No preludes... just dive in to physics. Like in Hamilton.

Take a cue from Hamilton in how you start your course.  I saw the show live back in February.  Now I've seen it again on video.  Of course, I'm a bit of a musical theater nerd - I went in having heard the soundtrack, excited for the experience.

Don't think about me in the audience.  Think about the person who's been dragged to see the show, perhaps by an over-enthusiastic friend, parent, spouse, or date.  This can't possibly live up to the hype.  Right?  Woah, two hours forty minutes?  OMG.  Let's get this thing started so we can get it over with.  Maybe I can make an excuse and slip out at halftime.

And then... do you know how the show starts?  Not with an overture.  Certainly not with (director) Tommy Kail coming out on stage to say "Okay! I know some of you don't want to be here, but we're going to have a fun time together! Turn to your neighbor and tell them what you love most about theater!  And now, let me tell you why *I* love our show and why you will too!"  Nope.  That's gonna make your date ever more angry about being dragooned to the show.

The start of the show is quite sudden.  A voice comes over the loudspeaker.  Paraphrasing: "I am your King, George the third. Please silence your cell phones.  Welcome to my show."  I mean, no more than 10 or 15 seconds of talking.

A man walks onto the stage.  Spotlight on him.  He starts rapping.  Here we go...

Before they know it, the skeptical friends are cheering for the Continental Army at the Battle of Yorktown, they're a bit choked up because John Laurens died, and they're racing to the bathroom in order to make it back before the second half kicks off.  There wasn't time for complaints or sarcastic comments.  The show is amazing - so the cast gets right down to business, capturing the audience before they have a chance to remind themselves that they weren't planning on enjoying the show.

What you do on the first day of physics class?  I dive in.  In AP, it's straight up equilibrium demos.  In conceptual physics, I'm doing reflection labs.  No preamble, nothing.  Physics is amazing.  So I get right down to business, capturing the audience before they have a chance to start that performative negativity that's so endemic in high schools.  Before they know it, my skeptical students are making predictions that they can verify by simple experiments, and having fun doing so.