I read with great interest the article “Physics Teacher SOS: Supporting New Teachers Without Pushing an Agenda,” by Dean Baird [TPT 51, 286 (May 2013)]. This is the type of program sorely needed, especially for physics teachers. Typically, the physics teacher is alone in most high schools without others to confer with. Even in my situation in a somewhat larger school, during departmental meetings, the biology teachers would gather in one corner, chemistry in another, etc., and the physics teacher (me) would huddle in another corner and talk to myself.
I was involved in a somewhat different program than that described in the article. The state awarded me a grant that paid my salary and expenses to roam the state of Kentucky (1987–1990) to help solve some of the same problems addressed in the article. In spite of the name—most people called the activity “Have Physics, Will Travel”—a...