Over the summer, the science department head at my school accepted a job in another district, classes got shuffled, and I was given a section of AP chemistry to teach. This was and is a great thing. Based on the first day, the kids seem quite capable, and I think I’ll be able to do a lot with them. When I got to school this morning, one of my AP students said “I’m not going to be in class this afternoon, so can I turn in my summer assignment this morning?” I thought to myself, “Summer assignment? I wonder what it was.” I had brought the textbooks () to the room before the first day. The (former) department head gave me a copy of the book and told me that it was the book for honors chem 2 (which I’m also teaching) as well as AP. In class, the students saw the pile of textbooks and said, “That’s not the book we were given over the summer.” We were given THIS one (). I checked with the teacher who was given the other section of AP chem, and she confirmed that the students were right about the book. Strike two. This afternoon, the new department head gave me a copy of the summer assignment, which also states that the students were to be given a test on the material (four chapters from the book), and that satisfactory performance on the test is a requirement of remaining in the class. Now it’s not like I can’t deal with these things. But when the teacher is finding out about the textbook, assignments and tests from the students, the cart is driving the horse, which isn’t exactly a recipe for success, especially in an AP class.
Personal blog.