My Teaching | Dave Bossmin

FOR EXAMPLES OF MY APPROACH TO REMOTE LEARNING, PLEASE CLICK ON THE "COVID-19" MENU ABOVE.

Hands-On Exploration A SPH4U student shines a laser pointer through water as part of a refraction investigation.	Putting the Notes Away These SPH4U students are creating bubbles to observe the rainbows created by thin-film interference.
Engaging Physics Minds Physics students race their balloon rockets as a minds-on introduction to Newton's third law of motion.	Mental Health and Physics My SPH4U students threw wet paper towels against the chalkboard to relieve stress, and to begin our discussion about inelastic collisions.
Traditional Learning Physics is not an exercise in mathematics, however using math to explain physics can be a beautiful thing.	Student Collaboration These students are working on a lab investigating a spring's k-constant.
Safe Spaces to Ask Questions Students are sometimes invited to anonymously post questions to the chalkboard. It helps me understand where they are at, and gives quieter students a voice in the classroom.	Peer Assessment Students in SPH4C presented their designs for the egg-drop competition, then made revisions based on feedback from their classmates before moving onto the implementation stage.
Design Opportunities This is the implementation of the egg-drop design shown in the previous picture.	Hands-On Demonstrations Sometimes a cardboard box does the best job of describing physics to Grade 12 students.
Physics You Can See Here, students witness the effects of single-slit diffraction projected on the classroom ceiling.	Integrating Technology A physics lesson becomes increasingly hands-on and engaging as interactive technology is introduced.

MY PHYSICS CLASSROOM

Equity in Science This Day-1 activity helped Grade 9 students get to know each other and introduced the concept of observations. More importantly, it began an exploration of different perspectives in science.	Memorable Tactile Learning My Grade 10 students were grossed out by their models of the human digestive system. They won't forget squeezing a banana through a pair of nylon stockings!
Feeling Safe My Grade 9 students felt safe sharing their ideas about what causes the summer season. Some students took risks, others admitted they did not know.	Bringing Curriculum Close to Home Searching for plastic waste in sand taken from Woodbine Beach helped these Grade 10 students understand Toronto's environmental issues.
Real-Life Examples Drawing pictures of cell division is much different than watching it happen in a living onion root. I prepared this slide from a green onion I bought from Loblaws.	Make Learning Fun My Grade 9 students used the Hallowe'en season as an excuse to make a spook-tacular periodic table of the elements.
Activating Prior Knowledge Sometimes students know more before a lesson than I think they do - a pair of Grade 10 students had a good idea of where their various organs were in their body.	Building Community Through STEAM As part of the optics unit, Grade 10 students struggle colouring a picture together while bathed in red light. A sense of community is developed when students have fun with this basic task.
Challenging Perceptions Choosing the correct pencil crayon is difficult when the red filter changes all of the pencil crayon colours. This is a first-hand lesson in colour reflection and absorption!	Safe Science Spaces This combination of art and science also creates a safe space for students to see it is okay be incorrect. This is the result of the red filter colouring project.
Personal Reflections in Science Before jumping into a science topic, I will ask students to think about why the topic might be important to them.	Mental Health and Science A chemical reaction between baking soda and vinegar can go a long way to brightening the day of my students!
Art in Science This mirror-art project allowed my Grade 10 science students to exercise their creativity within the optics unit. A geometric analysis of the reflections completed this project.	Art in Science This student loved art, and was often doodling human facial features in her science notebook. Here, her doodles become optical science.
Art in Science Creating science art is a mindful activity. So it gives students a chance to slow down and think about what they are learning. My Grade 9's created these definition cards for their notes.	Extending the Science Classroom My Grade 10 students created a science-art collage for the school hallway, based on the cell cycle. The prophase, metaphase and anaphase stages made by one student are shown here.
Cell Cycle Art Students from other classes and grades stopped to look at the art and talk about what they remembered about the cell cycle.	Cell Cycle Art This is the finished product.

MY SCIENCE CLASSROOM

MY MATH CLASSROOM

Math Really Works! A correct calculation of the triangle's centroid will allow the triangle to balance on the end of the pencil. If not, my Grade 10 students compared their solutions with others.	Graffiti Math Students are in disbelief when you give them permission to complete their math by writing on school property!
A Window To Learning This student used the window to demonstrate his understanding of similar triangles.	The Median of a Dorito Finding the median of a dorito is much more interesting to a Grade 10 student than finding the median of a triangle.
Integrating Technology Tracing quadrilaterals on this SmartBoard image got students out of their seats and into the day's geometry lesson.	Technology, Art and Math Students used their smartphones to photograph parabolas they found in the school, and analyze them in the Desmos app.
Kinaesthetic Assessments This mini-quiz required students to build ratios using click-blocks. Their creations were used to assess their understanding of the curriculum expectations.	Limitless Tactile Math One student went all out demonstrating his understanding of exponential growth. The only thing holding him back was the number of blocks available to him.
Setting Clear Expectations Clear solutions and problem-solving procedures help students understand what is expected of them.	Math That Matters A Grade 12 lesson on "rate of change" can also serve as a lesson on the effects of climate change. Here, students used math to predict the year in which the Arctic would be ice-free.
Math in the Neighbourhood This picture from the neighbourhood grocery store helped Grade 11 students with their lesson on unit rates and "the better buy"	Creating Safe Spaces This classroom game of "4-corners/which one doesn't belong" promotes critical thinking. More importantly, all answers are correct!
Risk-Free Risk Taking With individual whiteboards, students tend to take greater risks during formative assessments when they know their answer will be quickly wiped away!	Independent Exploration I am constantly looking for online tools which allow students to explore and visualize math concepts on their own.

UNIT PLAN

You are welcome to click on any image below to download a copy of the corresponding document

Being an effective teacher for all of my students requires thoughtful planning and preparation. The following documents provide examples of my preparation for a lesson in estimating instantaneous rates of change (from the Grade 12 math course: MHF4U Advanced Functions, Average and Instantaneous Rates of Change). These demonstrate my commitment to curriculum-based lesson design, technology in the classroom, and differentiated instruction.

PLANNING AND PREPARATION

LESSON PLAN

STUDENT HANDOUT

By clicking on the roller coaster image, you can access the "pre-loaded demonstration in Desmos" referenced in the above lesson plan. This interactive example was created within the online graphing tool Desmos. The purple dashed line, intended to help students conceptualize instantaneous rates of change, can be manipulated by using the first two sliders (x1, x2) on the left-hand side of the Desmos window.

FOR EXAMPLES OF MY APPROACH TO REMOTE LEARNING, PLEASE CLICK ON THE "COVID-19" MENU ABOVE.

Hands-On Exploration

A SPH4U student shines a laser pointer through water as part of a refraction investigation.

Putting the Notes Away

These SPH4U students are creating bubbles to observe the rainbows created by thin-film interference.

Engaging Physics Minds

Physics students race their balloon rockets as a minds-on introduction to Newton's third law of motion.

Mental Health and Physics

My SPH4U students threw wet paper towels against the chalkboard to relieve stress, and to begin our discussion about inelastic collisions.

Traditional Learning

Physics is not an exercise in mathematics, however using math to explain physics can be a beautiful thing.

Student Collaboration

These students are working on a lab investigating a spring's k-constant.

Safe Spaces to Ask Questions

Students are sometimes invited to anonymously post questions to the chalkboard. It helps me understand where they are at, and gives quieter students a voice in the classroom.

Peer Assessment

Students in SPH4C presented their designs for the egg-drop competition, then made revisions based on feedback from their classmates before moving onto the implementation stage.

Design Opportunities

This is the implementation of the egg-drop design shown in the previous picture.

Hands-On Demonstrations

Sometimes a cardboard box does the best job of describing physics to Grade 12 students.

Physics You Can See

Here, students witness the effects of single-slit diffraction projected on the classroom ceiling.

Integrating Technology

A physics lesson becomes increasingly hands-on and engaging as interactive technology is introduced.

MY PHYSICS CLASSROOM

Equity in Science

This Day-1 activity helped Grade 9 students get to know each other and introduced the concept of observations. More importantly, it began an exploration of different perspectives in science.

Memorable Tactile Learning

My Grade 10 students were grossed out by their models of the human digestive system. They won't forget squeezing a banana through a pair of nylon stockings!

Feeling Safe

My Grade 9 students felt safe sharing their ideas about what causes the summer season. Some students took risks, others admitted they did not know.

Bringing Curriculum Close to Home

Searching for plastic waste in sand taken from Woodbine Beach helped these Grade 10 students understand Toronto's environmental issues.

Real-Life Examples

Drawing pictures of cell division is much different than watching it happen in a living onion root. I prepared this slide from a green onion I bought from Loblaws.

Make Learning Fun

My Grade 9 students used the Hallowe'en season as an excuse to make a spook-tacular periodic table of the elements.

Activating Prior Knowledge

Sometimes students know more before a lesson than I think they do - a pair of Grade 10 students had a good idea of where their various organs were in their body.

Building Community Through STEAM

As part of the optics unit, Grade 10 students struggle colouring a picture together while bathed in red light. A sense of community is developed when students have fun with this basic task.

Challenging Perceptions

Choosing the correct pencil crayon is difficult when the red filter changes all of the pencil crayon colours. This is a first-hand lesson in colour reflection and absorption!

Safe Science Spaces

This combination of art and science also creates a safe space for students to see it is okay be incorrect. This is the result of the red filter colouring project.

Personal Reflections in Science

Before jumping into a science topic, I will ask students to think about why the topic might be important to them.

Mental Health and Science

A chemical reaction between baking soda and vinegar can go a long way to brightening the day of my students!

Art in Science

This mirror-art project allowed my Grade 10 science students to exercise their creativity within the optics unit. A geometric analysis of the reflections completed this project.

Art in Science

This student loved art, and was often doodling human facial features in her science notebook. Here, her doodles become optical science.

Art in Science

Creating science art is a mindful activity. So it gives students a chance to slow down and think about what they are learning. My Grade 9's created these definition cards for their notes.

Extending the Science Classroom

My Grade 10 students created a science-art collage for the school hallway, based on the cell cycle. The prophase, metaphase and anaphase stages made by one student are shown here.

Cell Cycle Art

Students from other classes and grades stopped to look at the art and talk about what they remembered about the cell cycle.

Cell Cycle Art

This is the finished product.

MY SCIENCE CLASSROOM

MY MATH CLASSROOM

Math Really Works!

A correct calculation of the triangle's centroid will allow the triangle to balance on the end of the pencil. If not, my Grade 10 students compared their solutions with others.

Graffiti Math

Students are in disbelief when you give them permission to complete their math by writing on school property!

A Window To Learning

This student used the window to demonstrate his understanding of similar triangles.

The Median of a Dorito

Finding the median of a dorito is much more interesting to a Grade 10 student than finding the median of a triangle.

Integrating Technology

Tracing quadrilaterals on this SmartBoard image got students out of their seats and into the day's geometry lesson.

Technology, Art and Math

Students used their smartphones to photograph parabolas they found in the school, and analyze them in the Desmos app.

Kinaesthetic Assessments

This mini-quiz required students to build ratios using click-blocks. Their creations were used to assess their understanding of the curriculum expectations.

Limitless Tactile Math

One student went all out demonstrating his understanding of exponential growth. The only thing holding him back was the number of blocks available to him.