Making of an expert

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When I started teaching chemistry there were a lot of things I needed to re-learn. I had learned them in college but chemistry in a lab is far, far different from textbook chemistry. So when I left the lab and went into teaching, I had to re-learn a lot of the textbook stuff. Then, as the years progressed, I picked up more and more and understood more and more. Now I'm pretty good at chemistry though I still don't consider myself an expert - there is just too much to know. But I'm pretty good at most of the topics. And, since I've never been beholden to any set standards, I teach what I want when I want and make my own tests.

When I started teaching AP Chem there were a lot more topics I needed to learn/re-learn. And I did. I know understand Electrochem and thermochem and kinetics and equilibrium like I never did before. But, I don't know the standards for the AP test. At least not as well as I should. I picked up a really good curriculum and have just been following that for the last 4 years. I know the topics, but I don't know the test as well as I should.

When I started teaching AP Bio this year, I kind of just started. I took the AP Institute and I learned a lot there but face it, I hadn't done biology in 17 years and I was rusty. So, did I spend time brushing up on it and getting better? Not really. I found a curriculum that I liked and just went with it. The curriculum is old, 2008, and I just dropped things that others said were not on the test any longer. I would literally be giving the lectures and things would be coming back to me and I would be like "oh yeah, so this is what happens here" Not a good way to teach. Plus, I wouldn't prep until the night/day before class. Definitely not a good way to teach.

So my game plan this summer is not only to get my classes completely organized but to also become the avowed expert at both APs. I am going to do that by getting a copy of the essential knowledge and learning objectives for each big idea. I am then going to go through them and put them in the units I think they go with. Then I will create reading guides for each book and make sure that the essential knowledge and learning objectives are covered that belong to that chapter/unit. Before any of this, I will need to create a curriculum map and have the units all laid out. This will be a long process, but in the end, I will know both curriculums inside out and backward and I think that is what I need to be the expert.

For chemistry, I'm going to do something similar in that I will lay out a set curriculum and a set plan to follow every year.  I'm going to need to decide what are the most important topics to cover and then focus on those. Every year I jump around all over the place with what I cover when. So time to get really serious and decide what needs to be covered and what I can throw out and then build my curriculum around that.

In my efforts to not do anything this summer, I am certainly making more and more work for myself.


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