Teaching
My first real teaching experience was in college, when I was an assistant in an introductory neuroscience class. The professor for the class was pregnant and when she had to leave halfway through the semester, the other TA and I eagerly stepped up to the plate, teaching lessons and running labs, sticking electrodes on our students’ heads and showing them how to dissect sheep brains.
Since then, I’ve taught primarily with the Summer Institute for the Gifted and now with Parts and Crafts. I also do some tutoring now and then.
Pretty much every class I’ve taught has required me making my own curriculum from scratch, and I’ve come up with a lot of activities and projects which I’m quite proud of. I’m sharing some of these here, in the hope that other teachers will find something to use in their classes.
(You can also read my blog entries about teaching here.)
| creative writing | 7 and up, depending on language skills | Make a ‘choose your own adventure’ story. | instructions & guide |
| science, general math | 5 to 10 | An introductory lesson about the ocean. |
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| english | 10 and up, depending on language skills | Use your vocabulary (and creativity!) to make a special kind of pun: the Tom Swifty. | Student Worksheet (Examples for worksheet taken from Fun With Words.) |
| economics, psychology | 10 and up | Introduce students to behavioral economics by having them play economic games to win candy. | Teacher’s Guide |
| law | 8-14 | I wrote these short mock trial cases to help students practice witness examinations and making objections. | Cases Objections Handout Notes for Instructors |
| english | 8 and up, depending on language skills | Explore roots and prefixes by making paper clip word chains. | Teacher’s Guide |
| science (biology, astronomy) | 8-12 | A series of short, fun lessons on topics related to astrobiology (the search for life in outer space). | Mars Rover Candy Evolution |
| english | 8 and up | A list of “eponyms” – words named after historical or mythological people. | Eponyms |
