Parents

Parent Night went especially well due in large part to the information I gave them regarding lab experiences available to a select number of high school students. Dr. Petra
Fromme made it quite obvious that she would be very willing to take on specific high school students and allow them to work in her lab. I mentioned the gravity of the work I was doing in light of the potential energy sources available through this research. Parents were quite intrigued and interested themselves in this work and potential economic ramifications it would also have. I received many positive comments from parents which is like liquid gold to a teacher.

School

At long last...I am into my thrid week of school and have just touched upon the topic of macromolecules and will soon be venturing into cell respiration and photosynthesis. Unfortunately, my focus has been a bit inundated due to abnormally large class sizes of 40 students. I would never even think of doing experimental science due to the space alone! I anticipate that my school will rectify that soon or increase my pay. I have shown the students GFP which they were interested in the novelty of and in its real-world applications. My chemistry class will have fun with the actual crystallization as I have a larger space for that and a slightly smaller class of 33- Sad to say, that 33 is what I deem small. However, teachers are ever the reconfigurers and I am in the process of performing activities that will address my work with ASU.

One exciting surprise is how well my background is supplementing my classes that I am teaching at ASU. The extra exposure to chemistry and molarity makes it easier for me to explain to my students and a lot more exciting!

I plan on doing the reading in the spare 15 minutes I have every day to finally be done just before the due date. Tonight is open house and if I have extra time- I am certainly thinking of sharing my stories with the parents!