Tales from the science classroom

 I has been almost 4 months since I posted here. 4!!!! Months!!!!! So very much has happened in that time and I'm not sure I can fill in all the details. So let's try for some general highlights.  In January, when we came back from Christmas break, I was kind of over the whole modeling thing. This year's class is probably the hardest class I've had in a while and it was a battle every single time. I got frustrated and decided that I was completely over it. So I went back to old school methods. Okay, not completely, but much more old school than modeling. I've decided that I'm not really a fan of the modeling curriculum. There are lots of gaps and holes in it and I'm just not completely comfortable with it. There are a few other curriculums out there along the lines of the modeling one and I'm thinking about looking into those. I did look into them some last summer and then decided to go with what I had. I'm thinking that was a bad choice. So I'm ...

 It's been so long since I posted here.  This semester has not been good. I started out with such high hopes and grand visions and it all fell to sh*t by November. For the last few weeks I have been in a foul mood and have not been wanting to even go to school. I have made huge mistakes that affected everyone's grades and it's all because my heart just has not been in it.  After a whole lot of reflection, I realized that while I had all these grandious plans and expectations, the students did not. I thought that I if I did X,Y, and Z all the students would fall in line and class would be amazing. It didn't happen. So much of my foul mood was due to the fact that I was working my butt off to try and make things work and the students were hardly working. That is going to change. I've already decided that I'm going to move a little bit away from the modeling structure. A little bit. I'm going to do more lecture and just explain things to them. I'm going to ...

 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...

 Since I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, time for a catch up.  Week 10:  This was the week before break and we were all done. Completely. Totally. Done.  Chemistry:  Week 10:  Started dimensional analysis (maybe that is why I was so done - teaching this is far harder than it should be). Did a little work on dimensional analysis. Then, on Wednesday/Thursday, I gave them a catch up day. They could work on their summative task, retake any thing they did poorly on, whatever. I did not feel like jumping into something on the day before break. I honestly didn't feel like working on the day before break.  Over the fall break, I watched a webinar about mathematical reasoning. It really struck home because I realized that these kids had no concept of numbers or what they mean exactly or even really how to use them well. They know the algorithms but they don't really understand what they are doing. So over the break I created a lecture and some notes for th...

 It was a week.  Chemistry:  Monday/Tuesday:  We whiteboarded worksheet #3 and then did worksheet #4. Worksheet #4 was turned in for a grade.  Wednesday/Thursday: We took some notes on density and then did Big Idea #3. The Summative Task was distributed and work began on it.  AP Chemistry:  Tuesday: Lecture on periodic trends and a little practice Thursday: Lecture on PES and then a little practice.  I was very low energy this week and it was reflected in my classes. Also, we are approaching fall break and that is just kind of making things drag a bit. Next week is the week before break and I'm truly looking forward to break. We are going to New Mexico for a few days and I'm super excited about it.  That was it. Not a lot to say. As I said, low energy week and so nothing exciting happened. 

 Last week I didn't get to blog so it's time to catch up here.  Week 7:  Chemistry:  Monday/Tuesday: We whiteboarded worksheet 2 which was all on measuring and reading scales. Then we had a lecture on SI units. I discovered that whiteboarding takes far, far longer than I anticipate.  Wednesday/Thursday: We had an assessment on reading measurements and estimating the last number. Then we began a lab exploring mass v. volume. This was a little difficult as I had to explain, repeatedly, how to use a caliper. But we struggled through.  AP Chemistry:  Tuesday: Lecture on electron configuration, Hund's Rule, Aufbau principle, and Pauli exclusion principle. Went through those in some detail.  Thursday: We did some worksheets on the above and got ready to start a lab.  Week 8:  Chemistry:  Monday/Tuesday: We completed the mass v. volume lab and they had to graph out the data. We used two things to do this lab, some density cylinders and den...

 So this week was a 2 day week due to the 5 day weekend. And it was brutal. Getting back into the swing of things after 5 days off takes more than 1 day. But we survived and the week is now over.  Chemistry this week: Over the 5 day weekend, I graded the worksheets they did and was so disappointed in the grades. So I decided, since we only had 1 day this week, to revisit those worksheets. I gave them back with all the red  marks on them. Each group was given a part of a problem and they had to do it up on the white board. I circulated and made corrections or clarifications where necessary. Then everyone got to 'copy' the whiteboards onto a new worksheet and submit that for a grade. I also did the first notebook check. It was worth 10 points and while most students did well, I clearly have to remind them of some things. So I am going to start reminding them of some things daily.  AP Chemistry this week:  We finished up the test that they started last week. It too...