If you are unfamiliar:
Folder with all planning documents and handouts that I used.
Desmos Activity Builder (thanks to Andrew Stadel for helping to make it better)
Reflections from the previous year.
Reflections from my first year.
Collection of all reflections.
A little while ago, one of the teachers in my district emailed me, and let me just say that there are two words that will get me fired up in a hurry: Barbie Zipline. Yep, her students were finishing a unit on Pythagorean Theorem and the Distance Formula, so this was a natural fit. The downside is that my new role makes it nearly impossible to do something without 2 months notice. MAJOR bummer. The good news was that she did it last year and felt comfortable taking the risk alongside one of the teachers who also did the lesson last year.
If you were to go back and read the reflections from previous years, there is a lot of growth, a lot of second-guessing, and a lot of improvement. I think that this time, the biggest improvement was that I didn't have to be there. Because of a meeting I needed to attend, they started without me, and I was merely a cheerleader and instigator, going around and asking students if they thought a trial was safe and fun. No? Why not? Yeah? How come?
The only minor change we made was that, instead of using fishing line, we used yellow mason line on a windup handle because it doesn't have nearly the same elasticity as fishing line:
Folder with all planning documents and handouts that I used.
Desmos Activity Builder (thanks to Andrew Stadel for helping to make it better)
Reflections from the previous year.
Reflections from my first year.
Collection of all reflections.
A little while ago, one of the teachers in my district emailed me, and let me just say that there are two words that will get me fired up in a hurry: Barbie Zipline. Yep, her students were finishing a unit on Pythagorean Theorem and the Distance Formula, so this was a natural fit. The downside is that my new role makes it nearly impossible to do something without 2 months notice. MAJOR bummer. The good news was that she did it last year and felt comfortable taking the risk alongside one of the teachers who also did the lesson last year.
If you were to go back and read the reflections from previous years, there is a lot of growth, a lot of second-guessing, and a lot of improvement. I think that this time, the biggest improvement was that I didn't have to be there. Because of a meeting I needed to attend, they started without me, and I was merely a cheerleader and instigator, going around and asking students if they thought a trial was safe and fun. No? Why not? Yeah? How come?
The only minor change we made was that, instead of using fishing line, we used yellow mason line on a windup handle because it doesn't have nearly the same elasticity as fishing line:
As you get more comfortable teaching something, you can find new ways to tweak it, improve it, and own it. The two teachers who took the reigns certainly did that.
I didn't need to be there, but I wasn't about to miss it. I mean really, who doesn't want to see a crash like this?
I didn't need to be there, but I wasn't about to miss it. I mean really, who doesn't want to see a crash like this?
Oh, and the photographers' creativity.
Like Matt and I talk about in The Classroom Chef, there is something amazing about going outside and taking a risk. Escaping the four walls of normalcy opens you and your students to more opportunities that I wouldn't miss for the world.
Happy "Zipline Bobsled Team" Fishing
Happy "Zipline Bobsled Team" Fishing
RSS Feed
