The Escape Room Final

For the last few years, I have had a comprehensive final test in my chemistry class, which was essentially a big retake on all of the targets for everyone. My kids hated it, and quite frankly, I was getting bored. My principal always refers to finals as a time to do some type of "cumulative activity", but I had yet to come up with an activity that covered all of my targets and still allowed for a retake situation.

A couple weeks ago, on a rare Sunday afternoon with nothing to do but ponder life, I had the idea that my final could take on the form of an Escape Room*. I said the words out loud, and my daughter, who happens to be in my chemistry class, was sitting across the room and loved the idea. And so it began. For the next 10 days, every spare minute was devoted to figuring out how to put something like this together. Because I had no idea.



First, I had to see if I could get some supplies. I sent an email out to every staff member in my district asking if anyone had any locks and/or boxes they would be willing to share. I hit the jackpot when the principal at our elementary school replied saying she had four sets from Breakout EDU. I had found that company when I did my initial searching, but time and money were a factor that led to me crossing that off my list almost immediately. Although, in all honesty, I probably wouldn't have been able to pull this off if Heather hadn't have had the kits.



With supplies in hand, I started brainstorming what the whole thing might look like. I knew I wanted kids to do some type of experiment, so I decided on a precipitation reaction where they would need to create an exact amount of precipitate. This was similar to some things that we had done all year, so it wouldn't be a huge stretch for kids to be able to do it on their own. One big challenge was that I had two classes of 24 students during first and second hour. So no time to reset anything, and a lot of kids to put in motion. I decided that I didn't want each group to do the same experiment, mostly so that they wouldn't be able to just copy what the group next to them was doing. Based on the supplies on had, both chemical and physical, I ended up with four different reactions. In the end, I had four reactions with two different paths to each one so I could handle eight groups of kids in each hour. Basically everyone was solving for the same thing, but the clues were different and hidden in different places. I later learned that this is essential. I had one clue for two different groups hidden in the same place, and it became way too easy for one of the clues to get lost in the shuffle. Luckily, I had the foresight to color code each group. I would have gone insane had I not done that. It made everything so much easier to follow and the kids knew they had the right clue when they found the right colored paper.

At first, the end goal was for kids to mix up their own reactants, mix them together, isolate the precipitate, and determine the percent yield. I ended up writing down every step I would have done in setting up a lab and breaking that down into clues. Initially, I wanted kids to mix up both reactants, but in the interest of time, I decided to give them one already mixed. I also gave them the volume of the second reactant to mix up which just left them to figure out the mass to add in order to get the correct concentration.

Now it was "just" a matter of breaking it down into steps. Each step was going to have a clue that would lead to the next step. So I started with the scenario. Our biology teacher is retiring this year, so I decided he was going to go mad and release a virus on the school. One of his favorite projects every year is to incubate chicken eggs, so the virus would turn everyone into baby chicken zombies. Oddly, every one of my students thought this was a totally plausible scenario. Being so close to his room, I, of course, have succumbed to the virus and am of no help to anyone. Luckily, I was able to determine the antidote before becoming a zombie and left clues hidden around the lab room for my amazing chemistry students to find. While kids were for the most part on their own here, I did give them two question cards per group, so if they felt like they were completely stuck, they could get a hint. But only two for the whole thing. Every group hoarded those until the very end and some didn't even use one. But I think it gave them some peace of mind to know they could ask if they needed to.

The first clue was a coded message on the initial handout. It was a series of atomic numbers that told kids to go find something out of place in the lab room. (As a side note, writing sentences using only chemical symbols is HARD!) Around the room are manila envelopes in places that didn't make sense: hanging in the back of the fume hood, in place of a picture on a wall, behind an upside down periodic table.

This turned out to be really difficult to find since they didn't really know what to look for, but once the first group found the envelope, the remaining groups picked up on it fairly quickly.

Inside the envelope was a quiz that had kids balancing chemical equations. One of the rules of the game was that if it's a clue, then it's a quiz. The quizzes were done individually and preserved the retake portion of the final. Once the quiz was graded, then they were allowed to work as a group. For the second clue, the coefficient of the first reactant in each equation was the same for each quiz. This was the combination for the lock on a box sitting on their lab table. The problem was that I only had four locks with number combinations. The other four had letters. So I rearranged the equations so that the first letter of each reactant was the same. Technically, they wouldn't have had to balance the equations correctly to get the combination, but they didn't know that so it all worked out.

Once they opened the box, there was another clue and a key. The clue (quiz) was to determine the number of protons, neutrons, or electrons in a given isotope. When put together, the numbers formed another coded message. This was a simple 123=ABC code, but nearly everyone tried the chemical symbols again. Upon decoding, a riddle was revealed as to what the key unlocked.

Unlocking the location, revealed an envelope and a locked bag. The envelope was some mass to mole conversions where the answer revealed the combination to the bag. Inside the bag was a paper torn into pieces. When put together, the pieces gave the final equation to produce the antidote. A couple of the pieces were missing, including the molarity of the second reactant.

From here, there is an optional fourth clue that solves the combination for a bag that contains a much more detailed procedure. Actually, at any point, kids could have started the experiment depending on how comfortable they were with doing so. I had a couple groups think about it, but no one wanted to take that chance.

By the time I thought of it and put it all together, the entire thing was allowed four days. I really had no idea when I started if kids would fly through the clues or if they would get stuck on the first one. If I were to do this exact one again, I would definitely give them at least five days because we ended up being really rushed at the end.

Surprisingly, I only had one major screw up and that was with the color coding. I ended up writing pink group's equation on blue paper and vice versa, which really confused them when the final products didn't match up with their initial antidote. But we got that straightened out once someone finally got up the nerve to give me one of their question cards. I also misjudged how much product would be made. I didn't really think that through since I was rushed for time. Next round, I am definitely cutting down on the amount of antidote they have to make.

All in all, this was a great project and the kids (and I) had a lot of fun. It's definitely something I will try again.

If you need a place to start, you are welcome to steal and edit and do what you will...

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B3HuK_4D--2db1J0ZTdRa0dhQ3c?usp=sharing


*For those not familiar, an escape room is just what it sounds like. You are locked in a room with a few of your friends and have an hour to put the clues together and get out.

Lab Skills 8...What to Do with It...

I have never understood how someone could teach science without including labs as a part of that teaching. I mean, really, isn't that the whole point???

Now, I will be the first to admit that I have not always done my kids justice when it comes to the labs. Like so many others, I "did labs" without clear goals in mind. With any luck, kids could get some decent results and probably be able to decode the conclusion questions at the end. The lab didn't really mean much other than they would maybe get a better visual of the book description and I wouldn't have to talk all day.

In the last couple years, my focus on labs has shifted. A large part of that shift is a direct result of the Modeling. Here, labs are vital. This is where we get our information. We don't read out of a textbook that density is mass per unit of volume, we actually measure that relationship and define it later on. So if Group 4 doesn't get a graph that is at least somewhat linear, we can't see that relationship, and therefore, can't define it. 

Taking good data has become important. 

The problem is, my kids have virtually no lab skills. They just don't do labs in middle school.* What few labs they did do were more of a "hands on" let's take a break from reading kind of thing. You know, what I used to do...

The lab skills didn't matter. 

So what if I should have gotten 7.8 grams of salt and I ended up with 23.4 g???** This was okay because the teacher is going to summarize what we should have gotten and if I pay close enough attention, I will get the answer right on the test.

This has always bothered me. A lot. I just wasn't sure what to do about it. So this has turned into my year to really focus on what I need to teach my kids about precision, accuracy and basic lab skills. This has not always gone smoothly, but taking a few minutes during a lab to teach some of those things has made all the difference.

So enter Lab Skills 8. Originally, I wrote this skill to assess whether or not kids were rounding correctly. We would discuss significant figures and what accuracy and precision were appropriate to record. I ended the summer with it written as: 8.  I can recognize accuracy and precision of data depends on instruments used. (ΔHS.1.3.3d)

I never liked that wording, mostly because I had to explain it to every single person who read it. Before school even started, Bryna suggested this: I can use significant figures to appropriately communicate the precision of data and calculations.


I liked this wording so much better, so I changed it to begin the year.

Now, I like significant figures just as much as the next science teacher, but with all the upheaval I had going on in my room, I didn't focus on them very much. And really, do those rules REALLY make any sense?? Not, at least, to a teenager. They tend to focus so much on the rules that they miss understanding why those rules exist. So basically, I told my kids to round to least precise decimal place and be done with it. Even with that we were still struggling, but for the most part, my kids are rounding to a reasonable place and I am okay with that.

Then I actually started assessing with it. The more I got into it, the more I realized I wanted this target to assess more than what it was. The original idea was to assess only on the recording of the data, but as I mentioned, I wanted kids to be held accountable for the accuracy of their data. 

I debated quite awhile about how I wanted to handle this change. I thought about leaving this skill alone and adding in a separate skill specifically for data collection. I didn't like this for a number of reasons***, but I really thought those skills should go hand in hand.

We started a new trimester last Monday, so I took the opportunity to yet again rewrite that skill. I think I like this one, but I guess we will see how it plays out.

So here it is...the new and improved....

Lab Skills 8.  I can report data and calculations in a precise and accurate manner.

*I KNOW!!! I have issues with this and have made them known...I am working on that.

**Actual results.
***Not the least of which is that then I would have 11 lab skills instead of 10 and my OCD would not allow that to happen.

This Year's Great Grading Experience

So I am sitting in the back of a freezing cold gymnasium waiting for parents to come visit with me about their* children's progress in my classes. My time this year has actually been punctuated by actual conferences, so this is a pretty new experience for me.

To be honest, I was expecting a lot more parents, as was my principal. A child in my class has some major adjusting to do learning-wise and some of them do not take it well. So far, I have weathered the storms that came with Modeling and Standards Based Grading and have come out the other side all the better.

But this year, I took away percentages.

Turns out this was the biggest adjustment yet. And the most difficult to deal with. Now, I didn't really think my whole set up was all that difficult to understand and the truth is, it really isn't, but it is something different and some kids are having trouble getting past that. The good news is that of all the parents I have discussed this with, not one of them has had any complaints. I have even had one parent thank me for making it more difficult for students to get an A. While this wasn't exactly my end goal, I really think this system more accurately reflects a student's level of knowledge.


The Good
I love it. My scores are recorded as 0, 1, 2 or ND (no data). In the past, I went with a 4 point system. That basically turned into estimating a percent correct and there was such a big decision between 2 and 3 that it was really starting to stress me out. I found myself making out a rubric for every single target and finally decided that was ridiculously too difficult. I still find myself leaning towards a 1 when it should probably be a 0**, but I think that will get better with time. Either that or I will get rid of the 2 and simply go to a 0/1 system.

I also ended up with a huge shift in philosophy when it comes to how to actually assign the scores. All of my targets are assessed multiple times with three seeming to be my minimum right now. The score that is recorded in the grade book is the most recent assessment. Mostly. This year, it occurred to me that sometimes, kids just have a bad day. So I am looking at how to make the call on someone who has scored all 2s up until today when she scored a 0. Did she just not understand the question? Had she been copying off her neighbor? Did her allergy medicine kick in last hour? This has been a tough one for me to reconcile, so I will see where it gets me. Today, I opened it up for discussion with my kids. They have all of their scores available to them. If they want to come in and argue for a certain score, I will let them. This announcement was met with deafening silence and more than a little bit of suspicion. One student finally asked me if it was a trap, so that might just be a little too much for them to deal with at this point.

Another part of this is making up assessments that were missed because of absence. Do they need to? If I have four other data points to work with, does that ND in the grade book matter? This came about from a student that was going to make up a test if I had to drag him in by his ears. He has been a pain all year and I wasn't going to let him get away with skipping my class again.*** His argument (when I calmed down) was a good one. He had already shown me that he could do that skill. What difference did it make if he didn't show me one more time? I finally admitted he had a point. A few days later, he came in when he wanted to retake a target that had been on his missing test. He just wanted to test over the one target. Smiling my evil smile, I told him he couldn't just do a retake on a target if it was available on a missing assignment. So my new and improved (?) policy is just that. I don't require them to make up quizzes if they don't want to, but if they want to retake a target that is on that quiz, that is how it must be done.


The Bad
Using PowerSchool has been a challenge for me with this system. First and foremost, I haven't figured out a way to turn off the grades for the individual assignments (targets). This looks really, really bad if you have anything but 2s, because PowerSchool still records the percentage and letter grade.

When a student or parent looks at this, they automatically zoom in on the column of As and Fs. This student isn't doing too badly, but when the focus is on that letter, people don't tend to look at the overall picture.

PowerSchool also doesn't show what each specific target means. So when you see Lab Skills 9 (which for some reason is NOT in alphabetical order), you don't automatically know what skill is assessed there. You have to click on the link to go see what is actually means.

I started putting in each individual score every time that target was assessed. I like that a lot, but I also want to start adding in comments. I'm not sure if this will just get too messy. All of our students have a Google account through our school, so I have thought about doing something with a spreadsheet. I really haven't decided on this yet. At the beginning of the year, I was going to have a Blue Harvest or Active Grade account for each student, but that just seemed like one more thing to have to access. I am still up in the air about that. I want that feedback available, I'm just not sure of the best way to make it so.

Retakes became a nightmare. I expected the race for points to be so ingrained as to be inescapable and should have been more prepared for it. I require students to come in and "study" before getting a new quiz, usually in the form of correcting a test or quiz. I had a week or so in there where there was just such a rush that I didn't do a good job of checking that work and ended up with scores that I know do not in any way reflect that student's level of understanding. This next trimester, I am going to make it a little more difficult to earn a retake. Joss and Mylene have developed an amazing quiz reflection tool that I am totally going to steal and modify into an application for reassessment.


The Capstones
The capstones are what really caused the panic. My policy right now is that in order to get an A in the class, you must do three capstones. Students can do a lab investigation or a research paper over any of the targets. I am also considering letting them create a tutorial that would go up on the class website. These are not meant to be major research projects, but an extension of a chosen target.

I am completely aware that this is a new frontier, but it really hasn't worked out in the way that I wanted. (I wanted it to work, you know, perfectly.) The physics community pioneered the idea and I love it. Chemistry, I am finding, however, is a little more difficult to work with. One big issue I have is the safety factor and how to make sure kids aren't doing something that could get them hurt.**** Also, physics you can literally see everywhere. We are dealing with a bit more abstraction in chemistry and my kids and I are struggling with how to go about it. Even things that should be more straightforward have issues like how much and what concentration of acid they should use.

I am not happy with these as they stand. A lot of this (oh, alright, all of it) is my fault. I gave them a pretty vague idea of what I wanted, so I am getting pretty vague attempts.

So right now, pretty much any attempt has been counted as a successful as long a the student writes it up in a way that convinces me he or she truly understands that target. Again, soooo not happy with this, but it is getting better. That is not to say that I haven't had some amazing attempts. One girl wrote research paper about exploding ketchup packets in Pennsylvania. Another tied in gas laws to the Red Bull space jump last fall. One student created the most beautiful density column I have ever seen. So there is hope and I am sure it will get better with time.


All in all, even though it has significantly upped my stress level, I am happy with this shift. And once kids get past the "this is stupid and if I complain enough, she will change her mind" stage, the feedback I am getting is mostly positive. Now, there are some students who are used to getting A's that are not too happy about the "extra credit" they have to do, but overall, anyone who gets an A here, I truly feel has earned it. They like knowing exactly what they need to work on. They like being able to show that knowledge multiple times. Some of them even like the challenge.



*Sooooo just typed "my children" there. Maybe I need a vacation.

**What bothers me most about these decisions is that I find a little voice in my head saying "but he tried so hard on this question."

*** I realize I was on a power trip and I really don't like that version of me, but it is what it is.

 ****In chemistry, everyone wants to blow something up. I tell that that's fine as long as they can tie it into one of our targets.

Calling an Audible and Adjusting My Grading

Okay, so I have had some major shifts in my grading this year. As we start thinking about closing out this trimester, kids are really, REALLY starting to panic. And to tell the truth, I am getting a little nervous. As of this moment, out of all of my classes, I have one B. And that is as high as it goes. A smattering of C's. Lots of D's and a few too many F's. While it is not uncommon for my principal to comment that I have the lowest grades out of anyone, I normally don't care how my grades stand up against other teachers'.* But even for me, I feel like this is a bit on the low side.

I love the grading out of two. If I could just get my kids (and some teachers) to let go of the percent thing, all would be well (well, better anyway). I didn't realize how stressful and time consuming it was for me to have to decide whether or not a question should receive a 2 or 3. Oh yes, this is the way to go.

But not all is well. I am rethinking how I have set up my chemistry standards. This summer, I loved the idea of having a few overarching ideas that were non-negotiable in terms of understanding matter. Actually, I still do like that idea, but it is truly driving everyone crazy. This whole system has been a much larger shift for my kids than I anticipated, and adding in the extra step in deciding your grade is about to push some of us over the edge. It just seems like too much to decode at this point. So I have changed every standard to a gold standard and adjusted my figuring accordingly.

       F = 3 or more 0
       D = Any 0
       C = Any 1
       B = All 2
       A = All 2 plus 3 successful capstone projects

Capstones in chemistry are turning out to be a huge challenge. I knew this would be true, so I have not been surprised at my kids really not knowing exactly where to start. Physics is, I think, a little easier to come up with something to test. Go outside and observe nearly any phenomena and you can turn it into a physics project. In chemistry, even if you have an idea what it is you want to test, there are so many unknowns to take care of that really aren't common sense-type things. How much sodium hydroxide do we need? Should we do this in the fume hood? Will it blow up?**

At first, I told the kids that their capstone had to be in the form of a lab investigation. I still prefer this, but I have also opened up on that requirement. Students can, of course, still do the lab investigation, but they also
have the option to write a research article, create a podcast or a KA style video. I am also allowing them to work in groups of up to two, but each student has to have a separate write-up.

Really, though, I have only had two groups even attempt a capstone. I have one girl (who stares out the window a lot) who keeps saying her parents are soooooo mad that she doesn't have an A. In the same breath, she tells me a capstone would be too much work. I guess we'll see how that turn out.

Tomorrow is an early release for us. My plan is to show everyone what their grade would be at this point and talk about what can be done to show what they know. Maybe getting everyone on the same page and reminding them of the deadline will put a fire under them.

We also have parent conferences next week. I have this strange feeling that I will have a better turn out than normal.


*This was a BIG deal when I started teaching chemistry with SBG.

**This is more often than not said in an extremely hopeful tone.

Chemistry Capstones...OK...Now You Can Freak Out

Earlier this week, my chemistry class got their first taste of my new take on that whole "rigor" thing.


Because this year, I have introduce capstones. We are close to half way through our first trimester, so many of my kids are starting in on the grade anxiety. I have never really had a giant uproar over the standards part of my grading, so that isn't so much the problem.

But now...

"You mean, I'm not going to get an A in this class?"

Not easily, no.

"You mean I can be perfect and still not get an A?"

Nobody's perfect, sweetie.

"But, I'm a senior, you can't go changing the status quo now!"

Okay, I see your point, but too bad.


"So, this is like extra credit?"

Well, no, not exactly. Extra credit implies not a lot of work in order to get your grade up to where you want it.* When a student says, "can I write the definitions out twenty times to get my grade up to an A?" I just want to scream.


We discussed capstones this morning, and to be honest, I can't believe I haven't heard from a parent yet. For the most part, the reception was not favorable. We talked about why it is important for them to be able to not just memorize all this important chemistry stuff, but also why they should be able to apply it. And not just because it is chemistry class. This is a life skill, children.

To kind of ease them into it, we did a practice capstone with the last part of our conservation of mass lab. In that part, we add Alka-Seltzer to water. The mass at the end is not the same as the mass at the beginning. For our system, technically, mass was not conserved, but most kids recognized that it was because the gas escaped. So I had them think about what we could do to show that this incident did, indeed, support the law of conservation of mass. While much simpler than what I would probably require for a capstone, this was a good one to walk through and get them in the questioning mode.**

There was arguing. There was bribery. There was attempted blackmail and coercion. But we stuck with it and eventually, everyone came up with a plan and submitted a draft proposal. We went and did the experiment and I talked about what kids should have in a formal write up. There was even one or two, very grudging, "that wasn't so bad" mutterings in the back.


When it was all said and done, my kids seemed a little bit calmer. At this point, they are terrified at the idea of having to come up with ideas for a project. I totally get that. I am terrible at writing engaging questions, plus this is brand new to these kids. We spent so much time beating the curiosity out of them, that when we try to instill it back in, of course there is going to be some struggles.

But I'm sticking to my guns on this one. If I have learned nothing in the last few years, it has been that big changes can't be made if you give in even just a little bit.


*The most accurate portrayal of education in the media, ever, is the Spongebob episode where Mrs. Puff tries to give him extra credit so she doesn't have to have him back in class.

**Looking back, this was actually a lot more difficult for them than I thought it would be.

Inner Peace...A Modeling Update

I don't think there has ever been a time in my teaching career where I could say that I have truly become comfortable with what I am teaching. I taught at my first school for one year before getting married and moving on. My second year teaching was at a school so far away from my home that I moved to a closer district the next year. I taught at the middle school level for two years before being non-renewed, and fell into my current position the next year. I have now been in my district for eleven years, which might have found me in a fairly comfortable place if not for all the new classes I have been "allowed" to develop. In those eleven years, I have taught twelve different classes. Now, some have a little overlap, but creating a new class from scratch nearly every year was a lot more stressful than I realized.

Until today. Today, I got an idea what it really feels like to know what is going on.

Right now I have two sections that are working through the Modeling Chemistry. One is a regular chemistry class and one is what we call applied, that is made up of "those" kids.

My first year with Modeling was, well, tumultuous. The entire situation was new to my kids as well as to me. Even if they hadn't been so incredibly resistant, I am pretty sure they would have sensed my unfamiliarity with the process. They can smell fear, you know.

Last year was my second year, and while I was at least more familiar with the material, I still had some issues and wrinkles that I needed to iron out. Luckily, the kids I had were much less resistant. I think word had spread that I could take whatever they could send my way and stick to my guns. I am pretty sure that if I had given in, just a little bit the year before, I would have had a lot more testing of boundaries. As it was, I had a great group of kids who for the most part bought in to what I was trying to do. For my part, I spent a lot of time writing out exactly* what I wanted to accomplish with each lesson just so I could go back and remember what worked and what didn't. While I'm not obsessed enough to read it all out during class, it has proved invaluable to look over beforehand and remember what types of things tripped kids up. Since I seem to know where I want them to go, my questions and prompts are actually leading them there.**

The other day, I assigned the first worksheet in my chemistry class. This is not a common occurrence, as I really try to save homework for special occasions. The worksheets in the Modeling units are wonderfully done. These are not "right there" questions that kids can google, nor are they all repetitions of the same problem. When my kids came to class today, there was true panic going on. They had tried. They didn't get it. Their parents didn't get it. They were never going to pass this class.

It took awhile, but I reminded them that we had had this conversation about homework awhile back. Remember how it's practice? And struggling is actually a good thing? This doesn't count toward a grade, so let's whiteboard the problems and see what we come up with.

Then things got really tense.

The first couple of questions were pretty straightforward. The group presented and every head in the room turned to me to see if I was confirming their excellent work.

Cue the crickets.***

Finally someone, almost with a twitch, said, "well, is it right??"

So I said, "do you think it is?"

These pauses are going to kill me.

The group presenting, of course thought they were correct. When I asked if anyone had written anything different, no one spoke up. So I asked them if they had any questions about how this group came up with their answers. Again, not a sound.

As the group started moving towards their seats, one student turned around with her paper and asked me if what she had was acceptable. So I stopped the group and had them go back up to their whiteboard.

Now, here's where it got tricky. We stopped and talked about the overall purpose of whiteboarding. It isn't just about copying down the right answer on your paper. This is about learning from each other and being able to ask questions when you don't understand. Not necessarily asking ME, but asking your classmates to explain their thinking.

The big question for this question was that the student had done the problem in a different manner, but came up with the same answer.**** There followed a huge discussion about whether or not this was "correct" for this problem. Apparently, in the past, there has been only one way to get to the right answer, and that is how the teacher has already explained it. No free thinking allowed.

Yeah, whatever. Personally, I would like to see this every time. While this student explained how she came up with her (same) answer, a couple other kids were nodding their heads. Comments like, "oh, I get it now" started rumbling around the room. Kids were talking to one another, asking good questions. There was really only one smart-alec in the room and he was put down pretty quickly.

By the end of the hour, I had students fighting to present their problem on the whiteboard. I had retreated to the back corner and didn't say another word.

It took us two days to whiteboard this worksheet. In fact, with this class, we are taking quite a bit longer on everything, but I am so okay with that. All of those little details that have taken all trimester to even get the nerve to bring up the last two years are being addressed here in the first month.

And they are buying into it!

So today, we are whiteboarding a lab. The discussions going on are amazing and so beyond anything I would have expected up to this point. I am wandering around the room listening, waiting for questions. There are none. I hear one group who seems to be struggling say "well, we will present it and see what everyone else has done. Maybe they can show us where we messed up." Whoa! Really? I move on to eavesdrop on another group. They have a gorgeous multi-color whiteboard that oh-my-goodness includes a particle diagram!

I'm pretty sure I'm dreaming here. I am also a little nervous because I don't really know what I did to get here so quickly (or, for that matter, at all). I'm not entirely sure I did anything at all. I think, though, that it comes from knowing exactly where I want my kids to go and having a plan as to how to get there. What I do know is that I have never been so excited, or relaxed, about where my classroom is headed.



*When I say exactly, I mean word for word, every-question-that-makes-sense-OCD-scripted type of write out.

**Now this is probably not news to most of you. I can see you shaking your head, wondering, "is she serious?" All I can say to that is, yes. Yes, I am.

***There seems to be a lot of awkward pauses in my room this year.

****Seriously, the stars are all in alignment today.

*****My footnote addiction seems to be getting worse...sorry about that...

Just...Don't Freak Out

On the first day of school, we talk for just a little bit about how students will eventually receive a letter grade for chemistry, not too much because this is what everyone else does and we want to move on to bigger and better things just as soon as we possibly can. Usually, there are some sideways looks and maybe even a few questions, but what I have noticed is that while there is nodding, the reality doesn't actually set in until there are actual marks involved.

Like today.

On Friday, we finished up our Mass and Change Lab, talked about the Conservation of Mass and turned in our lab notebooks. Pretty routing and straightforward. 

Today, the notebooks were handed back. Along with the notebook is a sheet that I have typed out comments about each target that is assessed. They look something like this...*

Lab Notebook Feedback Sample

There is always (even near the end of the year) that minute or so where kids are turning the paper over, looking for their grades. So I let them flounder for a while, mumbling among themselves, until finally someone speaks up and asks what everyone wants to know. "How did I do on this?"

Most of the time, I come back with something along the lines of, "well, how do you think you did?" This is often met with blank stares while they try to absorb what I am trying to say. I didn't give them a grade, and they have no idea how to handle that. Today, I had them talk to their lab partners about their comments. What are some things you did well? What do you need to work on? If you were to give yourself a grade, what do you think it would be?

I try to get them to see that it's not just about a number, but about what you can do to truly learn about something. Some try to make sense of it, some just humor me.

Then, I pointed to the wall where I have posted the targets we are covering at this particular time. Remember these green sheets we keep pointing to? Let's talk a little bit more about those. So today, I reintroduced my new and improved grading system. There were a lot of wary looking kids sitting out there. And then I handed out their grade sheets.

See, we use PowerSchool as our grading program, and I know there must be a way, but, for the life of me, I can't figure out how to get it off of percents. So if I put in 2 points as possible and you get a 1, it shows you have a 50%. Even after promising not to, some of them freaked out, although, thankfully, none of them cried.

While there wasn't much in the way of excitement about the new system, at least there wasn't any outright hostility. I think just getting over the initial shock and getting used to the idea will be smoother than past years.

I know that I like it much better than what I did last year. Getting rid of the 3 and 4 levels makes this so much easier. Where last year, I would have hem-hawed around and made a judgement call, this year, I can simply say, "not perfect" and give it a 1.

And then.....I introduced capstones. Now that is a different story. There was quite a bit to say about those...


*This is a critique for another day, but there are a few things I would change about this. I find myself only picking out the things a student did wrong. My goal this year is to also leave specific comments about what was done correctly as well. For whatever reason, I find this much more difficult. But I love typing it out. Copy/paste is soooooo handy sometimes.

Failures, Mistakes and Other Learning Tools

Yesterday* on Twitter, Adam asked the question.

How do we teach students it is okay to fail. Can we set up something? #edchat
— Adam Taylor (@2footgiraffe) July 10, 2012

This started a conversation that has been bothering me since. Basically, we were trying to come up with working definitions of failure and mistake. Can either of them be fixed? Some mistakes can't, but failure also implies an ending. I don't know the answer, but I know I'm not going to get terribly hung up on the technicalities.

The whole theme was how to get kids comfortable with failing. We teach them from the beginning that it really isn't okay, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise in my classroom that they are afraid to go there.

This is never more evident in Chemistry than when we go through our first lab. It has six parts that reinforce lab skills and investigate the conservation of mass. After each part, we talk about the results and work through an analysis. More often than not, there is at least one set of data that really doesn't allow us to draw any kind of conclusion. We get to talk about precision and careful measurements and what constitutes good data. And we all get to try it again if we don't like our initial results.

Today, however, was the first day I ever had someone cry.

Part five: Does mass change when sugar and water are mixed? Her group had gained a significant amount of mass somewhere between here and there. When I called on the group to explain what they did and how they ended up with those results, it came out that they had forgotten to mass the sugar before they added it to the water. In the following discussion, I looked over, and bless her, she had her head ducked down to the table, sniffling into her lab notebook.

When I asked why she was so upset, she looked at me like I had drowned her kitten and said, "but I was WRONG!"

And I said, "SO?"

Now, my classroom can rarely described as silent, but at that moment, you could hear the hum of my hard drive. She and nearly all of her classmates stared at me like I had truly gone insane.

"What do you mean, so?" she asked. "How am I supposed to get an A in this class if I can't even get the first lab right? I have to start catching up already and apparently chemistry isn't my thing and I haven't even gotten to the hard part yet."

Oh, Honey.**

I asked her if she knew what her group had done wrong and whether or not it could be fixed. Did she think maybe she could go back and redo her lab?

"Well, yes, but..."

"Then let's go do it."

That silent thing again...

"You mean we can fix this?"

Of course, child, how do you think you are going to learn if I just cut you off now? I WANT you to understand the conservation of mass, and I want you to understand it because YOU figured it out, not because I told you it was true.

To be honest, I'm not sure they all bought into it. I don't think they believe that I am going to allow force them to do it on their own. You can see it in their eyes. "Yeah, she might let me have ONE more try. On this easy lab. What if I REALLY screw up later on? What if I try it again and STILL don't get good results. What if chemistry really isn't my thing? What if I get a B?"

I'm not sure if this would be considered a failure or a mistake, and I don't really care. I just want my kids to feel comfortable taking risks in my classroom. This constant pressure to be perfect when perfect doesn't necessarily mean you have any idea what's going on. And for Newton's sake, quit quoting me wikipedia.

Maybe getting this out of the way early is a good thing. I am implementing capstones this year as a part of my assessment, and if I truly want my kids to go places with those, then they are going to have to take those risks and stretch those brains. I know it's scary and I know I am fighting a slightly inclined battle, but I truly feel like it's worth it.

And, really, I'm not good with crying.


*And by yesterday, I mean sometime last summer when I started this post and had to stop to get one of my children somewhere.

**Okay, first off, didn't you pay attention when I talked about grades and reassessment stuff??

Chemistry Standards 2012

Alright. Here they are. These are my newly updated chemistry targets. 

One thing I changed from before is the wording. Each one is now written as an "I can" statement. I started this last spring and simply changing the words "the student will..." was an amazing psychological shift for my kids. 

Right now, my total stands at 31. This seems like a LOT of standards. However, ten of these are lab skills that are assessed nearly every time we do a lab. Since these are assessed in a different way, I'm not sure if they fully count toward the total or not. 

The standards preceded by * are my gold standards. No zeros allowed on these if you want to get credit for learning chemistry. As of now, I have ten. 

Lab Skills

1. I can identify the hypothesis to be tested, phenomenon to be investigated or the problem to be solved. (ΔHS.1.2.2a)

2.  I can identify the tested variables and conditions to be kept constant during an investigation. (ΔHS.1.2.2b)

3.  I can communicate the details of an experimental procedure clearly and completely. (ΔHS.1.2.2c)

4.  I can record and represent data in a meaningful way. (ΔHS.1.2.2d)

*5.  I can analyze laboratory data in order to clarify the questions, hypotheses or methods of an experiment.

6.  I can use common mathematical functions to analyze and describe data. (ΔHS.1.3.3b)

7.  I can use statistical data analysis techniques. (ΔHS.1.3.3c)

*8.  I can report data and calculations in a precise and accurate manner.

*9.  I can use equipment properly and safely. (ΔHS.1.3.3f)

10.  I can follow all lab clean-up procedures.

Physical Properties of Matter

1.  I can define mass, volume and density in terms of a substance's particles.

*2.  I can apply the Law of Conservation of mass.

3.  I can apply density as a conversion factor between mass and volume.

Energy and States of Matter

*1.  I can represent at the particle level, the characteristics (motion, spacing and arrangement) of particles in different phases of matter. (ΔHS.2A.2.a)

2.  I can relate the temperature of a substance to the average kinetic energy of its particles. (ΔHS.2A.2.1)

3.  I can predict the effect on a gas of changing pressure, volume or temperature on any of the other variables.

*4.  I can recognize energy as a conserved, substance-like quantity that is always involved when a system undergoes change.

5.  I can describe the energy transfer between a system and it's surroundings during a phase change. (ΔHS.2A.2.1b)

Describing Substances

1. I can distinguish between mixtures, pure substances, elements and compounds.

2. I can separate a mixture into its component substances.

3. I can use Avagadro’s Hypothesis along with combining volumes of gases to deduce the composition of some compounds.

4. I can describe the Law of Definite Proportion and the Law of Multiple Proportions.

Atomic Structure

1.  I can determine the number of protons, neutrons and/or electrons in an atom or ion.

2.  I can calculate the average atomic mass of an element

3.  I can write the orbital diagram or electron configuration for an atom or ion.

Bonding

1.  I can distinguish between ionic, molecular and atomic solids. (2A.2.2c)

*2.  I can name and write formulas for ionic compounds. (2A.2.3b)

*3.  I can name and write formulas for molecular compounds. (2A.2.3c)

Counting Particles

1.  I can determine the molar mass of an atom or compound.

2.  I can convert between the number of particles and the moles of an atom or compound. (2A.3.2)

*3.  I can convert between the mass and the moles of an atom or compound. (2A.3.2)

4.  I can determine the empirical formula and/or the molecular formula of a compound.

Chemical Reactions

1.  I can describe chemical reactions in terms of the microscopic behavior of atoms. (2A.3.1)

2.  I can write balanced chemical equations. (2A.3.1a)

3.  I can describe endothermic and exothermic reactions in terms of storage or release of chemical potential energy. (2A.2.3d)

Stoichiometry

*1.  I can calculate the masses (or number of moles) of reactants and products in a chemical reaction from the mass (or moles) of one of the reactants or products. (2A.3.2)

2.  I can determine the limiting reactant of a chemical reaction.

3.  I can determine theoretical and percent yield of the products of a chemical reaction. (2A.3.2)

4.  I can determine the partial pressure of a particular gas in a mixture.

5.  I can predict the moles of another reactant or product when given the temperature, volume and pressure of a gaseous reactant or product. (2A.3.2)

6.  I can relate the molar concentration (molarity) of a solution to the number of moles and volume of the solution. (2A.3.3)

Okay. Hit me. 

What am I missing? Does everything (anything) make sense? I tend to get stuck on wording and edit things to death, so if you have any wording that would be better, please let me know. 

Sugar High

Long ago, one of my chemistry sections surged ahead of my other chemistry section. I fought this briefly and then realized it was a futile effort, and instead of giving the fast class free time or forcing the slower class to speed up, I let them continue on at their own pace.

Typically, I try to keep all my sections together, but I just didn't see how it was going to work this time. Blame it on the sunspots if you want, but it ended up that both of my classes ended up working with food during class today.

My first hour made S'mores.

I have used this activity for years to help kids visualize limiting reactants in chemistry, and it never fails to delight. At first, it just seems like a time filler "hands on" type activity, but what I have noticed is that kids really do use this to visualize the reactants in a chemical equation.*

Smores Stoichiometry


Pretty simple, really. You want to make s'mores. You have a limited number of supplies. How many s'mores can you make?

What gets interesting here is our discussion of what constitutes the perfect s'more. It turns out that chocolate is the transition element of s'more ingredients and everyone has a different interpretation of how much you should use. Graham crackers are diatomic when found in nature and no one has ever considered adding more than one marshmallow. But once you have the formula for your s'mores it leads into a wonderful discussion of why you can't change that formula.

We also find the masses of the ingredients and that allows us to convert into "moles." Moles are extremely difficult for my kids to visualize. They have no concept of what one mole of substance really is, but they can see that a marshmallow has a mass of about 6 grams. This is real. This is concrete. So if we have 100 grams of marshmallows, how many do we have? I really need to work this in earlier because it isn't until now that it clicks for some kids.

And you will never see kids work faster than on days when they get to ingest sugar after their lab.

This activity has done more for my kids' understanding of limiting reactant than any other I have done. It's because they can SEE the limiting reactant. They know that they are running out of chocolate and someone is going to be left with the "dud" s'more. In fact, the next day, when we introduce limiting reactants with chemicals, I have kids asking "so is that the chocolate or the marshmallows?" Something visual in their mind that they can connect back to. Gotta love that.

So, now I'm thirsty.

Luckily, my next hour is hitting on molarity today. I do a lab with Kool Aid, that again, really helps visualize (or in this case taste) what it means to change the concentration of a solution. It's strange because a lot of my kids have never apparently thought much about concentration until now. I mean, they have all seem to have had Kool Aid that was improperly made, but it cracks me up to listen in on how they have reasoned it out.

KoolAid


This is actually the first day we discuss molarity at all, and basically, I give them the definition and let them figure out the rest. Each group has to figure out how many grams of Kool Aid makes each of three solutions of the correct molarity, then they taste each solution and relate it back to its concentration. It gives them a reference point for when I say we need 3 M NaOH instead of the 0.10 M NaOH and I think that makes a huge difference in their understanding. One of my kids decided this year that he wanted to make 3 M Kool Aid, just to see how much different it was.

So we did. We couldn't get it all to dissolve.

I almost didn't do these activities this year, simply because I wasn't sure of their actual academic value. My principal (of course) walked in towards the end of the Kool Aid lab. He often has a questioning look on his face when he enters my room, but today, it was a little more pronounced. 

Until one of my kids gave him a five minute lecture on molarity that would make any chemistry teacher proud.

*I ought to mention that I have had both of these activities for years and am fairly certain that I stole them from someone out there. If you are the original author, let me know so I can give you credit!

My First Day of School and That Pesky Exploding Can

Okay, so my first day of school was over a week ago. If this is how my year is going to go, I should just start hibernating now!

There has been a lot of discussion about this on every listserve you can find about what to do on the first day of school. Everyone is pretty much in agreement that reading through a syllabus is a great way to immediately cause disinterest in your class. The Marshmallow Challenge seems to be a popular choice with the physics crowd, and to be honest, I really want to try that in my classes some day. I teach Chemistry, so I kind of want to keep in with a chemistry theme and, of course, the question on every teenager's lips seems to be "when are we going to blow something up". The Modeling has an Exploding Can Demo set as the first activity to do with the kids and there has been some discussion about that activity as well. Some teachers cannot do this because they do not have access to natural gas. Some like to go over their class rules on the first day (why, why, why??). And some don't like the activity because students have a hard time explaining what is happening.

I love this demo and find that the first day of school is the perfect time to do it. My principal even came in to do a short evaluation on the first day this year (seriously???) and was pretty surprised that we were already in the lab causing a ruckus.

It's a simple demo that catches kids off guard, because about the time everyone stops paying attention and chatting about their summer, the thing explodes. I had one kid this year who actually dove under the lab table to take cover. He may never live that one down.

To specifically address those teacher who don't want to use the demo because kids can't explain it, you are absolutely correct. That is the whole idea. It's OKAY not to be able to explain something. If those kids could perfectly explain every action of every particle inside that can right now, then for goodness sake, send them to the counselor to get into a more advanced class. The whole point of a chemistry class, after all, is to learn how matter interacts with other matter.

This demonstration actually serves several purposes for me. First, most kids have reformatted over the summer and need to get some of those brain gears moving. Second, we come back to this demo several times throughout the year. After talking about reactions, for example, we go back to page 1 in our lab book and re-describe what we think those particles were doing inside the can. And finally, after the demo, the groups draw their particle representations of what they think happened and the next day we whiteboard those ideas. This is where I set up my norms for our whiteboarding sessions.

I try to pick kids that I have worked with in the past or who know a little bit about me and have them be the presenter for their group.

And then I grab my bag of chips. A snack size bag with just a few chips is perfect for this. While the group is presenting, I munch on chips. Doritos work well because they are really loud and kind of messy. I create a pretty decent distraction by crumpling up the bag and stuffing it into these mysterious little compartments in my desks. A couple swigs from my pop bottle (shake it up to get a nice loud escape of gas) and it goes flying across the room into the trash can. Usually by now, kids have noticed. I kind of look around the room, "oh, was that inappropriate?" My apologies. I then have the group make a note on the board.

The next group is a little nervous now, so I leave them alone.

Third time's a charm, so I get out my phone. I have it set to make the beeping sounds when you type so kids know what I'm doing. Of course I "try" to hide it like my students do, but pretty soon, they start to notice. "Oh, was that inappropriate as well?" Please make a note.

Now the last one is kind of tricky. I have to have someone presenting that knows me pretty well or I let them know ahead of time what I'm going to do. I don't want anyone in tears on the first day. After they present, I pretty much argue that my answer is the correct one and their group is just plain wrong. I usually have a hard time keeping a straight face for this one.

So now we have three things on the board that we as a group have more or less decided are inappropriate for the setting. They then get to suggest any other behaviors that might best be left at the door. We talk about how important the whiteboard sessions are when it comes to getting information. We talk about the difference between hearing and listening. We talk about respect. We talk about general polite behavior.

These two days are a pretty good introduction to the class as well as the general setup of the modeling classroom. The kids get to experience what the rest of the year is like and possibly more importantly, do NOT get the answers on the first day. This can be uncomfortable for a lot of kids and some do not handle it well.* I have actually had kids ask me for a textbook so they can look up the right answer. Good luck with that.

Learning in this room isn't about getting the right answer RIGHT NOW. It is about having to discover the right answer in another place and time and connecting it back to what you did on the first day. If I can get you to do that, then I have done my job and can sleep well at night.

Have a great year!


*From some of the discussion, some of the teachers do not handle it well. Get over it. Nobody knows it all. And besides, if all you do is tell kids the correct answer, you are taking all the fun out of science class!

A Tale of Two Chemistries

We finally closed on our second trimester this week. If you remember, we last left our hero* dangling off the edge of insanity. Come to think of it, I really don't ever seem to get too far from that edge.

My Regular Chemistry class settled down a little bit and more or less accepted that I wasn't going to change what we were doing. It helped that the most vocal mob was broken up. It also helped that our incredible librarian told her groupies to suck it up and rise to the challenge. After awhile those rusted wheels started turning and it wasn't quite as painful.

I never could get them into a discussion with our whiteboarding. They just kind of assumed that whoever was talking was right and dutifully copied down those answers. I'm not sure what adjustments to make there. I thought about requiring them to ask at least one question per day, but couldn't decide whether I wanted to fight that battle or not.

I'm not sure my class learned everything I wanted them to. Even the very last day, kids were not able to recognize when a substance had the nitrate polyatomic ion in it. While kids do need to take some responsibility for their own learning, I blame me for the most part. I need to be more aware of when my kids are not getting it and not let them sneak past me when they don't understand. I think I trusted the curriculum too much when it told me to let them figure things out on their own. Having never been in that position before, they weren't ready for that. I let them flounder for too long and I lost them and never got them recovered. And when you lose them in the first couple weeks, they are lost for the rest of the time. The Modeling people do not like you to mess with their curriculum, but I definitely need to add in something in  to help them understand some of those concepts a little more. I have never been one to follow every little detail anyway, so why start now?

Probably what bothered me more than anything, though, was the last day. Everyone was so relieved to be done with Chemistry. Me included. I really don't want my kids to hate my class. I don't want them to see it as something to just get through. I want them to love it. We live in an incredible, beautiful world and I want them to wonder at it. I'm more than a little disturbed that they keep saying that they hate it. I am hoping (praying) that this is just because I haven't taught Chemistry for several years and that once I am comfortable with the material again, it will go a little more smoothly.

My Applied Chemistry took off with the Modeling. We had relatively small groups (12 in each class compared to 22 in my regular chemistry) and they were pretty comfortable with each other. The whiteboard discussion really turned in to learning most times. Of course, every once in awhile, someone would ask something like "why is your shirt green today?" but hey, they are teenagers, you can't expect a whole lot of maturity all the time.

One great thing about Modeling is it forces those kids to actually do something other than copy from their neighbor. They never know who is going to have to speak for the group or what questions I am going to ask, so everyone has to be prepared and know what is going on. My Applied kids truly benefited from this approach and, of course, this is true for Regular as well, but it doesn't seem to be as crucial for them.

Modeling is just what is says it is. You create a model of matter. We start with the basic observations that have been obvious for your entire life and actually describe them. We draw them. Instead of kids reading about these models, we create them ourselves. This has helped those lower kids develop an understanding of where that information came from. When I ask them why is H2O written that way, instead of saying "because you told us," they can look back in their lab notebook and see the evidence for why. That is what I really love about it. And that is why I will keep doing it.


*Hehe, that's me.

The Yellow Lab

As you can imagine, and may possibly be experiencing yourself, our run of Snow Days played havoc with my teaching schedule. The last one we had was a week before our trimester ended, and I sat down and re-planned. I resigned myself to the fact that I just wasn't going to get through the next unit and had it figured out how to end on the right day. Looking back now, I think that may have been more planning than I have done all year.

The day we came back, our principal sent out an email asking us to vote whether or not to extend the trimester to the next week. Um, no. No, I don't. I was, however, in the minority.

I sat down again. We were finishing up with molarity, so I went in search of a project that I could use as a final.

As luck (?) would have it, my computer died. It was a quick death, with it dying in its sleep, simply not turning on one morning. This could have been a set back. However, it sent me scrambling into my backed up files. I have been teaching since 1997 and apparently have never deleted a file. I found an "Ideas" folder from early last decade that I had forgotten all about. In it I found a bunch of things I had copied from The Chemistry Coach that was run by Bob Jacobs at Wilton High School. He has since passed away and the site is no longer maintained, although I am definitely going to check to see if there is an archive somewhere. I corresponded with Bob several times (mostly to see if I could use his stuff), so he was sort of the beginning of my PLN.

One of his creations was The Yellow Lab. Its story is based on the Clue board game and the students have to go about finding Miss Scarlett's murderer. The killer either used potassium iodide or lead (II) nitrate to do her in and the molarity of that solution.

After listening to some of the discussions my kids had, I felt a lot better about what they learned this year. For all the complaining that they didn't understand what we were doing, they sure stepped it up when they were required to use that information.

My latest obsession has been project based learning. I've never done much in the way projects, but after this week, I am going to make it more of a priority. If I can get organized, that is.

I also offered the extra credit mini-project at the end. I had three students write hilarious stories and one group create a video. I need to do more stuff like this :)

Mass Numbers for Dummies*

I have come to believe in the manipulative. It seems that anytime you can get kids to touch something they are learning about, it sticks so much better than if they just listen or read about it.

Trying to get my kids to understand the structure of an atom had always been a struggle. How to you picture something you can't see? 

A few years ago, we had an Easter egg hunt for our track practice, so I had a hundred plastic eggs sitting in my cabinet. One day, while trying to explain the atom, I picked up an egg and asked the kids what we would find if we could open it up. This set off an amazing chain of events that led to the creation of this activity.

Each colored egg represents a different element.

There are three eggs of each color and each egg represents a different isotope of the element. Each element has three isotopes. I wrote the isotope notation on the outside of the egg. 

Inside each egg is a "nucleus" and electrons. I bought a bag of beads at a craft store and it just so happened that each bead had a mass of one gram. Seriously. I couldn't have done that if I tried. This lets me use the eggs as models again when we talk about atomic mass. The electrons are tiny little beads (relatively no mass) that constantly have to be replaced. I'm working on that.

I tied the big beads together to form the nucleus of each atom. The tying is important, otherwise your kids end up doing nuclear chemistry and that isn't our goal.

For example, the purple eggs represent Hydrogen. The red beads are the protons, while the green beads represent the neutrons. Each element has three versions with different numbers of neutrons, Hydrogen-1, Hydrogen-2 and Hydrogen-3. Everyone starts with Hydrogen to get the feel for the activity. I labeled the protons with a "+" sign so they can distinguish between the protons and neutrons. I did not do this in the other elements because I want them to realize the isotopes all have the same number of protons. 

The kids then go through and answer questions about the atoms.
Structure of the Atom

This leads us into mass numbers and atomic masses. We keep these out for most of the unit and the kids are free to use them whenever they need a visual. While I haven't got any hard data to back it up, I can definitely tell a difference in overall comprehension.

What do you do to help kids understand those abstract ideas?


*Please note that when I say "Dummies" I don't mean my kids. I am actually talking about me.

Modeling Update

At the last minute, I decided to try the Modeling curriculum with my Applied Chemistry. I have 21 students in 2 sections. Only a few of those students come to my class without an IEP.

I debated for a long time as to whether or not I wanted to tackle modeling with these kids. Every indication I had up to this point simply screamed to me that the kids didn't like it.

But, being who I am, I ignored all that.

Actually, I looked long and hard at the arguments presented by those kids. What it boiled down to was that these kids were out of their comfort zone. They knew how to work the system and were upset that the system had changed. Having taught (almost exclusively) IEP and At-Risk kids for many years now, I am fairly confident that most of those kids don't really have a comfort zone when it comes to school. They were going to resist me no matter what I did.

So, modeling it was.

We are following the exact same curriculum that my regular chemistry class used in the fall trimester. The only modifications I have made have been to the math sections. A lot of my Applied kids haven't taken Algebra yet, so it didn't really seem fair to ask them to make those connections. We are focusing on the study of the particles and their behavior.

I did show them how to find the slope of our graphs (some even had a faint idea of where this was going!) and talked about what that slope meant. Several of them made connections to mountain slopes that my chemistry kids never even considered. That IS why it is called a slope, after all. I did not ask them to write the equations or try to come up with the constants on their own.

I do feel like I am walking them through a lot more than I did my chemistry kids. Whether I am doing this because of the makeup of the class or because of my experiences in the fall, I really can't say. Probably a little of both.

The big problem I have (and this is not new) is kids just not doing work. I had three lab notebooks turned in blank. BLANK. Nothing. Seriously, why even bother turning it in?

But that annoyance aside, the big thing here is that these kids are doing great. They are actively involved in the labs and the data interpretation. They discuss the results with their small group and participate in the large group discussion so much better than their "smarter" peers.

Overall, the experience has been so much better than last fall. I've even got kids wanting to read out of the text book.*

Direct quote: "Miss, I had no idea I was this smart!"

I'm so glad I took this chance.

*Most of these kids are in our Tier 2 or Tier 3 reading intervention classes, which means they are way below grade level. We have readings in the textbook as a reinforcement AFTER we do the lab and discussions.