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 incorporated into more authentic activities (e.g. labs).

Practice, practice, practice.

And slow down.

and don’t assume anything, especially if you didn’t teach them last term.

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 Pro (I love EGP). The test scores are usually just below the classwork scores. The homework scores aren’t that reliable for me because I have so many students who don’t do their homework, they pull down the HW average. So, if they have done B work in class, I can’t expect B+ test scores. They will do slightly less well.

I wonder if this is universal. I guess I expected improvement, because they have received feedback, and can study, so they should know it better. Is that too naive? Or just not how learning and assessment work? I worked very hard this time to make sure they were well prepared.

I found several things that I really like for active reading. Most of them were things I had seen before, but sort of forgotten, because reading in chemistry is not a very common priority. I found several of my favorites on a site for teaching social studies, here.

Students dislike reading the textbook. I told mine straight up that part of the reason I was going to work with the textbook was so that they would be good at it when they went to college. I told them I would be irresponsible as a teacher if I didn’t give them practice using textbooks, because in the future they will be expected to know how to use them. I was surprised at how effective that was. I felt a change towards the assignment when I said that. Still potentially annoying, but with a purpose beyond this class. I hope I didn’t imagine it.

I gave them one section to read, on intermolecular forces. It is about 2.5 pages long. They had to do four-way vocabulary for all the bold words (there were 5 of them) and compare and contrast the three different sections (three types of intermolecular forces). I didn’t do a very good job explaining the assignment to first period. I felt rushed. I think I do need to practice what I am going to say, so I say it more concisely and I don’t forget things.

I also got a very good suggestion in my suggestion box (my third so far). The student asked that I hand out the homework before I explain the assignment. I thought, Duh. How obvious. I always took notes or put reminders on my homework as a student. Of course they can’t do that if I don’t give them the paper first. I’ve been having them pick it up on their way out to save time, but no time is saved if they don’t know what is going on and I have to re-explain and extend the assignment. Such a small thing.