March C4T

Quantum Progress

John Burk is a Physics and Math teacher at a boarding school in Delaware. His blog, Quantum Progress, tells the store of his on going learning.

March 24; A great visit to Saint Ann’s

On March 19th Mr. Burk traveled up to Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn to see a dear internet friend, Paul Salomon, and meet a few of his amazing colleagues. One of the great things about visiting a school like St. Ann’s is just how different it is from most schools. Saint Ann’s packs an entire 4th-12th program into a 13 story building with two elevators. Assemblies meet in odd classrooms and the lobby, and the entire building feels like a beehive of activity and engagement. One of the very best things was that every teacher in the department teaches in both the middle and upper level of the school. It’s not at all uncommon for a teacher to teach 3rd grade math, 6th grade math, and functions (Algebra II). This seems hard wired in the DNA of the faculty. Saint Ann’s also has no grades, and I can only imagine how empowering this must be for helping students to take risks and to learn from feedback from the teachers and peers without having to worry about the judgment of grades and ranking. As a future teacher I can only imagine what it would be like to teach middle and upper levels of school. Especially, at the same time! Saint Ann’s School sounds absolutely fascinating! The dedication of the teachers is far beyond most.

April 7; A collaboration between Dance and Physics

Avi, the schools dance teacher, approached Mr. Burk with this incredible idea he and his students are developing for arts weekend—a “day in the life of the school,” and in one of the scenes, a student gets really upset upon receiving a 96 on a science test. The student then begins to dance around the room, playing with science, and not focusing on grades, and then the student suddenly sees the real joy in learning. Avi wanted help for some ideas for some visually impressive demos that would help communicate the ideas of playing with science and be visible to an auditorium that seats 400. They bounced around with a few ideas including; making giant soap bubbles, dancing around with a large hydrogen balloon and then blowing it up, and using a vortex cannon to shoot smoke rings out. My favorite is making giant soap bubbles, especially if they could make them go in the audience. Getting the audience involved just makes the learning experience that much more fun!