Do you find yourself walking that fine line between fostering responsible students and contributing to their future need for therapy? As teachers, we need to create a structured environment where students have rules and deadlines to follow, but we also need to have systems in place for how they can redeem themselves when mistakes are made. We are trying to prepare them for future educational environments and workplaces where responsibility will be required, but we also are preparing them for a life surrounded by humans where mistakes happen. In this post, I’m going to make a case that we can ..read more

This post is for students (or parents of students) trying to create some normalcy during these strange, suddenly quarantined times we find ourselves in. COVID-19 has robbed us of countless gatherings and experiences, but it can’t rob us of our spirit. The digital age we live in has allowed us to stay in touch, stay entertained, and simulate some of the experiences we are missing. Let’s apply that to one of my fondest high school memories – yearbook signing (using Jamboard). Yearbook signing is an idea that has been around since the late 17th century. It is an annual event that everyone looks ..read more

The spring semester of 2020 is turning out to be one for the history books. Across the globe, classes are transitioning to the online environment for an undisclosed period of time. I have been teaching online for several years. I recently shared a post about maintaining relationships with your online students, but now I’d like to focus on a few of the methods I have used for creating online videos. The method you choose is going to be very personal to you and your needs. Depending on the course you teach, you may need a video of yourself, you may need your hands, or you may just need your wri ..read more

The availability of online programs has allowed schools to reach students like never before. Students who cannot get to campus for traditional classes now have the opportunity to further their education in the online environment. This online boom has created a learning curve for both students and teachers. As I wrap up my fourth year of online teaching, here are some of the strategies that have helped my students thrive. (And saved my sanity!) In this post, I’m going to touch on: Some things to consider when scheduling your assignments. The tools I use to record lectures. Tips for building r ..read more

You may have seen that the winner of the 2020 Miss America Pageant, Miss Camille Schrier, performed a science experiment for her talent. She carried out a large version of the Elephant Toothpaste demonstration in a dramatic, fun display that won over the crowd, the judges, scores of bloggers, and the vast majority of the chemistry teachers I interact with. The experiment itself is the catalyzed decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to produce oxygen. The production of oxygen itself is not that exciting to watch, but throw in some dish soap and food coloring and it is suddenly quite entertaining ..read more

I recently outed myself on being on the fence about lab reports (part of my post about NCSU’s LabWrite Program). Lab reports, in my opinion, do a great job of preparing students for the academia portion of the scientific world. They are designed to mimic scientific journals and prepare students for presenting scientific research. While I have a ton of respect for scientific research (and want to prepare students for it), the cold hard truth is that only a small fraction of your students will ever write for a scientific journal or present true scientific research. There are other forms of comm ..read more

Can I make a confession? I’m on the fence about lab reports. Part of me sees the value in learning to write within a scientific context, but part of me sees them as a huge waste of time. In fact, the next post that is swimming around in my head deals with alternatives to lab reports (I promise to link to it here once it gets out of my head and onto the blog). I’m in a lot of chemistry groups and there seems to be a huge divide ranging from some teachers never assigning lab reports, to some teachers assigning them for every lab. I find myself somewhere in the middle. Not every lab lends itself ..read more

As teachers, we are creating things all the time. Everything from course materials, PowerPoints, newsletters, websites, bulletin boards, even t-shirts. I’m not a graphic artist and don’t consider myself overly artsy in the traditional sense, but I love designing things like this. Finding the perfect graphic, arranging items on the screen, choosing just the right font…The whole process is appealing to me. Allow me to share my method for finding an appropriate graphic, recoloring it, and turning it into something that makes me smile – all for free. Copyright Issues If you are like me, you are c ..read more

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