... It's Finally Friday!

Some weeks seem impossibly long -- this was one of them! This is the first 5-day week we have had since Christmas break. That one extra day really makes a difference! I am very glad for a weekend!

Since it's Friday, I thought I'd do a little bit of recap and reflection on how I feel my week went teaching wise.

Biology
This was a hard week in Biology. We are in the genetics unit and were working on the more complicated types of inheritance -- incomplete dominance, codominance, sex-linked, genetic disorders. Some of my students really enjoyed it, especially when we were doing "who dun' it" sort of genetic problems. It made for some dramatic realizations.

"She is NOT the mother of that baby! She stole the baby from the hospital!"
"That son was adopted!?"
"These two could be the father, but not these two!"

They really seemed to enjoy and relate to those types of problems (likely due to the type of television they watch).

I feel like I should have done more of the problems together as a class. I was finding myself answering the same questions over and over. Reminder to myself: practice together, in groups, and independently. All three serve a different function.

Chemistry
My chemistry classes had their first test of the semester this week. Grades were not great -- a lot of A's, a lot of F's, and not many in the middle. The unfortunate part is that all of the next few units build on each other, so I'm concerned that the students with F's are setting themselves up for another challenging unit (we are going from moles to stoichiometry).

Because the moles unit is so vital to understanding the rest of the semester, I am giving them a retake opportunity. They have to see me outside of class (before school, during advisement/homeroom, or after school) to look over their test and discuss the retake. In order to retake the test they have to complete two study activities -- online resource (with proof of working through problems or taking notes), practice problems, homework corrections, book reading/questions, or tutoring session (Science National Honors Society provides free tutoring at our high school). Once they complete two, they can schedule a day to retake the test. Hopefully they put some effort into understanding the material the second time and they are able to improve some of their grades.

Since the test, we have started the mole ratios and mole-mole stoichiometry problems. They are not pleased so far, but I have faith that they will get the hang of it. This was the first that they have seen dimensional analysis, and I feel as though I should have introduced it sooner. Some love it and understand it, some do not. I had a conversation about neat and organized work that I should have definitely had at the beginning of the moles unit instead -- could have prevented several headaches.

That was my week in a nutshell. I'm ready for a few days to relax, do some baking, and watch some football!

How was your week? Here's to hoping it was a great one!