Oct 12 - 8th

We had a very ionic day...we turned a negative into a positive.

We started by finishing our Covalent and Ionic notes. These are on page 24 in the notebook.

We then returned quizzes and helped each other understand mistakes.

We then worked on the atomic dating game.

And we had a black and gold card winner....

Monday April 2

A few thoughts about how things are going. First, had a good discussion with one student today (which then led to showing all the other classes) about how to use the lists and assignments. I forget that the students don't always see things the way I do the first time (UNDERSTATEMENT). After a quick explanation, they all seemed to have a much better grasp on how to use the provided materials.
Second, I "assigned" each kid to give themself one night of homework this week. I got the impression from some of their poll responses and comments that they thought this was going to be a way to get rid of homework and just do everything in class. That was not my intention at all. I think for next year, I will look at doing things more step by step. Start with "flipping" the classroom, but still moving together on a day by day basis. Then move to a flipped model on a week by week with goals sheets and things that need to be done by the end of the week. And then possibly on to unit by unit or what we have now. Maybe that progression will help them more with the pacing issues.
I did have some really good discussion with kids today when they finally got to the point of saying, " I don't get this". Also had some real good presentations by kids on projects they made.

Thursday March 22

Figured out some stuff ( I think). I should have gotten away from my fixation on WS for this chapter! Having all this paperwork is extremely cumbersome. I need to get it a little more open ended or online short assesments. There is no way I could do this for a whole year.
 I also spent some time today going to each student and talking about what they had done and where they were going. This seemed to really motivate them as they worked well today. A lot of them said, "am I behind?" In some cases, they didn't like the answer, because they were. Most though, are moving along pretty well. Overall, I am still glad for the change, but I need to tweak it to make it more manageable. I think getting away from the individual pacing would be easier, but might take away a lot of the student excitement.

mountains of...

papers! Ok, the drawback to the kids all working at their own pace is I don't control when things get turned in. Graded a huge pile this morning and will have another pile waiting for me tomorrow am. Although, the nice thing is, two of the papers in that pile are from a kid who hardly ever turns ANYTHING IN! That was cool.
 Another good thing that happened today was while I was helping some students with a lab I realized that it is much easier to help them when only a few groups are working on the lab at one time. When 28 people are doing the same lab, even in groups, it is hard to make it to all the groups for a significant time. When there are only 3 groups working on it and everyone else is on some other assignment, I can actually spend time with those 3 groups. Never thought of it like that until today.

March 15

Another good day today. Starting to get a lot of papers turned in. Struggling a little bit with how to get them all graded and returned in a timely manner...same problem with any classroom. Had a lot going on today and I am wondering if everyone is working up to level. The response from the kids was pretty positive after a week. The kids who didn't like it said they didn't like the assignments that we had done. I tried to explain to them that those assignments would have been there regardless of what style of classroom we had. No matter how you package it, some kids don't like to work. Overall, I am really excited about how things are going. It isn't perfect, but I like the way things are going. Maybe just "flipping" is the answer, the self-paced format may be too much for students.
 Right now, I think next year may be: traditional classroom for quarter 1, flipped for quarters 2 and 3, and this open format for quarter 4. Too early to tell for sure though.

what a difference...

a day makes! So I spent the first 15 - 30 minutes today answering questions. It was great! The kids were so on topic and we were getting somewhere. The questions were good, the answers were hopefully just as good. I liked the feel of the class also. Students working simultaneously on labs, math applications, worksheets, and watching videos/websites. Pretty cool. I also think it helped that some of our students were out of the class for the school musical. Allowed some of the remaining kids to ask questions with less people watching. Hopefully that will continue...
 Also, I stepped out in the hall for a minute to talk to another teacher and when I came back in...2 students were writing on the board...TEACHING THE MATH TO ANOTHER STUDENT like I had just done for them...AWESOME!

2 days grace?

Ok, so two days down. At times, more hectic than I ever could have imagined. At others, found myself there thinking, "Doesn't anyone have a question?" I tried to hold back from initiating too many talks with kids, because I was afraid that would start them down a bad bath (unofficially known as "I don't get it-land). The overall vibe from the kids is that they like it. The ones who do not seem to not like the first assignment, reading a web page and taking notes, more than they don't like the process. 2 things that I am watching: 1) Some kids are getting lost in the flow of everything, lots of what do I do next questions. 2) I am afraid some kids are going too fast. But, how do you tell them to slow down? I am thinking that the first test will be the true indicator. If they are the first one to the test, but don't pass it, they will have to go back and re-investigate some things. That might help them pace better for the next chapter. Only time will tell, I guess.