Teaching is the best job in the world, I’ve no doubts about that. There will always be some who proclaim “those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach,” but anyone who has taught will attest to how involved a career it is. There’s the marking, the bureaucracy, the behaviour management, the meetings (so many meetings!), Ofsted, performance management, and things I shouldn’t put in a public weblog post that make the job challenging. But let’s not focus on all those aspects of teaching, let’s take a peek at five things that make me smile on Monday mornings, and look forward to the working week ahead.
5. Talking about physics all day long
Let’s start with the obvious: physics is my passion. Physics and calculators. Physics and calculators and ukuleles. Physics and calculators and ukuleles and heavy metal music. Physics and… yeah, you get the idea, I have lots of passions.
Physics! It works. It all clicks into place. It all makes sense. And I get to talk about it all day long. I get to share something I love with people who have no choice but to listen to me talk… and they pay me to do it!
4. Collaborating with excellent colleagues
I have had the honour of working with, and learning from, some truly fabulous educators. I’ve met people who I would say are fundamentally good people. I’ve learned much from these friends and colleagues, and they have influenced everything from how I teach, to how I think, to how I feel.
As a Head of Department, I’ve had the privilege of guiding my friends in their career progression and professional development. I’ve worked with outstanding senior leaders who have exemplified what leadership means. I’ve broadened my own perspectives by working with friends from other departments. Yes, I jokingly refer to Chemistry and Biology as “lesser sciences,” but there’s no malice in it – it’s just friends joking around. In my job, I laugh every day
3. Playing with physics equipment
In what other job could I be handling radioactive sources one minute, then receiving a 50000V electric shock the next, before exploding a capacitor, dissecting a piano, and firing a rubber-band gun at a target, all in one day.
Telescopes and driving simulators and electrical components and UV lamps and spark gap detectors and stroboscopes and lasers and high voltage transformers to produce magnetic levitation and fire. There are so many toys to play with, and I get to play with them all whenever I want. If I see something cool on YouTube I want to reproduce, I can just go and do it. It’s fun!
2. Learning new things
My first year of teaching (my PGCE year) came just after my PhD attempts, which came just after my Masters degree. You’d think I’d know physics after that right? Nope! Anyone with a degree would agree that the moment after that last exam, almost all knowledge disappears from your head – at least, that’s how it feels.
I don’t think I had learned (or relearned) all the physics I needed to teach it until my fifth or sixth year, and even then there was much more to learn. Even now there are some fun puzzles I’m working on, but that’s what’s fun about physics – solving problems. There are always more problems to solve, and different ways to solve them. Even at the end of my career, when I’m old and grey and nearly old enough to draw my state pension, I’m sure there’ll still be stuff I want to learn.
1. Watching as physics insight arises in students
I’ll say something now that’ll shock readers who know me to their core – there was a time, decades ago, when I got Newton’s Third Law wrong. There, I said it. I’m not proud of it, and fortunately my mind has blessed me with just the right amount of mental decline for me to not remember it, but I’m certain there was a dark time in my life when I got it wrong. I vaguely remember thinking resistance was caused by electrons leaking out of wires when I was in Key Stage 3 (I cannot remember what year in particular), and I even made a poster as a homework task with that mistake on it. It got a red tick and a blasĂ© feedback scribble, ‘well done‘. I don’t think my teacher looked at it. But, at some point my misconceptions were challenged, and I came out the other side with a clearer view of the nature of material reality. Between ignorance and insight there was a moment, an instant, a flash of physics inspiration.
I’ve had the great privilege of witnessing that moment of insight arise in uncountable young people. The bland gaze of the self-assured-but-ignorant mutates into the frown of cognitive dissonance, which dissolves into the glow of physics wisdom. I’ve had the honour of being there when a young person has lurched forward in their vision of the workings of the universe. These are moments as significant as a baby’s first word or a toddler’s first steps, and I get to share the moment with them. It’s a true joy.
Plus the job security, 13 weeks of holiday each year, finishing work at 3:35pm each day and an incredible pension scheme make the job pretty good too.
Physics with Keith 