10.27.09
Chemistry Teaching Musings (VI)
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum,
I am slightly upset that I have somehow ‘lost’ couple posts in my draft box, but this will have to suffice until I get funnier stuff up.
Life lately has been waxing and waning as usual and in some ways, I am being very productive and in others, I feel very stagnant. But in regards to the many realms of chemistry, I have been finding my current chemistry class fascinating just because it is so different from any previous chemistry class I have had or heard from Sarah, Mally and other IFSers. The following notes and observations were made both in my chemistry class and other classes I am taking this semester.
What I have learned (so far) that works in teaching a chemistry class: Read the rest of this entry »
09.28.09
Chemistry Teaching Musings (V)
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum,
I am posting these rather frequently–I hope this doesn’t soon immediately fizzle out. I guess I have been doing TONS of chemistry lately, so these posts keep getting written. God knows what I will do if I make it into Physical Chemistry…. I do have some Islamic posts in the making, but I always leave them half finished. I’ll try to a spiderman post request by the end of next week. (Which one, you’ll have to tune in and find out!) XD
—
To Spiderman and Sarah: I TOTALLY DON’T FEEL COMFORTABLE TYPING THIS! LOL.
—
So today in class my professor said he grades the lab reports himself to have an idea what the class understands and struggles with–and that is when I started thinking of this post:
How do I customize my chemistry class to meet the needs of every class I get each year? Read the rest of this entry »
09.24.09
Chemistry Teaching Musings (IV)
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum,
I think I figured out why I use roman numerals. Probably because when I have to name d-block molecules, I have to put the roman numeral charge, so it is somehow subconsciously coming on to my blog….
I am again procrastinating my lab report and I am super grateful that I DID NOT break anything this week. (Alhamdulillah! LOL)
I don’t feel comfortable typing this. XD
I was reading some random article about how a student’s emotions are almost directly correlated with how the student will perform at school. Now as a teacher, it isn’t my business to know what is happening at home (unless it is something extremely detrimental, illegal, etc.) but I know that I have some control of how the student can ‘feel’ in the classroom. My computer professor always shows us a mini youtube clip before class to ‘loosen’ up our mood so that way it can help us transition into his class.
(News anchorman to a little girl: Do you believe in Santa Claus? Little Girl: No I am Jewish!) Read the rest of this entry »
09.13.09
Chemistry Teaching Musings (III)
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum,
I decided that Microsoft Excel is too technologically advanced for me. (Hey–technology isn’t my cup of chai [tea]. I’ll own you at cleaning the chemistry lab….) So I was inspired to write this post after writing about C (graphite) and C (diamond) in my last post.
EDIT: SPIDERMAN! YOU BETTER READ THE WHOLE POST.
FYI: C (graphite) is Carbon in graphite form (the molecular structure resembles that of polygon-like sheets layered on each other) and C (diamond) is Carbon in diamond form (the molecular structure has tight diamond oriented bond structures).
This post may be a bit more Islamic teaching than public school teaching, but I’ll try to touch a little on both.
I am not a teacher, but having extensive experience as a student, I know that one very important part about teaching is not only to convey things in an easy and organized manner, but to somehow make the subject matter relevant. To make the subject matter relevant, I have to make kids appreciate it. In this case, the subject matter is chemistry. (Wow, I got my work cut out for me.) =) Read the rest of this entry »
09.05.09
Chemistry Teaching Musings (II)
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum,
(Another post in the same day? You must be bonkers, Faith786!)
…Well, if I am bonkers, it was way long before this post…. =)
I am trying to do my Chemistry lab report and the 1/T and ln P is driving me crazy and then I thought of part II of this series–Do students learn from their mistakes? Read the rest of this entry »
Chemistry Teaching Musings (I)
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum,
I don’t know if this will become a series (I actually found content for my Chemistry in the REAL World segment) but I was contemplating about my first lab on Thursday and this post was born.
I want to teach students to ask the right questions.
NOTE: I didn’t say I want to teach students to find the right answers. (Which seems to plague most educators and government standards.) Read the rest of this entry »
12.16.08
A Rant about Education
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum,
With all the time I have, I have began pseudo philosophizing and I have come to certain realizations, especially about our education system. Kids out there that have had their curiosity repressed and never fit in because you always wondered why the hell grades should matter–this is for you. Read the rest of this entry »
08.25.08
Bill Maher on Education
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum,
(I am writing a post on Bill Maher and I wrote a religious greeting. Pretty Ironic.)
Anyway, he was on Larry King (Yeah!) last night and I did not have an opportunity to watch the whole interview, but from what I caught when I was watching the interview, he is an agnostic (pretty sure not atheist.)
Anyway, I was interested in who he was because he posed a question that *I WROTE FOR A CHARACTER IN MY BOOK TO SAY TWO HOURS BEFORE WATCHING IT.* His views are slightly interesting, and I respect his opinions (some of them, anyway.) So I looked him up and I came across this quote that has food for thought for both students, teachers, and anyone in America–
“NEW RULE: ‘Kidiots’ Leave the children behind. At least until they learn something. A new study has shown that half of American high schools agree that newspapers should only be able to publish government-approved material. Almost one out of five said people should not be allowed to voice unpopular opinions..This is the first generation after September 11th, who discovered news during a ‘watch what you say’ administration…George W. Bush once asked, ‘is our children learning.’ No, they isn’t. A better question would be, ‘is our teacher’s teaching?’”
Think about it.
