Tom's Post 9-7-2007

Wow, I feel like I should be getting on top of things by now but I feel more like I am just getting more burried as we go. I hope I havn't completely lost my students. I am amazed at the deficiancies that some of the students come into the classroom with. We started doing some problems dealling with calorimitry to get them ready to do it in the lab. To get them comfortable with the use of E=mcT I helped them crank some simple problems, then one relativly dificult one to push them. I ended up helping the class as a whole work through this one. By the time I was done I had filled up half the white board and the class was staring at me with glazed eyes. The problem didn't involve too complex of math, it was just that it involved alot of steps and they simply shut off. Right now I honestly feel that I am getting more confusing done than teaching.