As the school year draws to a close, it’s the perfect time for high school chemistry teachers to reflect on the successes and challenges of the past year to improve teaching for next year! Reflecting on our experiences can provide valuable insights that can help us improve our teaching practices, strengthen relationships with our students, and ultimately, create a more fulfilling experience as a teacher. Whether you’ve been at this for a while or just starting out, taking the time to reflect on the past year can set the stage for an even better year ahead.
Celebrate Successes
Take a moment to celebrate the achievements and successes of the past year. Did your students excel in a particular unit or project? I really love to use the FREE test score tracker for this.
If you didn’t have students tracking their test data throughout the year, it’s not too late. Students plot their unit test scores. They draw red horizontal lines across the graph at the Pass/Fail line and at 85 (or the grade for B and up, excluding B-). Tests that fall below both lines need some work. Tests between the lines needs just a touch of work. Scores above the line are worth celebrating! (And you don’t need to spend a lot of time reviewing these topics either.) While students do this individually, I like to do the class averages .
Did you implement a new teaching strategy that was particularly effective? What about classroom management? It’s important to remember that something that might be a challenge with one group of students could be an accomplishment with another. Don’t try to make this very black and white, when there should be lots of gray! Acknowledging and celebrating your successes can boost your motivation as you look ahead to the next school year. (Which you might need to cross the finish line).
Identify Challenges
Reflect on the challenges you faced throughout the year. Did you encounter any difficulties with classroom management, student engagement, or curriculum implementation? Identifying these challenges can help you develop strategies to overcome them in the future.
While focusing on challenges, remember those successes. Do any of the successes fill or take the place of the challenge? Can any of them be slightly adjusted to make up for the challenge?
For example, if your students often misbehave in the lab, but your classroom management is really great, I’d guess it was an academic gap. What can you do to academically prepare your students for the lab so they are driven to get to work, instead of horse around? If that’s not it, maybe it’s lack of exposure to the lab? I’m sure you have some strategy up your sleeve!
Evaluate Student Progress
Take stock of your students’ academic progress and growth over the past year. Did they achieve the learning outcomes you had hoped for? Were there any areas where they struggled or excelled? Evaluating student progress can inform your teaching practices and help you tailor instruction to meet the needs of your students.
Did students get enough time to practice their skills? Did they perform well on group work, and maybe not so great on individual work? Were they missing “easy” questions on their tests? (That’s usually a vocabulary issue.) You can ask them what they thought about the class as well.
Ask Your Students
Kids have opinions. Especially high school chemistry students. I highly recommend you try out my free End of the Year Student Survey. It asks kids about their experience in your class. Of course, you’ll get some bad alongside the good. I’ve found that even in my toughest teaching situations, my positive responses greatly overshadow the negative ones. They’ve given me a lot of perspective and allowed me to improve my chemistry teaching. I even keep some of the student responses to share with my students that will be new to me next year. It’s a great way to showcase what your chemistry class is going to be about!
Strengthen Relationships
Consider the relationships you’ve built with your students over the past year. Did you establish rapport and trust with your students? Did you make an effort to connect with each student individually? Strengthening relationships with your students can foster a positive classroom environment and enhance student engagement and success. The survey mentioned above will help you assess this too.
While I ALWAYS do a great job with students, I’ve found that a lot of my weakness with relationships comes from parent contact. Once I’m talking to a parent, I feel really confident about my messaging and how I do it. I just find that I’m not the teacher who calls parents all the time. Without the time carved out to talk to parents more often, the relationship can be hindered. I’ve come to realize that a lot of this is out of my control. There are only so many hours in a day. With 75+ students each semester it becomes impossible to form relationships with everyone.
How do I work with that? I REALLY strongly push email. Those are quick, I can copy and paste a few boilerplate messages. Lastly, I can CC (or BCC) the guidance counselor, other teachers and the student. This way we are all on the same page about this student’s success or behavior in class without having to have a scheduled meeting about it.
Assess Time Management
Reflect on how you managed your time throughout the year. Did you find yourself overwhelmed with grading, lesson planning, or other responsibilities? Assessing your time management skills can help you identify areas where you can streamline processes, delegate tasks to students, or set boundaries to achieve a better balance.
Here’s a blog post on grading things more quickly, which obviously we all could use! And here’s a picture of my regular “time management” schedule. Each day of the week has a major task for my planning time. This schedule has kept me ahead for years. First year with a new course obviously slows you down a bit. (Plus all those teacher coverages don’t help much either.) Once this schedule is in place, and you’ve caught your groove, it’s REALLY a great way to work. At least it is for me! I never feel behind!
Looking Ahead
As you reflect on the past year and prepare for the year ahead, consider how incorporating a comprehensive and engaging chemistry curriculum can help you achieve your goals. My guided notes chemistry curriculum is designed to support chemistry teachers in delivering high-quality instruction while reducing stress and saving time. It helps students of all types to learn and love chemistry by keeping it SIMPLE.
With the All Star Planning Chemistry Curriculum, you’ll have access to:
- Comprehensive lesson and unit plans aligned with most state and NGSS standards
- 90 day and 180 calendars that outline your pacing
- Slides and guided notes in a variety of formats designed to make learning quick and leave room for implementation
- “Show What You Know” questions at the end of each lesson to allow students to self assess, ask question and take ownership of their learning
- “Quick Practice” worksheets that are short and sweet to assess student learning
- Editable unit tests and final exams to test your students’ knowledge and understanding
- Vocabulary resources to help your students learn the “language of chemistry”
As you prepare for the year ahead with a goal of improving your chemistry teaching, remember that every experience, success, and challenge is an opportunity for growth and improvement. By taking the time to reflect, set goals, and invest in high-quality teaching resources, you can create a learning environment where both you and your students thrive. Here’s to a successful and fulfilling year ahead!
