Chandler Smoak
Chandler Smoak is an 11th grade Chemistry teacher at West Roxbury Academy in Boston, Massachusetts. Last year, she participated in the RET program, mainly learning about real-world laboratory experience and participating in research while there. This year, she has spent her summer developing new curriculum for her students, focusing on redesigning lesson plans to include more engineering practices.
Chandler is passionate about passing on engineering skills to the younger generations. She sees a need for creative problem-solving and hopes to inspire young students to consider concentrating on mathematics and sciences as they approach college. She especially wants to inspire young women.
After this summer, Chandler will be bringing her redesigned lessons to the classroom, where her students will participate in hands-on activities to further explore properties of matter (density, mass, volume, etc.) She wants to take chances and push the boundaries of traditional education. She figures that if her style of teaching is more engaging, the students will be more involved in their own learning experience.
To future RET participants, Chandler recommends being patient at first and surrendering control to the process. “As a teacher, it feels natural to be the leader; but here, you become the students again. Enjoy that. Remember what it feels like to learn.”
