I got to work with 20 terrific teachers in San Diego this past week. Teachers who are willing to give up a week of their summer to improve their teaching is always inspiring. I shared my ideas and picked up some great new ideas as well. The APSI (Advanced Placement Summer Institute) is called AP by the Sea. From the patio of this building, you can see the ocean.

After finishing the 2016 AP Reading, I think I would like to add to the bottom of this t-shirt “I’M NOT A HYDROGEN BOND”.

Over and over, I read student responses that indicated a bond with hydrogen constituted a “hydrogen bond”. Students were confusing the COVALENT bond within a molecule to the attraction between molecules caused by the very polar bond formed between H and O (or H & F or H & N). I’m going to focus on this idea this year in Screencasts.

I am now officially retired from teaching. I don’t feel any different. I still have things to get done. I have four APSI’s this summer plus an online course through UCLA Extension. I think I am a little more relaxed about it all because underlying all of the preparations and planning, I know there will be no papers to grade and no grades to assign. I’ll just be helping other teachers begin or improve their AP chemistry classes.

I visited the Grand America Hotel (WE are in the Sheraton). Wow, what a fancy bathroom it had. No paper towels, just cloth ones.

This is a wonderful place to work. There is a lot of light, the lines and patterns are interesting and the people who work here are friendly (as long as you remember to wear your badge.)