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Author Archives: Mr. Bigler
Science Fairs
From 2004-06 I taught at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School in Peabody, MA, a school that participates in the annual Massachusetts State Science Fair. I was the coordinator for the school’s fair in March 2006. I also participated as a … Continue reading
“Fair” Means “Everyone Gets What They Need”
One of the signs I have posted at the front of my classroom states “Fair” means “Everyone gets what they need,” not “Everyone gets exactly the same.” I frequently have occasion to point & refer to that particular sign. +8-2
Extensions
I give extensions rather freely. My students know that they need to ask at least two days in advance (longer for major assignments), and they need to have an acceptable reason, and provide supporting documentation (which I follow up on). … Continue reading
Credit Instead of Extra Credit
I’ve had great success with allowing unlimited re-tests (until the end of the grading period), with a maximum re-test grade of 90%. +50
Science Works and I’m Still Married!
Today I did a quick & simple demo of the activity series of metals. I had a solution of copper chloride. Metals that are more active than the copper ions in solution (such as aluminum) react, displacing the copper ions … Continue reading
Teaching Experimental Design
Anyone who has listened to me rant about teaching for any amount of time at all has probably heard my rant about the way lab experiments are done in high schools. +3-1
A Compliment
Every teacher has at least one kid who needs the teacher’s attention for every minute of every class. Often, those are kids I really enjoy having in class, as long as they have a sense of where the line is … Continue reading
Student-Written Recommendation
When I found out that I wasn’t going to be teaching in Peabody next year, one of my favorite students (yeah, I know, we’re not supposed to have favorites) asked if there was anything she could do. Knowing that this … Continue reading
Diet Coke/Mentos Final Exam
This is about a week old, but I hadn’t talked about it here yet. One of the advantages of being the only teacher for a course that has no curriculum is that I can do just about anything as long … Continue reading
Measuring Up
I got a nice comment from one of the students in my organic chem class yesterday. She had visited Boston College and looked over several of the problem sets & answers for their intro organic chem class. She made a … Continue reading