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Summer Lab

This week began what has become an annual tradition for my AP Chemistry students. Summer Lab! This activity counts as their summer assignment for class. Modeled after the activity that College Board uses to train new AP Chemistry teachers at summer institutes here in Baltimore (thank you Jon Hnatow!) the students do the infamous green crystal lab.

I first ran this activity after attending the APSI at Goucher College in 2011. I had never done the green crystal lab and found it to be a great example of simple lab skills, and a good review of some aspects of chemistry that incoming AP Chemistry students should already have under their belts (stoichiometry, molar dilutions, empirical formulas, formula writing, and redox reactions). This lab experience also checks off several of the old “required” labs that were a part of the AP Chemistry curriculum.

The experience starts before the end of the school year with the Summer Assignments meeting. Students are given the lab handout, a carbon-less copy lab notebook, and the dates for the summer lab. They choose to attend the lab experience or an alternate assignment. Summer lab runs from Monday through Friday, begins around 8:30 AM, and usually ends by 1:15 PM. Students form lab groups (usually pairs) and work together to analyze an iron oxalate compound. The schedule for the week looks like this:

  • Monday – Synthesis of the Compound, Introduction to the lab
  • Tuesday – Harvesting & cleaning of the crystal, Standardizing NaOH
  • Wednesday – Dehydration analysis to determine the % of water, Standardizing KMnO4, Determining the % of oxalate
  • Thursday – Determining the % of K+ and Fe3+ through titration
  • Friday – Analysis of data

Tuesday afternoon the students also have the opportunity to tie-dye t-shirts. This is a tradition inspired by one of my favorite chemistry professors, who always wore a tie-dyed shirt to class. It makes for a fun team-building activity.

On Wednesday the testing of the crystal really begins. The students determine the percent of water using small samples in crucibles and a drying oven. The nice thing about these crystals is that they change color, from dark emerald green to a light green, when they dry out. Makes it easy to see that the dehydration is working.

Wednesday also increases the skill set with regards to titration. Students titrate a redox reaction between oxalate and permanganate. This one is more challenging than the Tuesday titration for standardizing the NaOH. The redox titration is heated, and acidified. I start the morning, after the first crystals hit the drying oven, with a review of balancing a redox reaction in acid. Then we can connect how water is involved, and how we make this reaction acidic by adding a small amount of 6M sulfuric acid, and 85% phosphoric acid. The students take great care with this titration, as it requires true teamwork to maintain a constant 85-90°C temperature, and hit the color change.

Thursday ratchets up the titration skill. This titration focuses solely on pH and the graph generated by the titration. We use an ion exchange column to substitute H+ ions for the K+ ions in the crystal. Then the students begin a detailed titration using Vernier data acquisition technology, pH probes and LabQuest 2 units. While the ion exchange columns are being re-charged with some 1M HCl, the students gather to learn how to graphically determine the equivalence points on a titration graph with two inflection points. This technique will be used on their own experimentally generated graphs to determine the % potassium and % iron in the crystals. At the end of the day’s work the students are presented with a titration master certificate that they can use in their college portfolios.

Friday is the last day of the summer and the students use their experimental data to determine the empirical formula of the iron oxalate crystal. This part becomes a typical empirical formula problem, where each component is given in percentages, and they calculate the mole ratios for each component. The students turn in their work for each day, showing the calculations for each molarity or percentage that is determined experimentally, and the final empirical formula calculations with a percent yield on the crystal.

 

 

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Getting into “school mode”

A thousand things begin to go through your mind shortly after July 4th when you are a high school department chair. Schedules, class sizes, materials, textbooks, new teachers, retiring teachers, new administrators, new duties, projectors, printers, computers, enough desks and chairs for each room! Where does the “to do list” end?

As most teachers “roll over, and go back to sleep” in the early to mid-July time frame, department chairs are often in the beginning stages of “school mode”. That is a phrase my wife uses when I begin to drift off into a fugue state where my mind is racing with things that I need to work on when I return to school before my teachers do. I believe that “school mode” gets triggered with the first of the school supplies that hit the store shelves in early July. I usually start with buying a new planner for the school year. (although this is quickly being replaced by an online tool)

My first days back in school usually happen in early August, so that I have time to check on things.

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I begin to make lists like crazy. I have about 15 people in my department that teach a total of 20 courses. I start my summer with a quick inventory of what we have on hand. I try to ask each teacher to anticipate needs for the coming school year.

Each teacher has needs, each teacher’s classroom has needs, each course has needs. I start with how many sections of each course are running and think about books, projectors, document cameras. Those are the items that I need to make sure are in-house and ready when school starts. These are the big money item and can take the longest to reach the building (like furniture).

I usually bring my tool kit to school in those early days of August. Sometimes I can fix a wobbly leg, or loose desk top with a little glue, and a screwdriver. We have some heavy resin-topped lab tables that seem to take a beating when the custodial crew gets through with the summer cleaning. I have fixed quite a few broken table legs.

If the schedule is done, I start looking at class numbers, and the schedule of the department members. I look for class sizes, common planning time, and start to think about the observation calendar. I would like to think that I can contribute to some small changes but this usually depends on when the schedule is ready and if the scheduling AP is open to a few small tweaks.

Once school starts for teachers my life is a whirlwind of activity. There is little time for repairs, inventory, and analyzing the schedule.

 

 

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Summer Conference Time

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Just returned from my one and only conference of the summer. ISTE 2018 was in Chicago this year and did not disappoint. The town is amazing, beautiful, and friendly. My hotel was a couple of miles from the conference center, but I didn’t mind the walk. I got to see Millenium Park every day.

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ISTE is an educational technology conference. There are sessions about integrating technology into your classrooms, about new instructional tech that is coming onto the scene, and about improving your teaching practice. Microsoft, Apple, Google have a giant presence at this conference. Many, many sessions just from these three technology giants.

There were three keynote addresses, but I only attended one. It started with a mini-concert from the group, Musicality. They are a high school group that once appeared on America’s Got Talent. Fantastic way to start the show!

Author Andy Weir (@AndyWeirAuthor) did not disappoint. His session about how he started as an author was fantastic. His message was about problem-solving, never giving up, keep moving forward.

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I scored a free Microsoft Innovative Educator T-shirt from the Microsoft booth, and bought a shirt from the ISTE sales booth.

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I have to say that the size of this conference can be overwhelming. It took me several hours to make my way through the Expo floor where the vendors are showcasing their products. The program of sessions is extensive and it really becomes a matter of priority when deciding where to go next.

I did get to meet one of the big-cheeses from FlipGrid. Joey Taralson is really down to earth, and easy to talk to. His company was just purchased by Microsoft, but he is still the same person that I met last year.

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FlipGrid is all about student voice, and I have used it in both of my AP classes. The students really like it, and I get to hear what is uppermost on their minds in response to a simple prompt.

While at the conference I finished by 2018-2019 Microsoft Innovative Education Expert application. Most of this time was spent on the 2-minute Sway. I was an MIEE last year, and it gives some credibility when presenting a new Microsoft tool to a group of teachers. I find out on August 23rd if I made the list again for this year. Fingers crossed.

One of my regrets from the conference was BCPS leadership. I saw directors and office-heads from my district, a couple that I know personally. In every case, they turned their back as soon as they saw me or ignored me completely. There were a handful of teachers from our district at the conference, and I cannot say that they all had the same reaction, but this was my experience. It just further divides the elitism that seems to exist between the district administration and the classroom teacher.

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Tough Week

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This was definitely one of the most challenging weeks of the year so far. Early in the week, there was a photograph posted online that depicted one of our students with a racial slur. This image quickly went viral with nearly every student in the school involved. http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2017/03/02/protest-at-eastern-technical-hs-after-racist-picture-appears-on-social-media/

Word quickly spread amongst the students that they would protest the image, and what appeared to be a lack of consequence from the school administration. There had been a consequence, which was in accordance with the student behavior handbook, but the students did not believe that it was equal in severity to the incident. http://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/the-real-eastern-tech-rallies-against-racist-snapchat-photo

Beginning early before MOD 1, a group of students sat on the lobby floor. They texted, Snapped, Instagrammed, and Tweeted their location to most of the student body, and the local news. Soon, dozens of students joined them. When asked to return to class, they refused. For safety, they did agree to re-locate to the school cafeteria. They continued their peaceful protest for the remainder of the first period. The size of the crowd grew with the first change of classes. There were now over 100 students involved, with more arriving during the second period.

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The sit-in protest turned into a platform for expression of thoughts, feelings, and experiences. The student crowd was joined by a few teachers. They read aloud from letters and poems that captured the feelings of others when faced with such open racism. The news reporters were not allowed inside but remained in contact with our students through social media. http://www.wbaltv.com/article/eastern-tech-students-protest-racial-slur-on-baseball-field/9084532

The group was allowed to protest after lunch in the main gym. Now, 100’s of students were on site. The testimonials continued throughout the remainder of the day. Most of my students came to ask me if they could attend before doing so. A few chose to remain with me. I told them that they should “do what they need to do“.

In all my years of teaching, I have never been a part of such an event. I do not believe that this peaceful assembly could have happened at most other schools. There were no fights, no violence of any sort. The only members of the community that were angry were some of our parents. They were furious that this type of protest was allowed to happen. They wanted their children back in class. I would have to disagree. Our students needed the opportunity to voice their feelings. They did so in a way that should be an example to others.

Proud of them. Proud of our school.