Getting the Most Out Of Every PD Experience

Welcome back!  This video was inspired by a conversation I had with a teacher who follows my Facebook page.

The school year is in full swing, and I'm sure many of you are seeking out professional development opportunities.  But how do you select meaningful PD with content that you can just "grab and go" right into your classroom with?  Not all professional development is created equal, and the goal of this video is to not only share advice for selecting professional development, but also how to deal with PD experiences that might not be as applicable to your work.  I'll also share a personal experience with my own PD, and how I incorporated it into my classroom environment.

Thank you so much for watching!  I hope you had a wonderful week with your students!

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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 Flip My Chemistry Classroom

It's a new year, time for some new norms.

I hope your school year is off to a fantastic start!

In this vlog, I'll share how I encourage student buy-in for the flipped classroom and the norms I establish for engaging with video content.  I'll also share a new way I established the importance of interacting with video content.

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.

2019 Back to School Giveaways! | MsRazz ChemClass

It's time for my annual Back To School Giveaway!

I'm giving away 4 prize bundles to 4 lucky science teachers.  Know a science teacher?  Please feel free to share this post.

Are you a science teacher?  Enter my Rafflecopter below.  Want to see what's up for grabs?

Thank you for everything you do for your students!  Have a wonderful start to the school year.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and Conditions: Giveaway ends August 18th, 2019 at 11:59 PM EST. Open to Residents of the US only.  Winners will be selected at random and be notified by email. Winners have 48 hours to confirm their email addresses and respond before a new winner is selected. The product offered for the giveaway is free of charge, no purchase necessary. My opinions are my own and were not influenced by any form of compensation.  Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram are in no way associated with this giveaway.  By providing your information in this form, you are providing your information to me and me alone.  I do not share or sell information and will use any information only for the purpose of contacting the winner.

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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.

Top 5 Updates for July!

Long time no see!

I hope this video finds you well rested and truly recharged.  In this post I wanted to check in and share my top 5 updates for the month of July. Hear about the books I'm reading, updates to my TpT bundles, professional development I'm teaching, and more!

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.

End of year survey results!

Hi!

It's official - only 4 more days left in the school year! Each year I distribute an end of year survey to help me reflect on my teaching practice. This year, I still administered a survey, but my focus was a little different. In this post, I'll share the questions I asked and the results.

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.

EOY Celebration + What am I teaching next year?

It's finally here!

It truly is an exciting time to be a chemistry student!  My students love having an end of the year celebration to acknowledge all our accomplishments and hard work throughout the year.  In this episode, I'll discuss how I changed up this year's celebration with a brand new digital escape room.  I'll also share the details of my teaching assignment for next year.

I hope you are enjoying every minute leading up to the end of school.  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.

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.

The Chemistry of Tie Dye and Designing My First Digital Escape Room

It's our last official week before spring break!  It also happens to be the week of the NJSLA standardized tests.  What a combo!  Watch how I used the extra class time to try out some new lessons - including a digital escape room to teach about the chemistry of tie dye!  My students will use what they learned to create their very own tie dye tee-shirts.  It was a great way to end the week!

Thanks so much for watching!

If you are celebrating, have a Happy Easter and Happy Passover!

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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.