Jim, your science sounds like my CPM Math. Like it, hate it, wish I could do it more old-school. Cooperative learning works when it works, but is too often just idle chatter that I need to redirect. Kids “discover” how to do problems, but there isn’t the focused teacher guidance to make sure they’re going down the right path to get the answer, and because I have as many as 10 groups working at their own pace, that means I have to monitor them and individually redirect them when they get too far afield. Worst thing, IMO, is a lack of repetition of new concepts. It’s circular learning – they get a new concept and two or three problems in homework to keep working on that idea, most of the work is reinforcing recent new ideas, a throwback to something they’ve learned and forgotten and once in a while something they haven’t learned yet to get them thinking.
I’m tired, not feeling well (warm feeling but no temperature, sinus headache, and funny feeling stomach) but we have finals next week to finish our trimester, so I’m here at work.
