Unit 1 Wrap Up

The test results are in... and they are lousy.  Really, really lousy.  I'm not surprised.  I gave them Unit 1 Test A, more or less unchanged from the curriculum.  The only changes I made was modified a couple questions that didn't match our lab results, and I also took out the linear interpretation stuff about the 5% rule and the y-intercept that we did not cover.  Additionally, I put 5 multiple choice EOC practices questions on there.

Out of 58 students:

• 2 students scored over 100 with extra credit.  
• 2 other As.
• 5 Bs.
• 9 Cs.
• 5 Ds.
• 6 students still need to make up the test due to absences. (I anticipate 1 or 2 will pass, 4 will definitely fail)
• And.. 30 failures.

Awesome.  That makes a teacher feel wonderful about herself.

First of all, I'm kicking myself.  Obviously I sucked this unit up.  But I'm also livid with my students because they are LAZY.  As a class, we worked a problem together like every single one of the test.  Individually, they were supposed to work problems just like every single one on the test.  In their lab groups, they whiteboarded these problems.  The issue is, the A/B/C students are doing all the work, while the failures do nothing.  I have tried to address this issue in my lab groups for the next unit by separating the extreme slackers from the workers, although I may even change them again and make them homogenous so the failures have no choice but to work.

I do think subsequent units *might* get better only because the unit conversions and significant figures were what truly hurt the students.  Many refuse to even try with the unit conversions, despite seeing them in physical science and algebra.

Anyway, what we did in this unit:

• Mass & Change Lab/Model of Mass
• Worksheet 1
• Comparing Volume Units Lab/Model of Volume
• Measurements:  SI Units, Uncertainty, Accuracy/Precision, Sig Figs
• Worksheet 2
• Quiz 1
• Comparing Mass & Volume Lab/Model of Mass
• Worksheet 3
• Thickness of a Thin Layer/Create a Rainbow Density Column
• Quiz 2
• Metric Unit Conversions
• Attempted Worksheet 6
• Backed up and reviewed scientific notation and rounding
• Extra Practice Multiplying/Dividing with sig figs
• Unit 1 Study Guide and Review
• Unit 1 Test A

Monday we have state standardized testing and about half of my students will be missing from my classes.  I think I will force the remaining half to work on test corrections.  I also think I'm going to put them in a seating chart, which I hate doing.

Next time around, I will definitely organize Unit 1 differently.  This was my first legit attempt at making students understand sig figs, which is not heavily enforced in my state standards.  I don't think I will bother with that with my standard students next time around.  I also think I will reorganize the material so that we're solid on the math before we begin the labs.  The standard level chemistry students just didn't have the processing skills to make connections between what we were doing in the lab and things like unit conversions.  We kept jumping back and forth between math details like sig figs and uncertainty and "lab" details, and I think that was confusing for them.

For the next unit, I also think I need to prepare strong questions in advance before lab activities.  A big issue I had in our board meetings was that my students literally could not put 2+2 together.  I was asking them to make inferences about the data, when they don't even understand the word "data."  So I need to be prepared to guide them a bit more.  They are SO used to being fed the answers-- I can't just cut that cold turkey and expect positive results.

I also had several students transfer into another teacher's standard chemistry class this week.  As much as I hate to admit it, that hurts my feelings.  I am generally well liked.  And last semester with the biology modeling curriculum, I felt like my students generally enjoyed my class.  I got quite a bit of compliments and positive feedback from them.  This semester, I overhear things like, "this class ruins my day," or "I was in a good mood until I got in here."

Unit 1 Reflections Continued...

This is how I feel about my current chemistry classes:



"I take two steps forward, I take two steps back..."  <--- STORY OF CHEMISTRY THIS SEMESTER!  Just when I think we're beginning to make progress, my students lock up the brakes.

I don't want to blame my students per se... but they are beyond unmotivated.  Not poorly behaved, just unmotivated.  I cannot get any effort out of them.  They want to be spoon-fed the answers and that's it.

Friday beginning of the period:  we white-boarded Worksheet 3 Mass, Volume, and Density.  It shouldn't have been as hard for the students as it was, but they are still really struggling with the idea of a graphing mass vs. volume.  We've gone over line graphs, we've gone over slope, yet they still can't seem to make the connection that density = the slope of the line on a graph of mass over volume.

Friday/Monday:  We trudged ahead anyway and deployed our density model with two problems in the laboratory.  One was the thickness of a think layer of aluminum foil activity in the modeling curriculum:  students had to mathematically determine the height of the aluminum foil using the density.  The other problem was the creation of a "rainbow" using a density column of liquids.  I gave them 4 liquids and food coloring and told them I wanted a rainbow of red/yellow/green/blue.  For each problem, I gave them no procedure.  I had materials that may or may not be appropriate in the room, but they had to develop their own experimental plan to solve the problems.

Friday = brain dead students.  I got zero productivity out of them in time we worked on the activities.  Monday, on the other hand, they worked quite well.  I thought we made real progress and got some great results:

Part of one group's successful "rainbow" density column (missing the blue layer)

White-boarding the density column:  Verbal, Mathematical, and Particle Diagram.  I was pretty happy with this particle diagram-- while all the particles are the same size, they at least tried to show differences in spacing, showing some level of understanding.

White-boarding the thickness of a thin layer- I like how I just now noticed the error in their equation

I chose to skip over worksheet 4 due to time.  Today, we took Quiz #2 on density.  I haven't graded it yet.  I'm a little scared...

We also attempted to learn the factor-label method of metric conversions and dimensional analysis.  I skipped over Worksheet 5 due to lack of time, lack of computer availability, and troubles with the website it links to-- maybe that was a mistake...

Teaching unit conversions has never been my strong point... but talk about a colossal fail today.  Part of the reason was this dang sheet of notes:

While these nice, pre-made notes looked good in theory, I had a few issues with them.  Firstly, there's a typo I didn't catch on the example problem.  It should convert to meters, not centimeters.  Secondly, my students struggled with the factors being in scientific notation.  It was just too much for their math-phobic brains.

We only really used this sheet in my 1st class of the day.  In my other classes, I gave them the traditional equalities and showed them how to make conversion factors out of them. (1 kilo "unit" = 1000 "units", etc.)  That went slightly better.  Worksheet #6 was still too hard for my low-performing students to jump right into with all of the scientific notation.  Too much math for one day.  Next time, I definitely need more scaffolding.

Our Unit 1 test is supposed to be Thursday.  I may push it back to Friday, because we are NOT proficient in unit conversions.

Unit 1 Reflections: Mass & Volume

There comes a moment when I have to ask myself, is this really worth it?  The chemistry modeling curriculum is NOT going well so far.  While I don't want to scrap it completely, I am asking myself, "how much longer can I allow this continue?"

We have spent 2 days on Mass & Volume and still haven't even introduced the idea of density.  No freaking kidding.

It has been like pulling teeth.  It makes me want to quit my job and go flip burgers at McDonalds.

We cannot afford to waste so much time.  I'm ready to throw in the towel and wave the white flag.

Yesterday, we discussed Worksheet 2 Reading Scales, and students took Quiz 1 today.  The whole uncertainty and significant figures lessons were a disaster.

Then we did the Mass & Volume lab.  I inflicted bodily harm with a hacksaw to cut same size pieces of aluminum and steel:

Prior to the lab, we watched a quick video clip on Archimedes and read a short article on Archimedes Principle.  (On a side note, do you know how hard it is to find info on water displacement that doesn't include the world "density"?)  We then came up with a plan on how to determine the mass of a non-geometric object.

I told students the purpose of the lab was to determine if there is a relationship between mass and volume.  They were to measure the length, the mass, and the volume of each of the 6 pieces of metal.  They were then to create a graph of grams over mL with two lines:  one for steel, one for aluminum.  They needed to determine the slope of each line (we don't have computers or Vernier software to do it for them).

In the lab, they did fine.  They worked well, although they got terrible data and did not measure with correct uncertainty and number of sig figs:

When it came time for our white boards, they just plain sucked:

The only white board I got a picture of today

Today, we were to white board after the quiz, then do Worksheet 3.  We never got to Worksheet 3.  We never even finished our notes on density in two of my classes.  It was the biggest waste of time on the planet.  Students have zero conclusion on anything after today.

I am so freaking frustrated.  My students just keep getting worse and worse every day.  Behaviors and attitudes are terrible.  I am hating every single day I am doing this.

We cannot go on like this.

How on earth do you get students to think?  That's half the problem.

I think tomorrow, we're going back to a PowerPoint on density, then doing Worksheet #3.

As of right now, I'm thinking I may have to scrap board meetings temporarily until I can earn some student buy-in.

Unit 1 Reflections: Comparing Volume Units (Part 2) and Measurements

Not that I'm in any position to give others advice, but I do think I have a fabulous classroom tip regarding time management during white-boarding sessions.  While last semester it was a problem, this semester the time management is ten times worse.  My students are collectively needier and less motivated.  After the Mass lab, the white-boarding sessions took a ridiculously long time, which is to be expected the first time around.  The white-boarding sessions for the Volume lab took even longer.  We are already SO behind-- desperate times call for desperate measures.  The solution?  Students now have to "pay" me for extra time.

What "paying" me entails:  I give all of my students six "free passes" at the beginning of the semester.  These are good for bathroom/hall/homework/extra credit passes.  They only receive six, although they have opportunities to earn them throughout the year-- usually "caught being good" type situations.

From now on, I have told students that if they need extra time beyond the time limit I have assigned to complete the activity, the lab manager will have to pay me one pass.  Since I've implemented this, students have been able to produce the same quality of work in the allotted time.  Amazing how that works, huh?  Let's hope it lasts.

Even with the new time management techniques, our white-boarding and consensus of volume still took forever.  Some of the white-boards of their results:

This group "paid" a pass but still could not come up with a conclusion with the extra time

These white boards were from my, uh, good class.  The other classes struggled more.  Although I feel like our board meeting was a bit anti-climatic.  Yup, mL = cm3.  Woo.

Then we created our consensus maps.  Again, these photos were from my good class.  Although I did catch one group in this class Googling facts about volume.  Ahem, you reeeeallly learned gases have an indefinite volume based on this lab?

The student buy-in has been much lower so far with the chemistry curriculum as opposed to the biology curriculum.  Part of it is the student population, but part of it probably is my delivery.  I have not felt as prepared or confident with this curriculum and I'm not sure why.  I think the teacher notes for biology just gave overall better guiding questions to include in the pre-lab/post-lab discussion.

Any buy-in I may have had, I killed today with the world's worst lesson on measurements.  I don't know why I thought I could get through a review of the metric system/SI units, accuracy & precision, uncertainty, and sig figs in a single class period.  Let alone on a Friday before a long weekend.

We went through the slides on Fred Senese's Measurement website per the suggestion in the teacher unit plan.  This was the first time I've "lectured" so far this semester and it sucked.  I may as well have been talking to myself.  While the students were good about copying notes, when I asked them a question, it was nothing but blank stares and confusion.  Also, his slides are written on too advanced of a level for standard level high school chemistry students.  I wished I had used my own materials.  Or next time, maybe I'll jigsaw these topics with students using his website as a resource.

We then did the Uncertainty in Measurements tutorial, which I think is a really good resource.  Unfortunately, the school's WiFi was acting up today and kept dropping on us.  Then I gave students Worksheet #2 - Reading Scales, which they are in no way shape or form ready to complete to the best of their ability.  For those who did not finish (uh, like my entire 3rd block), it became homework.  We'll be checking it Tuesday after the holiday-- I'm not anticipating impressive results.

Unit 1 Reflections: Comparing Volume Units (Part 1)

I think I figured out my "mistake" this semester that left my students struggling with the concept of particles.  Part of the problem is they have low retention from their previous science courses, but I think next time around, I will re-order the lessons a bit.  I made the assumption that students understood that matter is everything, and that matter was made of atoms (or particles).  I think I need to review that in greater depth next year before jumping in to mass.  Dot in a box would be a good part of the pre-lab discussion for the Mass & Change lab.  Upon seeing their poor grades on Worksheet #1, students seem to be finally coming around to the idea that particles are important and they actually have to pay attention when they draw them.

My students proved me wrong today.  Or shall I say, most of my students proved me wrong today.  I expected them to struggle badly with the Comparing Volume Units lab.  The majority of them did not struggle at all.

For this lab, I ordered a set of the Giant Geo Solids from Nasco, as the lesson plan suggests:

I actually bought them with my personal money, since my school's science department is currently operating in the red.  I knew I would get flack about ordering expensive plastic containers, so I just sucked it up and bought them myself.

If anyone is out there reading this, do not bother ordering the Giant Geo Solids, or at least be forewarned that it is a lot of wasted money.  Half of the items in this kit are useless for this lab.  The problem is that the recommended kit includes 10 different shapes; 2 of them are hemispheres and 3 are pyramids.  Do they really expect the students to find the volume of different heights of water in a closed cone, hemisphere, or pyramid with the opening in the base?   That is unnecessarily difficult.  So for over $70, I only received 5 containers I can actually use for this lab.  Luckily, I have reasonably sized classes this semester and could get away with 5 groups.  But it would have been a better use of my money to try and find some sort of clear plastic geometric container at Walmart-- someone has to make something useable that is sold in the toy, floral, or storage departments.

With pre-lab, we revisited the phrase "matter is anything that has mass and takes up space."  I told them that we already discussed mass and how changing the number of particles affects the mass.  So how do we measure taking up space?  (Volume)  How do we calculate volume in geometry class?  (LxWxH or area x H)  What are the units for volume?  (cm3)  Then I pulled out a bottle of water and asked them how to calculate the volume of a liquid, pouring a bit on the floor to make a puddle.  I asked if they could calculate LxWxH of the puddle (no, it spreads).  So how do we measure volume of a liquid?  (graduated cylinder)  What units are on a graduated cylinder?  (mL)  Why are the volume units for a solid different than the volume units for a liquid?

Then I gave them the purpose of the lab:  To determine if there is a relationship between cm3 and mL.  Their only directions were, "Determine the mL and cm3 of 5 different heights of water in your container."

Lucky groups got cubes or rectangular prisms

One unlucky group got a hexagonal prism.  I was surprised when one of my students knew the formula for area of a hexagon without looking it up!  He informed me he was currently in geometry for the third time, since he failed it twice.

The majority of my students breezed through the calculations with little help from me.  I was impressed.  Then, I had students draw a graph of mL vs. cm3 in their lab notebooks and calculate the slope of the line.  I did give them guidelines of putting mL on the X axis and cm3 on the Y axis.  They had minimal difficulty with this task as well.  The lesson plans suggest using Vernier for graphing this activity's data.  As I've mentioned before, we don't have Vernier equipment at my school.  I have my own copy of the software, but it's not installed on our school's laptops.

That's as far as we got today, since we had spent the beginning of the class period going over their previous night's homework (extra histogram practice).  Tomorrow we will white board...

We are so far behind.  I need to figure out what I can cut from unit 1.  I'm thinking of cutting the thickness of tin foil activity.  While it's cool they can determine the relative size of an atom, I think it's not the best use of our time...

Unit 1 Reflections: Worksheet 1 Mass & Change

Ay caramba, it's going to be a long semester...

My students... not getting the "particle" thing.  Just when I think they are beginning to understand, they prove to me that they don't.

My students... not motivated.  Well behaved?  Yes.  Motivated?  Not even remotely.  So when they don't understand this whole particle thing that I keep babbling on about, they don't care.  No motivation to even attempt to understand.  This junior class is collectively terrible about just wanting to be fed the answers and not think for themselves ever-- something I noticed last year as well.

Yesterday, I was debating if I should go into further detail on matter & particles.  I decided, yes, absolutely, I definitely need to address this NOW.  So I did a little demo I like to call "Dot In The Box."  Actually, my high school physics teacher used to call it that.  That is probably one of maybe three things I remember from high school physics.

Dots in a box.  You literally just shake the box to show the changes in particle movement for the different phases of matter.

I wanted to do the demo, then have students whiteboard a consensus model for matter and particles.  For the sake of time, it was more teacher-led than I would have liked.  We basically defined matter and said that all matter is made of atoms.  Since these atoms can be arranged different in different substances, we are calling these atoms the broad term "particles" instead.  Then I demonstrated how they move in the three states of matter.

While this definitely helped my students understanding, I could still see a HUGE disconnect in their answers for Worksheet 1.  We completed the worksheet in class, then whiteboarded the answers.  Some of my whiteboards from 4th block:

The brown is what I added as the class was discussing ways to uh, "fix" the answers, because I strongly disliked almost everything on this board.
On a side note, not a single group in any of my 3 classes gained mass when burning the steel wool-- they all lost mass.  I'm assuming it was from carelessness and lack of lab skills.  Since we didn't have the data to support the idea that the wool should have gained mass when burned, I did not even dare to introduce that concept.  I just kept driving home the idea of conservation of mass- if the mass changed, it was because particles either entered or exited the system.

Probably the only board even close to being on target

Their key was awesome, the details were less than awesome

Rewriting the law of conservation of mass in their own words proved to be the hardest thing in the world.

At the moment, I'm in the process of grading the individual worksheets.  I'll confess, I'm a lazy grader.  With this being their first "real" assessment, I'm trying to go hard on them and be picky.  The quality of work is dreadful right now.  I'm hoping this will provide a wake-up call.  Being hard on them at the start is actually the opposite of how I usually teach chemistry-- they are so scared of it, I usually try to build their confidence slowly.

Unit 1 Reflections: Mass and Change Lab

One of the most frustrating things for me at the moment is that my cell phone is not letting me email or text pictures from my gallery.  My gmail app keeps crashing and my gallery keeps crashing about 7 times out of 10.  Not only is this irritating for blogging, but I also take tons of pictures of things on the whiteboards for absent students or when we are cut short on time.  But I digress...

Our first lab on Mass and Change was supposed to be Wednesday.  Wednesday ended up being a 1/2 day due to an early dismissal for inclement weather, we were on a modified schedule with only 3 of the 4 blocks meeting for shortened class periods.  Thursday we were closed for inclement weather.  With this being our first lab with white boarding, we are muddling through it at a painstakingly slow pace.

On Wednesday/Friday, students completed the Mass and Change Lab.  Students had to observe the relationship between mass and change at 6 different lab stations:  pulling apart steel wool, melting ice, forming a precipitate, burning steel wool, dissolving sugar, and dissolving Alka-Seltzer.  Some highlights:

I wanted to do this lab more "open ended," with students taking notes on some pre-lab instructions, then completing the procedure themselves.  With the lost days and all, I just ended up printing up a simple procedure to place at each lab station.  That was probably a good idea, since this was a great introductory lab to assess students' basic lab skills.  The students worked very well in the lab.  I was impressed with their behavior.  But the majority of their lab skills are extraordinarily low, not surprisingly.  On a side note, I was really proud of some of my former biology students from last year, who seemed noticeably more capable and confident in a laboratory setting than the others.  This is the first year I've had repeat students from biology to chemistry.  It's nice to think they learned something.  I've always been a big believer of spending as much time in the lab as possible in science classes.

The class data was... well... interesting:

I then assigned each lab group 1-2 stations to white board the results verbally, mathematically, diagramatically, and graphically with a histogram.  I wanted to a do a short lesson on histograms before this lab-- that is what got cut thanks to the snow day.  We learned about histograms on the fly, and it was not very pretty.  Hopefully they will get more confident as the year progresses.

This is one class's collection of white boards for the 6 stations (I would call this class my brightest thus far):

Some of the issues:  the data interpretation/conclusion forming skills were so-so.  I had a lot of groups with very weak verbal explanations.  Many just explained the procedure.  With mathematical expression, they really struggled.  Most students just gave me a subtraction problem for change in mass.  I kept pushing for an algebraic equation.  A very small handful of students could fathom that.  Particles are throwing them for a big loop.  They are really struggling with the concept at this point.  I don't know how much I should force it right now-- will they have a light bulb moment if I just keep asking the question?  Or do I need to nip this in the butt now and do a review session on matter and particles?  I'm not sure...

In two of my classes, we got through the consensus board meeting for a model of mass:

Clearly one is much more detailed than the other.

Tomorrow, we will complete Worksheet 1 and then move on to volume...

I'll admit, I'm worried about the chemistry modeling curriculum and my current group of students at this moment in time.  Many don't seem to handle "open ended" or "abstract" well at all.  They zone out, then won't try (especially my 4th block).  And their baseline skills seem loooooow-- lower than average.

First Day of Chemistry!

So... this post is 2 days late.  Our first day of the new semester was on Monday.  Would you believe we're already off schedule?  Thank you inclement weather-- school was dismissed at 12:10 today, and will be closed tomorrow.  Yay for snow days, although there's nothing like being one and a half days behind after the first week.

I am teaching all standard chemistry this semester.  I currently have 57 students between three sections-- I'm sure that will change.

The first day of class, after all the necessary introductions and paperwork, I did the "Exploding Can" demo:

The Can

You can see a YouTube video of it HERE (I did not makes this video, despite using the same brand of coffee).

I set up the demo by explaining to students that methane is a gas that is lighter than air as I was filling the can.  I dimmed the lights and ignited the methane coming out the top hole.  I told students to record their observations and to keep their eye on the flame at all times.  The flame burns for about 3-5 minutes, culminating in a small explosion that scares the bejezus out of the students..

With their groups at their tables, I then had students story board the particles at the beginning, middle, and end of the demonstration.  The results were pretty interesting.  Here are some highlights from my 3rd block:

The particles are multiplying, building up pressure, which caused the can to explode

Particles starting off at room temperature and heating up because of the flame.  The additional heat causes them to move faster and crash together harder until they cause an explosion.

The methane and oxygen particles rise and move upwards during the demonstration, causing the can to explode.  The also expand because of the heat from the flame.

It was really interesting for me to see just how many misconceptions these students have about all sorts of topics.  For example, most groups didn't draw the flame.  When I asked if there was a reason, some told me because flames aren't made of particles.  Some told me that flames are oxygen, which isn't a particle.  Some told me flames are just heat.  One kid told me the flame was made of lighter fluid, and I just transferred it to the can.

Most groups only drew one type of particle, with a very small handful including air or oxygen.  When I asked if the can was made of particles, most told me no, the can was made of metal.

I would say about 50% of the groups said that the particles were multiplying in the can as the demo progressed.  When I asked for evidence to support this idea, some said because the flame was going into the can.

I didn't really have a great "wrap up" for this discussion, expect to tell the students that all groups had some correct ideas and some incorrect ideas.  And I promised them that by the end of the course, they would be able to fully explain why the can exploded.  I also said that chemistry is the study of particles-- particles are what cause everything to behave the way it does.  Through chemistry we can predict what different types of particles will do in different situations.

Yesterday, students took the Chemistry Concepts Inventory.  I haven't even run their answer sheets through the Scantron yet.  I can't imagine their scores are going to be very impressive based on our class discussions thus far.  We also had a lab safety day, which I felt was absolutely imperative before the Mass and Change lab.  Traditionally, I have spent multiple class periods on safety and lab equipment.  This year, I limited it to one day in hopes that I will be able to impress what I didn't cover in detail upon them during the many lab activities and board meetings.

I gave students a worksheet that I have used in the past called Identifying Improper Lab Behavior.  Previously I have used this activity as an evaluation or homework assignment after we have covered safety.  The worksheet has 6 scenarios where students are doing obviously incorrect things.  Students have to read and highlight the unsafe behaviors.  There is also a checklist where students have to match a particular unsafe practice to the scenario(s) where it occurs.

To add a modeling "spin" on the activity, I then had students in groups create a list of laboratory safety rules that would have prevented all of the unsafe behaviors:

We held a board meeting to share and discuss each group's safety rules, then came up with a consensus list of rules for the laboratory to be copied into our laboratory notebooks (which about 2/3 of my students didn't bring to class- I was spoiled last semester with exceptionally responsible students).

Today's original plan was to complete the Mass and Change lab.  But... we had an early dismissal that caused us to be on a modified schedule.  We barely got started on the lab.  On a positive note, the students conducted themselves in an excellent manner in the lab for the short time we were there today.  I was worried after the first day of class that the maturity level of my students was going to be too low for many of the more complicated labs.  But my hope has been (tentatively) renewed after this morning!

Biology EOC Results

Where's this stuff again?

Right before lunch on our first day of the spring semester, one of the guidance counselors knocked on my classroom door with my students' EOC quick scores from last semester.

Initially, I was elated.  At first glance, I noticed TONS of scores in the 90s!  Last year I could count the students who scored in the 90s on my fingers.  However, the elation faded when I noticed two failures, and very low failures at that.  It only got worse as I began to crunch the numbers.

2014 - Modeling Curriculum
58 total students (standard and honors combined)

Average Score:  88.8
Median Score:  91
Lowest Score:  63 (two failures)
Highest Score:  98


2013 - Traditional Instruction
37 total students (all standard)

Average Score:  81.6
Median Score:  82
Lowest Score:  68 (the only failure)
Highest Score:  92

Those numbers initially look MUCH improved, until you pull out the data from only my standard students this year:

2014 - Modeling Curriculum, Standard Biology Only
12 total students

Average Score:  82.2
Median Score:  85
Lowest Score:  63 (2 failures, both scoring 63)
Highest Score:  94

I'm not about to run a statistical analysis on the data.  While there was a slight improvement in average score and median score for standard biology students from 2013 to 2014, I expected to see more.  Plus, I had two extremely bad failures-- 63 is the lowest EOC score I have ever had a student earn on an EOC in any subject.  To add insult to injury, while one of the students who scored 63 is failing, the other is passing the class with a C.  That student had been on my "watch list" all year, but the student was very good about completing assignments, which offset her low quiz and test grades.

So why didn't I see more improvement?  Why was I unable to reach some of these students, especially the two failures?  Why was my failure rate so much higher than usual?  Why did my students think the exam was so hard this year, when I thought I was seeing strong mastery in the classroom?  And most importantly-- what do I need to do differently next time around?

The honors scores look okay on their own, I just hope they are "enough" so they won't negatively impact my evaluation at the end of the year.  We are evaluated on growth:  the state has some magic algorithm that determines what a student should score on their biology EOC based on prior state science exams.  If a student scores below that number, it impacts you extremely negatively.  If a student scores the expected number or only slightly above, you receive a mediocre evaluation.  The majority of your students need to score significantly better than their anticipated scores to receive a strong evaluation.  When you teach honors students, it's difficult to get the growth needed for a good evaluation.

On a side note, it's a sad state of education when I'm sitting here stressing about my students' growth scores instead of whether or not they learned enough biology to be successful in the future.  When did my job become more about numbers than education?

And where's that wine anyway?