Comments for Crazy Chemistry Teacher http://crazychemteacher.wordpress.com recording my explosions in the classroom Tue, 13 May 2008 02:19:30 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 Comment on Test Review by Taylor & Iza http://crazychemteacher.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/test-review/#comment-108 Taylor & Iza Tue, 13 May 2008 02:19:30 +0000 http://crazychemteacher.wordpress.com/?p=40#comment-108 We are two students of Todd McIllraith's ADD sophmore chemistry class. The appointment tactics he explained are very helpful. It keeps us involved by changing it up before we even get bored. I would highly reccomend it. :) Hope you appreciate the feedback. Peace. ~Taylor and Iza We are two students of Todd McIllraith’s ADD sophmore chemistry class. The appointment tactics he explained are very helpful. It keeps us involved by changing it up before we even get bored. I would highly reccomend it. :)

Hope you appreciate the feedback.

Peace. ~Taylor and Iza

]]> Comment on They get to do it in English class…. by Todd McIlraith http://crazychemteacher.wordpress.com/2008/03/11/they-get-to-do-it-in-english-class/#comment-83 Todd McIlraith Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:37:19 +0000 http://crazychemteacher.wordpress.com/?p=80#comment-83 Crazy Chem Master... Good post. My colleague and I do allow retakes, but only after students thoroughly go back and regrade their own tests. They must find the correct answer for each incorrect answer and write an explanation of why they got it wrong. They must present me with those corrections before they get a chance at a retest. Then they only get to retest on the specific topic of the problems they corrected. Overall, I think it improves achievement. But the down side is some students don't give their full effort on the first test, knowing they can just do test corrections later. I find this annoying. But our school district is big on using tests as formative assessments to improve learning, rather than using tests as just summative assessments. It's also more work for me, having to grade more tests for the same unit. But if it increases learning and proficiency, I suppose it's worthwhile. Regards, Todd (from the Beaverton School District) Crazy Chem Master…

Good post. My colleague and I do allow retakes, but only after students thoroughly go back and regrade their own tests. They must find the correct answer for each incorrect answer and write an explanation of why they got it wrong. They must present me with those corrections before they get a chance at a retest. Then they only get to retest on the specific topic of the problems they corrected. Overall, I think it improves achievement. But the down side is some students don’t give their full effort on the first test, knowing they can just do test corrections later. I find this annoying. But our school district is big on using tests as formative assessments to improve learning, rather than using tests as just summative assessments.

It’s also more work for me, having to grade more tests for the same unit. But if it increases learning and proficiency, I suppose it’s worthwhile.

Regards,
Todd (from the Beaverton School District)

]]> Comment on Test Review by Todd McIlraith http://crazychemteacher.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/test-review/#comment-19 Todd McIlraith Sun, 03 Feb 2008 05:08:03 +0000 http://crazychemteacher.wordpress.com/?p=40#comment-19 Hey Crazy Teacher! I'm a first-year chemistry teacher myself here in Beaverton, Oregon (they made me teach marine biology for one term, but that's another story). Here' s an idea that worked exceptionally well for review day. I happened to have two sections of students (sophomores) who were quite social (difficult keeping them focused). Beginning of the period I had them all take out a sheet of paper. They wrote eight lines. They were required to go make eight appointments with eight different classmates. I gave them eight different review questions that were similar to what was on the test. Then every five minutes they had to go find the classmate for that appointment (appointment #3, at 10:05 am, is Mary Smith. Hi Mary. Let's look at review question #3...). They had five minutes to come up with an answer. At the end of five minutes, I gave the class the answer. Then they moved to their next appointment and the next question. At the end, I asked how many students got all eight questions. Then I pointed out that if you didn't get a question, that would be a hint of what needed to be studied for the test. It worked for me. Good luck. I like your site and will check back to find more pearls of wisdom! Hey, I could use any help I can get! Blessings and Peace, New guy in the Beaverton School district (Todd) Hey Crazy Teacher! I’m a first-year chemistry teacher myself here in Beaverton, Oregon (they made me teach marine biology for one term, but that’s another story). Here’ s an idea that worked exceptionally well for review day. I happened to have two sections of students (sophomores) who were quite social (difficult keeping them focused). Beginning of the period I had them all take out a sheet of paper. They wrote eight lines. They were required to go make eight appointments with eight different classmates. I gave them eight different review questions that were similar to what was on the test. Then every five minutes they had to go find the classmate for that appointment (appointment #3, at 10:05 am, is Mary Smith. Hi Mary. Let’s look at review question #3…). They had five minutes to come up with an answer. At the end of five minutes, I gave the class the answer. Then they moved to their next appointment and the next question. At the end, I asked how many students got all eight questions. Then I pointed out that if you didn’t get a question, that would be a hint of what needed to be studied for the test.

It worked for me. Good luck. I like your site and will check back to find more pearls of wisdom! Hey, I could use any help I can get!

Blessings and Peace,
New guy in the Beaverton School district (Todd)

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