Distance Learning - Feedback Strategies - Episode 25 | MsRazz ChemClass

If there's one thing I've learned over the course of my distance learning experience, it is the importance of feedback! With over a hundred students, it can be tough to provide feedback that is both meaningful and timely. In this video, I share 5 ways I've been able to provide quality feedback to my students.

Thanks so much for watching!

Ms Razz Mail: Karen Randazzo PO Box 203 Belle Mead, NJ 08502

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

2nd Week of Distance Learning - Authentic Assessment Strategies - Episode 23 | MsRazz ChemClass

I hope this post finds you and your loved ones well. It's week two, and unfortunately it seems an end to distance learning isn't in sight. I have been formatively assessing my students multiple times each week, however, with the marking period quickly coming to a close, it's time to start thinking about incorporating summative assessments. Watch as I share some advice for designing and administering summative assessments during distance learning.

Thanks so much for watching!

My PO Box: Karen Randazzo PO Box 203 Belle Mead, NJ 08502

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

1st Week of Distance Learning - Lessons Learned - Episode 22 | MsRazz ChemClass

My students were certainly not the only ones learning from home this week!

This week was filled with discovering new tech tools, creative assessment strategies, and of course finding new ways of teaching chemistry content! Watch as I share some of the most important lessons I learned this week.

Thanks so much for watching!

My PO Box:
Karen Randazzo
PO Box 203
Belle Mead, NJ 08502

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Using A Unit Menu Student Choice Tracker - Episode 19 | MsRazz ChemClass

It's time to try something new!

When I rolled out my unit menu product line, I started to get some questions about how I keep track of my students' choices as they work through the menu. To be honest - I never really found it necessary to keep track of each activity due to the formative assessments administered in each section. But you asked, and I listened! I kept track of my students' progress during our unit menu on the mole and the results surprised me. Watch as I share how I prep and plan during the course of this menu as well as how I designed and implemented the new tracker.

Thank you so much for watching!

My PO Box: Karen Randazzo PO Box 203 Belle Mead, NJ 08502 What's a unit menu? Purchase my unit menus here.

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

My Top 5 Simulation Websites - Episode 17 | MsRazz ChemClass

It was a jam-packed week filled with chemical reactions and unit menus! This week, my honors chemistry students were working on a unit menu that included net ionic equations and redox reactions. This unit menu included quite a few simulations, and naturally, I thought this would be a great time to talk about my favorite simulation websites and how I ensure my students get exactly what they need from each sim they interact with.

Thanks so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

How I Start my Chemical Reactions Unit - Episode 15 | MsRazz ChemClass

There is nothing like ending a long week with a little FIRE FRIDAY! This week, I'll share how my students prepared for their intermolecular forces assessment, set SMART goals, and of course how I started my unit on chemical reactions. It was a jam packed week, and I look forward to sharing the details with you!

Thanks so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

QR Code Scavenger Hunt - 'Chemistry of the Holidays'

Holiday break is quickly approaching and I decided to create something new (and exciting!) to kick off our holiday break. In this episode, I'll share how I created my 'Chemistry of the Holiday's' QR code scavenger hunt and some of the details on how I started my unit on intermolecular forces.

Thank you so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Using Consumer Products in my Bonding Unit

A short video for a very short week!

Due to the NJEA teacher convention and a district-wide day of professional development, I only saw my students two days this week.  It was a weird schedule, but I tried to make the best of it by engaging my college prep chemistry students in a new phenomenon.  In this week's episode I'll share how I incorporated consumer products into a new phenomenon for our unit on bonding.

Thanks so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Starting Our Unit on Periodic Trends

We're back into the swing of things for our first full week of classes in a couple of weeks.  This week we began our unit on periodic trends using, of course, a phenomenon!  In this post, I'll share how I tweaked my modeling lessons to make them more student-friendly and how I incorporate the use of Flipgrid into our phenomenon for this unit.

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

My FAVORITE Way to Review for Exams

Hi!  Happy June!

Another week, another set of student-centered learning activities!  This week I'll share my favorite way to review for large exams.  I'll suggest some ideas to get your students engaged and motivated to do their best!

Thanks so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Solving the Group Work Dilemma

Do your students like group work?

Mine didn't, and I decided to find out why.  I'll offer advice on how I support my students learning interpersonal skills yet solve one of the biggest group work dilemmas.  I'll also share some resources I use in my classroom (POGIL) that help to encourage communication and collaboration while learning chemistry.

I hope this post inspires you to find ways to develop your students' interpersonal skills and find balance during your group work activities!  Thanks so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Planning and Carrying Out an Investigation

Hi again!

This week we kicked off our study of kinetics by investigating the factors that affect reaction rate.  My chemists created their own experiments to understand the effect of changing concentration, temperature, and surface area on reaction time.  It was amazing to observe my chemists' meaningful discussions about their data, as well as hear them construct explanations for their findings.  I'll also show you the scaffolding I created to help my chemists think about their experimental design.

I hope this vlog will inspire you to try having your chemists design their own investigations!

Thanks so much for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Incorporating Student Choice into Reviewing for Assessments

Yet another worksheet?

I've been in a little bit of a worksheet rut.  Our celebration of learning (aka unit test) on solutions is next week.  So instead of the same old study guide, I mixed it up with student-reflection and choice!  As an added bonus, I incorporated some tech using QR codes.  My chemists' discussions were amazing during the review, and I was able to do lots of small group instruction with struggling learners.  For our lab this week, my students performed titrations and I will discuss how I NGSS-ified this "cookbook" lab.

Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Colorimetric Analysis and In-Service Day!

Happy Sunday!

This week seemed to fly by!  The focus was on the quantitative aspects of our solutions unit.  I made a series of flipped learning videos that explained units of concentration, making stock solutions, and dilutions.  At the end of the week, the students were challenged to make their own stock solutions and dilutions.  They were then able to reflect on their solution making skills by comparing their dilutions to unknowns using colorimetric analysis.  Finally, this week finished on a very high note with an incredibly inspiring in-service day.

Thank you so much for watching.  As always,  I hope my vlogs are inspiring you to include more student-centered learning into your classroom culture.

Have a great week!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

A new phenomenon for my solutions unit!

Hi!  It feels so good to be back!

It was my first full week back to school since battling pneumonia.  Fortunately I am feeling better, and returned to school with a quite a few fun and engaging activities.

We finished our unit on stoichiometry by designing an airbag using knowledge of molar volume and mole conversions.  At the end of the week I introduced our new unit, with, you guessed it, a phenomenon!  For a different change of pace, I dug out the Mr. Sketch markers and poster paper for a Phenomodeling activity.  It was great to see my students relate their prior knowledge and experience to this phenomenon.  Finally, on lab day my students participated in an inquiry lab that introduced saturated, unsaturated, and supersaturated solutions.  It was a busy week in Ms. Razz's class that is for sure!

Have a great week!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Beginning the MOLE Concept!

Welcome back!

It was a shortened week between President's day and a surprising early dismissal.  But that didn't stop us from finishing our electrochemstry unit and diving into our unit on the mole.  Watch how I use an incredibly simple activity to introduce the mole concept with manipulatives. Try it with your classes - you will be amazed how quickly your students will be performing conversions with the mole and ACTUALLY UNDERSTANDING the relationships!

As always, I hope you feel inspired to incorporate more manipulatives and student-centered learning into your classroom!  Have a great week!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

How I Started My Unit On Electrochemistry

Happy President's day weekend!

I hope you are celebrating with an extra day off, that is if you didn't use too many snow days already!

It was quite an exciting week with an unexpected snow day and some Valentine's day festivities.  We still got to flex our chemistry muscles though - we wrapped up our chemical reactions unit with some station learning and a summative assessment.  We also began our unit on electrochemistry with, of course, a new phenomenon!

This week I'll share some of the stations I used to help my students prepare for their summative assessment and explain how I began my unit on electrochemistry using a fantastic POGIL that incorporates a phenomenon!

As always, I hope you find something valuable to bring back to your classroom this week!  Thank you for watching!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

A S.M.A.R.T. mid-year reflection

Happy Sunday!

I hope you had a great week with your students.  At last midterms are over and, as you might expect,  I didn't waste any time getting back into the full swing of things.

I did, however, start off the second semester differently than I have in the past.  Reflection has always been a big part of my classroom culture, but I thought I would switch things up a bit and have my students focus on goal setting for the second semester.  I thought this would be a valuable exercise because I've been writing my own goals down, and have had much success working toward and achieving those goals.  To my surprise, this isn't a coincidence.  After doing some research, I found that writing your goals down can actually help you make strides to achieve them!  I then thought: this would be a great way to support student reflection and help improve their performance.  A win-win in my book!

So I created a digital interactive notebook (DINB) for my chemists to do just that.  The notebook walked them through the goal-setting process and at the very end, they set their own S.M.A.R.T. goals.  I've been very pleased with the goals my students have produced.  I must make sure, though, to revisit these goals throughout the semester so my students can check in on their progress.

This week's vlog includes all the details of my goal-setting digital interactive notebook, an inquiry-based single replacement lab, and how I teach my students to predict products for different reaction types.  As always, I hope you find something valuable to bring back to your classroom!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Need help managing the chaos of station learning?

Hi!

It was my first week back from the holiday break.  (If you're still on break and headed back tomorrow, I hope you have a great first day back!)  

Needless to say, my students and I jumped right back into our study of intermolecular forces using station learning.  It's been a while since we've done station learning, so we needed to review our norms.  

Interested in what those are? View my vlog to learn about how I communicate my expectations, minimize disruptions, and avoid chaos!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.

Holiday Lab, New Phenomenon, + Unannounced Observation!

Happy winter break!

I hope you are enjoying some downtime with family and friends as we gear up for the holidays!

It has been a very busy couple of weeks, but I did find some time to share how I started my unit on intermolecular forces and prepped for a holiday lab. I'll also give details on how my unannounced formal observation went.

Wishing you a very happy and healthy 2019!  See you next year!

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Ms. Razz is an enthusiastic chemistry teacher in New Jersey.  She often counts herself to sleep at night using molecules or by reciting Avogadro's number. (For real.) She believes that every student has the power to learn anything, even chemistry.  After all, she remembers this hustle didn't always come easy to her. She's also a Teachers Pay Teachers seller and you can view and purchase her lessons here.