Student Teaching Reflections

Lessons from student teaching

Classroom management

1. New teachers struggle to be direct. Learn what you want, then tell students what to do. Practice saying things like “I need you to put your phone away and pay attention” because it can feel unusual the first times you are in a role of authority. 

2. Avoid negotiating, compromising and undermining yourself when instructing students. Never say things like “you’ll need to know this for the test” or “if you pay attention for two more minutes maybe we can skip the next part.” 

3. Be wary of small things students do to test you. If you let them get away with minor things they will devolve into bigger things. It’s better for everyone to be clear about expectations at the start with the minor infractions. It is easier to correct something minor for you and the student.

4. Provide feedback when whiteboards are what you want and what you don’t want. We had issues with clarity and students writing instead of drawing. 

5. Students being noisy can wear on you mentally. It helps to pause, think about exactly what you want them to do, why they aren’t doing that and be persistent in communicating. 

6. There are 3 ways to engage someone’s attention. What your showing them can be engaging (content), you can be engaging (teacher) or they can talk (student). Work in all three of those.

7. When you are new, content is a struggle. So rely on your personality sometimes to help students focus. 

8. If students aren’t focused have them write something.

9. Move students’ seats around every unit so they do not stagnate into cliques. 

10. Measuring student infractions can be helpful for giving specific feedback. This should not be used to shame, just for information and to avoid bias.

11. Avoid getting in a trap where you always yell at the whole class. You can tell the whole class once. After that you should be talking to the individuals who are making infractions.

12. Some teachers have the expectation that all 180 students will behave and learn perfectly. Then they get upset when things don’t go according to plan. This is unrealistic and you should be mentally ready for deviations. Expect them. 

Grading

1. When students anticipate quick feedback, they work harder and produce better quality work.

2. Don’t make comments on student work, it’s ineffective use of your time and instead share feedback with all of your students 

3. Grading is exhausting. I try and set up my grading into chunks so I get some positive feedback when I finish a chunk. 

4. After grading a test is the best time to reflect on your teaching for the unit

5. Learn how to stay ahead of grading so you minimize questions from students and parents. Up front communication and timeliness will save you time. 

Teaching philosophy

1. Students are often put into diverse settings in a classroom with no instruction or guidance from adults. You are responsible for teaching them about how their perceptions can undermine their interactions with others. 

2. It is hard to teach. Often when we seek the easy way in teaching there is a transactional cost. If you use grades to keep students quiet, they will be quiet but you undermine their learning and your grading system’s integrity. It’s better to teach them to be quiet, but it’s also more work to do what’s right.
3. You can’t always do everything correctly in teaching. You should work towards it, but know that it’s ok to take some shortcuts.

4. When teaching goes well it’s awesome. Having students engaged and learning is a great feeling. Don’t ever forget how challenging and awesome teaching is.

5. It is totally acceptable to be kind to students even when they frustrate you. 

6. Try something new a minimum of four times a year. If it doesn’t work well, be glad you know.

7. You should be critical of your teaching, but you shouldn’t take it personally. As a new teacher you want to improve, but not in a toxic manner where you feel bad about yourself. The teachers you surround yourself with can influence this quite a bit either way.

8. Defeatist language is bad. Don’t let students say things like “I don’t know anything” or when you ask which problem was hard they say “all of them.” Correct them when they do this or it harms the whole class.

9. Learn to identify what the problem is and what the solution is. If students aren’t focused, your good teaching doesn’t matter. It’s always better to stop and redirect. 

Chemistry content

Unit 1 Measurement, mass and volume

1. What is the physical interpretation of the slope? What would a “for every” statement be for it? What are the units for the slope?

2. The slope of the y=mx+b for mass vs. volume can be used as a model to predict masses and volumes. The slope gives us some information about the particle level difference between substances with different densities.
3. Measurements are not numbers, they are ranges. The rules for rounding answers that stem from measurements are specific to maintain the appropriate level of uncertainty. It is helpful to show students examples with ranges (IE 6x4 = 20 but 6.0x4.0 = 24). The analogy of having about $5000 and finding a quarter, now how much do you have?

4. Students have bad ideas about particle spacing for solids, liquids and gases from illustrations in middle school. It takes a lot of effort to break these down in spite of clear cut evidence. 

Unit 2 Gas Pressure

5. There are direct/inverse relationships and there are directly/inversely proportional relationships. The distinction matters a lot. 

6. Sometimes gas particles collide more frequently, sometimes they collide more frequently and with larger collisions

7. All particles move all of the time. Evidence for particles in solids moving can be how solid objects feel cold and hot based on how fast the particles vibrate against your skin particles. 

8. Splitting up gas pressure demos into time segments greatly enhances your ability to dig into what’s happening. Look in particular for small amounts of water leaking or subtle volume changes 

9. Students get confused when you change three variables at once (PVT) because they overthink things. Keep them focused on two changes at a time, and towards the unknown variable. 

10. For the mason jar demo the small amount of water leaking opens up the discussion to higher levels

11. For the balloon in the bell jar demo ask how the pressure in the balloon changes 

12. For the can crush or balloon in flask, ask whether the pressure in the open flask while boiling is higher, equal or lower than the air pressure in the room.

13. For some demos, the change in temperature (kelvins) is insufficient to explain the magnitude of change (can crush, balloon in flask) n and V might also be changing

Unit 3 thermo

1. Heat is a term that meaning has become too diffuse. Use thermal energy instead to get better understanding. 

2. For specific heat capacity, students will mix up Q with C so its important to use their units to differentiate what they are. 

3. Heating curves are a struggle and students need more than just a curve with water. It helps to talk about slope and length of phase changes and how they can change.

4. Use blocks of various masses and temperature changes to test whether students understand specific heat capacity.

Unit 4 elements, compounds, mixtures

1. Volumes of gases can give information about what a compound might be, what can be done with solids?

2. Sometimes when we don’t know something, we can just assume something and see if it works
3. If a rock has the same % of each element no matter the size or source, that indicates whether it is a compound or a mixture

4. Separating mixtures can be done via distillation (boiling points/stickiness of particles), filter paper (particle size vs. filter hole size) or chromatography (stickness relative to the stationary phase).

Unit 5 moles

1. When teaching moles, the molar mass can be represented as a for every statement, a conversion factor, a means to compare amounts (if 18.02 g is 1 mol, 84 g must be more than 1 mole), it can be represented using pictures and it can be used as a relative mass.

2. Students that don’t know how to convert actually don’t understand what the molar mass means. 

3. When students struggle with math, it helps to add more units and labels in. It’s harder initially but helps them move past basic manipulations into what they are actually doing and using. 

Cognitive Science

1. The amygdala can have a big impact on learning. If students are angry or in fight or flight mode the ability to learn plummets. If students are happy they have stronger connections to what they are learning. This is why we easily remember movie quotes and songs. 

2. Asking students what they learned at the start of class gives them a chance to reflect and will help them do better in their other classes. If you do this consistently, they will work harder to remember other lessons. 

3. Students can’t learn when they are frustrated. But you also should not interfere with their learning to reduce frustration.

4. Don’t start worksheet problems with your hardest problems. Start with the easiest ones and let them figure things out without samples from you.

5. People believe things if you offer a reason, even if the reason is nonsense. They just hear that there is a reason (copy machine experiment)

6. Feedback should be more work for the student than for the teacher.

Discussions

1. Discussions are enhanced when students work towards finding out what they know instead of seeking an answer. Seeking an answer leads to limited participation, frustration and racist/sexist beliefs. Students that can practice starting with what they know learn more effectively with less frustration. 

2. It is imperative that students learn to put effort into their whiteboards during unit 1. They should use color coding, they should measure carefully, they should follow all instructions, they should think about what they’re doing, their particle diagrams should be clear what the intent is.
3. Whenever possible, call on students instead of taking volunteers. Volunteers show that you care about getting the right answer from someone. Cold calling shows that you want to know what a student is thinking. Use dice and a seating chart to find a random student.

4. You’re always talking to the whole group even when you’re talking to a single student when you’re in a circle. Project and be loud.

5. Discussions are very hard to lead when you’re new to teaching. You can get better by planning questions as you observe what students put on their boards. Find errors, unique representations, mathematical variations and start writing down questions to ask.

6. Learn to pause so students talk more. 

7. Phrase your questions so students can opine rather than be led. It’s better to ask, how small is 0.001 cm and see what students come up with than to ask “Do you feel like 0.001 is one of the smallest things you know of?” 

8. Talk about things you’re passionate about. Bring up past experiences and memories. They help increase learning retention and forming neural pathways.

9. Slow students down when they talk about similar topics. Mass, volume and density are all different but related. This means students will often substitute one when they mean another. 

10. During discussions you want to push back against student ideas to force them to think more, but you want to push back against the idea not the student. To do this you want to speak to the entire class and not interact too directly with a single student.

11. Don’t do thinking for students, but it’s good to frame what we’re discussing to focus the attention and reduce the cognitive load.

Miscellaneous

1. At Open House talk about what you’re passionate about. Don’t just give a presentation on mundane details but talk about some of your favorite things. 

2. Strategies to learn students’ names. Write down pronunciations on a seating chart so you don’t have to ask repeatedly or feel uncertain later. Put in a grade for students. Use retrieval practice when students are working. Use their names when you talk to them. 

3. Don’t answer student questions during the test. They can figure out the answer from the information on the test. By answering you are either being unfair or you are cementing in a wrong thought. Better to always shrug and explain ahead of time why you won’t answer.

4. It’s good to have a list of things you’d like to talk with students about that take 5-10 minutes for when you’re ahead in one hour (cognitive science, anti-racism, specific scenarios in school)

5. When you leave sub instructions that involve whiteboards, have students sent a photo to your email or twitter account so you can see how they’re doing.

6. Prepare for interviews by making a list of things you want to say (student situations, student work, specific lessons, books, philosophies)

7. During conferences, be wary of shouting praises for parents who might be having a rough conference nearby you.

8. During conferences, lots of parents just want to know that their child is happy during class and what they are like. 

9. Don’t criticize yourself to put yourself down. Only do criticisms that are productive.

Questions to ask

QTA 1. What would a measurement that was on a 10.00 cm line be written as?

QTA 2. A block of wood floats in water, what will the same block that has multiple holes drilled out do?

QTA 3. How do measurements or significant figures differ from numbers in math class?

QTA 4. #2 and #3 on worksheet 3, does a larger density imply more particles in the same space, bigger particles (or both)?

QTA 5. Can you show me a whiteboard that highlights what you’re explaining. This came in handy for when students explanations were unclear or confusing.

QTA 6. what makes Fierce cologne particles move the way that they do?

QTA 7. Does the pressure increase from more collisions, bigger collisions or both? 

QTA 8. What makes the particles move? If particles collide, what does that imply about their motion?

QTA 9.  Which is hotter, a teacup of boiling water or a bucket of warm water?

QTA 10. What is a compound and how is a mixture different?

QTA 11. Can water ever not be H2O? Could it be H3O? 

QTA 12. Do we have more or less than 1 mole?

QTA 13. What does the number 22.99 mean for Na?

QTA 14. What does the number 18.02 mean for H2O?

QTA 15. If there is 1 mole of CaCO3, how many total atoms and O atoms are there?

Weaknesses of Milam (find someone else to learn these from)

Weakness 1. I am not good at organizing the physical layout of the room. I don’t have a space for everything and I don’t throw stuff away frequently enough. 

Weakness 2. I am off topic too frequently and this detracts from my lesson timing.

Weakness 3. I’m arrogant. It’s getting better, but it’s still not good. 

Strengths of Milam

1. I see the good in all kids. I don’t let their mistakes define my perception of them.

2. I can anticipate what students don’t understand and ask good questions that allow them to do the same.

3. I reflect constantly about everything.

4. I’m creative and have fun at work.

What students need to understand gases at the particle level

Student #1 - The gas particles expanded because there was empty space.

Student #2 - Gases like to fill their container.

Student #3 - The balloon filled up because there was a vacuum.

There is a common misconception or lack of conception about gas particle motion.  The ideas start when students are very young as we teach them about solids, liquids and gases very early.  To compensate for the fact that students are not ready for the particulate level at this age we use observations of what happens at the macroscopic level.  Liquids take the shape of the container but do not fill it.  Gases fill the container and take its shape.  Solids are unaffected by their container.  Even though we do not express the particle level (or do so very poorly) students will still formulate ideas about why these differences exist.  By the time students finally get to a chemistry class where they can connect the macroscopic and particulate levels there are significant obstructions in place.  

There are a number of demonstrations available to test these obstructions and misconceptions and get students thinking.  But teachers must be very wary of oversimplifying the demonstration and offering their own explanations.  This can cause students to reinforce their misconceptions.  Instead focus on observations and begin providing students with the tools to organize particle level pressure analysis based on speed/temperature, direction, number of particles, size of the container and surroundings.  For an example consider the demonstration where a balloon is blown up backwards using a flask with hot water.  

Initially the flask has mostly air in it at a similar pressure to the surrounding atmosphere.  As the flask is heated, steam pushes some of the air out leaving the flask to contain steam and some hot air.  There is a smaller density of particles in the flask than out because the higher speed creates a similar pressure with fewer particles.  If there were the same density of particles in the flask as outside then the higher speed would result in a greater pressure in the flask than the atmosphere.  A greater pressure would mean more frequent collisions with the the container, and also the hole which would lead to more particles leaving the flask than entering.  It is only when the particle density is smaller in the flask that the pressure will be the same.  
Now the balloon gets placed on the flask and the flask is removed from the hot plate.  The particles in the flask begin to slow down as the temperature drops.  This causes fewer collisions and smaller collisions and thus a drop in pressure occurs.  The external or atmospheric pressure is constant and thus becomes larger in pressure and the balloon is pushed in until the smaller volume in the flask reaches a similar pressure to the atmosphere again.  

In order for the student to properly analyze such a situation they really need to articulate multiple steps and critically analyze the number of particles, volume of container, speed of particles and how each of these affects the overall pressure.  This task can be aided by using particle level drawings but it is indeed a formidable task.  Most students being overwhelmed with this task resort to adding in human features to the particles instead.  The particles have less space so the air particles move in to fill the empty space.  An underlying feature of these student alternative conceptions is that particles will move towards an empty space but students do not realize why this occurs.  This is crucial to eradicating some of the structures that we begin with. To begin addressing this have students draw a simple diagram with multiple colors and motion in multiple directions such as in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1:  Student representation of an initial state of a gas.  

Then instruct the students to determine where the particles will be a short time later (IE after the time needed to move the length of each arrow).  Have them draw four different diagrams in sequence showing the particles’ positions based on their motion.

Figure 2:  Student works showing how the particles move about based on their initial positions and motions

Ask the students why the particles moved the way that they did.  Ask clarifying questions if needed such as should the particles change speeds, will the particles collide with the walls and other particles?  Try and emphasize that there is no special direction or cause of the motion but that the particles were just moving to begin with and thus changed where they were.

Now the plot twist.

Have the students restart on a new whiteboard if possible and draw a bunch of particles in one location such as in Figure 3 below.  

Figure 3:  Students restart having all particles in 1 location (IE in a balloon)

Now have them complete the same process as before.  They should note that as the particles move about that the particles spread throughout the container because the motions are in different directions and there is nothing to oppose their motions.  

Figure 4:  Gas particles starting in a confined space that become free to move around

Why did the gas particles fill the container?  Was it because they like to spread out?  Was there a big reason or did they just happen to be moving in a way where they would spread out for no reason other than they were already moving to do so?  The particles that stay in the corner bump and collide causing them to change directions while those moving away from the corner are not impeded.  There is no force needed for the particles to fill the container, there is no suction.  The gas fills the container solely because gas particles move and they are moving in various directions.  (AP Chemistry teachers might even have seen a professor express that it is equally likely that all particles could have all of the energy as an equally likely microstate as a somewhat even dispersal.  This is false because the initial conditions make it impossible for that to occur.)

Figure 5:  Teacher representation of gas particles moving and a confined gas that was released moving.  The bottom image is a confined gas for comparison purposes.

In Figure 5 above one can see the difference between gas particles moving throughout an enclosed space and gas particles confined to one small section of a confined space.  Did the left corner exhibit “suction” towards the particles?  Did they move towards the empty space because they wanted to fill it?  Absolutely not.  Rather the fact that gas particles move in various directions as an intrinsic quality of the particles is all that is needed for the spread of particles to occur.  There is no differentiation between the top series and the bottom series in Figure 5.  There is no way for the empty space in the second series box 1 to pull or force the particles to move.  There is no such thing as a suction force.  A gas particle cannot be pulled.  But there is an interesting tendency for the gas to spread based on the particles various motions.  

A high-level discussion that may be appropriate is what happens when you breathe.  It is probably natural for most people to assume that when they take a deep breath in, that they pull air in.  If you breathe in right now it will appear to you that you are controlling the air.  But you are not.  Your lungs cannot exert a force on air outside of your body.  Only the particles touching your lungs can be affected by your lungs.  The air that moves in when you breathe in was already on its way towards your lungs, you just caused fewer particles to be restricting their motion in.  By expanding your lungs using your muscles, fewer particles leave your mouth and the same amount of air is still moving towards your mouth and lungs as before.  Thus a net flux of air in occurs.  But those particles weren’t sucked in, or pulled into your lungs.  

(This discussion might also bring up the misconception that air leaving a rocket causes the rocket to move forward, a common misconception from Newton’s 3rd law)

After discussing breathing I had students ask about slurping noodles and drinking out of a straw.  Both were fantastic additions to the discussion as slurping requires contact between the substance and this makes it possible to create a force on the noodle particles.  The straw of course is dependent on the external pressure.  Some follow up concepts worth using to assess are why do gases move from high pressure to low pressure and modifying that with varying temperatures.  For example, if a high temperature gas and low temperature gas have the same pressure, why is there not a net transfer of particles?  Would the densities of the gases be different?  What would happen if  the hot gas cooled down?  Do the collisions cause speeds to change?  Do all gas molecules in a sample move at the same speed?  

With a better understanding of why a gas will fill its container and a better model to work with students should now be ready to give a much better analysis of common gas law demonstrations.  If anyone does the 2-L with a nail in it or the notecard on a mason jar filled with water; both of these demonstrations rely on a small amount of water leaking.  This causes the trapped gas inside of the container to decrease in pressure because the space available increases from the small amount of water leaving.  This causes the pressure from the atmosphere to be greater by enough to balance the pressure of the weight of the water and trapped gas.  For the 2-L the water stays in as long as the cap remains on and for the notecard the notecard stays in place and prevents a student from being soaked.  

If you use a vacuum pump to show marshmallow, balloon or shaving cream expansion make sure to explain to the students how the vacuum pump is engineered to allow particles to leave the glass dome and get pushed out by the engine, but particles are prevented from re-entering the dome.  Vacuum filtration is always a much more visible representation of this that students that continue on to organic chemistry in college will likely see repeatedly.  

When I first did gas pressure demonstrations the goals were simple.  I wanted students to articulate that gas pressure was caused by collisions and that pressure could be exerted in multiple directions.  But now I want them to be able to get to the point where they do higher levels of analysis of what is happening during demonstrations.  I want them to organize when temperature changes and when it doesn’t.  I want them to identify when there is a difference in particle densities.  I also want them to avoid adding human qualities to gas particles and this exploration where students draw arrows and then follow them through like a comic book strip might just be the key to seeing that to fruition.  

Figure 6: More student creations