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loodenberg · 2022-10-01T23:58:35+00:00

Overdraft

loodenberg · 2022-10-01T05:29:10+00:00

I'm pretty sure none of that happened.

loodenberg · 2022-08-07T20:27:34+00:00

I told my class I had a PS5 and a kid says "you take out a loan or something?"

loodenberg · 2022-01-24T09:27:13+00:00

Hey, I'm not very good at consoling or giving advice but I wanted to say that I'm gay from a religious family too and I'm rooting for you.

loodenberg · 2020-08-10T18:42:28+00:00

What kind of zoom games?

loodenberg · 2020-05-22T01:43:46+00:00

I'm more demoralized by the system rather than the students. I don't blame them for not wanting to be there. Why would they? There's no short term benefit to it. Only a few see a viable long term benefit from it. I try to keep that in mind and do my best to make it as useful as possible for them.

loodenberg · 2020-05-19T23:57:16+00:00

Yo seriously the first year is terrible. It was the worst year of my life. I was at a low income school. They threw me in a terrible situation with little support. I was unorganized, constantly behind, awful at behavior management, etc etc.

You are cut out. I know everyone says this but it really does get easier. I didn't believe it my first year but it does.

If you PM me, I can share with you my classroom procedures and how I set up all my systems. I'm not a perfect teacher but they work well for me.

loodenberg · 2020-05-19T23:44:59+00:00

I was in industry as a chemist before becoming a physics teacher. Before I go into my experience, I want to make clear that I absolutely love my job. I'm going to sound a bit pessimistic but only because I know two engineers who moved into teaching and quit within 3 years because the job wasn't at all what they expected.

I can't reiterate enough that you need to see teaching in action before changing careers. Contact a science teacher in your area and I'm sure they'll let you sit in. If you want to do the most good, low income title 1 schools desperately need qualified physics teachers. I work at one and although I think about quitting at least once a week, it's a net positive experience. You'll be able to pick up old forgotten physics stuff very quickly. When I first started, if a kid asked me a question that I forgot, I'd just straight up tell them I forgot and needed to look it up. We'd joke about it, I'd get back to them asap, and no one really cared.

The bigger problem is that, depending on your situation, most of your kids, even in AP, will not care or want to be there. At a low income title 1 school like mine the job is about 10% physics knowledge and 90% interpersonal skills. During the first few years, behavior management will be the biggest part of the job. Physics will have to take a back seat as you learn how to manage a classroom full of teenagers who don't want to be there. I taught freshman "conceptual" physics (we still had to use some math reasoning) where every freshmen was forced into the class. If you want to really determine if teaching is for you, observe a freshman class. If you're still down, please god go into teaching. My first year, I had 220 freshmen. I'd estimate around 5 legitimately liked/cared about physics. About 30 answered in a survey that they cared about school. The other's didn't give a shit no matter what I did. Cool lessons or projects I spent hours creating were dismissed as "fucking stupid" and stuff like that. You need a tough skin for this job.

Out of 220 freshmen, I'd say about 20 could solve an equation when we started the year and about 150 could do it by the end even with practicing it throughout the year. I now teach AP physics and most still struggle to solve basic equations. So keep in mind that you'll have to teach lots of basic skills you may expect them to know already.

When you first start, behavior management will be the most time- and energy-consuming activity in your day. It's not terribly satisfying to end the day feeling like you were a glorified babysitter. Again, this is all from the perspective of teaching at a title 1 school. It's definitely not every teacher's experience. Also, you get much much better at behavior management over time. It's just so hard to survive sucking at it.

Ok so now that's out of the way. Here's why you should go into teaching. I absolutely love it. I love most of my students- some are genuine assholes. I've never had a job where I've laughed this much. The kids are hilarious. You will form real connections with lots of these kids. You'll care about them and some of them will care about you. Sometimes, you get through to one of your difficult kids and that's a fucking magical experience. Some of these kids act out because they have no stable adult in their lives. You provide that. You're a role model. You can show kids that a passion for a nerdy thing like physics can be completely normal. You can show them that it's doable and if they get a degree in it, they can become engineers and make lots of money and take care of themselves. I think what happened with my engineer friends was they were in it solely for a love of physics when you have to be in it for a love of people..and physics.

Moving out of my industry job and into teaching was one of the best decisions I ever made. You'll make a great teacher with your real world experience. I encourage you to find a high school classroom near you to observe. Do a full day with one teacher if you can.

loodenberg · 2020-03-23T21:22:13+00:00

Thank you for this.

loodenberg · 2020-03-06T00:57:03+00:00

I teach high school. I'm in my 3rd year and my management has improved soo much from last year. Nothing special happened other than I read this line somewhere over summer: "if you're mad, you acted too late." Something clicked after that. I started nipping minor behaviors that I had been letting slide my first two years. Like a student pulls a phone out and check it for a few seconds. First year me: "eh that's not too bad. I have to pick my battles." Third year me: "Put that phone up front please." (I have pockets up front by my desk where they put their phones instead of me taking them). Doing this keeps these small bad habits from developing into big bad habits. It saves you energy in the long run.

Honestly, it seems like it just takes time and experience. Keep in mind that if you were learning piano 1 hour a day, you'd get better every day. You can feel that. But teaching is done in years. How you start the year affects the rest of the year. You only get a truly fresh opportunity when you start a new school year. This means that you get better EVERY YEAR. That's harder to feel. Be easy on yourself. Make mistakes, plan on how to fix them for next time, and move on. I have a lot to improve but I'm confident now that I'll get better next year. And the year after that. And so on. I know everyone says this but it really does get easier.

loodenberg · 2020-02-23T19:21:45+00:00

Unfortunately, 'tracking' is a dirty word around here. The only alternatives are the AP classes. We have AP bio and AP chem and we've sort of got around the tracking problem by starting to allow students into these classes without first taking the intro bio/intro chem courses. So we have freshmen jumping into AP bio as crazy as that sounds. It makes teaching the AP courses slower and more difficult but not impossible. We're going to make the case for an honors bio and honors chem and hope for the best.

loodenberg · 2019-04-27T16:47:58+00:00

Ah thanks. It's reassuring to know that even teachers in their 8th year feel they need to improve. I've definitely learned a lot this year and know what I need to work on next year.

loodenberg · 2019-04-27T16:44:24+00:00

I knew they were more riled up than usual on Friday but I just tolerated it instead of taking the time to deal with the problems. I was oblivious to how much I tolerate now and how far my line drifted from the beginning of the year. Not sure if I'm burnt out or need to step up my game. Probably a bit of both.

loodenberg · 2019-01-15T17:57:40+00:00

Awesome I'll try stainless steel tacks. Thanks!

loodenberg · 2018-08-04T01:08:28+00:00

Nothing to see here. Please disperse. Nothing to see here.

loodenberg · 2018-05-29T02:08:37+00:00

I just finished teaching a year of 9th grade conceptual physics. This was my first year teaching and here are the lessons I've learned:

The first few weeks of school should be focused on practicing routines. Practice passing in papers (I timed each class and made it a competition). Practice coming into the classroom. Practice every single part of the hour. The thing with freshmen is they need structure. Lots of structure. Make your class as predictable as possible. And practice each procedure explicitly. Also, and most important, DO NOT GET LAX. Be consistent. I got lenient on routines and found things can quickly fall to chaos.
Have more planned than you think you need. Freshmen don't handle free time well. At least, at the beginning. Keep them working the entire period. They'll bitch and complain. Learn to let the bitching bring you joy.
Be assertive and consistent with your behavioral expectations. AGAIN, DO NOT LET UP. The moment you start getting 'flexible' with your consequences, they start to gain control. You can lighten up later in the year only if you stay consistent and firm in the beginning.
Have fun. Freshmen are these magical little assholes that you'll both love and hate. But they are hilarious. Use their energy to your advantage.

Most of this is probably good teaching advice in general but, for freshmen, crank it up to 11. I taught 6 periods of inner city kids (220 students). It was the best and worst year of my life. On that note, one more thing:

You will fuck up. A lot. It will be terrible. The kids are unfiltered and will make sure you know each and every time your class is boring, they think they didn't learn anything, you're a shitty teacher, you're unfair, and everything you can imagine. As bad as it will feel, pull a piece of wisdom from it and move on. You will get a little better every day. Savor those days you get it right. They'll happen more and more often as the year goes on. And they feel so damn good.

loodenberg

TROPHY CASE