E18 - Jen Brazier - Sparking Interests and Chemistry

 

All imagery is courtesy of Jen Brazier

Jen Brazier

Chemistry teacher Jen Brazier

I have been a chemistry teacher for over 15 years.  My first year teaching, the AP chemistry program consisted of only about 30 students. Within several years, the program blossomed and AP Chemistry enrollment was over 100 students.  By the time I left the district, I had established a dual-credit agreement with Portland State University and had approximately 120 high school students per year receiving 15-college credits (200-level Chemistry) for their work.  It was such a huge success.  I also established year-long Organic Chemistry classes at both district high schools.  

But throughout my career, I faced an issue that all teachers face - what to do for students who needed extra help?   I was spending every free moment before school, after school and at lunch sitting one-on-one with kids who were absent or just needed extra support.  My time did not scale with student needs.  So I started looking for ways that students could access my lessons at home.  I tried building on so many different platforms and somewhere along the way I became kind of addicted to making, building and creating.  It was so fun.  I am not an artist by any means, but the process of building each page and integrating the content with the feel, look and flow of each page is infinitely satisfying.  I guess there is a need within all of us to create.

Hi Jen - I'm excited to sit down with you and learn more about your new project. I've thought forever that science and creativity is often overlooked. Let's jump in.

What do you love about science and teaching science/chemistry?

Hands down, the students are what I love the most about teaching chemistry!  Developing deep relationships and watching my students as they grow in confidence and knowledge is incredibly rewarding.  So many times, students enter my class with feelings of inadequacy, saying things like “I am not good at science.”  But really, they just have not had science presented in a way that makes sense to them.  

Again, creativity plays a role.  As a teacher you have to be able to find the way to connect the student to the material.  Some students might need to see you jump off desks throwing colored sheets of felt in order to understand how different frequencies of light are emitted by electron transitions.  Other students are highly visual and need visual problem solving techniques.

For example, in my class I present an alternative and highly visual method of solving stoichiometry problems which are traditionally taught as a long string of conversions.  We call this technique “The Mole Hole”.  It involves creating this visual map of the problem solving process and is almost universally successful. 

The creativity that you use to guide students in their learning is only limited by the scope of your imagination (and budget!).

How do you evaluate your work?

I am definitely critical of my own work.  I am constantly revising and refilming.  Every time I look at my work, I see room for improvement.  But honestly, being able to constantly improve is what keeps the work exciting.

The feedback I value the most though, is from my students.  When they tell me how useful they found my website and how it helped them ace their exam, I feel validated.  I am humbly honored when I reconnect with former students and they tell me that my class set them on their career paths (research scientists, pharmacologists, forensics scientists, doctors).  Those conversations bring a purpose and meaning to my life which is irreplaceable. 

Where is your primary work area?

My husband, Mark has definitely become an equal and valued partner in this endeavor and we have taken over the house together.  We set up a green screen and filming studio in our office so that I can make my video recordings.  The rest of the work gets done on our personal computers throughout the house.  

What clues or questions do you use to select an idea to invest time and resources?

The ordering in chemistry is pretty logical.  However, for my website, I started with the subjects that students tended to struggle with the most.  These were also the ones that I felt I had the most to add to.

About your work: what do you hope people notice the most?

Most importantly, I hope they find the website useful.  I want my lessons to help struggling students find success.  Secondarily, I want the students to enjoy being on the site. I want it to be an easy to use, calming and pleasing platform to learn chemistry. 

What is your favorite guilty pleasure?

I have quite a few.  I love anything coffee or coffee-flavored.  Sometimes I need to remind myself that my body is not an urn meant for storing coffee!  I also love silly, medical television dramas like “House” and “Grey’s Anatomy”.  My dad (an amazing nurse) is rolling his eyes as we speak.

"My success lies within the success of my students."
-J. Brazier

How do you define success as a creative -scientist -teacher? How do you hold yourself accountable?

My success lies within the success of my students.  When my students are not successful, I always feel that I need to do better.  When my students achieve great accomplishments, I celebrate with them and then want to know how to reach even more students.

When do you discuss things with your inner critic?

All the time.  Each video and everything I present.  During each class, I constantly ask if I am reaching everyone.  On each webpage, I judge not only the content, but also how it looks on the page, how I appear on the video and how my voice sounds.  There is a lot to critique.

Who are your creative influences, and whose work are you admiring now?

Ivy Newport is an artist (https://ivynewport.com/) who has beautifully integrated her art with an online presence.  She and her husband created a thriving online business selling not only art products but classes, meditations, journals and more.  They have made their dream and passion into a career and are truly inspirational.

 

As a chemistry instructor, I admire the teaching of Tyler De Witt.  He hosts a youtube channel and does such a great job explaining chemistry so that everyone can understand.  I also love Nile Red’s youtube site (https://www.youtube.com/@NileRed).  He has an incredible way of getting everyone interested in Chemistry….  And he is incredibly bright, brave and entertaining to watch!  He does experiments such as synthesizing grape soda out of plastic gloves and then drinks it! 

How can people follow you and your work?

People can go to evolvescience.org  to see the work we have done.

What would you like people to know that I haven't asked?

I have so many visions for the future.  Besides more content, I would like to host live classes to help students with topics they are struggling with.  It would be fun to form study groups on the site who work together towards goals, like passing the AP exam or some other entrance exam.

I also would love to host interviews with people who use science in their careers.  Young students in high school and early college often have limited ideas of how science degrees can be used and don’t know who to ask.  Hearing from diverse people who work in scientific fields might make science more relatable, spark interest and could define a student’s future career path.

Thank you for spending some time with me/us, Jen. We believe in the work you're doing. Please come back whenever you have something to share with the ChC audience!

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Jen and Mark Brazier