Kelly O'Shea

I'm rethinking almost everything this year. Trying to figure out how to support and do right by these kids—and try to make sure they actually learn things—and not turn everything into me not trusting them.

Anyway, I really enjoy the screencasts also because they are just completely themselves when talking to you that way. I listen at 2x speed. But I also have 16 kids in a class because... private high school. But I wonder if there's something that feels similar that could help?

Oh, I just saw your profile and the ratio of followers (!!) That definitely makes sense. I think your post showed up in my feed because of my physics teacher friends replied, and it was the first thing I've seen in a while where I thought I might have something worth adding. 🫣

I can't reply, so trying this way. I've found it helpful for a few years now in a class where kids are writing code to have them submit short (usually 5 minutes or less) screencasts (really easy to make with Quicktime on the mac or Loom, etc). You can immediately tell what they actually understand.

Photos of the 14 victims of the Montreal massacre: Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault and Annie Turcotte and the rooms where they were killed.

36 years ago today, 14 women, most of whom were studying engineering, were killed by an anti-feminist gun man at École Polytechnique in Montreal. I was a young graduate student studying physics at the time and I will never forget. #MontrealMassacre #NeverForget 🧪 👩‍🔬 ⚛️ 🎢 #AcademicSky 🇨🇦

Track propped up into a ramp with a couple of textbooks. Pink task card. Blue cart with mass labeled on it. Motion sensor.

Flat track with feet and end stop. Smart cart with 3 fans attached. Pink task card and another pink card with the mass of the cart.

A couple more of the stations for today :)

Photo of whiteboard with instructions for how to approach the stations (identify system, draw and annotate diagrams, etc) and reminders of equations from previous experiments (Newton's 2nd Law, Fg = mg).

Force sensor attached to small cardboard box with a string. Pink task card with instructions for the station. Motion detector.

Two version of the same station. A pink task card along with a force sensor.

A track propped up as a ramp using some various physics textbooks. Pink task card. Blue spring scale. Red PASCO cart with mass labeled on it. Motion sensor.

Unbalanced forces problem solving stations—today in 10th grade Physics! :) #modphys #iteachphysics #scichat 🎢

I love having students work in groups to write sample exam problems in class. This time, I told them to take some existing problems and make them harder. It’s so cool seeing them dive into things like “well, we could give less information … what could we leave out?” #ITeachPhysics

We did this activity this week, too! :)

A spring scale that is covered pushes down on a 100 gram mass while it sits on top of a digital balance. The balance reads 3.23 N.

One spring scale hangs from another. A metal ball with an unknown mass hangs from the bottom scale. The top scale reads about 9.5 N while the bottom one reads 9 N.

#Teach180 Day 53 cont.
Physics did a balanced forces lab based on @kellyoshea.bsky.social. They start off calling every force a force of gravity but end up with good results. All you need are the push pull scales, balances that can read in Newtons and some mystery masses. 🧪🎢

Building the Constant Velocity Model Here’s a binder. And the handshake. [As they walk in, I’m handing out their binders (with materials, labeled dividers, spare graph paper, their names on the sides) and shaking their han…

A lot of #iTeachPhysics folks use them to build the first model that students encounter: constant velocity motion. I find students enjoy it, because it’s easy enough to grasp, and it’s a hands-on experiment they can do right away. (1/2)

@kellyoshea.bsky.social blog:

kellyoshea.blog/2012/11/19/b...

Day 13 of #teach180 #iteachphysics: ALERT ALERT! If you use standards-based grading, and you can't use an outside grading program due to weird state laws, I can help! lerner180.posthaven.com/day-13-my-da...

BFPM Stacks of Curves Card Sort BFPM Stacks of Curves Card Sort (from Kelly O'Shea)

@kellyoshea.bsky.social I took your CFPM Stacks of Curves Card Sort and started to build it in Desmos. I know it still needs some scaffolding but it is a start.

classroom.amplify.com/activity/68b...

chatgpt applies for a job

A Teen Was Suicidal. ChatGPT Was the Friend He Confided In.

Adam Raine, 16, died from suicide in April after months on ChatGPT discussing plans to end his life. His parents have filed the first known case against OpenAI for wrongful death.

Overwhelming at times to work on this story, but here it is. My latest on AI chatbots: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/t...

Day -3: Professional Development Today was some professional development. We had some good PD led by Facing History and Ourselves. In the afternoon, we had a staff meeting, where a link hub I maintain that I fully stole from...

I am doing a #teach180 blog now, in concert with @barnettdreyfuss.bsky.social. Days -4 & -3 are about our professional days. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-4-convoc... and lerner180.posthaven.com/day-3-profes.... Shout out to @afreeparticle.com for the link hub template.

#PairedTexts

Aaron Titus!

Advertisement for 2025 AAPT HS Physics Teacher Camp. August 3rd. 8:30am-4pm. Join us for a day of self-organized workshops, guest speaker, and lots of fun! Location: St. Albans School 3103 Wisconsin Ave, Washington, D.C. Only $30! Meals included! Register now: tinyurl.com/AAPTcamp

High School Physics Teacher Camp is back! August 3rd in DC—the Sunday of the @aapthq.bsky.social Summer Meeting. Please tell every high school physics teacher you know. My favorite day of the year. tinyurl.com/AAPTcamp #iteachphysics #iteachmath #modphys Hope to see you there!

One of the best moments of the year in 10th grade is always the pure joy kids have the first time they connect a circuit and the bulb lights up. It's magic every time. #iteachphysics

PhD Timeline xkcd.com/3081

Advertisement for 2025 AAPT HS Physics Teacher Camp. August 3rd. 8:30am-4pm. Join us for a day of self-organized workshops, guest speaker, and lots of fun! Location: St. Albans School 3103 Wisconsin Ave, Washington, D.C. Only $30! Meals included! Register now: tinyurl.com/AAPTcamp

High School Physics Teacher Camp is back! August 3rd in DC—the Sunday of the @aapthq.bsky.social Summer Meeting. Please tell every high school physics teacher you know. My favorite day of the year. tinyurl.com/AAPTcamp #iteachphysics #iteachmath #modphys Hope to see you there!

So excited for High School Physics Teacher Camp on that Sunday! Details coming soon! :) #iteachphysics

NIH funding supports the vast majority of all biomedical research in the United States. Virtually every advance in American medicine and biological science comes from NIH. This is a blow against American science.

Call Congress, 202-224-3121.

I'm assuming you wrote it so that it was facing the direction to eat the billionaires? Which seems fine, tbh.

...copies of my solutions for them, along with colorful pens and stickers. They spend a little time with the solutions and write notes for themselves and/or questions for me on their work. I respond if needed when I grade the quizzes. (They aren't grading their work, just continuing the convo.)

Oh sorry I never responded! I take the quiz and make copies of my solutions. I do the kid quizzes on color paper and mine on white paper to reduce how often they are correcting off of other kids. They leave pencils at their seat when they finish the quiz and go to the back lab table where I have...

Please PLEASE go comment in favor of this rule. The subminimum wage for disabled folks is vile and evil and *must* be eliminated.

The poverty rate of disabled folks is astronomical compared to abled folks. There is no doubt this disgusting discriminatory policy is part of the reason why.

I miss PLC so much. ❤️

I think this was probably someone else, though I also like this idea. I use @fnoschese.bsky.social 's solutions-in-the-back-of-the-room with colored pens (and also stickers) at the end of each quiz so they can write notes and questions for me right away. (Not grade—just continue the convo with me)