January 2009 - Posts
I've had to teach one of the more challenging parts of chemistry - mole ratios. It's the start of a month or so of heavy math content in chemistry. So, I expected that students would be mentally checking out. No. They've worked very hard to keep up with
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Like watching the grass grow, or intently killing an evening watching the Weather Channel (in the absence of a weather emergency, that is)? What I AM doing is entering grades. What took WAY too long is hand-grading the semester exams. The scanner is out
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at least offline, that is. Most of my reading is online today. It's too much trouble to go to the library, even at school. Books are way too expensive - particularly when my interest is primarily for a narrow technical question. So, the web suits me.
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Right now, the buzzwords at my school revolve around "common practices". The idea is that we will be using similar strategies in every class, and that will result in less loss of instructional time. Right. The admin is big on collaborative groups and
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Ordinarily, when a semester ends, I get new students (that's when I have block scheduling). This time, because we have every other day, A/B schedules, I will have the same students, but will switch from Chemistry topics to Physics in Physical Science.
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I'm an old hand at this, but it still takes some effort. First, I printed out a new copy of the state standards. Then, I printed out a copy of the initial version of the test. Next, I compare the two - have I questions for each standard that I've taught,
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Perhaps surprisingly, the kids weren't too bad this week. The post-vacation craziness was kept to a minimum. It probably helped that I had oodles of extra work for everyone, and, when they got too loosey-goosey, brought it out. I'm just clearing up old
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Because, it can't be that today was a wonderful use of my time. Some genius in the district decided to have an "optional" teacher day today, Friday, Jan. 2nd. So, we had to cut our vacation short, book a flight back tonight to be with the family for the
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They were: Funny Understanding, and So appreciated Truly, the TeacherLingo crew are the best.
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