week of 1/16/17

Midterms were administered this week and have already been graded.  Many students stepped up to the challenge and prepared for the exam over the last few weeks utilizing the various resources I provided on my website, castle learning, in-class review and extra help review sessions.  Most of these students scored higher than they normally do on their unit exams.  The midterm exam is given for a few reasons:  to encourage students to review past material and fix misconceptions; identify what topics students are still having difficulty with; and provide insight for students, parents and the teacher as to how they may perform on the Regents exam in June if they continue on the same path.  If your child did not achieve the grade that they wanted then they should go over the exam with me and fix their understanding as well as making a decision to dedicate more time to the course in order to be successful.  Looking back at the year thus far I need to continue to motivate students to want to dedicate more time and effort towards this course and see the value in working through challenges.  Many students come into this class expecting to give the same effort they have given in past science courses which ultimately ends in them being unsuccessful on the Regents.  In order to help motivate all students I am going to set up study groups for extra help so that successful students can help mentor those that are struggling and in turn better their understanding as well.