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.
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."
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