Lots of EM Spectrum projects rolled in to my e-mail today that were created on Google Slides. However, students who did not submit one on paper or by e-mail by 3:05PM today will be ZAPPED tomorrow.
Also: Please check test scores from before break, which are posted now. Remember that you can retake summative grades by staying after school with me Tuesdays or Thursdays as long as you secure a ride home afterward. I do NOT stay until the 5:00 late bus!
This week was wild! We had MSTEP testing for 2 days. It really disrupted everything!
Monday: We started Section 2 on Electromagnetic Waves / Spectrum.
Tuesday: MSTEP caused 3rd hour to arrive late. Both classes worked on Cornell Notes independently.
Wednesday: MSTEP caused 4th hour to miss class entirely. Third hour worked on Vocab Foldable (graded in class Thursday) and pg. 73 #2-12 (graded in class Thursday). 3rd hour only will be ZAPPED for Monday if they were present Thursday and did not show me their Vocab AND book assignment.
Thursday: Project was handed out to both classes. It is due Monday. EM Spectrum Project
Fourth hour will be assigned pg 73 #2-12 on Tuesday with Section 3’s questions. If you want to get a head start on it, I included it in this scanned copy of the chapter. Everyone please make sure you have Cornell Notes completed on this section. Here is the scanned copy of the section from the book: Ch3 Sect2 EM Waves
I came across this video and I thought it was really cool. Now… it’s going to be VERY FAR above an 8th grade level of understanding, here… this man’s YouTube audience is most likely astrophysics majors in college who have taken many high level science classes about space, physics, math, etc. However, some of the things he’s saying here can be related to what we’ve been talking about.
Do you remember how I said sometimes light acts like a wave, and sometimes light acts like matter? In our unit we just consider light to be a wave so that we can study its properties in that sense. However, this video talks about light when we think of it like matter. Matter with no mass. Isn’t that weird? (The definition of matter is that it has to have mass and take up space… but light doesn’t do or have either of those things.) However in his description of what is happening around our galaxy’s black hole, he talks about this concept.
In a nutshell:
There is a black hole at the center of our galaxy. Black holes have so much mass and so much gravity, not even light can escape them. (That’s why they’re “black” holes.) Since no light can escape, we’ve never been able to “see” one (it makes AND reflects light, but that light can’t escape).
There is a radius (circle) around the black hole where nothing at all can escape… and then there is a radius where light can escape but not other matter. And then there’s a 3rd radius where matter can orbit the black hole without getting sucked into it. Our planet and our solar system are beyond that 3rd radius, allowing us to slowly revolve around the black hole along with millions of other stars. From that 3rd radius to the edge of our galaxy is called our “accretion disk.” And most of the things floating around in it are either gas, dust, or stars and planets like the ones in our solar system.
We will NEVER see light or matter that had gone inside the radius where things cannot escape. They are pulled with such force that they are gone forever.
The radius where light can escape but not matter is very interesting. Here, we can see light behaving like a particle or matter. It is actually revolving around the black hole as well, here. The man in the video explains that if somehow you could stand at this ring and look in front of you, you would see the back of your head because the light would reflect off of your head and revolve around the black hole to your eyes. SO COOL!
However, what happens basically is that all the stars from our disk of matter floating around the hole that are behind it are shining light towards us.
The effect is kind of like being in a movie theater and somebody stands up in front of you. You can’t see what they look like, but you can see their shape because the light from the screen behind them can’t pass through their body.
Obviously it is more complicated than that. Photons of light are bent as they pass around the radius of the black hole.
Don’t be alarmed that students have not had much homework this week. Because of PSATs on Tuesday, we took it kind of slow coming back from break. We’re moving and shaking now… learning about light waves. Although we have some MSTEP testing coming up, I am hoping to have a chapter test the week of the 22nd!
Parent teacher conferences were tonight and I talked to a ton of parents! If we didn’t get a chance to chat, please feel free to e-mail me any questions or concerns at harrisr1@dearbornschools.org
Please get a good night’s rest and eat a good breakfast tomorrow! It’s a lot of reading and a lot of complex thought… getting a good night’s sleep is going to be essential~
Just popping in to let everyone know that Q3 grades have been posted.
I rolled back student connect to show these Q3 grades for a few days but probably on Wednesday night or Thursday morning I’m going to shift it back to show Q4 which already has a few grades posted!
Thank you so much for your patience. I got lots of rest over the break and I wasn’t ready to dive back in… but everything submitted has been posted!
I just wanted to write a few things down for you all to acknowledge regarding the end of Q3.
The quarter ends as we leave for Spring Break.
I will not be adding any Q3 grades after we return. Everything must be in to me before the end of the day Friday.
Today I had a very large turnout of students taking last minute quiz retakes to increase their score.
Whether your child stayed today and completed some retakes or wish they would have been able to stay, please keep in mind that I do mini-tutoring sessions every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the quarter and your child had MANY opportunities to stay after with me to complete these quizzes.
Waiting until the last minute and being unable to stay is a bummer for sure, but is a valuable lesson in time management.
Students were also struggling to recall old information from quizzes we took weeks ago — this could have been avoided if students retook the quiz right after they knew their score wasn’t great.
Aside from a few odds and ends (quiz retakes, various missing work, extra credit turned in this week), grades are updated with the most recent assignments for you to view on Student Connect.
Tuesday: 3rd hour will have a sub and potentially 4th hour as well. Students will work on taking notes on Section 3.
Wednesday: Circle it Up! with shortened class periods. Take notes on Section 4. Selected videos for Section 3/4.
Thursday: Chapter Review.
Friday: Open Notes & Open Book Chapter 2 Test // Ch 2 Vocab due.
The test will almost definitely end up on quarter 4 because most likely some students will not show up the day before Spring Break. This isn’t a great idea because over a week of Fortnite and Youtube videos, everyone is going to forget what we learned in Chapter 2 and do badly on the test when we return. Yikes! I’d so much rather students take it before we leave for break! I made it open notes / open book to reduce the stress for students.
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