Started behind and not really catching up. This has been an odd start to the semester that leaves me wondering if current experience is unique to the oddities of the immediate semester or symptoms of a greater problem. At the end of the third week, I am still not done with the second chapter and we are just barely starting to talk about chemical reaction types stoichiometric calculations. I find myself locked in to topics for discussion that I know truly deserve less time than I am giving I am unable to cut back the time spent because doing so would not fully develop what is a necessary and essential concept. I guess I could just say “This is how you do this problem. It will be on the test. Next.” But that seems counterproductive to me because, while they might memorize it for the test, it won’t stick long term if it is not relevant. On the other hand, do they really pay attention to relevance or am I trying to something that only reaches out to and helps a small minority of the students.
Possible thought for improvement: Maybe too much is invested in these notes and they carry too much extra baggage and it is time to scrap them and start over from the beginning with a “bare-bones” construction of what is essential as a framework to start building the course on again. Hmmm.
Chemistry with Dr. Mark 