Out of my league
Last year we did a redesign of the 9th grade Physics curriculum. I took the lead on it (with input from my fellow teachers) and while it improved, it still has a ways to go to do what we really want it to do.
We want Physics to be the class that the students call their favorite class, not because it's the easiest, but because they love what they're learning in the class and HOW they're learning it. We want to move away from lecture and more towards letting the kids learn from their experiences in the lab, with projects, and from other so called authentic experiences. The key is that they will be learning, not just content, but skills that they'll take with them wherever they go in the future.
I'm really looking forward to doing this and am excited about it. That said, I've never taught like this before and I don't know how to do it successfully. I'm feeling totally stressed about the start of the school year. I'm out of my comfort zone, but probably even more stressful, I've given up some of the control of the class. Since I don't know how to do this, I'm relying on my colleagues (who are historically much more last minute planning than I am) to create and guide the class much more than I have in the past. I'm giving input and helping as much as I can but am still feeling unsettled about this whole class (and I'm teaching 3 tracks of it this year).
Anyway, just putting down some thoughts, hopefully this will be a great experience, I certainly hope so.
ETA: This is definitely not about whether or not I'm a good teacher, it's about teaching in a totally different way than I've ever taught.
We want Physics to be the class that the students call their favorite class, not because it's the easiest, but because they love what they're learning in the class and HOW they're learning it. We want to move away from lecture and more towards letting the kids learn from their experiences in the lab, with projects, and from other so called authentic experiences. The key is that they will be learning, not just content, but skills that they'll take with them wherever they go in the future.
I'm really looking forward to doing this and am excited about it. That said, I've never taught like this before and I don't know how to do it successfully. I'm feeling totally stressed about the start of the school year. I'm out of my comfort zone, but probably even more stressful, I've given up some of the control of the class. Since I don't know how to do this, I'm relying on my colleagues (who are historically much more last minute planning than I am) to create and guide the class much more than I have in the past. I'm giving input and helping as much as I can but am still feeling unsettled about this whole class (and I'm teaching 3 tracks of it this year).
Anyway, just putting down some thoughts, hopefully this will be a great experience, I certainly hope so.
ETA: This is definitely not about whether or not I'm a good teacher, it's about teaching in a totally different way than I've ever taught.