https://ariadacapo.net/categories/two_years_a_teacher/ Recent content in Two_years_a_teacher on ariadacapo.net Hugo en Wed, 11 Jun 2025 11:00:00 +0000 https://ariadacapo.net/articles/2025-06-11-two-years-a-teacher-memories/ Wed, 11 Jun 2025 11:00:00 +0000 https://ariadacapo.net/articles/2025-06-11-two-years-a-teacher-memories/ [last of a series: Two Years a Teacher] [student names have been altered] Memories I take with me. Finn, whom I thought of as a difficult student in a really tough class, on the last day of my first school year, patting me on the back and saying “it was nice with you Mr. Cleynen”. My next-door colleague Anna, upon learning that a student had just told me I was the worst teacher they ever had, rushing to give me a hug and check on me. https://ariadacapo.net/articles/2025-06-10-two-years-a-teacher-the-human-project/ Tue, 10 Jun 2025 11:00:00 +0000 https://ariadacapo.net/articles/2025-06-10-two-years-a-teacher-the-human-project/ My greatest success in these two years teaching physics in high school was called the Human Project. This project came to life at the intersection of several ideas and impulses. First, the search for rituals for emotional connection in the classroom. This is very important in high school, since if you have not done the requisite emotional and social preparation, your teens won’t learn anything. Second, the search for an outlet to share my own accumulated treasures. https://ariadacapo.net/articles/2025-06-09-real-questions-7th-graders-ask-about-electricity/ Mon, 09 Jun 2025 11:43:44 +0000 https://ariadacapo.net/articles/2025-06-09-real-questions-7th-graders-ask-about-electricity/ The authors of their physics textbook thought it would be things like “what is the relationship between voltage and current” but instead they asked me: How many car batteries do you need to supply Magdeburg with electricity for one day? How big is the world’s biggest battery? What happens if you listen to music and your phone falls into the water? does it stop the music or does the phone keep playing? https://ariadacapo.net/articles/2025-06-07-two-years-a-teacher-q-and-as/ Sat, 07 Jun 2025 10:26:05 +0000 https://ariadacapo.net/articles/2025-06-07-two-years-a-teacher-q-and-as/ [part of a series: Two Years a Teacher] At the start of the school year I would hand my students a questionnaire with a few personal questions, then answer the same questions for them. I did this because it helped me understand who they were. Some chose not to answer, some trusted me right away with big secrets. Just so you get an idea how intense, thrilling, and uplifting it can be to work with teenagers, I share here a few answers given my my 9th graders. https://ariadacapo.net/articles/2025-03-23-two-years-a-teacher-genehmigung/ Sun, 23 Mar 2025 16:07:43 +0000 https://ariadacapo.net/articles/2025-03-23-two-years-a-teacher-genehmigung/ Probably the least fun part of being a high school teacher in Germany is becoming one to begin with. All of the teachers I have met recounted their training as immensely stressful and disconnected from the reality of the job. In this sense I was lucky to jump on board directly from my former job as a University researcher, right into the classroom on day one. Nevertheless, the process of becoming qualified —obtaining the Genehmigung, the approval of the state— is not trivial either. https://ariadacapo.net/articles/2025-02-23-two-years-a-teacher-mission/ Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:00 +0000 https://ariadacapo.net/articles/2025-02-23-two-years-a-teacher-mission/ Over the course of my second year teaching in high school, I was able to make much clearer sense of what I was doing. Eventually I formulated it into something that I could explain to my students: In Physics class, you prepare for a world with a changed climate. And so, a couple of months after the start of the school year, I would present my mission to my students of classes 9 and up: why I thought I was here, and what exactly Physics class had do to with living in a world with a changed climate. https://ariadacapo.net/articles/2025-02-16-two-years-a-teacher-big-blocks/ Sun, 16 Feb 2025 08:39:55 +0000 https://ariadacapo.net/articles/2025-02-16-two-years-a-teacher-big-blocks/ I have just completed a two-and-a-half-year stint as a high school Math and Physics teacher at the Internationales Stiftungsgymnasium Magdeburg. This is a meaningful and challenging job, and I have grown a lot through it. In this article as well as a few following ones, I would like to reflect on the experience. I took the job almost on an impulse and never regretted it. Before that, I had taught 12 years at the university level.