Student Assessments in Science
Okay! Enough already! The results of student performance on various assessment instruments for science is not so good. In fact, it is poor by most standards.
I'm not going to spend kilobytes defending the (science) teaching community and education in general, there are several capable voices at this already.I'm not going to make excuses fro myself, effective or not, I work diligently at my classroom responsibilities (and more) all year.

What I am going to do is investigate and reflect on strategies that might make more effective use of:
1. My time.
2. My time (50 mins) each day in contact with my students.
3. My students time spent engaged with the curriculum.

My time. As it stands, 7:15 - 2:45 five days a week. Each day divided into five 50 minute teaching periods, two 50 minute planning periods, 25 minutes for lunch and a total of some 45 minutes for announcements and general mayhem in the hallways.

My time each day with students. Directly, each student sees me for 50 minutes each day. Divide that time among an average of 31 students in the classroom, well, you get the point.

My students time spent engaged with the curriculum. Your guess is as good as mine. From very little (for most) to a great deal (for a few).

To this end I will employ the following:
Learning Theory . As a science teacher, to disregard the information from valid, systematic research on learning and the brain, would be somewhat hypocritical.
Effective teaching models - research based strategies for instruction.
This thing we cll Web 2.0. As much as anything, I believe, while not a panacea, digital technology will unite my objectives for time management with my goal of increasing student achievement in science.