How much can one individual give until he has given enough? I put more than enough time into preparing my lecture, making my quizzes, waiting in my office, and setting-up the lab. I read through the lab that week, prepare my lecture (create powerpoints, create quizzes, and make an answer key for various other documents), and even practice the lecture the night before. Most of my students are not doing that well. It isnt my fault but I can't help being angry/upset over the fact that they arent doing well. There is nothing more I can do that what I am already doing. I gave them a quiz over mitosis/meiosis three weeks ago. That following friday I sent them all an e-mail stating that the quiz grades were horrible and that I was going to give them a second chance at the quiz. They also had to take a quiz over genetics as well today. They didnt have lab last week b/c of Fall Break interupting the labs. I didnt even put grades on the mitosis/meiosis quizzes b/c they were soo bad. Well they students also have to turn in Pre-lab/Post-lab questions from the previous and current lab for that day. The quality of material is well lacking. They are freebie grades. I even gave them genetics problems to take home and do. They had to do five out of the then and make sure to do one monohybrid and one dihybrid cross. Most of the students turned them in. I gave them 100% credit for "doing it or turning it in". This assignment will replace of one their lowest Pre-lab/post-lab grades. I graded their prelabs/postlabs today. They were "descent" but not what they should be when they have had this stuff for three weeks. I started to grade the quizzes for mitosis/meiosis. They bombed the **** out of it. There is no reason for them to do that. It was the same quiz that I gave last time. I change two questions around and put up new images for them to tell whether a _____ cell was in a _______ phase of mitosis. Here are the quiz questions that I asked: 1.) Define Mitosis, Meiosis, and Cytokinesis. 2.) Why do sexually reproducing animals form gametes (sperm, eggs) by meiosis rather than mitosis? 3.) List the steps of the cell cycle in order and give a brief description about what occurs in each. 4.) The process of pairing homologous chromosomes in Prophase I is called ___________________ and the complex that forms due to this process is called a __________________. 5.) _______________ is the event in which identical segments of any two nonsister chromatids in a tetrad are detached and then exchanged during meiosis I. 6.) If the haploid number is 4 then how many chromosomes would there be after mitosis, meiosis I, and meiosis II? 7.) List the steps of Mitosis in the order that they occur. What is the importance of the “crossing-over event” that occurs in Prophase I of Meiosis? Here are the questions that I asked for Genetics: 1.) Define the following terms- a. Gene- b. Allele- c. Homozygous- d. Heterozygous- e. Genetics- 2.) What is Mendel’s Principle of segregation? 3.) What is Mendel’s Principle of independent assortment? 4.) What is the difference between the terms phenotype and genotype? 5.) What is a loci or locus? 6.) When Mendel crossed his pea plants the F1 generation always looked like one of the two parental varieties because of the __________ of one allele over another. a. Codominance b. Incomplete Dominance c. Complete Dominance d. Epistasis 7.) Human Blood Type is an example of: a. Pleiotropy b. Incomplete Dominance c. Complete Dominance d. Codominance 8.) When red snapdragons are crossed with white snapdragons the F1 generation will result in some offspring having pink flowers. What is this an example of? a. Epistasis b. Complete Dominance c. Incomplete Dominance d. Codominance 9.) Yellow coat color in guinea pigs is produced by the homozygous genotype (CC), cream color by the heterozygous (Cc) and white by the homozygous recessive genotype (cc). What are the genotypic and phenotypic ratios of the offspring when a heterozygous individual is mated with a homozygous recessive individual? 10.) In rabbits, spotted coat (S) is dominant to solid color (s), and black (B) is dominant to brown (b). These loci are not linked. A brown, spotted rabbit from a pure line is mated to a solid black one, also from a pure line. What are the genotypes of the parents and what would be the genotypic and phenotypic ratios for the F1 generation? Are those too difficult? I dont think they are b/c most of the questions if not all of them are verbatim from the lab manual (that they are supposed to read or from my lecture). I am asking basic/general concepts and for some odd reason they cannot grasp them. One of my students said that I am harder than his lecture professor. In a way I am honored but in another I am scared. I havent asked them to apply anything. I just basically feel that they just dont care. They didnt really care this morning while I was lecturing. They didnt take notes from what I could see. I am making the powerpoint available online but still.... geez. I guess I will find out next week when they take the quiz. I think I am going to change the format. I think that asking them to pull info out of their heads is too hard so I might use some multiple choice questions and see how they do. The questions will be the same but the answer will atleast be on the page. lol. I am just trying to prepare them but it seems that they dont realize what they are getting into. If you wanna be a science major then you have to learn how to think a certain way and to study and to accept the sacrifices that come with being a science major. It isnt an easy path but once you complete it it is all worth it. I had to go for a run needless to say. I feel a whole heck of a lot better now!! :)!! I love you all!! Miss yall guys!! Love, Joe | 
