I absolutely hate teaching bonding. The abstract nature of atoms, the minutiae of nomenclature, and the details of writing formulas bog students down and I struggle to meet their needs. So, we do POGILs, simulations, speed dating, labs, and drills. Lots of time is spent trying to correct patterns of work to meet the learning objectives.

This year, I just can’t seem to meet those goals. I feel like I’m at my wits end and I’m just ready to move into something else for the plain sake of mixing it up a little bit.

I know it’s not my fault entirely. I know I can rely on the multiple short assessments – formative and summative – that I’ve given over the last three weeks (almost) checking on progress. I know I’ve recovered and retaught major points of confusion.

I also know I can’t force students to do something they’re patently disinterested in doing.

Standards based grading is a double-edged sword in that regard. They’ve done plenty of work, but there is still a major lack of understanding of the main ideas, so I cannot report, through the grading system, that they’ve learned the objective. Ethically, I’m not willing to cross that line. At the same time, I question the level of expectation I’ve set up as students work to demonstrate what understanding they have. Am I expecting too much?

The line between high expectations and impossible expectations is thin. Trying to walk it is an exercise in rationalization and stubbornness.

• • *_The photo in this post is a [Public Domain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penrose_triangle#/media/File:LargeTribarGotschuchenAustria.JPG) photo of a [Penrose Triangle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penrose_triangle). It looks like it should exist, but in reality, is an impossible shape._

[In 2012](http://blog.ohheybrian.com/2012/06/venus-flyby/), [we saw Venus transit the sun](http://blog.ohheybrian.com/2012/06/venus-the-aftermath/). It won’t happen again until 2117, so if you missed it, you’re our of luck when it comes to seeing that again. Today, you have a chance to see Mercury slide across the surface of our star.

It’s cloudy here, so I’ll be using NASA’s special [Mercury Transit website](http://mercurytransit.gsfc.nasa.gov/) to show images of the planet as it crosses the sun during the day. If you want to learn more about the transit or what information will be displayed on the website, NASA has a [good blog post](http://sdoisgo.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-mercury-transit-is-tomorrow.html) explaining which regions they’re focusing on and why we should care about observing transits like this. Also, be sure to check out the [Solar Dynamics Observatory website](http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/) from time to time for great images of the sun at various websites. They highlight solar phenomena (magnetic regions, sunspots, coronal mass ejections, etc) and really give our students a new view of our energy source. It’s a powerful thing to show how complex our universe is.

[Mercury repeats this trip thirteen times](http://eclipsewise.com/oh/tm2016.html) every hundred years (ish), so you’ll have a chance to watch again in 2019 if you have to miss today.

Everything I do in class is geared toward building understanding. I want students to be able to both complete the task and understand _why_ they’re completing it. Learning is more than a collection of disconnected skills. Especially in chemistry, the more you see the interconnectedness, the easier it is to learn.

Today, I gave a quiz that went less then spectacularly. We’ve finished a chapter on periodic table organization and have moved into ionization and simple bonding. We’ve talked about valence electrons, how to find them, whether or not an atom is gaining or losing those electrons, and finally, how to find the ion charge. We also practiced it in a lab yesterday.

Today, we fell flat pretty quickly.

As we looked back over the last few days of work, I told them that before every quiz, I can usually accurately pick out who will do well and who won’t based on work leading up. It seemed to surprise them that yes, I do know when work is simply copied and handed in. To illustrate that it isn’t uncommon, I closed my eyes and asked everyone to silently raise their hand if they’d ever done that. (Of course, most hands were slapped back down on tables or knees…not so silently…)

I gave my students the GIGO example – if I don’t have accurate information, I cannot teach effectively. When I walk by and offer help, it isn’t random. But they have to choose to accept the offer.

I found, years ago, that posting answer keys around the room while they’re working significantly reduces the desire to just copy it down and turn it in. First off, because I usually won’t take the work up. Secondly, they know there’s no pressure on being perfect. I can still assess their learning (and they can easily self assess, which is more important anyways) and adjust as we go.

Lately, I haven’t posted keys. It could be laziness, forgetfulness, or a combination of any number of things.

The fact of the matter is I’m still fighting a resistant culture. We’re nearly there in some classes – a culture of learning as process, not as destination – but in others, we probably won’t make it this year.

I still have 17 school days until summer break, so we’ll keep the gas pedal down and see what happens.

In software, there’s a lot of discussion about the “minimum viable product” when you’re designing something: what is the bare basic you can deliver to customers that will solve a problem? It helps define the focus and set development priorities for the first weeks.

I think there’s a similar process in learning. I have to have a minimum viable input from students in order to teach effectively. I try to design lessons that are low barrier for entry, ones that allow students to engage with an idea without being bogged down in the details. It takes some amount of effort and the bar is _just_ above what’s comfortable.

I haven’t been receiving that minimum input from students lately. And as a result, we’re struggling. Hard.

There seems to be the expectation that if learning doesn’t happen in class, I’ll drop everything and teach it later. Some are learning the hard way that it doesn’t work that way. When we’re together, I want to engage _together_. I can be flexible, but it’s a two way street.

I’ve had some discussions with students. The nice thing about standards based grading is that it’s less of a numbers game (mathematically impossible to pass, etc.) It’s harder – it’s a learning game.

_Learning must happen._

Learning an entire semester’s worth of material in four weeks is hardly realistic, but I’ll support the ones who give it a try.

I hope there’s a larger takeaway, whatever the outcome.

State testing. There are no words.

Week two of six is halfway done. Meanwhile, I keep teaching and I keep assessing. Most of it is formative, informing the learning process and my instructional cycle. Looping back to rehash ideas that are still elusive; being transparent about why we’re doing what.

Yes, there is still a need for demonstration of learning.

_Yes, you have to take this test today. Show me what you know._

There comes a point where I feel like I’m just chasing shadows to justify my own work.

I know that’s not true, but it sure feels like it some days.

We played Jeopardy today in class (with some major upsets coming during final Jeopardy…quite exciting) to review atoms and the periodic table organization. It’s a super-short chapter that sets up a foundation for bonding, naming, and chemical reactions. It’s also nice because it’s mostly review (or should be) of 8th grade physical science.

There’s still new stuff I throw at them, like valence electron location and Bohr model electron shells.

During Jeopardy, I try to give thought-provoking questions to get students to see patterns and interconnections between ideas. A favorite line of mine is, “There are only so many ways I can ask these questions.” This is painfully obvious as we go through more games and skill building activities.

I started to see a lot of:

neutrons?

valence?

2 shells and 3 valence?

on the whiteboards.

I love the question mark. Sure, I’d love it if they were confident and could just spout some of this stuff (because it makes the rest of the year much, much easier to digest). But, I’m more happy that we’re finally approaching a point of being willing to venture logical responses rather than, “I don’t know.”

It was also super fun to see the excitement when a ventured answer was, believe it or not, correct.

And it only took until April 25th. Maybe next year, we can hit this on April 24th. I’ll call that a win.

I remind my students constantly that I can’t help if they don’t do one of two things: 1) Ask me a question when they’re confused, or 2) get something wrong on an assignment. I need to see their thinking, and those two methods – along with my questioning – are the best indicators of strengths and weaknesses.

Lately, it’s spiraled into something much more confounding. Students are stuck, but they refuse to ask _any_thing. Even when I give a freebie, anything-goes offer. When I come by to prompt, they admit to being stuck, but then don’t do the small task to get _un_stuck. So there they remain. And nothing gets done.

And so we spiral.

It’s hyperbole, but I think they feel like kids in the car in Jurassic Park when I come by.

The fear of being wrong – searching for the right answer every time – is something I’ve tried to combat all year long, but it’s still got hold of most of my students. So many are afraid to be wrong, that they’re paralyzed and can’t take the help, even when offered outright. It’s a safety thing…I don’t know if they don’t feel safe because of my teaching style or because of peers…but it’s something that needs to be worked out somehow.

How do you help students get over the initial hump of just asking a question? Even if it’s something as simple as, “What’s the charge of a proton?” A small door like that would allow me to build their confidence and point to small, accomplishable tasks which will help them progress on their own.

Three years ago, my wife and I bought our first home. I can’t believe I haven’t written more on this before (which is partially true. I mention the remodel, along with some photos in an old post.) Time for a mega update – with pictures!

We rushed during the first summer to get the major work done before Meredith was born, which we were able to do.

We’d found carpenter ants and some serious water damage on the plate for the wall, so the whole thing had to come out and be rebuilt. That was day 1.

Part of the process involved removing a wall from the dining room, which meant a major ceiling repair as well as refinishing hardwood floors after patching in an old exterior door.

The floors were finished the week M was born.

The summer of 2014 was mostly hired out for siding work from tearing the kitchen wall out the previous year. There were some other structural repairs that needed to be done – new soffits, window moulding, a new window put into the living room…things I don’t have photos for. We finally settled on what the kitchen backsplash needed to look like in the spring, and I got those put in during spring break.

The best part about the backsplash is that the tile we chose was on clearance at Lowe’s, and according to their own policy, they’ll price match. So, a tile that was originally $0.90 each only cost us $0.20 at every store. I bought out northern Indiana and southern Michigan. It was awesome.

Now, a year later, we’re finally pushing hard to finish the rest of the kitchen. The fridge and some old floor cabinets we owned from our first place in the states are getting a facelift with custom shelves, a new butcher block countertop, and some floating oak wall shelves. We started the butcher block last week by milling down some oak we bought from a neighbor.

Today, I spent a snowy April morning building the new custom shelves.

This week is the week to get it all finished. In addition to the shelves, I’m going to be milling the face frames from some maple (from the neighbor again) and then putting a wall cabinet over the fridge. Everything will be topped with crown moulding along the ceiling when we’re done.

And who says home projects tend to linger…

—

All photos in this post are mine shared via Flickr CC-BY-NC

My grading practices have improved this year. I’m keeping better track of information, I’m using it more often, and I’m showing students – constantly – their progress in their learning. The notion that grades only report ability is buried deep and digging it out has taken a lot – a lot – of work.

Case in point: I’ve already written about keeping better track of quizzes given on standards in class. That spreadsheet, at the end of the chapter, looks like this:

This shows some interesting things:

1. I can pinpoint sticking points on specific students much more accurately.
2. Blank spots – missing quizzes – really hurts my ability to help. Same idea as GIGO…if I don’t have consistent information from students, I can’t help them as effectively.
3. These quiz scores typically improve over time because older ideas set the foundation for new ideas. Yes, there is a dip in some cases, but I chalk that up to complexity rather than ability.

We just took the test and I found myself much less surprised than I used to be. (It pains me to even admit that I used to be surprised…growth…) I can also whip that tracking chart back out and pair it up with test scores.

Yellow is a set of questions related to a specific learning objective for the chapter. For the most part, the yellow boxes correlate with the tracking page. The conversation now centers on, “What mistakes am I still making?” rather than, “What do I have to do to get my grade up?”

It’s also great to ask a student if their test grade is a surprise and have them – even the most reluctant or disengaged – admit that no, it looks about right. Again, we can then focus on closing gaps in understanding and not point grubbing.

I mentioned Evan Weingberg’s standards-based tracking system in a short snippet a couple weeks back. I want to expand on that thought a little bit.

Essentially, he uses a Google Sheet to aggregate quiz performance to make sure standards are actually learned over time. This has been incredibly valuable to me because I felt that students were growing, but had no solid longitudinal data to back that up. It’s not 100% objective (nor should it be), but it helps inform and confirm (or refute) my gut feeling about a student.

I grade my quiz questions on a 1-4 scale rather than Evan’s 1-3 using a rubric I made years ago with significant help from Jenn Binis.

This is posted in my room and helps me give more specific feedback to my students. The quality in responses and in corrections has jumped dramatically. The rubric is also nice because it can be adapted to just about any question.

I give numeric feedback to students on their quizzes, but most of the time, students toss them in recycling on the way out. I’d like to have a way for students to take a look at their longitudinal growth over the course of a chapter. The idea is to take Evan’s original format and create a companion sheet which is specific to each student – some kind of template mixed with doctopus so I can update a master sheet and each student also can see their personal growth on a connected reporting sheet.

I’m not 1:1 this year, so implementing it before the end of the semester isn’t a major priority, but it’s something I’m going to tinker with over the summer to see if I can’t work out.

I’m going to stop doing labs in one of my classes this semester. Regardless of the supports or steps I put in place, there is a general refusal (save for 4 students who are trying their hardest to rise above the din) to follow procedure, listen to instructions, and work safely.

The class itself has become its own distraction. There lacks a visceral awareness of how actions impact others in the room, which has led to a general disregard for any form of structure. Labs are highly desirable because of the experience students get with the science, but they’re not teaching anything. It’s effort I put in that isn’t spent on a significant learning gain. It’s also creating liabilities.

It’s all the more frustrating because I think they could do well with labs, but the class is fighting me for control. Power struggles aren’t suited for the lab space. For now, we’ll put those on the back burner until such a time we’ve regained enough self-control to work safely and effectively.

Growth is a process and this year, it seems to be an extra intense one.

I use Google Sheets in my classroom a lot. I used to rely on combinations of the vlookup, importrange, and index/match functions to get information, but I’ve recently switched to using if and filter to return arrays of information from master spreadsheets.

Using filter is nice because it takes multiple conditions and you can set which columns of the array you want to return for your summary sheet. A pretty standard search looks like this:

=if(filter($A$2:$A,$A$2:$A=$F$3)=$F$3,filter($B$2:$B,A2:A=$F$3),"")

Here’s a sample spreadsheet so you can see how the result is returned after changing the filter term.

So, let’s break it down:

Cell F3 holds my search term, “A”, “B”, or “C”.

(filter($A$2:$A,$A$2:$A=$F$3) – Filter looks through a range of cells ($A$2:$A) for a specific condition ($A$2:$A=F3), much like the IF statement. The exception is that this only returns the matching content rather than a boolean (true/false). The filter, in this case, is serving as the boolean check for the IF statement it’s wrapped within.

=If() – This function is super helpful because it limits what happens in the sheet. It’s like conditional formatting, but for your functions. It takes two arguments, minimum, but you can set up to three: the condition to check, what to do if true, and what to do if false. In this case, the conditional is set with the filter function (see above). If the filter returns a cell with an “A” in it, the TRUE condition is run.

filter($B$2:$B,A2:A=$F$3) – If it’s true, I want a different column returned. In this case, it’s the names of students with group “A” set. Filter works the same way, except this time, it searches for column B (the names) that match the search parameter (“A” in column A).

In other words, the function reads like this:

1. If

– filter through column A

– Look for cells that contain “A”

– If an “A” is found, the IF statement is TRUE

1. Execute the “TRUE” parameter

– Print the student’s name in the cell

1. If not, leave a blank cell

I added a third column, which prints the student’s project content just to show how these functions can be used in conjunction with one another.

I know you can use ARRAYFORMULA to do essentially the same task, but using ARRAYFORMULA doesn’t allow you to add custom content in the column – the throws an error saying data cannot be overwritten. I don’t run into that case often, but it’s often enough to be annoying.

Again, this is difficult to see without checking out the example spreadsheet. It’ll take some playing, but once you get it, it’s very helpful. Leave a note in the comments if you get stuck and need some help working it out.

I did something I normally don’t do: I had my students play a computer game for class the other day.

We’ve just finished nonrenewable resources – specifically coal and oil. We rounded last week out with a portion of the documentary, Switch, which gives a great nonpartisan look to oil and coal use in the developed and developing worlds. Students understood – in theory – that we are facing not only environmental challenges, but economic as well.

I’d been trying to come up with some kind of simulation for students so they could really experience that economic and environmental conflict. I didn’t really find a good one, so I booked one of the computer labs and we played Energy City. It’s a game created by The National Geographic Society and The JASON project. Think simpler SimCity with less people-managing and more resource managing.

I liked this as an inquiry activity because most students dive right into producing energy with coal and oil because it’s cheap and powerful. They tend to focus more on saving and making money rather than conserving environmental resources. It was often too late to come back from failure by the time they realized that air quality and overall environmental health don’t recoup nearly as fast. A lot of games ended in losses pretty quickly.

It really helped students understand they need a balance. They couldn’t dive in without projecting long-term costs. Most started looking at the per-turn cost rather than the up front. They also looked at what actually improved their environmental impact rather than degraded.

Some things I’m thinking through this week, written here so I can find them later.

– Evan Weinberg has a good string of posts on his blog related to student assessment. This one in particular has me thinking through 1) what I assess, 2) how I’m assessing, and 3) what information I actually get from students on the assessment.

– I really struggle with setting consistent classroom expectations, which has led to a lot of the frustrations I’m dealing with in class.

– My instruction, even though I often call it “student centered,” is still too focused on me.

– But I’m not sure, because of the two items above in conjunction, that I’ve moved my students to a place where they can be self-directed more often.

– The influence of standardized testing on our students is increasingly negative and I need to keep a positive attitude during the testing windows even though I’m incredibly frustrated.

– I need to make consistent time to either code or read, because those have helped me relax more than anything else these days.

This semester, a few classes asked for bi-weekly review over the entire year so they can keep old material fresh. I was really happy to get these requests because it shows a higher level of maturity than I’ve seen lately and that they recognize that old stuff still applies.

State testing starts this week (blargh) so I decided to use Friday and today to do some review over forces with a paper airplane challenge.

We spent some time discussing balanced and unbalanced forces, what causes acceleration, and what forces might be acting on a moving aircraft. Then, I tasked groups of three with building aircraft that would 1) fly really far, and 2) stay in the air for a long time. It’s tough to do because you can either go right for the glide or shoot for something that handles projectile motion a little more effectively for increased distance.

Most groups split the difference with an in-between design which led to pretty consistent success on both counts.

The lab isn’t perfect. There are things I’ll change for next year. It would be great in the forces unit, but I think I’ll keep it as review because 1) it’s a good break up of the monotony, especially in testing season, and 2) we can apply material immediately rather than slogging through principles.

Plus, it’s hard to be discouraged with the state of education when you hear cheers about a paper gliding for 20+ meters down the hallway.

Here’s the document if you’re interested in running this with your students.

Test prep is becoming more insidious. Rather than being outright drill-and-kill for the multiple choice marathon students are forced to take, now it masquerades as “critical thinking skill development” and “article analysis.”

We’ve spent the last few months at school designing writing prompts based on articles. We then had the students read the articles, discuss the topics, and do a written response on it. Not because that’s good instruction (I’m not saying it isn’t…) but because that’s what the almighty test has them doing now.

Test authors and companies had to get sneaky. The pushback on high stakes testing has hurt business, so they changed the format. Students are now tests on analysis and critical thinking. But, it has to fit within the acceptable parameters of the item.

Indiana is particularly bad this year. My high school students will take the test for a total of eight hours and thirty minutes this year (starting this week). And that was shortened from the original 12 hour draft released by the state. At the same time, Pearson will make $72 millon over the next two years to tell me what I already know about my students. We will also continue to pay CTB-McGraw Hill another $68 million (after losing the ISTEP contract because of repeated errors) to create practice test.

Indiana’s total testing bill over the next two years: $133.8 million.

And I’m having my copies counted to make sure I don’t print too much out.

Hours and hours wasted this year, as in years past, and if patterns continue, for years to come. Protect your students, protect your time.

Now begins my grumpy time of year. We have ~60 school days left, 28 of which are slated for testing in Indiana.

The Hippocratic Oath really parallels education. More on that somewhere else.

I cannot play at God in my classroom. I am not a dictator. My role is to provide an environment and situation in which students can learn. I work hard to do that. I take that responsibility very seriously.

Choices are made by students to either trust me in the process laid out or to try their own road. Some can definitely handle their own road and I’m proud and thankful for that. Others need to be carried a great distance before they’re ready to walk on their own.

But I cannot make it happen. It isn’t my responsibility to make the choice for students. It never will be.

I can’t hold myself accountable for decisions that aren’t mine.

I’m not a doctor, but I think this idea stands out the most.

Before I dive in, I think Justin Aion and I are parallels of one another in the multiverse. His day was similar to mine.

—

Six weeks into this semester, I have three of six classes with averages in the 50% range. Some of those classes include students with sub 30% grades. Most of it is from choosing not to engage in any way, shape or form. I’ve tried blanket policies. I’ve tried meeting in the middle. I’ve tried strategy after strategy to no avail in some cases.

So I sat down with each class and asked them what to do.

Five of my six classes had fantastic conversations about the choices that have been made. We’ve talked about why we come to school, what the purpose of the class is, why I do what I do…it was much more insightful than I expected. But, there was still business to attend to.

Most classes came up with conduct agreements that we all signed (students added their names to a Google doc which I then printed and signed) and are now hanging up on the wall as a reminder of what we’ve all agreed to. It includes things like:

– One day each week to go over the week’s stuff to make sure we’re all on the same page.

– Group roles (similar to POGIL) to be used any time group work is being done, not just special tasks.

– An actual tray to turn papers in to, not just the corner of the lab bench.

– An actual dedicated place to find extra copies of stuff (rather than relying on me).

And then the elephant: phones.

They’ve been a problem for the majority of my students. Some classes more than others. Most agreed to a Phone Jail system where the phone goes when it’s reached the limit. They came up with particular infractions which will be self policed (that’s the idea anyways). I’m the final say in Phone Jail.

I’m trying to keep it lighthearted. They know when they’re distracted, I think calling it out with something silly/serious like Phone Jail will help.

All in all, I think they were healthy conversations that helped us all understand each other a little better.

—

Then, The Class Who Chose Not To Choose.

I prompted, they were silent. They came up with, “You need to be more strict” and “Just kick people out.”

Another asked, “Dude, why are you asking kids how to do your job?”

That was a good one.

It’s sad that our culture is one in which students can’t imagine a better way to work together. I’m the teacher. They’re the students. What I say goes (unless they disagree with it, of course).

I made it very clear that their indecision and unwillingness to work with me meant lockdown. No phones, no freedoms to choose seats…nothing. I was met with silence. When we got to work and I gave two students a phone warning…well, you can imagine how that went.

—

Changing culture takes time. I have to remind myself that it’s a multi-year process. I’m blessed that the majority of my classes are willing to try and address culture shifts. It’s jarring when one group of very talented people choose not to take that step of faith.

I’ve been working very hard this year to make sure students experience science – or the process of science – as much as possible. Physics and chemistry are real and they matter to us. It’s my job to help them see why they matter to us.

Placed into a school context, I ask students to prove that they’ve learned something. I grade based on standards with a very simple standards-based method (based largely on Frank Noschese’s writing): if you know it, full credit. If you don’t know it, no credit. I don’t fuss with percentages or sliding scales. The objectives (standards has a different connotation to students, more on that another time) weight in at 80% of their final grade. I still give tests and quizzes which can demonstrate the learning, but students are free to show me what they know at any time for credit.

I’ve run into an issue where students memorize snippets in hopes of earning the objective. It’s a checkbox to them. I’m trying to show that learning is more than the simple recitation of information. It’s the sum of the experiences and, more importantly, what you do with those experiences.

I get this way every time I give a quiz or test because I have to constantly reiterate the importance of learning, not just in “passing.”

Waves are tricky to teach. Students feel like they already have a ton of experience with them (you’ve been to the beach somewhere, I’m sure.) and that there isn’t a whole lot more to learn. So, I try to make it hands on and connect with other areas of interest.

For instance, I brought my guitar into school. Music is waves working well together. So, I fiddled around during class while they were working and had them make connections between the guitar and the theory of waves. A few days later, I moved into a NOVA episode about the 2011 Japan earthquake and resulting tsunami…more waves. Students were able to connect the abstract – longitudinal and transverse waves – with the concrete – P and S seismic waves. At this point I introduced the earthquake lab.

The Shaker

The final hurdle was designing an earthquake machine that would shake every building fairly. I also wanted them to see the difference between P and S waves, so it had to shake on two axes. I tried to work through a couple of ideas which would have required cranks, drills, drawer sliders, and lots of engineering and instead landed on something sweet and simple: a tone generator on our LabQuest sets and a hacked apart speaker.

P Wave arrangement. Speaker is mounted below the platform.

S Wave arrangement: lateral speaker with the LabQuest hooked up.

I used some 10-gauge house wire and industrial strength hot glue to add some hooks to the speaker baffle. A small power source let me control the volume of the tone being generated. I drilled holes through a small whiteboard to mount on top of a speaker (P waves) and beside a speaker (S waves). We ran the P waves at around 25Hz and the S between 10-12Hz. The goal was to show students how properly-built buildings resonate with the shake, not fight against it.

It gave a pretty good shake…my speakers this year were a little small, but it worked well to show resonance. I think if we went for height next year, we’d get a few more building failures, which are just as important as building successes.

—

Thanks to Anthony Purcell for making sure I wrote this up. Leave a comment if you want tips on building your shaker.