Wednesday, September 26, 2012

2012-09-26: ACS Hach Grant

Grant money check came
Science supplies on the way
Can't wait for that day!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

2012-09-25: Hydrates Lab

Heating blue crystals
Hydrates become dehydrates
Striking color change


This lab happens to be one where the procedure and materials are different for AP vs General Chemistry, but it gets good results both ways.  The haiku above specifically refers to the general chemistry version of the lab where blue copper (II) sulfate is dehydrated into its white crystalline form.
As a side note, I feel really bad about leaving out my original middle line "Color changing chemistry" because I love the alliteration and the match with "crystals" in the first line, but alas I could not get anything to work with it and so I changed tack.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Friday, September 21, 2012

2012-09-21: Ends of the Universe


World end in fire?
Cosmology gives answers
Or world end in ice?

This is a lecture I love to give about the many different ways science tells us the end might come.  It also lets me reference an old saying I said way too often that everything I was doing was simply speeding up the coming of the Heat Death of the Universe.  If you are not versed in poetry [actually, I'm not either I just have  a few favorites] this haiku is my attempt to give tribute to Robert Frost's "Fire and Ice" that I use to end the lecture.

2012-09-20: Cannons




Small cannon goes pop
Projectile week finishes
Big cannon goes boom!





Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

2012-09-18: Shoot the Monkey Physics Problem


Man aims at monkey,
neither of them know physics,
hunter gets lucky.

2012-09-17: Nuke the Tower Challenge Lab


Time speed on table
horizontally launch ball
hit target tower?

1 Week Violation of Challenge Rules

I'm going to violate my 1 haiku per class per week this week because it is one of my favorite weeks in Physics- Projectile Motion.  Weather permitting on Wednesday we'll do a second great lab and of the 4 days this week I have my physics students I will focus my poems on them.

2012-09-14: Distance Modulus


Measure distances
using variable stars
distance modulus.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

2012-09-12: Constellations

Connect dots of stars,
Stick figures in the night sky,
Learn constellations.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Friday, September 7, 2012

2012-08-23: Nerdfighter


Second day of school
Asked "Are you a nerdfighter?"
DFTBA!

Note: I said I wasn't going to go back and catch the first three days of school since they are usually uneventful, but I did have something absolutely awesome happen on the second day of school.  I was making the seating chart for my 8th graders when one girl saw a picture hanging on my board:

She got up the courage to ask me if I was a nerdfighter and  I laughed and said, "Yes!  How did you know?" and she pointed out the picture to me and said that she recognized John & Hank.  Now, I have inspired a few students to become regular watchers of some of their various projects (vlogbrothers, SciShow, CrashCourse, & LizzieBennet Diaries), but I had never had a nerdfighter student approach me on their own.  Honestly, it is one of the greatest moments of my teaching career because nerdfighteria is such a great community and there are so many great experiences we share because of it.  I'm still the teacher, but we also share another connection where we are on an equal plane.  So, needless to say, we talked a lot- about John's books (she read them all this summer, I read the first 3 this summer), about their other channels, about happy dances, and so many more nerdy things.  In addition to that she is reading the Thrawn Trilogy, which was the second Star Wars series I read and I read it in 8th grade as well.  I'm still geeking out about have a real-world meeting with a fellow nerdfighter and in sharing my excitement with other students many of them have joined our ranks [in name, they already belonged in heart].

Thursday, September 6, 2012

2012-09-06: Unintended Baseball

Sport claim debated
Throwing balls down the baseline
in just one second?

Two notes about this post.  1) I like the title better than the first line, and in fact it was what I originally wrote down, but it has one syllable too many.  2) There's a story to this that I describe here.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Monday, September 3, 2012

2012-08-31: Hubble Deep Field Image

Lights are galaxies,
Fit inside of a penny,
Amazed by vastness.

2012-08-30: The Scientific Method

Freshmen know already
The Scientific Method
Labs will reinforce.

2012-08-29: Physics Lab


Physics learns metrics
Volume measured not really
Estimation good.

2012-08-28: Chemistry Lab Orientation


Intro to the lab
Chemistry partners assigned
Reactions to come.


I have to add commentary to this one.  I love the play on words in the last line.  When I wrote my first one about Neil Armstrong I labored over it for so long and liked it so much that I wasn't sure I would top it all year with this project.  The last line of this one makes me smile when I re-read it and I think there are more good ones yet to come.

2012-08-27: A Tribute to Neil Armstrong


Moonwalker has passed
Neil Armstrong is remembered
For 'One Giant Leap'

The Challenge Laid Out

I am no good at art in most of its forms, but am attempting to stretch myself a little in this area.  I've found recently that very patterned or mathematical forms help me to appreciate and understand no only art itself, but also how I can do art.  Sometime last year while reading a book of haiku's that my daughter has I decided to try writing some of my own, which I never got around to doing.  After reading more about haiku's I thought of challenging myself to write one per day base off a lesson that I taught that day in school.  Since I teach five different subject areas I figured this would give me some variety as well as some leeway when I do something dull or don't teach (like a test day).  Now already I should have 8 haiku's, but only have 3 completed and so although I have the goal of doing this daily, it took me a while to commit to actually doing it.  Finally, I hope to post on-time, but for me the bigger challenge is writing the piece than it is to write it in time.  I put this out there for you to enjoy.  Finally, for purists out there I do not intend to follow the actual rules of haiku, but instead the common English translation of 5-7-5 syllables.

Update 1: I do very little teaching the first week of school, I think I'll skip those three days unless I can come up with a haiku about handing out textbooks and syllabi and safety contracts.
Also, to add to the challenge I think I will attempt to do one from each of the five classes I teach through the week, but in no particular order.