Unit 2: Newton’s Laws of Motion and Force
The first full unit I taught as part of my responsibilities:
Newton’s Laws of Motion and Force Unit Plan
This was the first unit I taught with my period 3 class and in full force with the Modern Classroom style of teaching. There was so many aspects to teaching in which I needed to learn, from scaffolding notes and a worksheet, to conducting proper labs and demonstrations. However, one skill I found myself not practicing much was those “whole class moments”. I initially started with a short introductory lesson that touched exclusively on the surface level content, but then the students would watch a pre-made video afterwards. This ended up becoming a skill that I needed to learn and adapt to.
They say you find your teacher’s voice a few months in, but it took me longer as a result. The biggest regret I have in regard to this unit was how quickly I skimmed each Force formula, to the point it was a new formula each day. As a physicist, it was only the difference between Force of gravity versus Force of friction, but to the students, it was like a completely new topic each day with the name “Force” thrown onto it. As a result, moving forward, I tried spending more time on a specific topic even if it was a day without formulas and only building it conceptually. While I have this unit already pre-made, I intend on scrapping most of the lesson and restructuring how I teach it.