Differentiated projects for high school chemistry

Hey. How is everyone? It's been a while. I promise that I haven't fallen off the earth. It has been a really crazy start to the school year, and I haven't been able to post as much as I would like.

This semester I teach honors chemistry. It has definitely been a challenge for me. I know that chemistry is already an honors level class, just from the content material alone. However, I also wanted to make it more than just a hard academic class. I want to expand it to really differentiate for high level kids. I have at least five students who are classified as AIG (academically and intellectually gifted) and several who used to be in the program but are not anymore. 

I can't say that I've been successful every day. We all fall into the comfortable trap of worksheets and textbook problems, and sometimes that really is the best way to teach. Especially in the holiday season, it is so much easier for teachers to just find a worksheet and leave it at that.

But we all know better. We know our kids need more than that. So, as I was glancing over my state standards, I found this one:

"Describe macromolecules and network solids: water (ice), graphite/diamond, polymers (PVC, nylon), proteins (hair, DNA) intermolecular structure as a class of molecules with unique properties. " (NC chem 1.2.5)

It hit me -- what a perfect opportunity for a project! I quickly came up with some guidelines. (I took what the state says students should know and incorporated it into this standard.) I put together a rubric. I also decided to provide my students with some links to help them when researching.

Because I have so many advanced students, I purposely made this project vague. I gave the students specific items to research, but I did not tell them how to write it or how to present it. My only guidelines were that their final product had to include technology, an oral presentation, and a visual presentation. They could do it all in one (like in a video), or they could break it up.

A lot of my students too this project and ran with it. I got some awesome green screen videos with animations! I think they appreciated the opportunity to work on something more creative than a worksheet.


Find this product here in my TpT store:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Molecule-Research-Project-1551296


I hate to ramble on for too long, but if you have questions about this project, please ask!

Cheers!
- S :)

"Sockase" enzyme activity

Hello everyone! :)

I would like to share an activity that I did in my classes for the last few years. It's called "sockase", and it only requires a few materials.

Students often have a hard time understanding enzymes. They are impossible to see in real life. Enzyme activities, like that one lab where students use peroxide and liver, fall short with many students. They are unable to think abstractly, and they cannot understand what is really happening.

In "sockase", students role play as enzymes. Their job is to assemble a "molecule" -- two beads on a pipe cleaner. This activity takes the students through five trials:

1. A fully functioning, single enzyme (one student assembling products)
2. Many fully functioning enzymes (whole group assembling products) 
3. One "socked" enzyme (denatured)
4. Many "socked" enzymes
5. No enzymes at all (the enzyme is completely absent)

Click here to get the activity from my TpT store.

What do students learn?

They find that a denatured enzyme cannot work. It is nearly impossible to string beads with socks on your hands! They find that many enzymes work better than just one enzyme. And, they learn that having no enzymes means that no product gets made. 

This activity is student approved! They always love it (especially the boys, since it is a small competition to them) and they have learned a lot about enzymes. I think this activity really drives the point home, in a way that is concrete and fun. 

I hope you will give this activity a try in your classes. If you do, let me know how it goes!

Cheers!

- S

Beginning of the year hello!

Hi all :)

I haven't fallen off of the earth. I have been super busy since school started (pshh, haven't we all?!) and I have had medical issues that have pushed it all back farther. I will be back online to post more soon. So far my classes are going great! It's the grading and the phone calls that have me down. I have some great classroom management techniques that I have discovered, interactive notebook tips, technology uses, and TpT products to share....... as soon as I have the time! Ha!

How is your school year going so far?

Cheers!
- S

Meme rules!

Like most of you, I have been hard at work getting my classroom ready. I am moving into a new room and at the same time the previous teacher is moving out, so I'm still all over the place. I haven't even picked up my technologies (projector and all that) yet.

What I did today is something I have wanted to do for a while - made a meme rules wall.

By the time kids get to high school, they know the rules. They've been over it. Doing the same old rules taught with the same old activities won't phase them. That does not mean that we should abandon the idea. Instead, we just need to do it a bit differently. Some high school teachers make this very severe and serious. I used to be one of them. Rules are important for teenagers, after all. I have found that approach didn't really help me. It just made for a boring first day.

I have 3 rules - Respect yourself, respect others, and respect our school. That is both specific and vague, which high school kids can handle. There are obviously a ton of other rules and procedures that fit in those categories. To try to write that all out would be boring, and every teenager alive would outright ignore it.

Enter the memes. (I found them all on pinterest. If you've been on the internet - which, obviously, you have - you've probably seen these.)

Disclaimer - I'm not sure who made these memes. You know how things spread on the internet. They belong to whomever it was that created them. If you are that person, please let me know so that I can give you credit.

I think the memes serve two purposes:

1. The rules and procedures for my class are explained. Students have an idea of what things are acceptable. For example, my school allows students to have cell phones, but they cannot have them out in class. Teachers are allowed to take phones if we see them. Under the "respect our school" rule, I have the Darth Vader meme - "Your teacher took your phone? Mine took my legs." 

2. I incorporate all of these rules and procedures with humor in a way that engages my students. Would any average teenager stop and read a list of rules? (I mean really read them, not just glance at them and pretend.) No way! Would an average teenager stop and look at a wall of internet memes? You bet!

I'll be interested to see how this works out for my students. I have seen it work with success in other classrooms. I will update you later!

Cheers!

- S