Newark Academy Science Department Personal Reflection by Andrew Ryan

Substantial Review January 2014

In my third year of teaching science at Newark Academy, Im teaching three sections of General Chemistry and one section of Honors Chemistry. Last year, I also taught one section of General Physics. Below are my reflections on each of those courses. General Chemistry: Im constantly striving to improve my General Chemistry course. During year one, with a general outline of what was to be covered, I planned the pacing and designed lectures, labs, and assessments. Based on feedback and my own observations, I set goals for improvement in year two. One of my goals was to improve the lab experience for my students. I felt that several of the labs were only tangentially related to the content or simply cookie-cutter labs where students were not challenged appropriately. For each unit of the course, I looked closely at the labs and made sure they added value to the curriculum and were appropriate for my students. For example, I made the lab on precipitation reactions more interesting and challenging by adding an unknown substance for the students to investigate and identify. Also, I took a risk and implemented a Design Lab. Through my membership with the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), I researched best practices to help my students understand the purpose of lab experiments and what it means to objectively demonstrate scientific principles using data collection and analysis. As a culminating experience, students presented their labs and practiced communicating their findings. Although it was challenging, this proved to be an extremely rewarding experience all around. Furthermore, I began working towards my Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) at Fairleigh Dickinson University. While completing a course called Effective Teaching, Effective Schools I reflected in a new way on differentiating instruction and how I create engaging, enriching learning experiences for my students. I realized I didnt feel like my strongest students were being sufficiently challenged. As a result, I modified the way I create, assign, and assess homework in year three. Now, I give my students a packet of problems sorted by topic and difficulty level, and allow them to choose problems at their level. Different levels of problems are worth different amounts of points and they must reach a certain number of points on each assignment. Students who choose easier problems are required to do more of them for extra practice and students who choose more complex problems do fewer but have opportunities to stretch themselves. Im happy to say my students have responded positively to this homework strategy and Ive noticed a general improvement in performance.

Im proud of the changes Ive made to my General Chemistry course since I began teaching at Newark Academy. My students are challenged and engaged, they know I support them, they learn and practice a wide variety of skills that will serve them even beyond the sciences, and we have a good time. Honors Chemistry: Honors Chemistry is a joy and a challenge to teach. As honors is a class normally taught, and taught very well, by Bill Hobson, I spend a great deal of time collaborating with him and making sure our sections are as consistent as possible. Were preparing our students for IB Chemistry, which Bill has taught before but I have not. My collaboration with Bill is especially important because he knows how material is presented in IB and therefore what we should emphasize in honors. When we teach material thats not covered in General Chemistry and not covered well in our textbook, Ive sought out and created additional materials. For example, our textbook isnt a good resource for learning about naming compounds so I created four new problem sets for my students to practice and found supplemental readings. Topics within Organic Chemistry present the greatest challenge because the subject is vast and we need to be selective about what we cover. I truly enjoy teaching Honors Chemistry, as were able to delve deeper into some of my favorite subjects, such as Organic Chemistry, equilibrium, and quantum numbers. My Honors Chemistry students are a phenomenal group and were able to move along at a very quick pace with success. Each student arrives eager to learn and they really enjoy tackling complex problems, as do I. General Physics: Teaching physics last year helped me grow as an educator. Through collaboration with Drew Kesler, I incorporated several labs from his Honors Physics course and modified them to meet the needs of my General Physics students. Also, I searched and contacted several textbook publishers, reviewed sample textbooks, and chose an updated, ageappropriate text which was implemented Fall 2013. I am looking forward to teaching physics again.

Successes and areas in need of improvement, professional development goals and activities, involvement in the greater NA community, and goals for the next several years: In the past three years, Ive grown as a teacher. Between my first and second year, I took the Teaching Skills workshop offered by NJAIS. This course was transformative. I learned about designing class sessions, having clear and achievable objectives (which I give my students), and the importance of making a test before designing learning activities. This course led to improvement in the structure of my lessons, labs, and units.

Another epiphany I had during my second year is the importance of establishing a positive classroom environment. Im often asking students to make their thinking visible even if they get a problem incorrect. This can be uncomfortable for a many students but Im very careful to create an atmosphere where the expectation is we make mistakes and learn from them without snide comments or giggles. Ive noticed a marked improvement in my class dynamic since I began emphasizing this. One of my greatest struggles since coming to Newark Academy has been time management. Balancing work and family life is difficult. Its not uncommon for me to work almost a full day on Saturday or Sunday. This is improving as time goes on but I still struggle to efficiently and effectively grade lab reports, especially when I have tests to grade at the same time. I give my students high-quality, specific feedback, which takes time. I havent found a satisfying solution and, in discussions with my coworkers, Im not sure this problem is resolvable for science teachers who assign formal lab write-ups. My professional development goals up until now have focused on improving the fundamentals of my teaching. I attended the NJAIS workshop on teacher skills and Im working towards my Masters in teaching. Also, Ive worked every year to improve each of my courses. Im constantly reflecting and seeking out new and exciting ways of developing content and improving students skills. As for my involvement in the NA community outside of class, Im the JV boys soccer coach, an advisor, and a member of the faculty technology council. I chaperoned the tenth grade trip to Gettysburg two years in a row. Im also a grade coordinator on the community service council and, in that role, Ive chaperoned several service trips, helped serve food at the SCEEP holiday party, reviewed student service hours at the end of the year, and Im currently helping design the new service hours reporting system. My main goal for the next several years is to continue improving as a teacher. Im still refining each course that I teach and I proposed two new science electives, Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, which have been approved. I look forward to teaching those as well. Im always looking for labs that add value and I take careful notes and reflect on changes that need to be made. Im planning to create a video library to accompany General Chemistry that students can refer to for extra help with specific problem-solving skills. I use these kinds of videos in certain sections already and Ive received very positive feedback. They are a helpful supplement to our textbook, which can be dry and dense. Im aware that I can improve greatly in many aspects of my teaching. Im also confident that I will to continue to grow as a teacher. Teaching is what Ive always wanted to do and I have high expectations for myself and my students. I will never stop trying to improve as an educator. I genuinely love the challenge. Id like to thank Nancy and the entire science department faculty for their guidance since I joined Newark Academy. I feel very fortunate to work with such intelligent and caring colleagues.