A FORCE FOR GOOD TEACHER ACCELERATES STUDENTS.Byline: DANA BARTHOLOMEW Staff Writer NORTH HOLLYWOOD -- The mission was as precise as an Apollo shot to the moon, only with far less thrust. Students in the nation's only Advanced Placement physics course for middle schools had to calculate how far they would fire a marble across their classroom -- without trial or error. ``This is very sophisticated,'' declared teacher Daren Kitajima, 37, briefing the brains of his class at Walter Reed Middle School Walter Reed Middle School is a year-round school located in North Hollywood in Los Angeles, California. Its original name was North Hollywood Junior High School. The school is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. . ``You can launch with various velocities. ``But you only get one shot.'' When he took over the class two years ago, the teacher had one shot to win over the minds of some of the smartest students in the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. . Since then, his eighth-graders have scored higher on AP physics tests than many high school seniors across the nation. From the mechanics of motion to nuclear energy, students study principles that would flummox some college grads. Some credit Kitajima's love for math and science. Some credit his playful pedagogy. Others bow to his gift for showing how rote rote 1 n. 1. A memorizing process using routine or repetition, often without full attention or comprehension: learn by rote. 2. Mechanical routine. science formulas translate into screaming roller-coaster rides at Magic Mountain. For students, it's all about ``Ninja Power,'' a term Kitajima wipes from the whiteboard while sketching the mechanics of marble flight. ``He can appropriately be described as a Ninja,'' said Min-jae Kim, 13, of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , one of 22 students in this year's class. ``He throws intellectual stars. ``It's killing us.'' In challenging the most gifted students, Kitajima has picked up the torch from William Fitz-Gibbon, the stentorian sten·to·ri·an adj. Extremely loud: a stentorian voice. See Synonyms at loud. [After Stentor, a loud-voiced Greek herald in the Iliad. founder of the award-winning class. ``It shows what can be done by these kids -- people don't understand the tremendous range of ability of these students,'' said Fitz-Gibbon, who retired in 2003 but still coaches at the school. The College Board, which administers the AP program, recognizes Walter Reed Noun 1. Walter Reed - United States physician who proved that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes (1851-1902) Reed as the only middle school to offer AP physics. Of the 23 eighth-graders to take the national AP physics test last may, 14 were from Walter Reed. The rest were probably independent study or home school students, a spokesman said. Nearly 36,000 students in Los Angeles Unified took AP exams last spring -- all of them high school students, except for those at Walter Reed. Administrators say they'd like to clone Kitajima's class as a model for other middle schools, but there are too few qualified science teachers willing to teach lower grades. ``Ceilings are for rooms, not students,'' said Sheila Smith, LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) district coordinator for gifted and talented programs. ``We would like to have everyone open to the joys of working to their potential.'' ``The kids can do it,'' added Marc Share, of Sherman Oaks, whose son, Matthew, scored the top grade on the AP physics exam last spring and is now thinking of becoming a scientist. ``They do feel good about rising to the challenge of advanced science.'' A wiry wir·y adj. 1. Resembling wire in form or quality, especially in stiffness. 2. Sinewy and lean. 3. Filiform and hard. Used of a pulse. man with rimless glasses, rolled up jeans and Birkenstocks, Kitajima subsists on a diet of peanut butter and bagels, stashed in a small fridge behind his desk. The Bay Area native has regaled students with his jazz sax and rock guitar riffs and once sang ``Wild Thing'' during algebra. He's been nerdy enough to inscribe in·scribe tr.v. in·scribed, in·scrib·ing, in·scribes 1. a. To write, print, carve, or engrave (words or letters) on or in a surface. b. To mark or engrave (a surface) with words or letters. the symbol for ``Pi'' in his close-shaved crew cut. He's taken students on field trips to Magic Mountain to measure the velocity of roller coasters While there have been hundreds of different roller coasters built, there have been just a few that were notable for specific reasons. Some reasons include:
During a recent lab, he paired off students who, like NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. engineers with braces, were asked to measure the trajectory and landing of spring- fired marbles. Students measured the marble, how fast it traveled through a laser, calculated angle and height and velocity using trigonometry trigonometry [Gr.,=measurement of triangles], a specialized area of geometry concerned with the properties of and relations among the parts of a triangle. Spherical trigonometry is concerned with the study of triangles on the surface of a sphere rather than in the and quadratic formulas -- recalled with a ditty dit·ty n. pl. dit·ties A simple song. [Middle English dite, a literary composition, from Old French dite, from Latin dict to the tune of ``Pop Goes the Weasel'' -- to predict the marble's travel across the classroom. Before long, two students met the challenge with a bull's-eye. ``Every once in awhile I step back and say, `I can't believe these kids are getting it,''' said their teacher. ``But everyone has their heart in it. ``Many are our future scientists.'' Kitajima -- a former environmental engineer who also teaches algebra, geometry and the school's competitive math team -- said he was drawn into teaching through tutoring and working with kids at his church. He loves kids, he said. And he loves explaining the beauty of how things work. ``When I play the guitar for them, I explain how a vibrating string A vibration in a string is a wave. Usually a vibrating string produces a sound whose frequency in most cases is constant. Therefore, since frequency characterizes the pitch, the sound produced is a constant note. translates into music,'' he said. ``I want them to be careful thinkers, critical thinkers -- people who have found something that they're really passionate about, and pursue it.'' dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3730 CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Students in the Walter Reed Middle School AP Physics class learn how to read measurements using calipers from teacher Daren Kitajima, who teaches what is believed to be the only Advanced Placement middle-school physics class in the nation. (2 -- color) Walter Reed Middle School teacher Daren Kitajima explains how to use a marble launcher and an electric photogate during an Advanced Placement physics class in October. John Lazar/Staff Photographer |
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