The Disheartening Classroom Reality
It was around the beginning of Fall Semester. It was early in the morning, and the bell had rung for class. Students grabbed their class folders and sat in their assigned seats. I collected phones. They started the warm-ups. “Good,” I thought. “They know the class procedures already.” After reviewing the warm-up, I started my first academic lesson of the semester. That day’s learning goal was for students to learn how to draw an atom. I first had students read “The Atom” excerpt which basically covered the components of an atom. I then wanted my students to master the vocabulary, so I had them study flashcards. However, only half of them actually participated in recalling the definitions. “Hmmm, okay. I’ve never really had this problem before, but I’ll revisit this later,” I thought.
Afterward, I modeled my exact steps on how to draw the atom using Google Slides. I practiced the “I Do, We Do, You Do” method. Students were instructed to listen and participate in the “We Do” and “You Do” sections. However, students were not participating. They would just stare back at me with blank faces. Even cold calling did not work. “Okay. Another set back. Hmmm,” I thought. “I will have to revisit this later too.”
When the “I Do, We Do, You Do” was done (or what was the attempt of it), I instructed students to go back to the same Google Slides presentation I had just shown and take notes on how to draw the atom. The notes were nicely scaffolded for them. This note-taking after the “I Do, We Do, You Do” procedure had been very successful in my previous years of teaching. It gave students repeated exposure to the content I had just presented, and it provided their brains with time to process the information during the note-taking process. However, once again, I got little engagement. Half of them did not do it. And those who did complete the notes simply copied the slides word for word; they did not paraphrase. Additionally, they did not know how to use the notes. I realized this when, during the practice problems, they immediately raised their hands for help. The interactions went something like this:
Student: “I don’t know how to do this.”
Me: “Okay, well, what is the question asking?”
Student: “I don’t know.”
Me: “Well, let’s read it.”
Student: “It’s asking for the number of protons.”
Me: “So what is the first thing we do?”
Student: “I don’t know.”
Me: “Well, I saw that you just finished taking notes on it. So let’s look through the notes.”
Student: “It’s not there.”
Me: “I mean… you just took the notes, so it must be there. Let’s look. Okay, what does it say there?”
Student: “‘How to Find the Number of Protons.'”
Me: “Isn’t that what you’re trying to find? You see, you wrote everything there. It looks accurate. So just read what you wrote and go from there.”
This scenario played out multiple times throughout the period, and I quickly became frustrated. If students were not willing to do the work, then what else could I do? I couldn’t think for them! The apathy was at a level I hadn’t seen before.
Diagnosing the Problem
After that school day, I reflected on what had happened. Students weren’t studying the flashcards, they weren’t participating, they were not taking notes properly despite the scaffolding, and those who did take notes didn’t paraphrase and never referred back to them during practice problems. Some were even copying off of each other. How could I remediate this? It seemed obvious that they didn’t value learning… or did they? I decided to put this to the test.
The following day, when the bell rang, I had students answer the warm-up question: “If you were to take a quiz on the atom, what grade do you think you would get?” To my surprise, many students said they would pass. “I think I will get an A because my work is done.” “Maybe a C because I was in class.” Afterward, I told my students we were going to take a practice quiz to see if their predictions were correct. I let them know ahead of time that this was not going to go in the gradebook. I just wanted to see what would happen if I were to give them the quiz today. Once they finished the quiz, I handed back their scores. The class average was an F. This came as no surprise to me, but the class was shocked. “What the hell? How did I fail?!” “I got a D?! No way!”
This is when a lightbulb went off for me. Students believed that just showing up and completing the work—whether by copying or doing it half-heartedly—was enough to pass. It sounds absurd. But think about it. Why would they think otherwise? Ever since the No Child Left Behind Act, students had been advancing to the next grade without necessarily showing proficiency, and passing grades were often given to ensure schools had acceptable graduation rates.
So what was I to do?
Implementing Scaffolded Instruction
In an attempt to remediate this flawed perspective on education, I decided to focus on three things: vocabulary, note-taking, and independent practice.
Emphasizing Vocabulary Development
To emphasize vocabulary development, I decided to focus on the flashcards. It went something like this:
Me: “Based on the practice quiz, we are not as knowledgeable about the atom as we thought we were. Let’s talk about why. Science is hard to understand because of the vocabulary. A lot of the terms used in science are unfamiliar, but without understanding the words, we can’t understand the concepts. That’s why I had you study flashcards—to help you remember the definitions. By knowing the definitions, you don’t have to keep going back and forth trying to see what the words mean. You just understand. Therefore, flashcards can help set you up for success. But only half of you took that task seriously, and that’s why we saw the scores that we did.”
Student: “But the definitions were difficult.”
Me: “I understand that. It’s difficult but not impossible. Let’s take baby steps. Why don’t we start by just memorizing the words? For example, I’ll point at a particle, and you tell me the name.”
Student: “Proton.”
Me: “Good! Now let’s do the next one.”
Student: “Ummm miss, I forgot.”
Me: “That’s okay. No one gets it right the first time! Just take your best guess.”
Student: “Hmmm… Neutron.”
Me: “Let’s check. Actually, it’s an electron! But good try. Let me ask you again. What is this particle?”
Student: “An electron!”
Me: “Great! Now let’s keep going. This time, let’s work with our partners. Your desks have stickers. If your sticker has the letter A on it, raise your hand…Okay, you are Partner A. If your sticker has the letter B on it, raise your hand…Okay, you are Partner B. Partner A will test Partner B by pointing to a particle and asking Partner B to name it. Partner B should try to name them to the best of their abilities. Keep going until you’ve tested all the terms, then switch. Partner B will test Partner A. Do as many rounds as you can until the timer goes off. Remember, it has to come from memory so you cannot use your notes.”
To my surprise, students were actually studying the flashcards. And they were having fun too. As they tested each other, I saw smiles on their faces when they got it right. Some laughed. Now, let’s be honest. Did I get a 100% participation rate? Of course not. However, it was a drastic improvement from what I have seen previously.
After the class had memorized the particle names, I had them use the same flashcards and the same process to study the definitions. I made sure the definitions were clear and easy to understand, then tested their knowledge again with another practice quiz. Students were delighted to see their scores improve.
The bell rang, and class was over.
Modeling Effective Note-Taking
The next day, this was their warm-up question: “Did studying the flashcards improve your quiz scores? If so, why do you think that is?” Their responses were:
“Flashcards made me feel like the GOAT!!!” (In case you didn’t know, GOAT stands for Greatest of All Time.)
“Yes I realized I didn’t know a lot at first but I eventually got it.”
“I hated it at first but after a few tries I started understanding.”
After the warm-up, I taught them the purpose of taking notes, how to take them, how to color-code them, and how to use them. The conversation went something like this…
“Now that we know the vocabulary, we can move on to understanding the concepts. The brain needs time to process information, even when something seems simple. You might think, ‘This is too easy; I don’t need to take notes.’ But the truth is, no matter how straightforward something seems, your brain needs time to absorb and make sense of it. That’s why we’re going to take notes on paper. Writing things down helps your brain process and internalize the information. This will make it easier for you to understand later and reduce the chance of mistakes when you practice. Now, don’t get me wrong. Mistakes are a natural part of learning, but if we can minimize them by giving our brains time to process, even better!”
I then modeled how to take notes with a think-aloud:
“I’m reading the title of the presentation, and it says ‘How to Draw an Atom.’ Since it’s the title, it seems important, so I’m going to write ‘How to Draw an Atom’ at the top of my page. I’ll write it bigger than the rest so I know it’s the title.
The first slide says ‘How to Find the Number of Protons.’ Since that’s the first step, I’ll write ‘Step 1: Find the Number of Protons’ in my notes. The slide says to look at the atomic number, so I’ll write that down too. Since our brains process visuals faster, I’ll also draw a picture of the atomic number, right next to the words. I’ll highlight ‘proton’ and ‘atomic number,’ so it’s easy to find later. Notice I’m not copying everything from the slide—I’m putting it in my own words. That helps my brain process the information.”
After modeling, I had students finish the notes on their own. To my surprise, most of them participated. They even started enjoying it, grabbing highlighters and crayons to color-code their notes and adding doodles with annotations. It was a completely different picture from a few days ago. It wasn’t perfect, but the effort was there, and I appreciated that.
Guiding Independent Practice
Once students received feedback on their note-taking skills and completed their notes, I assigned practice problems. I modeled this with a think-aloud as well:
“Now that we’ve given our brains time to process, it’s time to apply what we’ve learned. Remember, understanding and applying are two different things. We’re not just taking notes anymore; we’re solving problems. Let’s read the first question: ‘Draw the Fluorine atom.’ If I completely forgot how to do it, what should I do? I’ll look back at my notes. Ah, there it is! ‘Step 1: Find the number of protons.’ It says to look at the atomic number, and I know what the atomic number is because I wrote it down and drew a picture of it. Now, let’s find the atomic number of Fluorine…”
Along with the practice problems, I provided an answer key so students could get immediate feedback. I modeled this as well:
“Okay, I finished Problem #1. Let’s see if I got it right by checking the answer key. Hmmm… I got everything correct except for finding the number of neutrons. I’ll look back at my notes to see what I did wrong. Hmm, I still don’t get it. Sometimes that happens. If you check your notes and still don’t understand, that’s when it’s time to ask for help.”
One student asked, “Miss, if you just give us the answers, I’ll just copy them.”
“I don’t blame you. It seems like the easy way out. And who doesn’t want that?” I replied. “But copying won’t help you learn, and you’ll get a low score on the exam. However, if you try to solve the problems on your own, like I just did, you’ll learn, and it will stick. Then you’ll do well on the exam. Remember when we copied our notes word-by-word and did poorly on the practice quiz? Don’t just take my word for it; look at the numbers. Numbers don’t lie.”
After modeling how to approach practice problems, I had the students work on them independently. I played some rain sounds in the background and walked around the room in case anyone had questions. To my satisfaction, most of the students were on task. Students were actually referencing their notes and checking their answers!
After the first set of practice problems, I wanted to challenge my students. Therefore, I gave them a second set of practice problems. However, this time I instructed them to do the practice problems without looking at their notes.
One student said, “But Miss, we worked hard on the notes and now you’re saying we cannot use them?”
I replied, “Well the notes help us get started. Think about notes like training wheels. We first use training wheels to learn how to ride a bike. However, if we want to get better, we eventually need to get rid of the training wheels. Same thing here. We need to not depend on the notes, because on the exam, you won’t have them with you.”
A student exclaimed, “I didn’t use training wheels when I learned how to ride a bike!”
“That’s nice but you know what I mean”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.”
The next few minutes consisted of students doing practice problems without their notes and a lot of them were proud that they were able to do them correctly without the “training wheels.”
The next week, students took an exam, and the average score was a C. This was a huge improvement from the F they had initially scored in the practice quiz.
Reflections and Lessons Learned
One of the few mistakes I made was to assume that students did not care about their education. Students not doing the work or copying must mean that they do not care. But from what I have learned, this is not necessarily true. Students have been consistently, indirectly told that learning is not required for school. That as long as you know how to game the system, then you will pass. For example, have you had students turn in blank assignments and still expect a full grade? Yup. I’ve been there. When I asked students why they copied from their classmates, they simply replied “I was absent” in a tone that made it seem like being absent justifies this action. They also claimed that as long as the work got done, whether through copying or cheating, then that means learning must be happening. They turn in the copied work. Get points. Pass the class. Students have done this throughout all their school years. Therefore, can we really be upset that this is their mindset?
To break this flawed ideology, I decided to give them a low-stakes practice quiz. By giving them the results of the practice quiz, students were able to see for themselves how their learning strategies such as copying, cheating, and doing the work half-heartedly are not effective. And they could not argue against it. Numbers do not lie. Making it low-stakes was also very helpful because students did not feel threatened. They realized that learning is important here. Not their grade. In addition,by giving students some time to reflect in the warm-ups, students were able to see the flaws in their current ideas of learning.
Another mistake I made was that I assumed students came with the skills required to succeed in Chemistry. I assumed that my students knew how to participate in class. I assumed that my students knew how to take notes. I assumed that my students knew how to do practice problems. I assumed so much from them. And it’s fair for teachers to assume that 10th graders are able to do this. But unfortunately, that was not the reality. Now I can sulk and complain about this (and I did … .sorry Syd, Nausheen, and Leila), but in the end, if I can do something about it, I can have a more pleasant and rewarding time in class. And what teacher would not want that? I mean, isn’t that the reason we got into teaching in the first place? It definitely wasn’t for the money.
Therefore, from that point on, I stopped assuming. I made sure to model every activity we do in class with a think-aloud. Students are able to see the thoughts that go through my head as I do the activity. This helps them understand the thought processes and skills required to successfully complete the work. I also incorporated more scaffolding and explicit instruction on note-taking, problem-solving, and other key academic skills. By addressing these underlying gaps, I was able to set my students up for greater success in my Chemistry class. I got more participation and satisfaction from my students than before.
With all this being said, I want to end it with this: I did not end up with a 100% participation rate. Some refused to do work. Some just copied the answers without attempting to do the practice problems. It was not perfect. Teaching never is. However, the rate of class participation did increase. I had more students complete work compared to what I observed on the first day of the lesson. And as a result, had the class average go from an F to a C. As much as I want 100% participation, there are just some things that are out of my control. As teachers, we cannot control what home environment a student grows up in. We cannot change their life circumstances. We are not martyrs. But what we can do is continue to foster a supportive classroom environment and consistently encourage and motivate them to engage with the material. Small improvements, even if not reaching the ideal, are still progress worth celebrating.
