Ep. 11 – Inside the Lab: Matter & Change 

In this episode of The Confident Chemistry Teacher Podcast, I’m kicking off a new series: Inside the Lab. Today, I’m taking you inside my Matter & Change Lab—an 8-station activity that gives students confidence, reinforces key vocabulary, and sets safety expectations early in the year.

I’ll highlight my 4 favorite stations and share teacher hacks that make setup, timing, and safety a whole lot smoother.

Key Takeaways

Activities / Stations Featured

Standards Connections

🎁 Free Resource Grab the Lab Day Starter Kit – includes a checklist, lab station joke cards, a sign-up sheet, and editable Google Slides to make your labs run smoother from start to finish.

👉 https://learn.chemschemistryclassroom.com/lab-day-starter-kit

🧪 Paid Resource

The Confident Chem Lab Membership launches this October! Each month includes a ready-to-run lab with student handouts, teacher guides, quizzes, and setup videos—plus PD and Q&A support.

Keep an ear out for more details!

Next Episode Teaser

Next time, I’ll be sharing how I used the Lab Day Starter Kit to help make what seems like a simple and boring lab into a meaningful learning experience for my students and how it helped me prepare and organize for a great lab day.

AI is everywhere right now, but what does it really look like in a high school classroom?

In this episode of the Confident Chemistry Teacher Podcast, I’m sharing 3 practical ways I use ChatGPT to save time, reduce stress, and support student learning — including one that completely surprised me.

Here’s what you’ll hear:

Whether you’ve been curious about AI or you’re already experimenting with it, these teacher-tested tips will give you simple entry points you can try right away.

✨ Links & Resources:

In this episode of The Confident Chemistry Teacher Podcast, I’m taking you inside the Matter & Change unit—one of the most important foundations for the rest of the year. This unit helps students:

I also share how I structure this unit in my own classroom, when I like to teach it in the sequence (sometimes 2nd, sometimes 3rd), and why it’s so valuable for setting expectations and giving students an early win.

Activities Featured in This Episode

Standards Connections: 

Science & Engineering Practices:

Crosscutting Concepts:

🎁 Free Resource:

Scientific Math Starter Kit – includes a sig fig poster, slides, and activities to boost your math unit.

T-Chart Slides: Grab the activity I use to help students develop Chemistry vocabulary on their own.

🧪 Paid Resource:

Scientific Measurement Bundle on TPT – editable slides, fill-in notes, quiz-quiz-trade cards, a sig fig cheat sheet, and 3 teacher-created videos. 🎁 Free T-Chart Slides: Grab the activity I use to help students develop Chemistry vocabulary on their own. Next time,

I’ll be sharing the ways ChatGPT has made my teaching life easier—from lesson planning to lab prep. Don’t miss it!

In this episode of The Confident Chemistry Teacher Podcast, I’m sharing three powerful lab shifts that helped my students learn more deeply from hands-on activities—and stopped them from just “going through the motions.”

From rethinking your lab timeline to using quizzes and videos strategically, these small changes make a big impact on engagement and retention.

You'll hear: Why I no longer squeeze labs into one class period, How lab quizzes improve accountability, What kinds of videos I create for better student prep and review. 

Plus, I share how these strategies connect to my upcoming Confident Chemistry Lab Membership launching in October! 👉 Want to share your favorite lab shifts? DM me on Instagram @chemschemistryclassroom or send me an email—I'd love to feature your ideas!

Freebies
Confident Chemistry Teacher Systems Checklist

Year-at-Glance Planner

Lab Station Laugh Cards

Scientific Math Starter Kit...I should have called this one the make your Scientific Math Unit Cooler Kit

Lab Reflection Sheet

Today we’re hitting pause on the lab shifts and diving into something timely — your very first day with students. If you’ve ever dreaded starting the year with a dry syllabus read-through or found yourself doing all the talking, this episode is for you.

I walk you through my Models in Science lesson — an interactive, movement-based activity that gets students collaborating, thinking scientifically, and laughing together. We’ll talk about how this lesson sets expectations, introduces scientific modeling (a major NGSS practice), and builds class community from the moment they walk through the door. This has been my go-to first-day lesson in Chemistry for over seven years, and I’m breaking it all down for you. 🧪

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

My TPT Store Chem's Chemistry Classroom

Free Year-at-a-Glance Planner

Free Lab Station Laugh Cards

Scientific Math Kit

🎙️ Episode 6: Inside the Unit – Scientific Math How I Use Sig Figs, Density, and Real-World Connections to Build Chemistry Confidence

Show Notes:

In this episode, I break down my Scientific Math unit—a standalone unit designed to give students the foundational math skills they need to succeed in Chemistry. I’ll walk you through: Why I teach Scientific Math as a standalone unit, how I tackle topics like sig figs, scientific notation, and density My favorite labs, demos, and student engagement strategies Why this unit helps calm chaos before we even hit stoichiometry What to do when students "should already know" but... don’t 👀

Whether you're looking to tighten up your pacing or add more real-world hooks (hello, ocean currents and NGSS), you’ll find lots of actionable ideas you can try right away.

🎁 Freebie Alert: Get the Scientific Math Starter Kit! I’ve bundled up some of my favorite resources for this unit so you don’t have to start from scratch. 👇 Grab the Scientific Math Starter Kit – it includes:

✅ Sig Fig Rules Poster

✅ Quiz-Quiz-Trade game cards for significant figures

✅ A mini Google Slides lesson on ocean currents + density

✅ A printable sig fig and density worksheet 

🔗 Click here to grab the kit (email opt-in)

How Student Jobs Can Empower Your Students and Streamline Your Day

Show Notes:

Student jobs aren’t just for elementary school — they’re a game-changer in high school Chemistry too!

In this episode, I share how assigning classroom roles has helped me manage chaos, build community, and empower students in meaningful ways.

From emergency roles to door monitors and celebration managers, I walk you through: Why student jobs work (even with high schoolers!) The 11 jobs I use in my classroom (and why) Tips for introducing and rotating jobs throughout the year How classroom jobs can support lab safety, routines, and classroom management Whether you want to build leadership, reinforce your routines, or just need help passing out papers, this episode gives you everything you need to get started.

🧪 Free Downloads Mentioned:

Editable Classroom Job Chart

Student Job Application

Confident Chemistry Year-at-a-Glance Planner

Lab Station Laugh Cards

🎧 Prefer to read instead? Check out the blog post for this episode for a summary and links to everything mentioned.

🎧 Episode 4 – Inside the Unit: Lab Safety & First Lab Day

How I Teach Procedures, Set Safety Norms, and Start Labs with Confidence

Show Notes:

Labs are where the magic happens in Chemistry — but only when students understand the importance of safety, expectations, and responsibility. In this episode of The Confident Chemistry Teacher Podcast, I'm walking you through exactly how I set the tone for a safe, engaging, and well-run lab experience from the very beginning of the school year. Whether you're a first-year teacher or a seasoned pro looking to streamline your systems, you'll walk away with concrete ideas you can implement right away.

We’ll cover:

✅ My Top 10 Lab Safety Rules (and where to get the poster!)

🧪 Why I always start the year with the Flinn Safety Contract 

👩‍🔬  3 classroom jobs that directly support lab safety

🔍 How I use the Safety First POGIL to build routines and introduce group roles

🧰 A hands-on lab equipment intro activity students actually enjoy

🔄 Lab safety routines that stick all year long

🟠 Why the Penny Lab is my favorite first lab — and how it ties into your entire year

💡 BONUS: My plan to add student lab reflections this year (and how they can help AP Chem kids prep for the exam)

Whether you’re planning your first lab or your fifteenth year of lab safety, this episode will help you build systems that support both curiosity and caution — all year long.

📝 Links & Resources Mentioned:

Top 10 Lab Safety Rules Printable Poster https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xsFwjMrN0VINNWQb0n_QKFpfT5CAXEdlcEoqXf8q1F0/copy

Flinn Scientific Safety Contract https://www.flinnsci.com/api/library/download/80efae9513b548d6999c31d38ac36abe?srsltid=AfmBOoqbmoiYpTUvcCdR5KsHSWQj8xGvL88Q4DygI-TR5tS5pnqBC6kF

Student Lab Reflection Sheet https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Veof8ZT_W8_2Yh0HLNq0UV8dGR_6Fs6iMjHGRJsDu7M/copy

🎧 Episode 3 – How I Plan My Year as a Chemistry Teacher- Flexible Framework for Mapping Out a Meaningful School Year

Show Notes:

Does planning the school year feel overwhelming? Or maybe you're a planner at heart but want to streamline the process? Either way, this episode is packed with real-world strategies to help Chemistry teachers create a year-long plan that works — even with labs, assemblies, testing days, and surprise pumpkin explosions. 🎃

In this episode of The Confident Chemistry Teacher Podcast, I’m breaking down exactly how I plan my school year — from gathering key calendars to mapping out units, labs, and celebrations. You’ll hear how I balance academic standards with real-life teaching challenges like ordering supplies, sharing lab space, and adjusting for “No School November.”

You’ll learn: 📅 Why I always start with district, school, and celebration calendars (yes, even holidays like Mole Day and Pi Day!) 🧪 How I block out realistic time for labs — including set-up, clean-up, and reflection 🧠 Why reading standards in your own words helps with long-term pacing 🧻 The real reason I start on paper but move everything to a digital Google Sheet planner ⏳ Why leaving a “buffer week” might be the smartest planning tip you’ll hear all year 💡 BONUS: Ideas for fun science holidays and how to work them into your curriculum without falling behind

Whether you're a first-year teacher or fine-tuning your 15th year, this episode will help you create a roadmap that works for you — with margin for the unexpected and space for the fun.

🧰 Mentioned in This Episode:

✅ Free Digital Chemistry Year-at-a-Glance Planner

🎥 Related Instagram Reel: How I Plan My Year

In this episode of The Confident Chemistry Teacher Podcast, we’re kicking off a new series called Inside the Unit — and we're starting with how I teach the Nature of Science and Introduction to Chemistry in the first two weeks of school. I’ll walk you through my exact game plan for this foundational unit, from setting classroom expectations to reviewing variables, lab procedures, graphing, and even the difference between qualitative and quantitative observations. You'll hear how I integrate interactive notebooks, POGL activities, and even lab safety without overwhelming students — plus why I save the heavy math for later. I’ll also share two of my go-to labs (penny lab + melting ice lab), how I use modeling on Day 1, and why these two weeks are so important for setting the tone for the rest of the year. Whether you're a first-year teacher or a seasoned pro, this episode is packed with strategies to help your students feel successful from the start. 🎧 Mentioned in this episode: • Lab Station Laugh Cards – Download your free set in the show notes • My favorite POGL Chemistry resource • How I teach lab safety and equipment expectations