In middle school one of my science teachers was really great and thorough, the kind of teacher that you remember the things you learned years later because they made the classes memorable.
We would drop things off the roof of the building and record with slow-mo cameras to calculate the formula for gravity, he lit hydrogen balloons on fire and you could feel the heat. The coolest day of the year was when we got to play with his “hovercraft”. He had repurposed a Vacuum cleaner to create a baby hovercraft.
It was basically a small platform, with a plastic tarp on the bottom that had little holes and when you turned the vacuum on it would expel the air and the little platform would ever so slightly lift up and glide across the ground.
The reason I remember it so vividly was because each of us students got a chance to sit on the chair atop the hovercraft platform and the teacher would push us down the hall and we’d “hover” from one side of the building to the other.
I am forever grateful for the teachers who go above and beyond to make learning fun for students with no reward to themselves.
You had the middle school science teacher I wish I had but never did. This was one reason I decided to send my kid to private school. When choosing schools my wife had a bunch of criteria but the only thing I really cared about was interviewing the middle school science teacher and we picked one with a great science teacher. My kid had a had a terrific time in that class and I got to experience middle school science done right through homework projects and dinner time stories.
The incidental lesson learned is that a private school board, principal and administrators who do the hard work to build a system and culture able to attract, hire and nurture one really great teacher tend to attract more than one. About half my kid's middle school teachers were extraordinary. When selecting schools just remember culture starts at the top and administrative regimes can change by eras so look at the recent history of board, principal and key staff turnover. I found out later the great principal who hired the teachers we loved had left the year before we started. Fortunately, it usually takes a few years for things to change much and our kid graduated middle school last year. I feel kinda bad for students starting there now though because some of the best teachers are starting to leave.
> the middle school science teacher I wish I had but never did. This was one reason I decided to send my kid to private school.
I had one of those teachers, albeit in (California public) high school. We're still in touch. Between the union fights, bloating administration and top-down mandates requiring him to dumb down his textbooks, he's looking for a job in the private sector.
That's sad to hear. BTW, my post wasn't intended to argue for private schooling in general but more that teachers matter. There are some truly wonderful public school teachers. The problem is if you're not lucky enough to live in the right area of the right district at the right time, there's not much you can do about it except opt out.
I remember seeing those hovercraft designs in the back pages of some magazine (Boys Life? Something else?) for mail order and always wanting one. That’s so cool
We would drop things off the roof of the building and record with slow-mo cameras to calculate the formula for gravity, he lit hydrogen balloons on fire and you could feel the heat. The coolest day of the year was when we got to play with his “hovercraft”. He had repurposed a Vacuum cleaner to create a baby hovercraft.
It was basically a small platform, with a plastic tarp on the bottom that had little holes and when you turned the vacuum on it would expel the air and the little platform would ever so slightly lift up and glide across the ground.
The reason I remember it so vividly was because each of us students got a chance to sit on the chair atop the hovercraft platform and the teacher would push us down the hall and we’d “hover” from one side of the building to the other.
I am forever grateful for the teachers who go above and beyond to make learning fun for students with no reward to themselves.