Tales from the science classroom

 So after my brain dump on Thursday things went a whole lot smoother. Let's recap.  Chemistry:  Monday and Tuesday we did our first big lab. I set up the board with the way they were to set up their notebooks - that was their bellwork, setting up their notebooks. Many didn't do that. That means when we started the lab they weren't ready to go. There were 5 things they had to do and collect data on and it took most of the class. As I wrote about on Thursday, some groups didn't finish it because they were goofing off. Others did pretty crappy jobs at it. The bottom line is that I was majorly disappointed in these students as a whole. But all is not lost. I just need to take a step back and keep going step by step until they can do these things on their own. Not a problem. After I lost it on my first class on Wednesday, I had that class write a page on what they found in the lab. But as they were writing I realized that I could give a short lecture as to what I wanted them...

Yesterday I lost it on a class. Completely. Totally. Lost it. I had to make a new seating chart for this class because 2 groups didn't finish their labs on Monday - only class where that happened. Then I went to do a notebook check and a bunch of students didn't have theirs done. One student said he was absent so he didn't have it - even though I post it on Google Classroom at the end of every day. Another took up 5 pages for his lab and did not follow my template at all. I just completely lost it on them. I take time out of my life to make sure all this stuff is updated so they can access it from home and then they do this nonsense. Boom - I blew!!! I  feel bad about it for a couple of reasons:    a. I let it get to me b. I took it so personally I know they did not do that specifically because of me, but that is not how I reacted. So things are changing a little.  First, if they are absent I will email them and remind them to check on the Google Classroom.  Sec...

 This year I did something very, very different. I decided exactly the kinds of things I wanted in my classroom and I set things up so that I got those things. For example, nothing makes me crazier than to be in the middle of a lecture and someone ask to go to the bathroom. So I had a poster made that is a flowchart of when they can and cannot ask. It is working out great. I have decided to do my notebooks a certain way and I am sticking to that. I have had a couple of students fill in the wrong pages and I have made them change it. This will be done my way or not at all. So I basically got pretty firm in what I will and will not accept and there is no gray area, it's pretty black and white. The reason that is important is because it plays into not only the planning but the lack of cognitive dissonance. By planning things out I know exactly what I want to accomplish and how to get there. That takes a huge burden off me because it is all laid out. Also, by knowing exactly what I wil...

 Before I go any further, I want to lay out our school schedule so that it is clear going forward. We work on an A/B block schedule and only have a 4 day school week. So Monday and Wednesdays are A days and there are 4 - 90 minute classes. Tuesday and Thursdays are B days and there are 4 - 90 minute classes. Fridays we have off. Normally we would have 6 classes over 2 days with 2 prep periods. But, because of the sheer numbers this year, I agreed to take on a 7th class so I only have 1 prep period every 2 days. But I really only have to plan for 2 classes, twice a week. For the first year in forever, I have 2 classes that I know and have taught numerous times; chemistry and AP chemistry. And I think this is what is allowing me to really focus in on the lesson planning. I've been at this for 14 years but I seem to always be scrambling a little with lessons. But this year I have decided to focus solely on that and so far it is working out well. Of course we just finished our second w...

 The students returned to school on Wednesday. So we had classes Wednesday and Thursday for the first week.  I dislike starting the year with boring stuff like the syllabus and safety and all that nonsense. Also, the first week or so there is a lot of shuffling of students and so I hate to dive in, only to have them shift classes and then I have to move information... yeah, no. So I generally start the year with some activities that help promote what they will be doing throughout the year. This year it was Save Fred and Inquiry Cubes.  Can you save Fred? In this activity, the students were given a tray that had a gummy Life Saver under an upside down plastic cup and a gummy worm on top. They also had 4 paperclips. Their job was to save Fred, the gummy worm. Fred was out in his boat when a rogue wave came along and capsized it. Fred can't swim and he didn't have his life jacket on. They needed to turn the boat over, get Fred in the boat and then get Fred's life jacket on h...