Physics Teacher

Physics teacher responsibilities are to compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others; evaluate and grade students' class work, laboratory work, assignments, and papers; initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions; keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences; prepare course materials such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts; select and obtain materials and supplies such as textbooks and laboratory equipment.

Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues; serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues; advise students on academic and vocational curricula and on career issues; prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as quantum mechanics, particle physics, and optics; write grant proposals to procure external research funding; conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media; maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records; maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students; plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, and course materials and methods of instruction; participate in campus and community events; supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work; participate in student recruitment, registration, and placement activities; act as advisers to student organizations; compile bibliographies of specialized materials for outside reading assignments; provide professional consulting services to government or industry; supervise students' laboratory work; maintain and repair laboratory equipment; perform administrative duties such as serving as department head.

It depends on the sector. In general, it is always preferable to send a hand-written note by post because the extra mile you put in to express gratitude can give you a competitive advantage in the job decision process. Most people do not send any formal thank-you notes after interviews, so you should always do so. However, I recognize that certain sectors, such as government agencies, labs, and even some academic institutions are difficult to send mail to. In fact, I have mailed cards to professionals in the federal government only to have them get lost in a labyrinthine system of security. So if you think this might be the case with your prospective position, send an email thank-you note. And be sure to send one individually to each person who interviewed you, as opposed to a batch email to a group.

The answer depends on where you are in the hiring process. I will address this question from two points of view. On the one hand, let's assume that you are trying to get an interview and you are either applying for a job after seeing an ad or you are speaking with someone at the company with the hope that they will invite you for a formal interview. The key here is to share in the initial email what it is you can do for the other party and their organization by exemplifying problems you have solved, detailing the results of your solutions, and concluding how your experience uniquely prepares you to add value to their team. For an entry-level job, you are not expected to have tons of experience in a company setting. That said, the experiences you have had as a student are valuable and can be articulated in such a way as to demonstrate your ability to add value to their organization quickly.

The Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications, Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub- atomic structures and processes, the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar, principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects, circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

☛ Describe a college class or experience that has most influenced your teaching philosophy.

☛ What to you think is your most exciting, effective, and memorable lesson plan. How do you know it's effective?

☛ How do handle a classroom of students with a wide variety of skill levels?

☛ What are some ways that you use technology in the classroom? How do you find technologybeneficial? Can technology every have negative impacts on learning?

☛ What do you think it the difference between a novice and expert physics student? How do you transform notice students into experts?

☛ What role to you think homework should play in a physics class? What methods do you employ to encourage students to do homework?

☛ In what ways are you a better teach today than you were several years ago?

☛ What is a physics concept that you find students have particular difficulty with? How do you help students overcome this difficulty?

☛ What do you say to a student who asks why an astronaut is "weightless."

☛ A student is pushing a cart, both the student and cart are accelerating. The student claims that the force of the student on the cart is greater than the cart on the student. What do you say to this student?

☛ Here is a cart of objects that could be used for physics demonstrations, spend the next 5 minutes saying how you could use objects on the cart for various demonstrations.

☛ Use Gauss's Law to find the electric field a distance R away from an infinite line charge.

☛ What questions do you have for us?