In 9th grade, I had an amazing biology teacher, Ms. DeRosa-Hill. She was a teacher who did things in an out-of-the-box way. I remember she encouraged creativity and often asked us to write lab reports that took the form of a letter to a testing supply company, a poem, or a creative story. As a […]
A few years ago, I looked at my biochemistry unit and tried to think of some way to revolutionize it. Monomers, polymers, carbohydrates, phosopholipids, amino acids… To my students, these aren’t concrete things. I might as well be speaking Chinese. I decided they needed a hands-on activity to understand that these are things, actual molecules, […]
(Linky hosted by Workin’ on it Wednesday!) Yesterday, I received some feedback from a happy teacher who suggested I add in pictures to my teacher instructions for my popular Biochemistry with Beads lessons. I thought, wow that’s genius! I am not sure why I didn’t think of it before! So, that is what I am […]
How many times have you had to do a search online to find a large, legible periodic table for a lesson? There are a lot of periodic tables out there but the print is so small and my students often have difficulty reading the mass or atomic numbers. I was sick of searching and searching, […]
Today, I’m linking up with Laurah J from ESOL Odyssey to tell you about my first year teaching! What age group and subject were you teaching? My first year teaching was in one of the best private schools in the nation, in a suburb of Philadelphia. I was very blessed to have been hired! […]
On a lovely day in early June, as I sat down with my two year old son to eat lunch, he pointed out the window and said “WOW!” I looked out my kitchen window and I knew immediately what I was seeing. A termite mating swarm. Thousands of tiny insects flying straight up in the […]
Calling parents is something that gives every new teacher the jitters. Ok, more than jitters. Nightmares. Often times when we have to call home, it’s not with good news. The student who gets a phone call home is usually in trouble. So I made it a policy as a new teacher to make a phone […]
One of my least favorite parts of biology to teach is taxonomy. I admit it. I’m a logic and problem-solving girl. I like genetics. Biochem. But taxonomy? Ugh. I understand it’s important to organize information about the organisms that exist on Earth. But I hate teaching it because I feel like it is such a […]
This blog’s purpose is to provide resources for high school science teachers looking for useful ways to improve their classroom, their teaching materials, and their lessons! Hong Kong Harbor Who am I? I am a mom who taught in both private and public high schools before I decided to take some time away […]