Colt Lancaster is a chemistry teacher currently teaching at Copper Canyon High School. Aztec Media staffer Joel Haro sat down for an interview to answer some questions about his teachings, chemistry, and a few ones about his interests.
Q: When did you realize you wanted to become a chemistry teacher?
A: I have always known that I wanted to teach. I had a really great and motivational chemistry teacher in high school which made me want to teach as well.
Q: Did you have any other plans before being a teacher?
A: Originally I wanted to work in a lab for around 10 to 15 years and teach after when I’m older and have more experience. What happened was that in college I worked in a lab for a long time during the pandemic and realized I didn’t enjoy staying in a lab all the time, so after I graduated college I went to become a chemistry teacher instead of being in a lab.
Q: What are some of the most interesting things that you have seen as a teacher?
A: The most interesting thing that I have seen is the difference between students and their personalities. It’s interesting to see both how they act in my class and how they act in front of their parents like at parent night.
Q: What are some things that you have planned for this class? Like any cool labs or activities?
A:I am still working through them. Science has got a new curriculum this year, so to a degree we have to do certain required labs and activities. There are labs that I hope to do one day are mainly fun reaction based ones. I want the students to be able to see the cool things in chemistry.
Q: What is the process of developing assignments and lessons for you?
A: So this is cool actually, me and the other chemistry teachers work as a team to find a topic to focus on, what we want the students to learn, and how we will make our lessons around that. We usually meet once or twice a week to come up with those ideas.
Q: What are some of the things you did in your chemistry class?
A: I really like learning hands on and one of my favorite things to do was reactions and see how certain things affect each other. I like being able to attach certain concepts to reactions.
Q: Did you enjoy your chemistry class?
A: I didn’t necessarily enjoy chemistry in high school that much. I started to enjoy chemistry in college because of that hands-on learning, experiments, and some of the other cool and more interesting stuff that we did there.
Q: What is your favorite element?
A: I really like elements like xenon, neon, argon, krypton, and tungsten because of the uniqueness in their names and chemical symbols. I don’t really have a favorite element though.
Q: What is something that you would like to see in the distant future in terms of teaching chemistry?
A: I’ve never really thought of that. I guess I would like to see the students be able to do more and see more. I want the students to be able to visualize and be more hands-on with experiments and concepts which can better help their understanding of a concept.
Q: What is your philosophy with teaching students?
A: There are no stupid students, there are only students who learn in different ways. There shouldn’t be any single style of teaching that will work in every scenario with every student. Students that best learn hands on should be taught using a hands on teaching style and it’s the same with if a student learns best through linear assignments. As a teacher, it is best to be flexible with how you teach to make sure that every student is getting the most out of your class.