Chemical Storage

When I first got into my classroom last summer, THIS is what I found in my chemical storeroom...

So that was the nightmare I had to deal with. The broken bottle above turned out to be zinc oxide which is non-toxic but can be a lung irritant if inhaled (such as you might get if you were to sweep it up). It expands when wet which is what caused the bottle to break. It took several months and a visit from our insurance inspector before someone who was respirator trained finally cleaned it up.

There was also no inventory from within the last ten years. The most recently dated chemicals were purchased in 2010. Trying to find what I wanted to use was a nightmare because I was told that the previous teachers followed the Flinn organization system (which is very good and what I am NOW using) but when I went to look for things where they belonged, I didn't find them, nor did I find them where the cabinet labels said they should be. Whoever was using the chemicals before me (obviously not the person who had been there for the last three years) apparently didn't pay much attention to where they put things away.

So when I finally got some time, I started taking an inventory of the chemicals that we had. I removed several for disposal due to age (or apparent age as most of them didn't have purchase dates) and put in a request to spend the money to properly dispose of them following EPA and state regulations. I also decided to rearrange the storage area to better accommodate the items we have more of (such as nitrates) rather than having a lot of space for things we don't have (such as most organics).

After much pain and suffering and entering into a spreadsheet, I finally have my school's storage area up to a standard that I can proudly say is "mine". I did end up using the Flinn storage plan, but with a few more shelves dedicated to certain things than others. I also like to have the Flinn catalog (you have to request it to get the whole thing) handy for a list of proper disposal techniques for pretty much every chemical someone might have.

Substitute Binder

As with the Teacher Binder, I found a whole bunch of stuff on Pinterest about Substitute Binders. I even made a board for all the stuff I found! After several months of adding to the board and telling myself I’d go through it later, I finally went through it. And again, I found many of the things suggested for these binders either didn’t fit for high school, or didn’t fit my style and personality. So I took what I thought to be the best parts of each of these and made my own Sub Binder.

My school provides binders for our subs, but I honestly have no idea what goes in them, so I just decided to make my own anyway. I figure it’s easy enough to just tell the WonderWoman who deals with the subs that I have it in my room in X location.

I found a very small (maybe ½”) binder in my classroom and put in a cover page that I created in Microsoft Word (did you know Microsoft has a thing for page borders?), then I put a label on the side in case (God forbid) my emergency sub plans need to be used. I also put a “Thank You” cover in the back sleeve so the sub knows which side is the front and that I appreciate them.

I have a few copies of NOTES paper in the inside pocket of the binder for them to leave me a description of how the day went. One tip I found very useful, after I started compiling a list of what was going to go in my sub binder, was to put in a Table of Contents. This way the sub knows whether what they are looking for can be found in the binder and about where they can find it.

Then I have a page that I took most of the information on from my old roommate (Thanks Amanda!). On top it has my class schedule and then I also have what my school calls a “warm body count” AKA how many people should be in the room if everyone is accounted for. This page also has a brief overview of what I, and subsequently my sub, expect from my students. I also have a few major points that I want any sub (even the one who falls asleep—yea, that’s my district in a nut shell) to follow, such as marking down on the seating chart any issues they have with a particular student and NOT to take any paperwork from students (because I don’t want to have to deal with the “well I gave it to the sub, they must have lost it” excuse). We have an A/B block schedule this year, so I have a sheet for each day to make things a little easier to follow in the table at the top of the page. I put them back to back and one upside-down so that all I need to do for a different day is flip the sheet protector over.

After my welcome will be my daily lesson plans, for when I have planned an absence. Since these are for planned absences only, the sheet protector is currently empty, but again if I’m going to be gone for an A and B day, I can put the plans back to back and have them flip the sheet protector over. The next page that I have in my sub binder is probably to most useful page to me, the technology instructions. It was SUCH A PAIN figuring out all the technology in my classroom (for instance, my projector doesn't have a real remote, it’s controlled via an application on the computer which is still running Windows XP!). So I knew that even playing a movie could present a challenge for a sub. So I wrote down instructions for all the different pieces of technology in my classroom. I still refer to this every once in a while to remember how to make something work if I don’t use it often.

Next up is a short blurb on the policies I have in my classroom. For instance, we have a fairly high population of homeless students, but they still almost all have cell phones. I have a plethora of power outlets in my room and the students have asked on several occasions to charge their phones. I allow this for two reasons: it allows them to get in touch with employers/parents after school is over, and more importantly, if their phone is over by the wall charging then I know they aren’t using at their desk *evil laugh*.

In case one of my fellow teachers is asked at the last minute to sub for me on their prep hour, I have our substitute PowerSchool information so they can take attendance. Then I have (or will once I know who my students are) the seating charts for each class period, A day in front and B day in back. This way they can make notes about students and have an idea of where everyone belongs.

After the seating charts are my emergency sub plans. I’ll admit that mine aren’t the best, but at least they exist which is more than a lot of teachers can say. I have 5 days of emergency plans which for the A/B schedule translates into plans for me being gone for up to 2 weeks in case something happens.

The other best idea I think I found on Pinterest that I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise are time fillers. These are things like word searches, crossword puzzles, cheesy chemistry puns for the students to figure out; exactly as advertised, things for the sub to give the students to fill time for the ones who finish early or get off task and say they’ll “finish it ask homework” or some other lie that they sub might have to deal with.

The very last thing I have in my sub binder are 10 copies of my school’s office referral forms. I’ve learned that just pulling these out can be a very powerful tool for behavior management.

Teacher Binder

I have seen a lot of things about teacher binders on Pinterest, but most of what I found was for elementary teachers and not that useful/practical at the secondary level. So I decided to take the good parts of these and add my own flavor to a Teacher binder.

The first thing I did was take some of the fabric from the bulletin boards in my "fire room" (the room i got moved to in another building after the fire in our main building...man was that a PITA) and cover an old binder I took from what the previous teacher left me.

Then, I filled the front folder pocket with cute notes my students gave me last year that make me smile.

I also included this little bookmark I got at a conference on reading strategies. I really like it and plan to make copies of it for my students to use as a quick reference for when the are told to use a critical reading strategy.

In the front of the binder I put a pencil bag filled with a few pens, pencils, markers, highlighters, eraser, whiteout, etc. This way I'll have everything I need when I got meetings or conferences.

Then, the very first thing I have in my binder is a sheet I made with my school's bell schedule(s) for next year (we are trying a new schedule and M/F, W, Tu/Th are all different schedules!). I also put my class schedule for A days and B days on this page so I don't forget what's next.

On the back of my schedule page I have my district's calendar of important dates such as PD days, holidays, parent-teacher conferences, etc. This way I always have it on hand because we inevitably need to know these dates at meetings and nobody seems to be 100% sure of them.

The next thing I have in the binder before the tabs still is a calendar I can write on to plan my units, lessons, tests, and quizzes. It's blank right now because I was waiting for my school's BeyondTextbooks curriculum map to come out.

Currently my first tab is filled only with sheet protectors since it's the middle of summer and I don't know who my students will be come fall. It is for seating charts and class lists. I keep these things sheet protectors so that I can quickly (in about 5 seconds) scan the room and mark if a seat is empty and thus the student absent. I train my students to know if they are not in their seat when I take attendance, they will be marked absent (I had a few students during my student teaching try to switch seats so there was still someone in their chair, but I caught on quick and took an extra second to check the faces in those seats). I can then later plug in the attendance to whatever program my school uses later when I get a chance.

This is where the similarities between what I've seen on Pinterest and my binder end. I don't find it reasonable to have special notes about every student or things like that with close to 200 students, so I don't do it.

I teach three classes, two of which are more or less the same content, just at different levels. I also teach Advanced Placement Chemistry. I found last year that I would get a lot of reference materials for this class, put them in a folder, and then forget what I did with it. So for this year, I created a tab in my binder for these things and titled it AP CHEM References. I keep things like information on the AP Course Audit, my annotated copy of the AP objectives (I had to do my own critical reading exercise to understand most of these!), AP calculator policies, extra copies of different AP style PES graphs because these are nearly impossible to find online, the how to get student scores information, the science practices, and notes on the labs I plan to do this year. Basically everything I needed to complete the audit, inform my students about the exam and track my last year's students' progress.

I then did the same thing for my general chemistry course, but much less intense. Here I put my list of academic vocabulary words that I will use as a part of my daily warm-ups to help my students build their vocabulary (something I found to be lacking in many students last year and caused a bit of a headache when I put "big words" in my instructions). I also put a copy of my polyatomic ion chart and flip book here and a few example problems for empirical and molecular formula problems (if I try to make these up off the top of my head I always end up with crazy ridiculous molecules).

Then I put in some of the lessons I tried last year with reflections written on them. This way I can refer to them quickly to see if I would do it again and if so, what changes would I make, if any.

The last tab I have is for my own notes. Here I keep notes I've written from meetings and extra paper. I also have a copy of Flinn's Suggested Storage System and a map I made after I organized my chemical store room. I also have a collection of student exemplars in here. The final thing I keep here is the organization system I have for my lab drawers.

 This is my binder. Feel free to take any of these ideas and make them work for you!

Advice for New Teachers

So obviously blogging during my first year of teaching. I may not have taken the time to record what I learned while I learned it, but I definitely walked away with a lot of useful knowledge. As I'm sure those new teacher reading this (I like to think some day, someone will find this useful) already know, most of what you gain in your first year teaching can't be read, it has to be experienced. However, there are some things that you can learn from reading and listening to the opinions of others.

Here is my biggest piece of advice: learn to say NO! And I'm not just talking about to the students either. I definitely took on too much during my first year because I couldn't say "no" to just about anyone.



I joined my school's AVID site team (see previous post about AVID) the summer before I even started working and I went to nearly every meeting (I missed a few due to other things I put on my plate). AVID site team was definitely a good thing to say "Yes" to and I'd do it again in a heartbeat, I learned a lot, made friends with some of the more experienced teachers at my school (in this town that is a big deal because usually they don't talk to you until you've stuck around for at least 3 years), and it made me look good to my boss. I taught AP Chemistry my first year, most schools won't even think about letting someone teach AP in their firs three years, mine assigned it to me my first year! This was a huge undertaking, especially because I had to propose a new textbook and take on things like presenting at our school's college readiness night to explain why students should take AP courses. Don't get me wrong, I loved the vote of confidence and I would not want to give up teaching this class, I just would have liked a few years of experience under my belt before taking on such a large task. The next thing I did was sponsor my school's drama club (I've never been involved in drama before or really had friends in the drama club so I had no idea what I was getting myself into). I had two students ask me if I would sponsor the club for them, they told me 'oh yea, you'll get a stipend and all you need to do is sit there while we run everything for you' HA! How naive was I!? I ended up having to spend a majority of my evenings (the only time I would have gotten to spend with my boyfriend) and a fair number of weekends working with the drama club. I had to find people who knew what they were doing to work with the students to make our productions even semi-decent. It was a drain on my time, relationship, and mental health. Not something I would take on lightly. Now you'd think that giving up three of my days each week would be enough, but no...apparently I like to torture myself, and also, I can't sit idle while something is going wrong. In this case, I'm talking about the poor communication between our department chair and everyone else. For some reason what he thinks he hears/says is very different from what the rest of the department thinks we hear/say (oddly enough, the rest of us usually agree). He also had WAAY too much on his plate (far worse than me). So during basketball season, which is also right around the time of trying to get another drama performance set, he asked me to basically do his job for around 2.5 months. Of course, being me and not wanting things to remain undone, I said "yes" again. Oh, and let's not forget the student council constantly asking me to chaperon this or chaperon that; that is where I finally drew the line and said "no". Which of course upset the older teachers who felt I "wasn't paying my dues". Yea, right, I'd like to have seen them take on as much in their very first year teaching!

I took on all this stuff while also dealing with the normal challenges of being a first year teacher like figuring out how my school works, what classroom management techniques work for me, trying to develop lesson plans, figuring out how things should look for my MTE (measuring teacher effectiveness score) and trying to adjust to living in a new town where the only person I really knew was my boyfriend who moved with me!

So in case you weren't listening, let me say it again. Learn to say no. I would recommend that you not take on more than one extra thing in your first year and do some chaperoning. I read somewhere something that I wish I had seen sooner which is that people will appreciate it more if you say no to a request than over-commit yourself and not follow through on the things you say you'll do. And after my experience with a department chair who did just that, I would say it is definitely better to say no than to fall through on your commitments.