Last year, I decided to leave my middle school of 6 years and try my hand at high school. I got a couple of different job offers and decided to go with the one with which I had more of a connection. Actually, it’s more than a connection… I will be teaching Chemistry in the very classroom I took it in when I was in High School! Yes, I am returning “home” to give back to the very community in which I grew up! I must admit that it was strange walking into that classroom again, but this time as the teacher. I have so many wonderful science memories from my high school years and I am so excited to create fun memories for my new students on which to look back. Now, onto the tour of my new classroom!
secondary classroom
Updates: Check out the changes I have made to my classroom!
Over the summer I had time to really think about my classroom and reflect on the things I wanted to (or needed to) change, as well as the things I wanted to keep the same. Below, you will find the updated tour of my classroom.
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Stop Taking my Pencils!
I don’t know about you, but no matter what I have tried in the past, my pencils always seem to disappear! I have a special holder on my desk for ‘student pencils.’ I have previously asked them to leave a shoe in exchange for a pencil. I thought that if my students would hobble around my classroom with only one shoe, they would surely remember to give me my pencil back. But, sure enough, my pencils would slowly disappear! So, I recently came up with a new idea for keeping my pencils from getting “kidnapped” (napped by kids) and thought I would share it with you!
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Project Based Learning with Chemistry Games!
As a close for the year/as a start to the year, I thought I might discuss a successful mini PBL (project based learning) I tried out before the winter break began! My students have just about finished chemistry and I thought it might be fun to have the students come up with the review game for a change! Below you will find a summary of the week(ish) long project as well as some examples of what they created!
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Keeping my Sanity by Staying Organized
I don’t know how many students you have, but each year I have around 150. To some, that might seem like a lot. To others, it might seem low. To me, it seems normal. With 150 students coming in and out of my classroom everyday, it is imperative that I stay organized. My main necessity for remaining as organized as possible is the amount of papers I need to keep track of. On average, I collect about 2 items from each student per day (usually their homework and then whatever worksheet/lab they used during class). If I don’t stay on top of my grading, I can easily have 600-900 papers on my desk. Without being hyper-organized, I could easily feel overwhelmed. Or worse: I could lose papers! Every teacher’s nightmare!! Students always think we lose their papers- but we know that more often then not they still have it in their binder or forgot to put their name on it.
Here are my various ways of staying organized:
The Ardent Teacher 