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Author Archives: Mr. Bigler
“So That’s What I’ve Been Missing All This Time!”
I heard these words from two students today in AP chem class. Neither time had anything to do with chemistry, though. One girl, “Steph,” had left her glasses on her desk. Another girl, “Jen,” put them on just as “Alexis” … Continue reading
Boys Will Be Boys
This morning I won a footrace through the halls of my school. I was walking down the halls before first period, and a group of boys was standing to one side of the main second-floor corridor, and one of them … Continue reading
“What’s My Favorite Part Of Teaching?”
This is a cross-posting of something I said in a forum on RateMyTeachers.com. The question was: heyy my name is Talia and I’m 15, I attend St.marys secondary. A question that alot of my friends asked is why would teachers … Continue reading
Turning Up the Speed on the Treadmill
When I was at MIT, I used the metaphor of a treadmill to describe the progression of a semester. Someone else was controlling the speed of the treadmill. Each week, the person would turn the speed up a little faster. … Continue reading
One of the Reasons I Love My Department Head
I’ve started letting my students bring Munchkins and other snacks on Fridays. I provide fresh-roasted coffee (and hot chocolate for the non-coffee-drinkers). We call it “chem coffeehouse”. We still do classwork, but in a much more informal setting. The kids … Continue reading
“Mr. Bigler, What Are We Going to Learn Today?”
This is how my day started. Not with the more typical student question of “are we going to do anything,” but with a question that carried with it the tacit assumption that of course we would be learning something, and … Continue reading
Teaching Problem-Solving in Baby Steps
I’m working on getting my students used to problem-solving. They’re making progress. It’s baby steps right now, but every little step gets us a little closer. There’s a part of me that wants to ask, “How can you not know … Continue reading
A First Attempt at Inquiry-Based Labs
We’re now into the third week of school, and the kids are beginning to impress me. The biggest changes I’ve made since last year are to the way I’m doing lab experiments. During my first two years of teaching, I … Continue reading