Friday, July 2, 2010

Chemistry Part II

Ever have a period of time in your life where you just can't seem to get anything crossed off your to-do list?

I am currently at the (hopefully) end of one of those. I went to my classroom yesterday and found a piece of paper in my desk that had the list of my goals for the summer.

And then I laughed.

So before anyone else woke up this morning, I sat down with my terrible chemistry curriculum and set my timer for 30 minutes. The timer is a great tip I picked up from the Fly Lady several years ago and pretty much the only one I have been able to stick with. I'm working on that.

Writing out the second trimester proved to take much less time than the first trimester did. This makes me pretty nervous. I think it's been so long since I taught regular chemistry that I simply wasn't sure what goes into the second trimester. I have a sneaking suspicion that there will be quite a bit of editing involved with this set of targets. Nothing I haven't done before, I guess.

Second Trimester Chemistry
1. Predict the change in the rate of a chemical reaction when temperature, concentration, catalysts, inhibitors, surface area or reaction type change.
2. Describe the role of activation energy in a chemical reaction.
3. Convert the molar mass of a substance to moles.
4. Convert the molar mass of a substance to the number of particles of substance.
5. Calculate the masses (or number of moles) of reactants and products in a chemical equation from the mass (or moles) of one of the reactants or products.
6. Calculate percent yield in a chemical reaction.
7. Calculate the concentration of a solution in molarity, grams per liter, ppm and percent composition.
8. Identify the factors that affect solubility and rate of solution.
9. relate a solution's concentration to its colligative properties.
10. List the properties of acids, bases and solids.
11. Define the dissociation of strong and weak acids and bases.
12. Calculate the pH of a solution and classify it as an acid or base.
13. Calculate the concentration of an unknown solution before and after dilution.
14. Describe the use of buffers to stabilize pH.
15. Assign oxidation numbers to uncombined elements and elements within compounds.
16. Identify the reduction and oxidation processes within balanced half reactions.
17. Name and draw hydrocarbon structures using the IUPAC naming system.
18. Write formulas for alkanes, alkenes and alkynes.
19. Draw structures of isomers for alkanes, alkenes and alkynes.


Again, pretty sure there will be editing involved. Probably more so than the first trimester. It was much more difficult for me to decide what was critical with this trimester since these state standards are not the tested ones.

So I have my chemistry skeleton created. This is what every student MUST learn if they take my chemistry class. Now to flesh out the targets. My plan is to write an extended target for each one.

If the planets align correctly, I should be able to get at least the first half finished before school starts back up.

Maybe I should check the star charts.

3 comments:

  1. Oh I know all about that to-do list that seems to take on a life of its own and refuses to be owned. It is making me crazy! I need to try out the timer trick :) Good luck getting those stars to align, you have a great start!

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  2. Tracie,
    Hello there. I run the Sparky Teaching blog (part of the iLearn Technology Blogger Alliance #2 and I'm just leaving this message as I can't think of any other way of doing things... In the original subscription, my website feed wasn't correct and so, even though I'm posting away, none of my posts are coming up on the list. I've contacted Kelly and she has altered the feed address, but the only way for the changes to be made is for users to unsubscribe and then subscribe again. If you feel like doing this, here was the original link that Kelly sent out: http://www.google.com/reader/bundle/user%2F13561210701575762120%2Fbundle%2FiLearn%20Technology%20Blogger%20Alliance%202

    My e-mail address is pw77-account(at)fsmail.net in case you need to contact me. Sorry to have contacted you this way, but as I say I'm at a loss as to how to sort it out any other way!

    Best wishes,
    PW

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  3. Mrs. Tenkely
    Thanks so much for the encouragement! Even if you aren't planning on implementing SBG, I highly recommend sitting down and writing out the critical objectives. It has helped me tremendously. I'll see what I can do about the stars lol

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