On Monday, we started the DNA unit and it is going great. Most of the students are progressing through the unit at an appropriate pace or even faster than I expected. I even had to create an additional assignment on Friday for students that were done with everything on Thursday. We are doing a lab tomorrow and I'm not at the point where I can have my students doing labs on different days. I'm open to the idea of it, but I don't know how my 7th graders will respond to that. Plus, with labs, I like students to collaborate and when students get ahead, they would be doing the labs by themselves.
New things I've realized:
- I no longer do ANY direct instruction. I start the class period with 3-5 minutes of guiding directions of where they should be and where they should be by the end of the class period...and that's it.
- My system of checking in on students is working really well. It keeps the students and myself accountable. I can see who has all of the assignments done and who hasn't even finished the first one.
- My conversations with students are going well too. I can see what the students are learning
