Final Thoughts: Winter I 2018
Future physics teachers (one student is missing from the photo) who were my students in the Physics Methods Course 2018
As I am saying good-bye to my students, who will soon be going on a physics teaching practicum in local schools, I keep recalling how I started physics teaching almost 30 years ago. It was not easy, considering I also had to do it in a foreign language (Hebrew) and in a school that had a very different culture than the school I attended as a student.
Not surprisingly, many of my students will face similar challenges. However, they have a strong peer support group and a strong community. This is something I am very proud of. It is impossible to become a good teacher in a few month, but it is possible to star the teaching journey on the “right foot”. I hope my students have done that. A lot of them also have various experiences that will help them in the classroom. So I am confident that our UBC Physics Teacher-Candidates will not only do well during the practicum, but will become very inspiring and knowledgeable physics teachers. I would like to wish them all a very productive and successful practicum experience and of course a very happy and successful new year. I enjoyed teaching them very much. Good luck!