Quarter+1

=Quarter 1 Habits of Mind= toc

Reflection
I'm the type of person who cringes at A-s, who can't bear to see B+s, and dies a little on the inside when a B is on my paper. Throughout all my years of education, I have never gotten as low a grade as I did on the formative quiz on naming ionic compounds. I literally failed it. However, when I got my quiz back, instead of sinking into a pit of despair, I actually laughed, surprising myself. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, I simply picked myself back up and started figuring out where I went wrong and what I didn't understand, which allowed me to do much better when we were quizzed again. Admittedly, this was probably only possible because I knew it was a formative quiz. However, because it was a formative quiz, it allowed me to pinpoint which areas I needed help with, without the added pressure of knowing it would affect my grades. Before, I used to think that formative quizzes weren't helpful because they don't motivate you to study, but perhaps they're helpful because of this. If you take a formative quiz without studying, the results allow you to clearly see what you already know and what you thought you knew but actually need to work on. Although I did not perform very well on the initial quiz, I am glad I didn't, because it allowed me to grow in terms of both academics and the way I approach assignments.

Evidence
[|Station 1 Video]

Reflection
When we first approached station 1, I was hesitant and apprehensive. I am not a big fan of fire, much less melting chemicals like sulfur in fire, so for most of the stations I was content with letting my partners light the fires and put the substances in. I thought to myself, //Is it really necessary to melt chemicals just to learn about properties of ionic bonding?// I have always preferred learning from textbooks, as I tended to find labs to be tedious and oftentimes confusing and unhelpful if they are not done correctly. However, as I watched the sulfur melt and change form, I was amazed by the rapid speed of the transformation. It was captivating, and really reminded me of why chemistry can be such an interesting subject. The properties we are studying are used in everyday life to power cars, to cook food, and much, much more. In my opinion, what makes learning interesting is thinking about how it can be applied to real life, and this lab exemplified how this is possible.