Chemistry Part I

Okay. So I have sat down and really looked at next fall's chemistry curriculum. Last summer, we spent an intense week and wrote out our district's science curriculum. At the time, it made sense and looked like a good document.

Then I took it back to my classroom and realized it was a terrible document. Basically, we just rewrote our state standards. I realized that we have WAY too much information in those pages.

So, in the interest of SBG and concise information everywhere, I have started looking long and hard at what I need to teach in my classes.

I spent the entire morning trying to decide WHAT IS CRITICAL. For my first semester, I ended up with 15 standards. Not bad. Completely doable in a semesters time. They also allow for a little bit of wiggle room if the class is struggling or if the class is really clicking.

First Trimester Chemistry

1. Identify the subatomic particles, their locations and properties (mass and charge).

2. Describe the distribution of mass and volume and charge within an atom.

3. Determine the number of protons, electrons and neutrons in a given atom.

4. Determine the mass number of an atom.

5. Write the electron configuration of an atom.

6. Draw the Lewis dot structure of an atom.

7. Predict the oxidation number of an ion based on its Lewis dot structure, electron configuration or position on the periodic table.

8. Use an atom's valence electrons to predict it's properties.

9. Relate an atom's position on the periodic table to its reactivity, ionization energy, electronegativity and relative size of ions and atoms.

10. Describe the changes that result when an atom's electrons change energy levels.

11. Predict whether a pair (group) of atoms will form a covalent, ionic or metallic bond.

12. Name and write formulas for ionic compounds.

13. Name and write formulas for covalent compounds.

14. Describe the polarity of simple molecules.

15. Write balance chemical equations.

Maybe in need of a bit of editing, but I like this much better. This is what MUST be learned in my chemistry class. My plan at this point is for each of these standards to be an SBG standard at the 3 level of my 4 point scale. I realize some of these are pretty advanced concepts on their own, but this is what is one the state assessment, so that is how it made it to the critical stage.

Now I need to do this for the second trimester concepts.

Then the really hard part. I struggle a lot with expanding into the upper levels of learning, mostly because I have rarely had kids who could handle that type of assignment. Next year will be different, I assume (!).

Changing Rooms

I haven't accomplished much school-wise this summer. My daughter is playing softball, my sister got married last weekend and my son, well, my son is three.

My classroom has been cleaned out and the floors redone. Only now I find out that I am moving classrooms next year. I am teaching chemistry, so my principal is moving me upstairs to the chemistry "suite." It's a nice room, one room with desks for lecture situations and an adjacent room for lab activities. With any luck, we won't spend much time in the lecture room.

I'm not sure if this move is permanent or not. In all actuality, I'm not even sure what I will be teaching this fall. This leaves me a pretty big dilemma.

If you have never had a science classroom, you cannot begin to comprehend the amount of "stuff" that can accumulate. I inherited this room from a former earth science teacher a few years ago and STILL haven't managed to go through all the cabinets. (One key phrase here is "earth science teacher," I literally have a ton of rocks to move.)

Since I am not positive that I will not be coming back to this room, I really, really, REALLY don't want to move everything upstairs only to have to move it back downstairs next spring.

Sigh.

So for now, I won't move anything.

Summertime

Whew.

School's been out for a week now. The State track meet has come and gone. It's already doggone hot outside. And the custodians started stripping my floor yesterday.

Given that last little tidbit of information, I can't get into my classroom until at least next Monday. I thought about bringing my list home with me, but at the last minute, decided against it.

I am taking a week off. My kids and I are headed out to do a little geocaching and then to the pool today. Tomorrow, I see there is an NCIS marathon on USA. For some weird reason, I can turn that show on and get my house completely clean during the commercials.

My goal this summer is to spend one day a week in my classroom. If I can do that, not only will I have a clean room next fall, but I will also maybe have more than the first week mapped out for my classes. This is doubly important this year since it is entirely possible that I will be given another new class on the first day of school.

But now my kids are up and we are off to play.

End of the Year Blues

We have four more days of school.

We have been counting down for a couple weeks now. By "we", I mean me and my kids. Since all our teachers started going down, there has been a cloud hanging over everyone here. That and there have literally been clouds hanging over us, we haven't really seen the sun for several days. Not your typical May weather.

So we are more or less just trying to get through to the end without blowing up my lab.

We have one more inservice for teachers next Monday, and we just got the schedule today. To say that I am shocked is a mild understatement. Basically, they are turning us loose to work on incorporating any and all of the previous inservice strategies into our curriculum.

This is such a huge deal, I can't even begin to describe it! Our district does not allow us to work on our own. Because you KNOW all teachers will immediately congregate in the workroom with their coffee and never get any work done.

Maybe I can even get some of those things on my list organized or (gasp) even put together!

Atlantis

Want to ramp up interest in any class?

Watch a live launch of the space shuttle on NASA TV. We watched this today during my Applied Physics. Atlantis made her final launch about 30 minutes into the class period and although not my Astronomy class, we made it a point to see. We put away all our work away and listened to Mission Control talk to the astronauts. We turned off the lights and saw the engines start to fire.

And when they reached zero time, goosebumps spread through the entire classroom.

The NASA Launch Commentator is awesome. I want to meet him. Every couple minutes, he updated us on the speed and altitude of the shuttle. These little tid-bits floored my kids. It took just 7 minutes for the shuttle to leave our atmosphere.

AND, the camera on the fuel tank gave us an incredible view of home.

Even if you don't teach astronomy. Even if you don't teach science. If you teach children, they need to see something like this in their lifetime. Kids (and grownups) can't help but be amazed by this.

Most common question? "Is this happening now?"

Second most common question? "What are they going to do in space?"

This sparked an incredible interest in the space program that I really didn't see coming. So we went to the library and looked up the specifics of Atlantis' last mission.

Not in the curriculum. Not in the state standards. Not on the state assessment.

Worth a "lost" teaching day.

SBG: Personal Reason #2

I'm used to low motivation in my students. I'm also okay with it. When I walk through my door in August, I am ready. It is my personal challenge to find out what motivates each student and turn that into a way to teach. Sometimes, it actually works.

Harley is not my typical student. He is smart, popular, athletic. And lazy when it comes to his classes. Mostly because he is really smart. Harley's big complaint is homework. He doesn't see the need to do any of it. Mostly because he is really smart and doesn't NEED to do any of it to understand what he is being taught.

We have had meeting after meeting with Harley and his parents about his grades. Every teacher says the same thing: "If Harley would just do his homework, he would be passing my class."

Last year, I was one of them.

I have failed Harley. Not in class (he did just enough to pass), but as a teacher. Ask him anything about my class; he can probably still tell you. He learned everything I asked him to learn.

For some reason, that was not good enough for me. Why did I punish this kid for not needing to work hard to learn?

Looking Toward Next Year

I have several scraps of paper in a pile on my desk that contain short notes about what I want to change in my classroom next year. At this point, I don't know yet which classes I will be teaching, so the notes are pretty non-specific. In a desperate attempt to clean off my desk, I am recording those ideas here.

Standards Based Grading
1. Love it. Need to tweak some things. Need to do away with others. I jumped in here at the beginning of the trimester with two classes (Astronomy and Applied Physics). In hindsight, I should have started with one class and done it properly. With nine class days left, I am simply overwhelmed.

2. I need to edit my Learning Targets. My kids have been terrific about the experiment and have rolled along with me as I changed things up*. When I wrote the targets, I was basically copying the state standards. Ugh. Some targets were too broad, some targets were too narrow, and some just didn't make sense. My targets need to be more clear as to what is actually going to be assessed. I want the kids to be able to read the target and know what they need to do. I am finding this is not an easy thing to do with Astronomy targets.

3. I want to have something of a rubric for each learning target. If you want a '4', this is what you need to do. If you only have 'this and this' then that earns you a '3'. Most of the kids I have need that kind of direction.

4. I want a tutorial for each learning target. In my "spare time" this summer, I might start on that. Some of my classes overlap in concepts, but that will still be a huge undertaking. Probably a several year undertaking.

5. I am pretty sure I can create online quizzes with Examview (yes, I know, I am soooo behind the times). I want those put up on my website so the kids can practice the concepts.

6. Each target needs a remediation strategy/practice/plan. When a student wants to come in and relearn Getting Your Bearings Learning Target 3, I don't want to have to scramble around getting something ready to go.

Teaching Methods

1. My delivery is terrible. Part of the problem here is that I have taught a new class nearly every year since I have been at my current school. With few, if any resources. A big part of my years have been spent just being barely a day ahead.

2. Inquiry, inquiry, inquiry. Shawn, can I come live with you?

3. Differentiation is the word of the day. While I am told I do a pretty good job at this, I am still a little fuzzy on what it all is.

Wow. Summer vacation, here I come.

*It's entirely possible that they simply have no idea what's going on.