[t-fresh]

Hello everyone!

This is my first year teaching at a private school and have been asked to teach 11th and 12th grade Chemistry.  No one else in the school is able to do it and I am extremely under-qualified.  

Nonetheless, I must teach it.  I have survived the first two days of class but I'm not sure that I will last that long.  I barely understand the basic concepts.

I have been reading through our textbook daily and also been reading the Idiot's Guide to Chemistry for extra help.  I still am in desparate need for some guidance from some real chemists.

Here's another catch:  the school can't afford to purchase any equipment or chemicals so we will not be having any labs this year.

I need someone out there to help me put together a syllabus and a general overview of the course so that I know where I'm headed with it.

If anyone knows any great books to help that would be appreciated too.

Please email or post any helps you have.  I assure you it will be greatly appreciated!

[Borek]

I hate it when someone points posters to other forums, but at this moment I believe that's the best solution.

Please try to sign up for CHEMED-L group at uwf.edu listserver (see archives at http://mailer.uwf.edu/archives/chemed-l.html) - there are many teachers there and hopefully they will be better suited to help you then most of regulars here are.

PM me if you want detailed instructions on how to sign up.

[momof4]

My suggestion is you try to find an on-line chemistry course you can use.  Since your school is requiring you to teach this, maybe you could take a class a a local community college or on line.  That way you could learn as you go.  You would also have a teacher available to answer your questions.  Perhaps a teacher at a local high school would mentor you.  The first year I taught chemistry I had very little knowledge, but I always found a helpful teacher.  Good Luck.

[GCT]

those poor, poor...poor kids

If you need help with a syllabus, I would suggest trying to find some online introduction to chemistry syllabus posted by colleges/high schools (google).  If you still need more help, pm me, I still got copies of my old general chem/principles of chemistry syllabus.  I've tutored chemistry before so perhaps I can be of assistance if you have any further specific questions.

[nestof3]

A Chemistry  Scope and Sequence can be found here (for my state, Virginia)

http://www.chem.vt.edu/chem-dept/mcl/pdf_files/chemss.pdf

I have been studying chemistry all summer to teach my 15-year old.  We are actually going to spend more than a year studying it and also do numerous labs.

A couple of things I found helpful are:

1.  Our library carries a series of 12 books titled Chemlab (Grolier Educational).  The books have incredible photos and detailed descriptions of labs which could at least drive the points of the lab home without actually using the lab equipment.  Check your library to see if they carry these.  When studying acids and bases, you could use the book "Acids, Bases and Salts" for example.  If I could not afford to do the labs, I would go this route.  

2.  If you really do not feel comfortable, I think you could benefit from The Teaching Company videos "High School Chemistry" done by Frank Cardulla.  You could even show it to your students.

http://www.teach12.com/store/course.asp?id=111&d=High+School+Level%26%238212%3BChemistry

In this course, nationally recognized teacher Frank Cardulla teaches that "chemical" reasoning is nothing more than an extension of the kind of quantitative reasoning that most of us use every day.

Once this base is firmly established, this simple, natural reasoning is then applied to most of the important problem-solving situations that face high school chemistry students, from density, to the mole, to molarity, stoichiometry, and equilibrium.

Mr. Cardulla does not teach "gimmicks" to obtain correct answers to simple problems without any real understanding, only to have them fall apart later when you encounter problems that demand understanding.

Instead, he establishes a firm foundation based on a real and deep understanding of basic concepts.

On sale right now at $79.95 for DVDs and $59.95 for videos.  Normally they sell for $200 and more.  This is a great company and all of their products go on sale at least once a year.  A workbook accompanies this.  It helps a lot with the calculations side of chemistry.

Course Lecture Titles    

   1. Introduction and Philosophy
   2. Quantitative Reasoning in Life and Chemistry (Part I)
   3. Quantitative Reasoning in Life and Chemistry (Part II)
   4. Density
   5. The SI (Metric) System of Measurement
   6. Converting between Systems of Measurement
   7. The Mole Concept: Preliminary Ideas
   8. The Mole
   9. Solving Mole Problems
  10. Avogadro's Hypothesis and Molar Volume
  11. Percent Composition and Empirical Formulas
  12. Solving Empirical Formula Problems
  13. Writing and Balancing Chemical Equations
  14. An Introduction to Stoichiometry
  15. Stoichiometry Problems
  16. Advanced Stoichiometry
  17. An Introduction to Molarity
  18. Solving Molarity Problems
  19. Additional Molarity Problems
  20. Basic Concepts of Chemical Equilibrium (Part I)
  21. Basic Concepts of Equilibrium (Part II)
  22. Interpreting an Equilibrium Constant
  23. Le Chatelier's Principle (Part I)
  24. Le Chatelier's Principle (Part II)
  25. An Introduction to Equilibrium Problems
  26. The Self-Ionization of Water
  27. Strong Acids and Bases (Part I)
  28. Strong Acids and Bases (Part II)
  29. Weak Acids and Bases

3.  On the topic of labs.  Standard equipment and chemicals can be pricey (I'm looking at $350), but there are many less expensive ways to at least show the same principles with more every day items.  While this is not the same sort of preparation that many chemistry students are receiving for college level courses, it's still better than nothing.

Look into the following books at your library:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/002-0588254-9784852

These are all of the books in the series.  You would focus on ones more directly associated with the topics you are covering in chemistry.  I really like these books because he does a great job of actually explaining the labs.

4.  Finally, I have found the following two websites to be of enormous help:

http://www.chemistrycoach.com/

http://www.cavalcadepublishing.com/

Sincerely, Dawn