One lesson I will be teaching this year will cover Lewis structures, ions, and covalent bonds. The overall goal for this unit is for students to demonstrate an understanding of the properties of atoms and how they interact. The guiding question for this unit is how do the properties of an atom relate to how it will interact, and at the end of this unit students should have the skills to determine whether a bond will be ionic or covalent, and provide a basic explanation as to why. The students will demonstrate these skills on a test and on worksheets. A typical class period for this involves a lecture followed by a worksheet and student work time which gives students a chance to ask questions. This work time also allows me to determine where students are struggling based on the questions they ask and the progress they make.
