Tales from the science classroom

 So I think I finally figured out how to organize my stuff so that I can keep track of it. I'll be using that guide that I showed in the last post. I have altered it slightly so it looks like this:  This way I have a kind of running list of what I'm doing and be ready to keep moving if I have time. Also, I have a place to make notes so that I remember key things and don't forget what I had in mind. I also have color coded it with highlighter. Yellow means that assignment will be graded. Green is something that I have to do. Red is something that I need to post in the classroom. I have included the links to all the resources I will need so I can easily print them or load them. I think this will work because I can print it out and have it on my table and just keep going. It will allow me to prep things in advance that way I can keep going and I'm not stuck if something doesn't take as long as I thought it would. I can just keep going. I can also write notes on this ab...

Let me start this by saying I have no idea how to plan lessons. Okay, that's not completely true, but sort of. I was never taught how to lesson plan in my teacher education program. We had to write lesson plans and were instructed that they were what you planned on doing during a class, but that was really about it. Not a lot of information on how to actually go about doing it. Side note, I was in a webinar and the lady said that chemistry teachers have to have detailed instructions with specific examples for their subject. That's true, how exactly do I do this for chemistry.  Another problem I have is that in 13 years of teaching, I have not hit on a good method for writing lesson plans that work for me. I know that I need a physical copy to look at but I just haven't found a good way to have that copy that actually works for me and it's driving me crazy. I came across this in my files  Apparently I made this last year but then never followed through on it. I like this...

 So first, I can't believe that 2 weeks has already passed. WTF????? I started seriously working on next year yesterday and I think I'm just in my own way. I want to use a new curriculum, but I have the choice of 2 and I don't know which to use. Both are storyline driven, which is good. The first unit for one is about global warming, always a good topic, and the other one is about alien life, one of my favorite topics. I can't decide what to use and I want to have the curriculum basically laid out for when I return to school. I hate when I get this paralyzing feeling over planning. It's ridiculous. I know how to do this, I've been doing it for 13 years. But still I tend to panic just a little. I once again wonder if I'm trying to do too much. I want to do the notebooks that I attempted last year and a new curriculum. Too much? I don't think so. I worked on the notebooks all year and have a pretty good idea of how to get them going. Also, starting right a...