, and while I do have my students practice it some when we learn a new equation, it's not the end in itself.
I guess I have high expectations. But I'm not making it up, I'm asking questions (sometimes) from the text. OK, now I have the second quarter slump. Back to grading the finals.