It's been a hot minute or two

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 Week 12: Chemistry

We started Unit 2 by setting up the notebook and doing a phenomenon.  Then there was a demo on thermal expansion and finally we watched a series of  Eureka! videos about solids, liquids, gases, and temperature. That took 2 full days. I'm not super thrilled with how this unit starts and I think I may try to revamp it for next year. It's just kind of slow and boring. 

AP Chemistry:  

Believe we started Unit 3 this week, not even sure I remember. Oh, I remember now. We finished up the test on Tuesday and then started Unit 3 on Thursday. Nothing exciting, just some lecturing and note taking. 


Week 13: Chemistry

This week was the gas laws labs. We started the week with a short lecture on pressure. Then proceeded to the first of the gas laws labs - Pressure v. Volume. Then, next class, we moved on to Pressure v. number of particles after whiteboarding the first lab. 

AP Chemistry: 

I had a meeting on Tuesday so they were given a worksheet to practice some of the AP skills on. Then we did a titration lab on Thursday which was a huge hit. It wasn't a 'real' titration lab, but just to give them some practice and ideas on how this all works. 

I'm having some issues with some of my chemistry students and I'm not really sure exactly how to deal with it. My current plan of action is to isolate the disruptive students and not focus on them at all. They are definitely doing it for attention so withdrawing that attention is the only real thing I can think of. I will be making notes in the grade book so that I have documentation of what is going on. This year I'm kind of glad for that citizenship grade we have. This allows me to document behavior that is annoying but not worthy of a log entry. I am really utilizing that this year. 

I sometimes wonder if I'm getting too old for this job. My tolerance levels are very low and I have no time for nonsense. Oh well, I'm here for a while longer so I need to make the best of it. 

That's enough for today. Time to get my butt moving. 

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