A random picture just cause I feel long posts require pictures.

Today, was my last PLUS session with the Chem 161 students. There were 6 of them today. Their final is on Friday, following the 4th of July holiday. I was happy to see them. I was also sad at the end when I realized I wouldn’t see them anymore. Maybe I’ll see one or two of them around on campus next fall, but I won’t get to see them on a weekly basis anymore. I wished them luck on the final. They had a hard semester from what I can tell.

Today, I went over their lab which included Lewis dot, drawing 3D molecules / electron and molecular geometry, hybridization, determining polarity / non polarity, and bond angles. I really wish I’d remembered to show them how to draw resonance structures, negatively charged molecules, and just a more complex Lewis dot than what was on their lab. But, I got side-tracked and sort of went with the lab since that’s what they were working on.

I shoulda done O3 or NO2- or something. Darnit. I didn’t show formal charges since their instructor didn’t cover it with the class today, and this was their final lecture. I sat in on the final class to see where they were at before this last session.

I wrote them a process for determining how to draw Lewis dot that I found in another text book, which I thought was an easy way to explain drawing them. I wrote it on the board and a lot of them took pics of it. I showed them how I count how many things are hanging off the central atom to do hybridization… I hope it was helpful to them!

I loved the opportunity I had this summer to help the class with their problem-solving. I can only hope it benefited those who came and made some kind of difference. I feel like I learned a lot, and definitely feel more confident about my major and goal to become an instructor of Chemistry one day. :)

I probably won’t be on campus much for the rest of the summer. I will be at KCC taking Math during summer session II, and working at B&N, but my heart loves LCC. I’ll miss it while I’m away. Hopefully I see some of the students on campus in the fall. They were so nice and I’d be excited to hear how they did overall.

I have to thank the students who came. They really were nice to me. They also were motivated to learn, and tried their best. It’s always nice to see people working hard. I admire them for taking Chemistry in the summer, and wish them all the best in their studies and future goals. I think I’ll always remember them since they’re the first students I ever had an experience like this with. And I liked seeing them discuss problems and try to figure stuff out. I feel lucky to have had this opportunity. I can see immediately how I could have improved sessions as soon as I start walking away from the building. I hope to improve with time. I hope they think I did a good job. That’s the most important part– that it was useful to them.