We know that teachers are the experts when it comes to what works in their classrooms. That’s why we started AdoptAClassroom.org’s Teacher Leader Program.
Our Teacher Leader program helps exceptional teachers share their classroom-tested student activity plans with other educators all across the United States. Learn more about AdoptAClassroom.org’s Teacher Leaders.
We recently sat down with Teacher Leader Abbie Durr (bio here) to talk about why she thinks it’s important for teachers to share resources and the supplies she bought to keep her eighth-grade students engaged and excited in class. Spoiler alert–Her answer mentions fire and explosions!
Read Abbie’s Q&A below and then register or log in to check out our FREE Teacher Leader Resource library. Watch our video guide for accessing Teacher Leader resources on our YouTube channel.
Abbie Durr Q&A
Q: What is your name? What do you teach and how long have you been a teacher?
My name is Abbie Durr. I teach eighth-grade science in Missouri and am finishing my 23rd year teaching.
Q: On average, how much do you spend on school supplies each year out of your own pocket? What types of things do you usually purchase?
$700. I purchase basics like pencils, notebooks, pens, markers, supplies for science labs, prizes, and food.
Q: Why do you purchase supplies for your students and your classroom?
I want everyone in my class to have an equal opportunity to learn. If some students have supplies and others don’t, I can’t give my students an equitable learning experience. I also like to do a lot of fun labs in my classroom, and it’s worth it to me to do the hands-on activities, so I purchase supplies to do those throughout the year.
Q: What made you want to apply to apply for the Teacher Leader program and grant?
I don’t have the supplies for all of the labs I would like to do. One of the activities I love to do is building molecules using ball and stick model kits. I only had 6 of the kits, so my students were in fairly large groups and couldn’t all participate due to lack of supplies. I received an email about the Teacher Leader grant and I had a great lesson plan using the molecule kits, so I decided to submit that lesson plan to try to earn the grant and obtain more of the molecule kits.
Q: Can you tell us about the resource that you developed and how you use it in your classroom?
I do an activity in my classroom that helps my students understand the difference between elements, molecules, compounds, and mixtures. We start off by holding up elements and building some diatomic models of elements using the molecule kit. After each element/compound/molecule we build, we discuss how it should look, and draw a picture of it in our science notebook.
We work our way up to more complex molecules, and the students continue to build them using the model kits. It’s a great visual for the difference between elements, molecules, compounds, and mixtures.
Q: What was the inspiration behind the activity?
I had an amazing mentor teacher! She used to do something similar but used toothpicks and colored marshmallows for the different elements. I loved her lesson and how it helped the students understand the different concepts, but using a molecule model kit helps the students gain a better understanding of the material, and increases motivation.
Q: Can you tell us about how your students have responded to the activity or to some of the tips you mentioned?
My students love the activity. I give them instructions on what they need to be creating. They build it and hold it up, and then we discuss what it should look like and draw a picture of it in our notebook.
They love building the models and trying not to get fooled by some of the trickier tasks. At the end, I tell them to build more complex molecules, and there was a challenge to see who could create a model of a glucose molecule. That molecule is tough to make, and the students enjoy the challenge.
Q: How does your Teacher Leader activity help bring STEM to life in schools?
I was able to use the grant to buy the molecule kits I proposed, but I had money left over to buy many more lab supplies. I was able to order quite a few chemicals to make things like elephant toothpaste, hydrogen balloons, and to make some explosive demos. A lot of my demos involve explosions or fire, so my students are extremely engaged and develop an interest in science. I was also able to buy a color printer to use for our science fair projects. This was very helpful for printing the papers, graphs, and pictures. We also bought some other STEM lab supplies for units on waves and heat transfer.
I love teaching chemistry, so being able to get funding for a lot of our hands-on labs and activities was exciting. My students better understood the material after doing the labs. It also increased engagement and I could tell the students were having fun while learning.
Q: The Teacher Leader Resource Library provides free resources to educators from educators who are working in classrooms right now. Why is it important for teachers to share resources?
The goal for all teachers is to teach their students how to master the material. It’s hard and time-consuming to try to create resources for every lesson from scratch. If there are great resources already out there, then teachers can share them to help obtain their goal of mastering the concepts. Most of my best lessons came from my mentor. I have been using her best labs, or adapting them to make them my own, for years. If there is something great out there, why not use it?
Q: How has AdoptAClassroom.org helped you or your students?
Giving my school the resources to do all of our labs has helped tremendously! Physical Science has so many cool labs that go along with our concepts, but our science budget doesn’t allow us to do all of the great labs. Using the grant to buy chemicals, technology, and other lab supplies has allowed me to add 7 labs to our curriculum. My students are more engaged while learning, and also learn the material better when doing hands-on activities. It’s made teaching more fun for me. I get more giddy than the kids on lab days. I love sharing my passion for science with my students. Being able to incorporate many labs into instruction is exciting for me, and my students pick up on the excitement and get excited about the material also. Thank you for allowing me to teach science the way it’s meant to be taught, not out of a textbook.