URGENT: Non-Physics Teachers Wanted at the AAPT Conference!!!!

[Ben Grimes]

Good morning all!

Following the HASTI meetings on Sunday, our leadership and a few other Physics teachers convened to talk about some of the changes that we would like to see happen, especially focused on our upcoming Annual Conference in March to reach out to our colleagues in education who have been, shall we say, "thrown under the bus" that is teaching Physics when it is not what you became a teacher to do.  I know Craig Williams is planning to send an email to those teachers who attended HASTI in an effort to reach them directly, but I am hoping to cast a second net to bring in perhaps even more.

To that end, I would like to market this upcoming Conference as both a chance for us to become better Physics teachers, but also as an opportunity for those who didn't intend to be to join us and attend workshops which are geared towards them learning the basics of how to teach Physics when their content knowledge and skill sets in (hopefully) the worst case scenario may be on par with some of our own students.  I know that has been a consistent source of frustration for many teachers who have administrators who think that because they can teach math, they can also teach Physics or, worse, because they have a degree in a science it means the are capable of teaching all sciences.  I know personally if my principal came to me and said I'd be teaching biology or chemistry (which they tried once), I would not feel prepared or respected.

To that end, while we cannot change the conditions in their building, I hope that by inviting your peers directly who you know are faced with this challenge that we can give them tools to improve the chances of their ability to succeed within the conditions.  Please consider inviting your peers to the conference to help them become better teachers while we continue to struggle to put qualified teachers into those roles.

There will be more information regarding the cost for teachers attending the workshop who were thrown under that bus as we hope to further incentivize their attendance, but that will be in another email.  Have a wonderful day.

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Mr. Benjamin G Grimes, M.Ed.

Roncalli High School

AP Physics and Introductory Physics Teacher

"Forming disciples of Jesus Christ through the intercession of St. John XXIII"