How I Met Paul Hewitt
There aren't many celebrities in the world of physics teachers, but Paul Hewitt was one. His Conceptual Physics textbook had been growing in popularity at colleges since 1971, and the then-new Conceptual Physics: A High School Program was in the process of shaking up the high school physics textbook market.
But there was Hewitt, just another person in the queue to present a demonstration to the NorCal family of physics instructors. I did my best to play it cool.
In 1989, the AAPT's Summer Meeting was in San Luis Obispo. This was my first national meeting. One day at lunch, I found myself across the table from Hewitt and we chatted it up, but I gave him no reason to remember me.
I greeted him several times at local and national meetings for years and years. He was always affable, approachable, and delightful to engage with.
In 1999, I was getting into this new computer file type called Portable Document Format (PDF). PDF's allowed me to share my curriculum with others even if they didn't have the same applications or fonts as me. I started posting files to the predecessor of phyz.org. I still had binders of printed documents for photocopying purposes.
For the Fall Meeting of the NCNAAPT, my Show & Tell was going to be my website and its access to my growing library of PDFs. I would bring one of my burgeoning 3-inch binders to show colleagues what I was giving them access to.
On the Friday before our Saturday meetings, we have social gatherings at local eateries. When I saw Hewitt there, I decided to make a play at leaving an impression. "Hey Hewitt!" I slowed him on his way in, "I just watched your first day of class video." (My school had recently purchased the Conceptual Physics Alive! videotapes.) "And you know what? I think I do a better job on the first day." Mic drop; needle drop into "Gangsters' Paradise" or some such. </fantasy>. His response to my being a punk? "All right!" and two thumbs up. I'm not proud, but it still makes me laugh.
Hewitt sat in the row behind me at the meeting the next day. I'm pretty sure he had long since forgotten our encounter just hours before. I did my Show & Tell, waving the heavy binder as a prop ("I was going to give one of these to all of you, but I couldn't afford the printing."). When I returned to my seat, Hewitt leaned over, "Can I see that binder?" I surrendered it with all deliberate speed.
He pages through it, and continues his perusal deep into the morning's keynote talk on dark energy. I feel a tap on my shoulder, "Did you write all this?" "Yes." ... "How old are you? ... We gotta talk; I want you on my team!" He saved me the seat next to him at lunch and we talked about things.
I had met Hewitt numerous times since 1986. That was the day Hewitt met me. Of course I was over the moon with delight. Buzzed without narcotics or hallucinogens for days.
How I Became a Lab Manual Author
Pearson wanted more math problems (number puzzles) for Conceptual Physics High School 3rd edition. Hewitt asked me to write some and though I thought the assignment was a bit odd, I was happy to contribute. I included names of family and friends where I could. When they saw their names in the textbook, they swelled with all appropriate pride.
Hewitt was kind enough to include me in the book's dedication. Our district adopted the book. I never told my students about the contributor credit or the dedication. Students never look at the front matter in a textbook. Eventually (never later than October), a student would ask. "Mr. Baird, is that you?" Only then would I confess. "It could be me," I would offer with a grin, "or it could be a different Dean Baird at Rio Americano High School in Sacramento." When I showed the dedication and credit in the textbook to my district's science coordinator, she laughed and asked how I pulled off such a compelling fake. No man is a prophet in his own land, indeed.
Hewitt's Conceptual Physical Science team (Paul Hewitt, his nephew John Suchocki, and daughter Leslie Abrams) asked me to author the lab manual for an upcoming school (7-12) edition of their textbook: Conceptual Physical Science Explorations.
I was both honored and terrified. Delighted to be invited, but the deadline was ... tight. And I was starting virtually from scratch. I had their 2nd edition college lab manual to get things rolling. I spent November 2002 learning Microsoft Word (I had avoided using that product, but it's what Pearson needed), scanning art, and reconstructing the existing pages. In the last few days before the deadline, I added some of my own labs. I was teaching during the day, authoring after school, dining at Denny's (with the laptop going), authoring until the wee hours, going to sleep for a few hours, rinsing and repeating.
Somehow it all came together and the manual was published in 2003. I was getting paid for my writing. What a rush that was. A 2nd edition of Conceptual Physical Science Explorations (pictured above) followed in 2010.
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