Units and Books

I was thinking the other day about how I could possibly create bigger units for the year to add some current events to my class and make it applicable to my students. One thought is to have a Space unit, which could cover mechanics and electricity & magnetism. I still need to think of a unit to cover waves, modern physics, and whatever other material I might want to cover.

The idea of literacy is central to the Teachers College ideology, so I have been looking out for ways in which to implement that in my future classroom. A usual favorite is current events picked by myself and/or my students. Another option (adapted from Sephali Ray at Patrick Henry Middle School, NYC) would be to have students read science fiction. I would assign a middle school level book for my high school physics students and use book discussions to stimulate thinking about scientific ethical issues. Hopefully it would lead towards some scientific literacy!!