The Best of Times...The Worst of Times....Why I Blog

WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?

WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?

     I get so excited about the beginning of the year.  Who wouldn't be?  I love teaching and I love seeing the kids come in.  I think the first day of the year should be a national holiday.  It is a day of hope and promise.

     Slowly, reality creeps in.  I still believe in hope and promise.  However, I start to learn about the kids and they start to learn about me. If I have 100 different kids, they come in with 100 different stories and ability levels.  On top of that there is the never ending stream of meetings and demands, new programs, testing schedules and unfunded mandates.  Also, each year I like to try some new labs and ideas (can anyone say "ChemEd 2015?).  Finally, I also have to balance all of this with my personal life.

     In other words, it gets overwhelming really fast.

     So what do I do when it gets to be too much?  Focus on what matters....students, learning, teaching and staying positive.  Essentially, that is what this blog is about.  Despite all of the demands, each week I force myself to sit down and make sure that I attempt at least one positive action in a sea of chaos.  I know it might sound stupid.  As teachers we should be doing this every day. There have been times when I have been swimming against such a heavy current of "stuff" that I am not really sure how any of it honestly deals with education.  The three questions above are my road map each week to get me to the next week and hopefully help me organize my time and stay in a positive direction.  No complaining or negativity....

     So what happened last week?  We spent time on Gas Laws in Academic Chemistry and were starting to consider a test.  I did a quick "exit" ticket.  I gave the kids a post it note.  I told them they could either write one item they are sure of or write a question.  Post the question on the question mark paper on their way out or post the item they are sure of on the light bulb paper on the way out.  Here is what I found.....

     The good news is that there are more post it notes on the light bulb side.  I quickly checked them.  I wanted to make sure there were not "misconceptions".  Sometimes my kids think they have the answer but it is a misconception.  The "?" paper had few post it notes but it was all on the gas law equations.  I decided to stop tomorrow and jigsaw a series of gas law problems on white boards to give students a little extra practice with the equations.  I find that universally, my students struggle with the math.  So we went to a "plan B" and the first test scores were fair.  I think math will be something we struggle with the whole year, but it is good to know that.

"What's the Matter?"

     Next, we started Amanda Vilardo's TIMU activity on the "Classification of Matter" called "What's the Matter?"  I had to "tweak" a few things.  Amanda uses colored magnets to show the different atoms and elements.  I substituted paper circles that were different colors (a tip I got from Kim Cooper, my colleague and a great teacher).  For the most part, the students were engaged and asking good questions.  A seven to 10 page packet can be intimidating to grade so I told the students they had to get two teacher "checkpoints".   These are build into the activity.  As I was going around, the same questions popped up so at the end of class we took a 10 minute break to clarify some terms.  The "assessment" portion is the last page that I have not given them yet.  They will be able to use there packets to answer the assessment questions on the last page at the end of class on Monday. All of this hits the symbolic and particulate well.  We will get two the macroscopic on a separation lab we do this week.   I will report back how it goes...  Until then, remember the best thing we can do to help kids is to love what you do, stay positive and have fun teaching and learning.