I have discovered that there are certain banned words in my classroom. I have started referring to some things as “banned.” In the future I hope to make a poster.
“I hate________ (logarithms, chemistry, dissolution, math, etc)”
“I don’t get it.”
“I can’t do ____________ (stoichiometry, logarithms, diagramming, etc)”
This is not because I dislike questions. I love questions. [...]
Archive for March, 2008
I believe in censorship
Posted in Uncategorized on March 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The new quarter
Posted in Uncategorized on March 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Overall, the new quarter is going well. It is going very quickly.
I feel like I have got my stride. I spend less time figuring out what I need to do.
My motto has been, babysteps, practice, babysteps, practice. I don’t let myself show them an equation, or teach them anything, unless they get to use it [...]
Self-Centeredness
Posted in difficulties, planning, tagged experience, revision on March 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Early in my Master’s program, I remember one of the experienced teachers (a wise, wise man) say that one of the big difference between novice and experienced teachers is that novices think a lot about themselves in the classroom: how they are doing, what techniques they are using, etc, and experienced teachers think about the [...]
More thoughts on revision
Posted in Uncategorized on March 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
After writing the last post, I think that more of my sympathies for revision are explained. I get to teach all this stuff again next year. I will do it so much better. I’m trying hard, and doing a pretty good job (at least all the people who observe me seem to think it’s about [...]
A square peg in a round hole
Posted in Uncategorized on March 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Being a first year teacher, and like all teachers, not having nearly enough time, I often scope out other teacher’s materials on-line to modify or use in my classroom. This sometimes leads to interesting results. Today, for instance, I have a great practice set for Lewis Dot structures, but it doesn’t match well with the [...]
My first quarter is over
Posted in chemistry, homework, planning, students, tagged lessons on March 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The biggest lesson I have learned is that my students need to practice. 3 or 4 problems is not enough. They might whine somewhat about the worksheet, but they are hopeless without a lot of practice. The thing to do is not to have other activities replace practice, but to have a lot of practice [...]
A good start
Posted in chemistry, planning on March 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Today was a bad day in everything but my teaching. We are starting “shape.” This is how I think of Lewis structure/VSEPR stuff. We are taking steps towards thinking in three dimensions, which is one of the wonderful things about chemistry.
I managed to start at the beginning. I reviewed their prior knowledge of valence electrons. [...]
They get to do it in English class….
Posted in assessment, students, tagged revision, tests on March 11, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Revision, that is. My MIL sent me some tests from some high school student she knows, and this girl had failed her chemistry tests the first time around. She went back, fixed all the problems, and wrote one to two paragraphs explaining her mistake and the correct answer. If they were good enough, she got [...]
The test, and grades
Posted in assessment, homework on March 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Two of my classes have C + averages, both overall and on the most recent test. The other class has an A- average. Is it me or them? How can I teach both these classes the same stuff at approximately the same pace.
I discovered something interesting while looking at my class summaries on Easy Grade [...]
Touchy Feely Flower Child
Posted in chemistry, difficulties, math, students, tagged intuition on March 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
One of my students referred to a task we were doing in class today as “touchy feel-y flower child” methods. Not something that one expects to hear in chemistry class, when classifying compounds as either ionic, polar covalent, or non-polar covalent.
This was because I was discouraging the method in the book, which no one except [...]
