Tracking Modeling

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 This year I'm thinking of tracking my modeling journey. I first took the modeling course in the summer of 2019 to qualify to teach dual enrollment chemistry.  I then started teaching using modeling the 2019-2020 school year. Well, we all know how that ended. Then the 2020-2021 year wasn't a whole lot better as we were in and out in the beginning of the year like crazy. We started the year out, then went back, then had to go out, then went back again. OMG, it was super ugly and I honestly don't know what the hell I taught that year. Then there was last year, 2021-2022, while we remained in school all year, the kids were in and out due to exposure to Covid and all kinds of other nonsense. Also, we had a lot of students who basically hadn't been in school for almost 2 years and they had no idea how to do school. It was a very, very ugly year. It was a year I was happy to see end.  

But, I am ever the optimist and I'm really looking forward to next year. I've been planning and working all summer so that I have the year I want to have. I'm going to use the modeling curriculum, though I did waffle between curriculums at the beginning, I decided to stick with what I know and make it work. I'm also going to do standard based grading. So they are going to have to show me that they mastered a standard and actually learned something rather than coping off someone else. This will be interesting. I think it will be some extra work for me; aligning everything to the standards for that unit and having to create new assessments for retakes; but overall I think it will be easier in the long run. They either know it or they don't and if they don't they have to learn it. I'm also doing the notebooks again. I did them last year with a modicum of success, this year I hope to improve on that. That might sound like a lot but the modeling and the notebook I'm just tweaking, the SBG is the only thing radically new. 

With all that in mind, I am thinking of chronicling my journey this year here. I am thinking of posting every weekend with what happened that week. I think it would help me a lot to have a detailed record of the things I do, especially considering that I am just starting my SBG journey. So over the weekend, I will sit down and review the week here. It will be mainly for my benefit, but it will also be for my future classes. 

We teachers return to school on Monday and the students come back the following week. Oh joy, my summer is over. No, I'm looking forward to getting back into it. 

Okay, things to do this morning. 

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