Sep 28, 2009 10:45
With no 5:30 alarm clock, I slept to the luxurious hour of 7:00 AM. I'm honestly sick, and my students (and teaching!) will be much better for my taking the day off.
This is gonna be an annoying few weeks in Robotics. I need to split the classes into two different tracks, because I only have enough robot kits for a single class. So Robotics Blue gets gear ratios and an introduction to the Vex kits and Squarebots, while Robotics Yellow gets an introduction to power tools, scope statements, and the Mousetrap Cars project. I'll have to do double preps through October, and then my life simplifies as the class tracks cross over and Blue and Yellow switch projects, while I just rerun the earlier presentations.
Algebra? No problem. Just starting chapter 2 now. I graded the Chapter 1 tests; average score was a pathetic 11.6 out of 20. 4-option multiple choice test; you would expect 5/20 just from random chance. But the good news is that this class average is exactly the same as last year's. The change this time? Last year we had 1:20 blocks, and this year it's 0:55 periods. Evidently that last 20 minutes was just wasted anyway, and one-hour classes fit student attention spans much better.