Maybe a better way....

WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?

WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?

    I felt like I was kind of in a "funk" with one of my classes.  Things were going fair but I wanted them to go better.  Typically when I need to make some changes I do the following....find someone who seems to be doing a really good job and do what they do.

     Kim Stites is a new hire at Sycamore.  Although I have not observed her classes, we talk and I admire her enthusiasm and creativity.  I decided to pick her brain on doing empirical, molecular and percent comp.  She gave me two good ideas.

     The first is almost like "speed dating".  There are four students at a lab bench, two in each group.  They have three minutes to solve a problem.  After the three minutes they flip coin.  One pair has to leave and go to the next station, one pair stays and keeps working.  At the end, you gather as a class and review all the problems.  It might be just what I need for my first bell class.  They need to keep moving and they need to be thinking.  There is significant research that shows that if kids can move a little during class instead of sitting for 50 minutes that it is beneficial.  I think it is true for most people.

     Her other idea was to make a flip book for empirical molecular formula determination. Geyer has a poem, "Percent to mass, mass to mole, divide by smallest, multiply to whole."  These are the steps to solve empirical and molecular formulas.  Kim showed me how to make a little flip book with tabs.  Each tab could be a line and the page would be examples and notes.  It might be just the thing to help students "break things down".  I will keep you posted.