Five days to build three high school physics courses? No problem.

Lynn Jorgensen was never, ever going to be a teacher. That’s what she decided while watching her mom, a junior high math teacher, grade homework. “I swore I would never do that.”

Now, Jorgensen is the 2024 PhysTEC Teacher of the Year, a designation that recognizes outstanding physics educators. The Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) — an initiative of APS and the American Association of Physics Teachers — seeks to address a shortage of qualified physics teachers in the U.S.

It’s been ten years since Jorgensen began teaching physics at Gilbert High School in Gilbert, Arizona. Since then, the program has grown by leaps and bounds. Students with a wide range of math skills and postgraduation plans have found physics — and belonging — in her classroom. Colorful three-tier mobiles hang above her desk, the culmination of a unit on torque and rotational dynamics. Two dozen tiny resin ducks have appeared around her classroom, love notes from graduating seniors.

APS News spoke with Jorgensen about her story, teaching strategies, and the value of collaborations and community. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

What sparked your interest in physics teaching?

I took my first physics class as a senior in high school. Math was a struggle for me all through junior high and high school. And then I got an amazing physics student teacher. The class was awesome. That was the first time that math ever made sense to me. It just clicked, and all of a sudden, I was good at something.

When I went to college, I was initially planning to go into engineering. In the first physics class I took, my professor told me I had a knack for the subject and asked if I would become a part-time peer tutor. Through that experience, I realized I was good at explaining physics to other people, and I liked it. So I got a B.S. in physics teaching from Brigham Young University. Later, I got a master's of natural sciences in physics at Arizona State University. That opened the door for me to teach dual enrollment classes.

What was your first physics teaching job?

When my youngest child started kindergarten, I started subbing in the district. The next fall, the week before school started, I noticed an opening for a physics teacher. I wasn’t sure I wanted to start teaching yet, but I decided to practice interviewing. An hour after the interview, I got the offer. I picked up my keys five days before school started. I had little equipment and no curriculum, and I was about to teach regular physics, AP 1, and AP 2. I was the only physics teacher there.

Wow. So you had keys to your room but no plan. What did you do?

Partnerships with amazing collaborators and teachers got me through. Two days before school started, I met Jim Archambault, a physics teacher at a nearby school. He took me under his wing and gave me a flash drive with literally everything he did in his AP class.

Jim invited me to join a professional learning community, so I did. During those first years, we met after school on Wednesdays for two to three hours to make sure I was prepared. Eventually, I started contributing my own ideas.

I also started working with Arizona State University’s modeling instruction program and collaborating with groups like the American Modeling Teachers Association and the Arizona section of the American Association of Physics Teachers. I was like a sponge, absorbing any opportunity for professional development.

What is a strategy you learned and integrated into your classroom?

Using whiteboards for inquiry-based labs and activities. By the second year, I had my students working, discussing, and whiteboarding in small groups. And I haven't stopped. My kids are at whiteboards and lab stations almost every day using visible thinking. It’s easier for students to listen and make connections in smaller groups.

What is your approach to teaching?

Physics is hard. But I want my students to see physics in their everyday lives, in the world around them. We try to have as much fun as we can.

I also want my students to understand that you don't have to be good at physics for me to like you. You belong here, whether you are good at physics or not, and I am happy to help you. I will meet you wherever you're at. You're in a safe place, in the right place, and it's okay if it's hard. You can be successful.

How do you help students when they’re stuck?

They get stuck all the time and never at the same point. That's why I really love whiteboarding. When I walk around from group to group, it’s easier for students to let me know they need help. When they do, I go back and see if they understand the previous step. If not, we go back another step. It’s important to focus on what they do know.

I tell students that everything we do in physics is exactly like everything else we do in physics, except in the ways they're different. The key is to look for similarities and go from there. Right now, we're in torque and rotational dynamics. Say we’re doing the kinematic equations. I remind students, “Don't say ‘theta equals omega times time’ — its position equals velocity times time, just like always.”

What advice do you have for physics teachers?

If you don't have a professional learning community, find one. Find groups that will build you up, help you realize you're doing great, and help you be better. Sometimes our own schools are too small, or not everyone is open to new ideas. Reach out and be creative. And there is always something new that the district wants or that somebody wants from us. But if we are creative and proactive, we can spin those things into what works for us.

Is there a message you’d like to share with the APS community?

High school physics teaching is great! Don’t downplay the job or treat students who want to go into teaching as less-than. In order to have physics majors, we need awesome physics teachers. And teachers have cool research opportunities too.

What do you like most about teaching physics?

I get to have fun and talk about stuff that I love and enjoy. I get to be weirdly obsessed with obscure ideas that nobody else in the world cares about except people in physics. I get to share the fun of physics every single day. That's the best part.