Seven years of physics

Wingspan is continuing its series of staff profiles with some of the newest staff members on campus. Next up, Kenric Davies, the new AP Physics teacher, to talk about  how his first few weeks have been as a new teacher on campus.

Wingspan:You’re a new teacher here, but how long have you be teaching in general?

Davies: “This will be my 7th year, so I’ve got six years under my belt.”

Wingspan: Have you taught other subjects besides AP Physics?

Davies: “Yes, this year, AP Physics 1 and AP Physics C, but in the past I’ve taught AP Physics 2 and Regular Physics and Astronomy.”

Wingspan: Are you a new teacher in FISD or just here on campus?

Davies: “New to FISD, so I was at Sherman ISD before I came here.

Wingspan: Are you enjoying the first weeks of school?

Davies: “I love it, I love the people I work with, the students are great, I’m having a good time.”

Wingspan: What is it that made you want to teach here on campus?

Davies: “Some family motivation, but I’ve always heard some great things about Frisco so I thought I’d come here as soon as I could.”

Wingspan: What was your first impression of the students at liberty?

Davies: “I think everyone’s here to have a good time, they’ve got a lot of motivation to do very, very well academically and also in extracurriculars. I think everyone is here to do their best and have fun doing it.”

Wingspan: Vice versa, what impression do you think students have of you?

Davies: “Hopefully they see I’m here to have a good time with them. You know, stuff to learn, but there’s no reason to not have fun while we’re doing it. That’s what I try to do in my classroom.”

Wingspan: Who would you suggest should take AP Physics?

Davies: “AP Physics can be for anyone who’s kind of looking to understand the world around them. Like things that you never think twice about. When you open a door, why is the door handle placed where it is, it all has to do with physics. Anyone who wants to understand how things work. That’s physics.”

Wingspan: What are some of your goals for this school year?

Davies: “It’s an AP class, I hope my students have a really good showing on the AP test at the end of the year. But really it’s just a matter of getting my feet under me this first year,maybe trying to do some new things that this school hasn’t ever seen before. So, i’ve got a few ideas rolling around.”

Wingspan: What do you think is the most important thing to remember in AP Physics?

Davies: “Well it’s not all about the math right? Science is not just about the math. It’s about knowing what the math is telling you. We gotta make sure we’re not just sitting there and crunching numbers. We gotta think about what’s behind those numbers.”

Wingspan: What have you been doing in class recently? What are some of the things going on?

Davies: “Recently some of the AP students have been predicting where objects will fall. So we’ve launched a couple of tennis balls off the balcony already and landed them in garbage cans. We’ve had a lot of look at motion and walking in the classroom, walking in the hallways and figuring out how to graph and model that motion mathematically.”

Wingspan: What are some of the other big projects you’re planning for this semester?

Davies: “I’ve done some catapults in the past, so maybe building a catapult and launching something. Done a lot of projects involving circuits and taking apart things and trying to figure out how they work, I’m looking forward to doing that stuff.”

Wingspan: What do you look forward to this year?

Davies: “Just having a good time, this is where i want to be, I want to be a high school physics teacher. I enjoy the students I enjoy the content. I’m just here to have some fun.”