Teaching chemistry has been the most fun part of my job over the years! And perhaps, you are teaching chemistry for the first time ever. Maybe you haven’t taken anything beyond a Chem 101 class in college. Either way, I’m here to help you!
I would love to tell you absolutely everything I know about teaching chemistry, but unfortunately, doing all of that in a single blog post isn’t possible. So, I suggest after reading this, you hop on my email list to get updates about new blog posts. Then take some time to surf around this site to learn some more.
Super Cool Labs
Yeah the chemistry labs are really freaking cool. It’s probably the most fun class there is, when it comes to labs. Teaching chemistry for the first time, at my frist school, I didn’t have a lab to work in. My classroom was an old art classroom. We had one sink, half an outlet and almost no chemicals. (For some reason there was an OBSCENE amount of Epsom salt…) So, to start of my chemistry teaching career, I had to get scrappy.
I did a ton of kitchen chemistry labs. There’s a few things I love about kitchen chemistry labs. First off, the chemicals are cheap, so they don’t really cut into the science department budget all that much. Second, the chemicals are usually pretty safe, non-toxic and sometimes even edible. I have tons of blog posts on the labs that I do, so certainly surf around. Some crowd favorites are ice cream, collision theory glow sticks and atomic candies.
The Content is Imaginary
Now, it’s not really imaginary, but it’s invisible. All of chemistry is done by indirect observation. That can make it tough for kids to see, But on the plus side, that means that it makes it easy for you to make stuff up. When I teach chemistry, atoms talk to each other. Metals are boys, and nonmetals are girls. When they bond, the metal gives the nonmetal an electron ring, and the nonmetal changes her name when they are wed. The kids get a kick out of it. Because it can’t be seen, you can personify atoms and tell a story.
The Course Comes with the World’s Best Reference Tables
When I was teaching in New York, the students had 12 pages of reference tables. In AP chem, there’s a bunch of pages as well. Regardless of your teaching situation, your students AT MINIMUM will have the periodic table.
As long as you REALLY dig in and teach them how to use this tool to their advantage, they will lock in quite a bit of correct answers. PLUS my favorite part about teaching chemistry is teaching kids how to read charts.
I know that sounds a little crazy, and I’m sure I probably am a little crazy… Our students, now live in an age where the answer to nearly every question is just a few seconds away and sitting in their pockets. We now need to teach students how to discern quality information from nonsensical information. We need to teach them how people can manipulate information (by shrinking or extending the axes of graphs for instance) to paint a picture that is misleading.
Getting kids in the habit of really digging in, reading tables, discerning information and asking “why” is the job now. And chemistry is an AMAZING tool for accomplishing that goal.
There’s SO MUCH information to learn
You can give your students what is in the standards and of course, you’d be doing your job. But there is SO MUCH more to chemistry than what we teach our students. This is both a good and bad thing. Bad is, the kids recognize this, and will sometimes ask questions WAYYYY above their level. (Questions aren’t the bad part. Let me finish.). These questions can easily derail a class, lead to kids being confused with basic level information or even be above your knowledge. In addition, when kids Google things, they can find themselves with a Chem 301 level answer to a Chem 001 level question.
The good thing is that we can dig deeper into anything and everything. You get to decide what branches of chemistry you prefer to dig into. For me, in college, I worked in a research group working with nano particles to build solar cells. So when I teach chemistry, I make sure to dig in with bonding, oxidation-reduction and energy. I avoid the organic chemistry and yucky things I don’t like. I teach just what the standards ask, and then move on to what I like.
There’s a few ways to plan your course
This again, can be a good thing or bad thing depending on how you look at it. You may find that you look at the table of contents of two or three different books and the chapters are in COMPLETELY different orders. I taught out of a textbook that had the periodic table as chapter 20. Yes, chapter 20…
I like that chemistry is super versatile and can be done in a few different ways. If you are teaching chemistry for the first time, I would recommend going to the other chemistry teachers in your building to determine what they do. Keep pace with them and see if you can snag some materials from them.
If you’re on your own, like I was during my first two years, you should absolutely download my chemistry pacing guide here. It gives my take on how chemistry should be taught, even if that’s different from your textbook. (It’s okay to go out of order! Yor standards and textbook AREN’T a syllabus.) When using this pacing guide, I actually had about 5 or 6 weeks to review for the state final exam.
Part of the reason for that is because I don’t give a lot of student work days or catch up days and I REALLY stick to my pace. The good thing is that it gives SO MUCH wiggle room for catch up days, and lessons that kids need some more time with.
Interactive notebooks are a breeze
Some people live and swear by packets, but I will be an INB girl until the my last breath. I started out with packets, but found that kids lost them. And it required me to plan SO MUCH in advance. That was really tough for me in my first few years. As I was learning, I felt that I needed some wiggle room myself.. I couldn’t commit to the pages of a packet.
So INBs were born. Now, my interactive notebooks are more or less a “build a textbook.” They’re not the classic interactive notebooks you may have used before. My kids get a half sheet of “baby notes” that they glue into their books. They are reminiscent of guided notes, where kids write just a few words. I’d prefer kids to listen to me, see the pictures and watch my examples than write and write and write. I also love that I can provide diagrams, instead of having them attempt to draw them. Drawing in chemistry often yields questionable results.
My INBs come with a Show What You Know section, or a small slip of paper called a Question Card. Students glue these into the notebooks and answer on the lines of the book. I like for kids to have the notes and plenty of examples to work from all in one place.
I’ve only ever, in four years, had one lost notebook. In those two years I was using packets, I had a countless number go missing.
I will be sharing some interactive notebook lessons on Teachers Pay Teachers over the summer. So if you’re interested in those, be sure to follow me over there. I will be listing them individually, by unit and as an entire chemistry bundle. And of course, there will be a freebie lesson that you can try out before making a commitment. I’ll post the link here when it’s available – I’ll also send it out to my email list.
Don’t be afraid
Your first time teaching chemistry will be the most fun you’ve ever had in a science classroom. Trust me. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions you have! I’d be happy to help. I know that all science teachers take chemistry. But teaching it to kids is an entirely different animal. It’s exactly how I felt about teaching physics. I’m probably quickest to reach on instagram so follow me over there.
Happy Teaching!
Kelsey
