Dear Potential Supporter:

My name is Jack Replinger and I am the Physics teacher at the Soulsville Charter School in Memphis, Tennessee, and a Teach For America alum. I am currently in my eighth year teaching high school physics.  During my second year of teaching, I reached the painful conclusion that the traditional method of teaching physics was simply not working for my students.  Over the last six years, through much trial, and unfortunately error, and with help and patience of my amazing students, and the invaluable assistance of Nick Barnhart, Memphis Teacher Residency class of 2015 and now Physics teacher at Melrose High School in Memphis, we have developed a new physics curriculum, we call Positive Physics.

In the Positive Physics approach, we break traditional physics problems down into well-defined skill sets, which allow students to master all necessary skills before putting them together to solve rigorous, traditional problems.  In addition, we focus on conceptual reasoning and real-world examples over algebraic manipulation and abstractions.  With this method, we have had tremendous success making physics accessible to all learners, especially the populations we serve in inner-city Memphis. 

I am writing to request your support for developing the Positive Physics curriculum into an interactive, online program which will not only transform our classrooms, but make Positive Physics accessible to other teachers and their students.  A screen shot of our website is shown below and you may view an example problem from our website by clicking on the “Interactive Demo Problem” link at positivephysics.org. 

For more information please view the “Full Proposal” at positivephysics.org and feel free to contact me via phone at 206.595.4675 or via email at jreplinger@tscsmemphis.org.  Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Jack Replinger

Founder - PositivePhysics.org

Physics Teacher - The Soulsville Charter School

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