My Dog Understands Physics

 Yes, she does. 

Abby, 7 months old, has a fundamental understanding of physics - pretty good for a dog, huh?

Unsure of what I mean by “physics?” Here’s a formal definition for you:

Physics is the study of energy and matter in space and time and how they are related to each other. ... For example, velocity and acceleration are used by physics to show how things move. Also, physicists study the forces of gravity, electricity, magnetism and the forces that hold things together.

When we learned about gravity, the laws of motion, acceleration, forces, magnetism, electricity, the electromagnetic force, and more….we were learning about physics. 

Now, to be fair, Abby would have a hard time competing with any of you in learning and doing science. I mean, she doesn’t even have thumbs for holding things. 

But, here’s what she can do. When we're outside and I reach back to throw a toy, she turns and sprints in the direction I am throwing in. If she does not see the toy arching over her head at the right time, she will stop and turn back, looking for it. She understands the law of motion enough to be able to estimate when the toy will fly over her head.  When I realized that, I was pretty impressed.

One of her favorite games is to chase a toy we throw around in the house. Sometimes, we toss it behind the couch and sometimes we fake tossing it to fool her. She has learned to wait until she hears the toy hit the floor before she goes to chase it down. (This girl is not gettin’ fooled again!) That is an understanding that gravity will make the toy fall to the ground, and that it will make a sound. 

Sooooo, my dog understands physics…what can your pet do?

About My Background Photos…

I sit with a very bright window behind me in my home office. I have a black screen in front of it, but it doesn’t help cut down that very bright sunlight from the window very much. 

As a result, I have been using a virtual background to hide the window and make me more visible on Zoom.

A few weeks ago, I decided I would change my background picture every day and each picture would be one that I personally shot (I actually have a nice shot of the Navy flight demonstration team, the Blue Angels that I’m going to use that was shot by a very talented friend of mine) but I digress. 

I like being able to talk about all the amazing things in the world, from the Bartlett to Rome, London, or other cool places. 

Don’t get me wrong, you don’t have to go far to find coolness. I have lots of pictures of cool things taken right around here. Of course, I love to travel too, so I will also include lots of pictures from the places I’ve been.

I hope you enjoy!

You Could Be Llamas, For All I Know

I have fifty-one 7th graders in my science classes.

I have never heard most of their voices and I have seen only a handful of their faces on camera.

In a few cases, I wasn’t sure if they were male or female until someone told me. 

The vast majority of them could be llamas, for all I know.  

That’s my working hypothesis at this time.

I have at least worked with my 8th graders in person, so I know they are people. (Most of them, at least.)

I mean, to be sure, they would have to be some pretty darn talented and articulate llamas, who clearly know how to read, type and draw diagrams. (How on Earth can they do that with hooves instead of fingers?)

In any case, I have very little evidence that they are not llamas.

I did say hello to them as they passed through the halls as 6th graders, and I don’t recall any llamas walking past me, but you never really know, ya know? Maybe, I was too focused on finding 50 different ways to say hello and good morning and missed all the pack animals bundled up in their winter coats.

I have had some parent meetings where I did get to see students on camera, and they were not llamas, but that’s a pretty small sample size - not really statistically significant. 

I guess if we get back to in-person school, I’ll know for sure, but for now, I’m assuming all my students are llamas. 

What Student Engagement Looks Like

 Student engagement during remote learning is a thing. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Teachers know it when we see it and we can tell when it’s not there, but it can be a challenge to communicate that idea to some students.

Engagement looks like getting your work done, asking questions about the work or what we’re learning. It looks like students participating in class, commenting in the chat, or turning their cameras on (even if just to say hello). Engagement means thinking about the work we are doing and considering how this might apply to you, your daily life and your future.

When we’re together in a classroom, engagement is easy to spot and probably easier for you to give. We are finding that learning from home has lots and lots of distractions - brothers and sisters, gaming systems, phones, extra nap time, handy snacks and lots of other things. 

Maybe it’s easier to describe what engagement does not look like…

• It’s not joining a zoom class, and not participating, not responding to messages in the chat or on your device, or not replying to verbal call-outs in the zoom class. 

• It does not look like playing PS4 or Xbox during school hours. 

• Engagement is not taking naps or letting yourself fall asleep and missing classes or independent work time. (Hint: Staying up all night, will make it harder to stay awake during school hours)  

• Being engaged does not mean spending lots of time in your phone when you should be paying attention in class or doing your work.

• For sure, student engagement is not just vegging out and letting time slip away. 

Not feeling like you can engage might come from not feeling motivated. If you feel stuck, like you’re so far behind that you’ll never catch up, talk to your teachers. Go to office hours, ask to meet with teachers privately. 

I have been seeing more engagement by more students, but there are still a large number of 7th and 8th graders who are not engaged in learning. 

Your future’s coming whether you’re ready or not. If you engage a little now, you can save yourself a whole lot of headaches later. 

Remember, don’t be a Jarrod….

No After Class Work Monday

I will not be giving you work to do after class on Monday.

I have a different kind of assignment for you: Pay attention.

Yes, pay attention because Tuesday is Election Day in America. It’s the day we choose our government.

Now, this might seem more like a social studies assignment but, as I keep saying, everything we do in school is interrelated. No subject stands alone, divorced from the others. ELA supports science, science supports music, music supports social studies, etc.

Science issues have been at the heart of this election cycle - I mean, we’re in the depths of a pandemic, right?  Climate change, fracking, renewable energy sources, health care and a host of other issues have permeated the presidential campaign. 

Watch the TV coverage. Read about the candidates and issues - local, state and national. Elections make a difference. They make the future.

No one knows what to expect on Tuesday or the following days and weeks. It might be chaotic. It might be scary. It’s worth your time to pay attention to what’s happening. 

The future is more yours than mine, you might want to start thinking about what kind of America you want to live in.

You can’t vote yet, but you can pay attention.

You Will Get Knocked Down

You will get knocked down. You will run into adversity. You will make mistakes. You will have setbacks. Things will happen to you that are and are not your fault.

Life is hard. Everyone experiences disappointments, setbacks, problems and failures. 

Everyone takes a hit - sometimes a lot of hits - a bad test grade, problems at home, health issues, money problems, relationship issues, the list is endless. No one has an easy life - everyone has problems. Everyone is dealing with something and you might not even know it to look at them.There’s no getting around it. but, you can deal with it.

When you get knocked down, you don’t have to stay down. You can get up again. You can try again. You can succeed even if you’ve failed before. You need to keep working. You need to keep moving forward.

The people who succeed, who reach their goals, don’t give up. They keep working toward what they want. They may change their strategy or tactics, but they keep working. 

Perseverance. Tenacity. Grit. Determination. Endurance.

These are the words that describe someone who succeeds, someone who doesn’t quit. 

They don’t say things like “I’m just bad at (fill in the blank)” and stop trying. They keep working toward that good grade, toward understanding something new, toward that difficult skill, toward that high school they want to attend, toward all the other things they want out of life. 

You will get smacked around by life, but you have to keep going. 

And here’s some insight from someone who knows…you will become a better person for having dealt with adversity. You will become stronger and more resourceful. You will know what it feels like to struggle and you will also know that there is an end to the struggle, that you can succeed if you just keep working.

Remote Learning: Why I Despise it so Much

 A guest post by Patrick 

The Screen

One reason why I don’t like remote learning is because we are on a screen for a total of 7 hours, and not to mention the uncanny brightness! First it's too bright, then it's too dark! At least if we are on our phones or playing video games it's actually FUN.

ZOOM

Another reason why I don't like remote learning is because of Zoom. Zoom is cool and all but it’s WAY laggier and always freezes unless you have the top notch internet. Once, I was locked out of my Zoom classes for a whole week and a half!

Big, Black, Boxes

My third reason why I don’t like remote learning is because NOBODY turns their camera on! All I see is the teacher’s face, and then some big boxes with names in them! (Of course, I don’t either, but only because I got a haircut and nobody else does!)

The Expectations

My fourth reason I don’t like remote learning is because they expect us not to type to our friends in the chat when we have NO OTHER WAY to communicate with them! I can't get their phone numbers, or their discord! And I cant use this laptop after school because its “FOR SCHOOL PURPOSES ONLY.”

Timing

My fifth and last reason why I don't like remote learning is because we start school at 7:20 AM! Why so early!? Why not 8:30-2:30? We don't get ANY sleep because we're used to our summer schedule, (stay up till 12 am, sleep till 2 pm.) and we get up at sunrise? What is this a prison!?

Thank you so much for reading this, I appreciate it and please, consider some changes.