Recently, I saw this really funny meme on facebook about the creative process. I think it also sums up designing and sustaining students in long term inquiry:
Throughout my 21 previous years as a teacher, I have really struggled to provide meaningful (and timely!) feedback to my students on their lab reports. Teaching IB Chemistry has really forced me to get better - and I have. Yet I still feel like this is an area for more improvement.I've got a series of blog posts planned to share some ideas with you - and hopefully garner some discussion that will be helpful for me also! First I'd like to share the mechanics of how I provide feedback.
Earlier in the summer, I was shopping around for a standards-based gradebook. As the lone teacher at my school venturing into this unchartered territory, I did what any responsible techie teacher would do. I turned to the twitterverse for suggestions. I quickly identified the two most recommended platforms.
In teaching we regularly change our class structures and routines and we implement new “interventions” in hopes of changing classroom dynamics or reaching more students. I know that most of the time I make these decisions based upon anecdotal evidence, perhaps after glancing at
In this age of scientific inquiry, molecular modeling, digital classrooms, and differentiation, I felt downright guilty about any teacher-centered time. My classroom is flipped after all. I’m not supposed to be lecturing, right?
The new AP Chemistry Curriculum and the NGSS both focus on developing deep conceptual understanding. In order to achieve this, teachers must identify the objectives they need to teach to and stockpile a good assortment of conceptual questions for formative and summative assessments to support those objectives.
Deanna Cullen wrote about her decision to move forward with a blended model this year and asked for some suggestions about videos. I've been using videos as a teaching tool in my class for the last six years and wanted to share some thoughts.
In my last article I described several different strategies you could use in your classroom to integrate the use of whiteboards. Whiteboarding can be a powerful tool for increasing student engagement when it is implemented well.
