Classroom Culture

I’m just old enough that I never kept a paper gradebook. When I was a student in school, my grades were on paper and arrived in the mail. As a teacher, my grades have always been entered into the computer and sent off to the world with a click of a button. Parents and students know the grade as soon as I share it. 

I enjoy incorporating quick brain break games into my chemistry classes to keep things exciting. Recently, while brainstorming ways to spice up a lecture on potential energy versus interparticle distance graphs, I stumbled upon a great idea for a brain break: magnetic chess!

As a chemistry teacher, I am constantly looking for ways to engage my students, promote community building, and reinforce key concepts. One effective way to achieve all these goals is through the use of brain breaks, short activities that provide students with a mental reset while incorporating learning in a fun and interactive manner.

It is the start of the school year. It could be that the honeymoon period has just ended. Many students are struggling to switch from summer to school mode. This struggle is obvious based on their attention and energy. This is a nice, quick demonstration that is fun and is sure to get them talking about observations and conclusions.

One of the SEP’s (Science and Engineering Practices) in the NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) process of 3-Dimensional teaching and learning is Asking Questions.

It’s back to school season! We’ve all begun to reflect on how we want to establish procedures for the year and what tweaks or new ideas need to be included to set up our classes for success. Part of this process is how we begin in the first week.

The chemistry demonstration called the self-carving pumpkin¹ is a blast (no pun intended) to conduct around Halloween. To prepare this experiment, a jack-o-lantern face is carved into a pumpkin, but the eye, nose, and mouth pieces are saved. These pieces are then gently placed back into the holes in the pumpkin.

“In this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes” - Benjamin Franklin. To this quotation I would have to also add the certainty of a high number of absences during COVID times. Indeed, I cannot think of a day this year where all my students were present in class. Absence was at an all time high this year due to COVID-19,

“There is nothing more classy nor powerful than showing forgiveness and grace to someone.” As mentioned in my first similarly styled article, my senior students were rather severely negatively impacted by the pandemic through no fault of their own nor t