Entrance slip for Thurs Sept 23

     Immediately from reading the article one thing that stood out to me was how disarming, relaxed, and peaceful the tone the author set was despite the article essentially being about affecting monumental systemic change. As the reader of this blog post I want you to take yourself back to reading the article, looking at the author's choice of images and language and contrast it with the statement I made about "monumental systemic change." I hope that the contrast in feeling, in connotative meaning you experience is dramatically different when you read my words and the words of Kallis. In reality, the denotative meaning of what we are saying is similar. Both talk about big changes. I hope to emulate the tone and mood that the author sets in this article in my day to day life. I want to be a change maker and what better way to affect change than to do so in a way that makes everyone feel very united, wielding a sense of togetherness. From the title and introductory sentences the reader immediately gathers a sense of community in the types of changes she purposes. She opens by discussing the fact that each member of a community has so much to offer. I think this is synonymous with a workplace, a classroom, or any other environment. Everyone has strengths and weakness and each occupy a niche role in their own way. This is important to remember when dealing with students, for example. Each one has a purpose and they have strengths and weaknesses that need to be tapped into in order to create the best system for everyone.

    Additionally, I enjoyed Kallis' decision to discuss sustainability. Often we as scientists who want to make change toward a sustainable future take the "doomsday" approach. It is important for us to remember that people don't respond well to this sort of change making. In fact, often we are quick to call out this tactic in our critics, but employ it ourselves. I think that this can be generalized to many difficult topics in science education. Discussing issues with the mindset of establishing community, locality, and togetherness. Big change can start in our own homes. 

    I think this idea of tone in context can be carried over to the craft activities. The one that stood out to me the most was the rope making craft. It surprised me when the presenter noted how the twists in the rope had so much energy. Energy is a curricular concept for a physics teacher. Often we think of types of energies being strict and categorical but the energy in the twist is so natural and intuitive. Anyone who has held a twist is aware of the object's tendency to return to its untwisted state. This is an intuitive perception of energy, and intuition for energy is something many teachers struggle to instill in students but its also something that nature likely has already instilled in everyone. In this situation I think of the metaphor of a bridge to represent a teacher. One of the metaphors that I see for myself as a teacher is a bridge, connecting the intuition that many have for the subject with the outcomes that are prescribed by the curriculum. It is clear from the craft videos that connecting with the indigenous elements of our environment can be powerful ways of creating unexpected teachable moments. I wonder where I will find the next hidden teacher in nature?

Food for thought: How many out there have ever twisted a swing and spun around in a spiral? Where does the energy for this spinning come from?