A Systematic and Scientific Approach to Parent Communication With Guest Amanda Farrar [Episode 215]

Rebecca Joyner [00:00:01]:
We are just days away from the end of the year and are celebrating over here by replaying the number one most listened to episode of 2025 secondary science simplified podcast, and it is my conversation with Amanda Farrar. Did you notice over this month that three of the top five episodes were guest interviews? Which just clearly shows me how much you all love hearing other voices on this podcast and which I personally love because one I love talking to these people and two I love being a platform or a space that can promote voices other than my own because I get sick of hearing myself talk too. So if you would like to hear your voice on the podcast, apply to be a guest in 2026, I would seriously love, love love to have you. And I have the link for how to do that in the show notes at it’s not rocket scienceclassroom.com Episode 215 now before we jump into the new year, even though you know I’m so excited about it, we have to close out this year by replaying this episode and it it’s so good, I think it might be the most practical guest episode I’ve ever done. And so let me just introduce you to Mandy or reintroduce you if you aren’t quite sure you remember her or this episode. She is a high school teacher who studied her two favorite subjects, which are chemistry and physics, at Appalachian State University and she currently teaches those subjects at the high school level. She’s a chemistry and physics teacher and also leads professional development for teachers on her parent communication process. She has a logical and systematic process which we’d expect nothing less from a chemistry and physics teacher.

Rebecca Joyner [00:01:51]:
She and it’s all about how she approaches parent communication and it’s just so simple, which I love. So in this episode she walks us through her exact process step by step and shares how effective it is in the show notes. As I mentioned at isn’t rockscienceclassroom.com episode 215 we even have pictures of example emails and correspondence that she shared with me so that I could share with you. So this is just a great system overall and I think it’s something great that you could adopt going into the new year and the new semester with your students. So without further ado, here is the number one most listened to episode of 2025 and it’s my conversation with Mandy. This is Secondary Science Simplified, a podcast for secondary science teachers who want to engage their students and simplify their lives. Hi, I’m Rebecca Joyner from It’s Not Rocket Science as a High School Science Teacher turned curriculum writer. I am passionate about helping other science teachers, love their jobs, serve their students, and do it all in only 40 hours a week.

Rebecca Joyner [00:02:58]:
Are you ready to rock the time you spend in your classroom and actually have a life outside of it? You are in the right place, teacher friend. Let’s get to today’s episode. Well, Mandy, how are you?

Mandy Farrar [00:03:12]:
I’m good. How are you?

Rebecca Joyner [00:03:14]:
Great. Welcome to the Secondary Science Simplified Podcast. I’m so excited to have you.

Mandy Farrar [00:03:18]:
Thank you. I’m excited to be here.

Rebecca Joyner [00:03:20]:
Okay, so we connected a while ago when I was reached out to my audience looking for teachers with AI advice, and I asked. I followed up with a couple teachers. You were one of them. And I was like, hey, is there anything else you feel like you rock at that you could come on the podcast and talk about? And you mentioned your methodology for parent communication, and I was super excited that you said that because I feel like what I had worked really well, but I haven’t been in the classroom full time since my oldest was born, so seven years. So I’m just really excited to hear from you and hear what has worked so well for you. So first, like, kind of what motivated you to get started with coming up with the strategy and method that you have?

Mandy Farrar [00:04:00]:
So this was a bit of a long time coming for me. And honestly, I think my motivation was a lot of failure, too. I’m not sure, like, how well this comes across now. And I guess, obviously for people that can’t see me, I’ll just go ahead and say. When I first started teaching, I was 21 years old, and I looked like I was 16. I remember having a teacher walk in and I was like, up at the board, actively teaching chemistry. And they walked in, made eye contact with me, and said, where’s your teacher? And I was like, I don’t know how much more obvious I can make it. Like, literally I am right here.

Mandy Farrar [00:04:33]:
I think part of it was parents maybe just not thinking that I had the ability to be the one in charge of the classroom. But I think part of it too, for me was just a bit of a culture shock when I was a student. And I think a lot of teachers can relate to this. On the other side of the classroom, when we were growing up, students were very much responsible for their own actions. Like, you don’t do the work. You get a zero. You don’t study for your test. Like, that’s on you.

Mandy Farrar [00:05:00]:
But now it seems a lot of that is falling to the teachers. Like, you don’t. Students don’t do the work, you can’t give them a zero. Students don’t study well. Like, well, as a teacher, you didn’t prepare them. And that was really frustrating for me because I really wanted to partner with the parents. I really wanted my students to succeed and do well. And I felt like there was just this massive disconnect between what I was trying to communicate and what was being communicated.

Mandy Farrar [00:05:28]:
So I had this amazing mentor teacher who told me, you need the parents to know everything you are doing and everything that their kid did. And that kind of really resonated with me. And so that made me start thinking through this email process much more scientifically. And I teach chemistry and physics. So a lot of what I do, besides just like, here are the concepts you need to know, is how do you approach this problem solving process? So I teach my kids, like, what are you trying to find? What are you trying to get to? Like, what do you have? What are you getting to? And then how do you get there? So for me, what was my problem? There was a massive breakdown in communication. I was not coming across the way that I really wanted to come across. And what was I wanting or what was my solution? What was I trying to get to? So I wanted the parents to know that me and them, we were on the same team. Ultimately, we both wanted their kid to leave my classroom in a year, being more mature, more educated, more growth, be a better version of themselves.

Mandy Farrar [00:06:34]:
Like, that was our, our ultimate goal as both parent and educator. We both want that for the kid. And then like, how do we get there? So that’s where I, like started breaking these down into almost like lab report style steps for myself.

Rebecca Joyner [00:06:46]:
I love it.

Mandy Farrar [00:06:47]:
That’s how I think. And so my like first thought was, I need to get the parents to see what I see. So I didn’t want to tell them, like, little Susie is being disrespectful. I wanted to say, like, little Susie did X, Y and Z and let the parents determine for themselves what was going on.

Rebecca Joyner [00:07:11]:
That’s such a smart, like. And now as a parent, because I feel like when I started teaching, I didn’t have children of my own. And so my just like, philosophy. I just didn’t know how a parent wanted to receive information until I became one. And so now as a parent, hearing you say that, that I, like, I can totally see someone said, your child is disrespectful. Like, my guard’s up and I’m like, ready to defend potentially. I mean, I hope I wouldn’t be. I’d hope I’d hear out the teacher, but that’s so much better.

Rebecca Joyner [00:07:39]:
Like, let me just give you some data and I’m going to see if you can extrapolate what we’re all thinking here. I love that.

Mandy Farrar [00:07:46]:
Here’s the data you draw. The conclusion was kind of like how my science brain is going on this. And while that was much more effective, I found that the parents that I had a better relationship with, the ones that I saw in extracurriculars or that I had like a priority relationship with, like I had their kids in homeroom or I knew them from something else, it went even further. And so I was like, okay, let’s build this up and let’s make this better. So then I started, like, my process became, I need to start building that relationship before it ever gets to the point where I have to send home this, hey, unfortunately this happened today.

Rebecca Joyner [00:08:30]:
Kind of 100%. Especially I found with like the AP classes. Like, I try to get every AP parent to come in for a face to face conference, like at the beginning of the year. Like you said before, there’s even any potential conflict or drama just because it was such a high stakes class. And I feel like the parents were so intense. I don’t know. I think that’s so wise.

Mandy Farrar [00:08:52]:
So, like, the way that I broke that down, because I like very actionable steps. I am not one of those people when we go into like professional development and they’re like, you need to make positive encouragement. You need to have a good attitude. And it’s like, that is so vague. Like, give me actionable steps. Like, what does that look like? And so mine was I need to email every single parent with a positive thing at the start of the year. And then I need to follow up when I see like a positive thing. Like as much as I can email with a good thing, build that positive relationship as much as possible.

Mandy Farrar [00:09:29]:
So when they see like my name come through on their inbox with an email, it’s not immediately like, yikes. It’s like a totally hooray. Your science teacher just emailed me. Wonder what it’s about, right? Not just immediate, like, guards up, ready to fight. And then I also found that the more that I could reward and shape the behavior that I wanted to see, the more I was able to see more of that. And, and I know this sounds like so elementary almost saying this, but I think so often, like, we’re really good about rewarding what we want to see in class. We’re like, oh, that was so great that you did your homework, or I love that you did this, or I love that you did that. And they might appreciate that at the time.

Mandy Farrar [00:10:13]:
Or maybe we only embarrass them in front of their friends being like, ugh, whatever, like, walk away. But if we send that home to their parents and then their parents over dinner are like, your science teacher emailed me and she’s so proud of you. And that changes the whole dynamic of their evening for them because of that one little thing, then that might have a huge positive impact outside of the classroom that we don’t see. Especially for the kids who are so used to getting like the negative feedback or their parents are used to getting negative feedback. That’s like, I got this positive thing. Let’s celebrate that. And then that just like changes the game for them and comes back and it’s like, you know, you can build more on that than just that little moment in your classroom. It just has a bigger repercussion.

Rebecca Joyner [00:11:00]:
It’s so true. I used to try to always email on Fridays. Like, I try to like, oh, that’s really good. I had like a list because again, data table, like spreadsheet. I was like, making sure I was tracking everybody because I never had kids come for tutoring on Friday afternoons. So I use that normal, like, I’m tutoring kids time to just send off some emails. And it was fun to come in Monday and have substitutes. Be like, Ms.

Rebecca Joyner [00:11:22]:
Joyner, I was grounded this weekend and then my mom ungrounded me because of the nice email you sent. I’m like, you’re welcome. Like, I just felt like it, like built some sweet rapport, you know?

Mandy Farrar [00:11:32]:
It does. I don’t think I’ve had something get ungrounded, but I’ve had some of that, that like, things where it’s like, I was able to get Starbucks with my mom because your email. And it’s like, yes, awesome. I love that. So those are like my three things that I started doing for myself was like, start off with the positive emails at the beginning. Continue going, reward the behavior that you want to see as, as much as you can, and then allow the parents to form their own conclusions, which. And like, like I said, I am an action driven person. So I know that when I say those three things and I’ve said these before when I have, like, been teaching other teachers about email communication, they always look at me with those big eyes like, you know how much stuff is on my plate and you just gave me three more things.

Mandy Farrar [00:12:15]:
That’s impossible. Like, I get that. So knowing how that works and how my brain works. And if this doesn’t relate to anybody else, I totally get that. But for me, that was really hard. I don’t want to send emails because sometimes it just takes a long time to like, think through that process. And I thought of it as like, I have this very high activation energy for writing emails, and I needed a catalyst to lower my activation energy for those emails. And for me, that was a formula.

Rebecca Joyner [00:12:44]:
That’S such a great visual for all my science teacher friends. I love it so much.

Mandy Farrar [00:12:48]:
I say that to English teachers and.

Rebecca Joyner [00:12:50]:
They’Re like, I don’t get it. Yeah.

Mandy Farrar [00:12:53]:
So when I had do the PowerPoints, I have like a little chart of it. And so it’s like we all get a little science lesson right here about this. So for the beginning emails at the, like, beginning of the year for those, I would say choose three students for three classes. Sorry? If you have three classes, you choose three students and then by the end of the day, that’s nine students, nine emails. Try and just knock those out. If you have a class of 30, then by two weeks you would get them all done.

Rebecca Joyner [00:13:24]:
Okay, so you’re finding a little bit of space during class and trying to do three kids during the period. Okay, got it.

Mandy Farrar [00:13:29]:
Or like at lunch, do half of them. At the end of the day, do another half of them as much as you can. But you just. And sometimes, like the kids that fly under the radar, it’s hard to find things immediately this, like, what are some, like, really great, positive things that I can send home about you? So I find if I’m focusing on like three kids in particular, and I’m going to find three good things about these three kids that I can focus on, then it makes that task just a little bit easier and breaks it down into steps rather than like, I have a class of 30 kids and I got to find three good things about every single kid. And it’s the beginning of the year. I don’t even remember all their names. And all I remember is that this one talked a lot. Like, that’s not helpful.

Mandy Farrar [00:14:13]:
So breaking it down into smaller tasks, I found for me was really helpful. And I also found like a little formula for me that was like, hey, I’m so happy to have this person in my class. I have already noticed that they are blank, blank and blank. I would typically not just list off three words, but rather like kind of three ish sentences. Really excited to see where this year goes. Looking forward to it. And then send it, send it. And it Was short.

Rebecca Joyner [00:14:41]:
They were really short.

Mandy Farrar [00:14:41]:
They’re really simple, but they went a long way. And then as I got to know them more, I could flesh that out. I also really liked starting with the kids that if I knew that they might be kids that were going to struggle, like, start with them. So I could really get that positive start fast and early. I knew they were going to struggle in chemistry, they had really low math scores, or do their struggle in physics and start that as soon as I could, just to try and start building them up as much as I could.

Rebecca Joyner [00:15:10]:
Well, two things I love about this that you just said. One is like that method of three a day. It almost holds you accountable too, to making sure you’re really getting to know all of them, like you said within those first two weeks. And like, one of my children is very much like a middle of the road student. Very compliant and obedient and respectful. Not gonna be a high achiever, but also not gonna bring a lot of attention to themselves to be a low achiever. And so it like, encourages me to think about a teacher, like, being like, no, I want to actually see this person and not them. Just cause they’re, they will very easily float along because they’re not gonna, you know, make waves.

Rebecca Joyner [00:15:48]:
So I love that intentionality there. And I also love that you’re like, this is just straight up positive. Because for me, I would see those low math scores and it would be so hard to resist the temptation of like adding a P.S. keep an eye out because the math can be hard for your student. Like, I love that you’re like, no, I’m just going to be so positive in this first one and try to get those out early like you said. If you know that, that might become your second email real quick.

Mandy Farrar [00:16:14]:
Just because I really want to start on that, like, really positive, really positive thing. And I had a student that was failing almost every single class that they were in, including pe but not chemistry. And I, I don’t have like definitive proof of this, but I truly believe it was because of like, how much like positive encouragement I kept giving him and his family. Just over and over and over again.

Rebecca Joyner [00:16:40]:
Yeah. And telling him he can do it. Like, chemistry is purely problem solving. Like, that’s what I tell everyone. We’re learning problem solving skills. Whether or not you can do stoichiometry when you’re 30, it doesn’t matter because you’re gonna learn how to like, like you said, like, have a methodology. And so I think that empowerment is so important. Same child of mine I was just talking about somewhere at school, he must have heard, like, people complaining that, like, reading is so hard.

Rebecca Joyner [00:17:03]:
I’m so bad at reading because I’m like, we have never said those words. And so now he truly is like, we approach reading. He’s like, I’m bad at it, but I’m good at math. And he just only wants to do math. And I’m like, whoa, whoa. Like, the words they hear is so important. So you, like, empower that student. Like, you can do chemistry.

Rebecca Joyner [00:17:18]:
You’re good at it, and it makes a difference. Like, I’m so, so encouraged as a parent to hear you say all that.

Mandy Farrar [00:17:24]:
It is so possible. Like, it’s hard. But I mean, I would also argue every learning process is hard. Even if it’s like sports, every, like, muscles are aching and sore afterwards because the process is hard. Like, your brain’s hurt afterwards because it is hard, but it’s good for you. And that’s how we get there. So fact that it’s hard, we don’t give up. We just gotta power through and keep going.

Mandy Farrar [00:17:46]:
And I tell my students about that, but they’re like, this is hard. I’m like, yep, it is hard, but that’s how we get there.

Rebecca Joyner [00:17:52]:
It’s so true. You don’t get stronger. Like, your muscles don’t get stronger lifting weights. And you keep lifting, like, light weights. Like, you have to get sore. And like, you said, like, push yourself. Okay, I keep interrupting you. I want to hear more of your sorry, actionable thing.

Rebecca Joyner [00:18:03]:
No, you don’t need to say sorry. I need to say sorry because I’m just, like, so excited about everything you’re saying. So you tell them to break it down. Like, do three a day, first two weeks. So you knock everybody out. What else?

Mandy Farrar [00:18:12]:
Yes. And then, like, as much as you can follow up throughout the year when there’s, like, a little thing and the smaller, like, even if it’s a teeny tiny thing, doesn’t matter. Like, I think I had a kid, he was brand new to the school. He came in, and then another student was like, oh, hey, I know where that class is. Let me take you. And I was like, hey, your student showed amazing hospitality. It was really cool to see. It was like two sentences, but it was something.

Mandy Farrar [00:18:40]:
And I love to just, like, follow up with little tiny things. And those don’t take long.

Rebecca Joyner [00:18:44]:
Well, and I’m thinking too, how good is that for your own positive attitude? We talked about bad pd. Just telling you, like, be positive. That’s a specific way to be positive. Like, looking for glimmers of, like, positivity and joy and maturity and stuff in these students. Like, that is a nice, practical thing to do. And that’s, like, encouraging you. Like, these kids aren’t all helpless.

Mandy Farrar [00:19:05]:
And to tell them, too, like, when I see them later in the hallway, like, hey, thanks for showing him his class. I really thought that was great for you to do that. He’s like, oh, thanks. I love that he’s always a little bit surprised, but that’s okay. And then I think the biggest thing about, like, letting parents draw their own conclusions. And I’ve got, like, kind of two things with this one. I have a bit of a formula for it, and it’s like, step one, start with a kind greeting. Step two, I think you should immediately say why you are emailing concisely and without emotion.

Mandy Farrar [00:19:40]:
Because I think as a. I mean, I’m not a parent, but I can imagine if you get an email that is not a positive one, you would want to know immediately why you were getting this email. And to keep somebody in suspense, I just don’t think is nice. So immediately without emotion, why they’re getting this email. And then step three, state the facts of what happened. Facts, thought feelings is so important instead of, like, this has never happened. But working in a daycare over the summer was where I got inspiration for this. Like, kind of example, if little Susie says that her friend looks like her face got hit with a dump truck, you would never say, Susie was rude.

Mandy Farrar [00:20:21]:
You’d be like, susie said to her friend, your face looked like it got hit with a dump truck. And then the parent can decide if Susie was rude or not. Hopefully the parent is on your side and decides that was rude behavior. I’ve had some very funny occurrences with this that I’ll share in just a second. And then step four, offer a solution that you are comfortable with before somebody else can. And then that allows you to kind of hold that line and also sets your boundaries with what you are okay with happening in your classroom. Step five, I really like to point out the possible good in the bad behavior. And I kind of think of this as beating them at their own game while also showing them, like, I am still very invested in.

Mandy Farrar [00:21:07]:
Like, I’m still invested in this relationship with your kid. I want to grow them, I want to mature them, I want to educate them. I’m here for them, but I also want to hold them accountable. And then, like, the last thing is, like, I am here for you, for your kid. I want to help them succeed. Let Me know if you have any questions kind of thing. One of my favorite examples of this was I had a student that blurted out a I won’t repeat it, but it sounded awful lot like a swear word. And my classroom policy is if you say that, you are immediately dismissed.

Mandy Farrar [00:21:38]:
Like, you just can’t be saying curse words in class. And he was like, oh, no, no, it was a Japanese word. And I was, didn’t believe him, but that’s not my call. So when I followed up on the email, explained the situation, I was like, I didn’t know Jimmy knew Japanese. The parent wrote back almost immediately, jimmy does not know Japanese. And followed up like, there will be consequences. I got an apology from the kid afterwards. So letting them draw their own conclusions helps.

Rebecca Joyner [00:22:08]:
Yeah, I mean, it’s just so wise. One of my favorite people I bring on the podcast is my former chemistry teacher when I was in high school. And he always talks about that with cheating. Like, you never ever tell a parent that their child cheated. You can just say there were some suspicious things that happened and then, like, list the suspicious thing that happened. Like, these answers were very identical. And like you said, I just think that’s so much more approachable. So now, like, in those kinds of emails, are you executing a punishment? I know you talked about like a solution, but like, if there’s a repercussion, is this something where you’re like, the first time I’m never gonna punish.

Rebecca Joyner [00:22:45]:
Cause I’m always just gonna let them know. And do you let them know, like, next time this would happen or like, if this continued behavior, this will have to be like, how are you handling? Because that’s kind of hard and like, awkward to be like, hey, if this happens again, you know, how are you handling that?

Mandy Farrar [00:23:02]:
Yeah. So in like step four, where you offer a solution that you’re comfortable with, would be like, and typically, I really try and show the parents, like, I am giving grace in this situation and be like, typically, if a student does X, Y or Z, this is the consequence. However, since this is the first time, I am just going to allow it to be a warning. However, if it continues, then blank will happen. And then if blank happens, it could be, hey, remember, the first time was a warning. Now that it has continued, unfortunately, I have no choice but to blah, blah, blah.

Rebecca Joyner [00:23:39]:
Oh, I like that. Because I, I have a problem of, like, not wanting to involve the parent, like, thinking like, I can handle it, and then I wait too long and then it’s become a bigger problem. And then you reach out to the parent and they’re like, I wish I known that. This has happened three times. So I think you’re just. I think it takes the emotion out of it and the pressure off. Like you said, if you’re just being really proactive, like, maybe it feels, quote unquote, safe, silly to reach out, like, the first time something happens, like an overreaction. But I think it’s actually, like, very.

Rebecca Joyner [00:24:10]:
Like you said, it’s offering grace to them and it’s being proactive. I think that’s really wise.

Mandy Farrar [00:24:15]:
I definitely felt like that. I think the first several years of, like, I can handle it. There’s no need to reach out. But then it would get to those points where it was a bigger issue. And now it’s like, the second there’s a little thing, I reach out. And I have had some, like, silly things. Like, I have emailed parents at the beginning of the year with, like, a missed homework. And I’m like, this is not.

Mandy Farrar [00:24:36]:
And I will say that in my email. I’m like, one missed homework is not a big deal. I dropped their lowest homework grade. It is graded on completion. It’s a tiny portion of their grade. However, if this continues, this could happen. And I just want you to know that I am with you and I’m supporting your kid, and I just don’t want to see this continue because they are so bright and so smart and they can do better than this, like, kind of thing. Yes.

Mandy Farrar [00:24:58]:
And just making sure that that is out there at the beginning of the year before, like, ever gets to that point again, because I’ve. I’ve been there. And then, like, trying to retroactively work backwards. It’s like, oh, yikes.

Rebecca Joyner [00:25:09]:
Well, and then it looks so bad if you’re like, this happened four different times in the semester. And they’re like, what the heck? And you’re like, sorry, I was trying to figure it out myself. That is so great. I, like, this is really helpful. And so you have trained other teachers in this process. So how has that gone? Like, obviously you found this effective.

Mandy Farrar [00:25:28]:
How.

Rebecca Joyner [00:25:29]:
What’s the feedback you’ve gotten from the teachers you’ve trained in this strategy?

Mandy Farrar [00:25:32]:
It’s been really good. I’ve had several teachers that have just requested access to my, like, shared drive of email formulas that I have.

Rebecca Joyner [00:25:41]:
Like, I get access to the drive. This sounds amazing.

Mandy Farrar [00:25:45]:
So I’ll just, like, share it with them and they’ll, like, go in and, like, put out little, like, change some of the details that they need to fit their situations. And I love it because I’ve had teachers too that will come to me at the lunch table and they’re like, here’s the situation, here’s what I want to say, like what do I do? And I’m like, I got you. Okay, so here’s a, like go through, like talk through the process with them and help them. And it’s honestly just been such a huge privilege too because when I was like first starting out as teaching, I was miserable. I was so confused. I cried so much. And I had that amazing mentor teacher that just let me come to her cry. And she was the one that told me like, you need to let the parents know everything you did.

Mandy Farrar [00:26:25]:
And then everything thing the kid did, which changed so much for me. And so now like when I get to help others, it feels like I’m able to give back and like kind of make up for all the tears that my mentor teacher dried for me. Okay, I could give back now.

Rebecca Joyner [00:26:39]:
Yes, you are. Okay, so another question is. So that is very like one to one communication. Are you also doing some sort of like mass communication or are you just putting things like in your, you know, online blackboard or whatever your learning management system is, like how are you handling mass communication? Because I always did like a end of the week, like a mass thing also. But then I, I can also see too how that then they may not click on every email of yours if they’re also getting too many. So I’d just be interested to hear what you did. If it’s different for me.

Mandy Farrar [00:27:13]:
I don’t do every week. I tend to try and keep it to like every unit. Although I don’t always do every unit. It’s more of at this point because I’ve been teaching for seven years. It’s when I feel like there’s going to be an issue is when I’ll emphasize something. So like when we get to a really hard unit in chemistry, I will reach out beforehand and say like, hey, this is a statistically a tough unit because you have to know bonding, you have to know naming, and you are required to know those things to do well for this unit because it builds on all this prior knowledge. So if you notice that your student is struggling, please send them to my office hours immediately. I am here for them, I want to help them.

Mandy Farrar [00:27:55]:
It is so important that they stay on top of it for this thing. Or if there’s a big project coming up, I’ll email to let them know. I do require some of my students to memorize parts of the periodic table when we’re going through that and I’ll let them know when those things are coming up. Of like, you need to know these things. Here are the dates, here are these things. Like so it’s only I would say for things that I feel like are really paramount. I’m not going to email for every like little thing. Yeah.

Mandy Farrar [00:28:22]:
Especially when they have like all these other tools like they have Power School or Renweb or whatever they’re all called now.

Rebecca Joyner [00:28:28]:
Google Classroom. There’s so many different ones.

Mandy Farrar [00:28:30]:
Yes. Moodle or Blackboard was the one you mentioned. Yeah.

Rebecca Joyner [00:28:34]:
At what point or have you ever gotten to the point your system may be so effective you haven’t had to, but at seven years you probably have. At what point do you say is the solution we need to come in person and talk to do that face to face? Or do you ever have to like bring in an admin? Have you ever had like an unhinged parent or like I had a parent once that wrote me such a long email. I copied and pasted it into Word and It was like 11 pages long.

Mandy Farrar [00:29:00]:
Wow.

Rebecca Joyner [00:29:00]:
I was basically like her therapist. I feel like there was just like a download. That was a very unique situation though. But I just didn’t know those kind of extreme situations because I think sometimes when we listen to these things it’s all well and good but I think we have a propensity to like think of the outliers and apply that to all and say like oh well, it’s always like this or I always get these crazy parents when really it’s like a one off. But do you have any advice for those like one off unhinged situations, like a once every five years type of situation. You’re gonna see kind of how you handle that or bring em in or what. What’s your philosophy there?

Mandy Farrar [00:29:35]:
I have, I’ve gotten, as I’ve done this more and more, I’ve gotten less and less of those. But when there is like I feel, I feel like you can kind of read it too in the. If there’s like some growing tension and you’re feeling like I don’t think this is getting well communicated, then absolutely bring them in for a conference. Like. And I would even say like, hey, let’s meet face to face. I feel like something’s getting lost in communication because I feel like we are both here for the same reason. We both care very much about Jimmy, Susie, whoever. Like let, let’s meet face to face.

Mandy Farrar [00:30:10]:
We’ll see if we can figure this out. And honestly, in this day and age, I would say always have an admin present with you just because having that third party is so helpful. And I have absolutely experienced those, like, kind of insane moments. I did catch a student cheating and I had the parent threaten to sue me for defamation of character. Of course. Yeah. And she copied my admin on the meeting, on the email. And they called me and they were like, don’t even respond.

Mandy Farrar [00:30:37]:
Like, we got this. Like, don’t even.

Rebecca Joyner [00:30:38]:
I was like, when an admin. I love when a parent cc’s an admin. And then they call you and they’re like, I. That has happened to me a few times. I was called the Antichrist once. That was probably my darkest.

Mandy Farrar [00:30:49]:
Oh, wow.

Rebecca Joyner [00:30:50]:
Interaction. It was crazy. And like, before I even finished reading the email, like, my principal had already called me and was like, we’re aware that you’re not the Antichrist, so I’m just gonna like, tell you to stop responding. But I love your language. You really should be like a copywriter. You have great language skills. Everything you just said was assuming the best. Like, they’re, they’re dishing out some crazy and you’re saying, I feel like we must be having a miscommunication, like loss in translation.

Rebecca Joyner [00:31:16]:
I know we’re both on the same team. Like, you’re speaking the positivity onto them. It’s gonna help, like, make them less defensive, you know, so it’s also one.

Mandy Farrar [00:31:24]:
Of the things that I try really hard in when I lead some of the professional developments or when I’m helping people with emails is like, identify the good in that bad behavior. Like, if a student is being disruptive in class, he’s probably trying to make people laugh. He’s bringing joy to his friends. That’s a great thing. We love that. The world needs more joy. Time and place not so great, but maybe good intention.

Rebecca Joyner [00:31:49]:
I had a student, like, basically he had a zip up hoodie on and it was against school dress code, so I asked him to remove it, but he was not wearing clothing underneath, which obviously I did not know. Like, I was not aware. So then he proceeded to essentially like slowly unzip, like, was making a beat with his mouth, like striptease style. It was like unhinged and wild.

Mandy Farrar [00:32:14]:
Oh, that’s so awkward.

Rebecca Joyner [00:32:16]:
So awkward. But I remember, like saying to him later when the admin was there, we had disciplinary moment. Like, love your confidence, you know, like, you’re a confident kid, but like inappropriate.

Mandy Farrar [00:32:28]:
Very inappropriate. Time and place, buddy.

Rebecca Joyner [00:32:31]:
Oh my gosh, I’ll never forget that moment.

Mandy Farrar [00:32:33]:
I love that though.

Rebecca Joyner [00:32:34]:
Speaking in the positive. So when you have a parent conference, what do you think about bringing the student in? I personally love it because sometimes I find, like you said, the miscommunication. There’s even a disconnect between what the parent’s interpreting and what the student is even saying. So sometimes it helps. Cause like, sometimes the student will be on my side almost, you know, but it can also be awkward too. So what do you think about that? Or you just kind of take it case by case?

Mandy Farrar [00:33:00]:
Kind of just case by case. I do love sometimes having the student there, especially if it’s turning into like a he said, she said sort of situation. But if it’s more about like classroom policies or procedures, then I would almost just prefer that to be like adult to adult. And I can explain, like this is why I have these things in place. This is why I think they’re necessary. If you disagree, like, that’s great, we can talk about it. But at the end of the day, like, these are my school policies and this is the best way that I feel like I can uphold that kind of situation. And then I would definitely want an admin present.

Mandy Farrar [00:33:36]:
So I guess it would kind of depend on what I think the major issue is going to be about too. Yeah, that’s great.

Rebecca Joyner [00:33:42]:
Okay, that’s awesome. Regarding all things parent communication, I have a couple other questions I want to ask you while I have you. One of my favorite questions to ask, especially because you teach chemistry and physics and I’m a more life science minded. Is there just a concept that you feel like you teach really well or maybe like in a unique way that maybe you could share with listeners?

Mandy Farrar [00:34:03]:
I absolutely love the way that I teach nomenclature because I think like, it’s such a boring topic, but it’s also patterns and if you think about it, it’s like a puzzle.

Rebecca Joyner [00:34:15]:
I think it’s fun, but I can see why other people think it’s boring. But I like it.

Mandy Farrar [00:34:19]:
I do too. And I sort of teach it in like a reverse engineering type way, like kind of inquiry almost where I give my kids all of the, the names and the compounds and I have them all on these like little flashcards and they pretty much go through and they figure out the rules of nomenclature on their own. And like I got a packet that kind of guides them through it and asks them questions, gets them thinking in the right way and breaks down a little bit and like helps them out. But for the most part they really just do it on their own. And they learn it so fast and so much Better because they had to sit there and figure it out for themselves rather than just me telling them and them trying to memorize it. It’s like they had to sit there and like learn it and it just immense in their brain. And I have so much fun with that because of like, how well they get it and then they understand it too. Like, why do these things have Roman numerals but these don’t? And they’re like, oh, well, because those you need to have multiple oxidation states.

Mandy Farrar [00:35:19]:
Obviously, I’m like, yeah, obviously, of course.

Rebecca Joyner [00:35:23]:
I love that. I feel like I wasn’t even real. I didn’t really see the value in all of the model stuff until I got introduced to pogles. I taught AP Biology and I was obsessed. I was obsessed with having them look at these diagrams of these complex biological processes and them draw the conclusions like you said. And then we circle back and fill in. So are you doing that? Are you doing ionic and covalent like all at once?

Mandy Farrar [00:35:45]:
Or is that too much separate? So I do covalent first because it’s easier.

Rebecca Joyner [00:35:50]:
It is easier.

Mandy Farrar [00:35:51]:
And they’re able to like gain some confidence, figure out like what they’re doing. And then I do ionic and I kind of break ionic down into just binary first. And then we throw in the transition metals and then we throw in polyatomics and then we throw in acids.

Rebecca Joyner [00:36:04]:
Okay, so how many days would you be spending on this?

Mandy Farrar [00:36:07]:
About a week, week and a half.

Rebecca Joyner [00:36:10]:
Okay.

Mandy Farrar [00:36:10]:
Because I do a lot of practice and reinforcement in there too.

Rebecca Joyner [00:36:13]:
Okay, I love that. All right. People are always asking about. Everyone wants to hear everyone’s thoughts about cell phones. Cause I just think it’s hard. We’re still, we’re all kind of figuring it out. How do you personally handle cell phones? What’s your policy there?

Mandy Farrar [00:36:26]:
So my school actually has a really strict cell phone policy. They have to be in the lockers at all times and if they are seen at all, they’re gone.

Rebecca Joyner [00:36:33]:
Wait, and you’re in South Carolina too, right? Yeah, I think it’s a statewide thing. Right. As of like a month or so ago.

Mandy Farrar [00:36:39]:
It’s. Yeah, it’s great.

Rebecca Joyner [00:36:41]:
It is like, I think. I’m pretty sure I got a notice about that. Um, okay, so they keep em in their lockers. Love that. Do you ever have instances though where you’re like wanting them to do research and they don’t have a phone? Or do you guys have like iPads or Chromebooks or something?

Mandy Farrar [00:36:55]:
So the school that I’m currently at, that is not one to one. It’s a classical school. So they are very like, I don’t wanna say anti technology, but like, you know, old school, back to the 90s kind of thing. And the only like quote unquote issue that I’ve run into with that is that with physics labs, I really like the slow motion aspect of cell phones because to get the timing on something that is dropping is so hard to do correctly.

Rebecca Joyner [00:37:21]:
That’s so true.

Mandy Farrar [00:37:22]:
But they all have the phones and if they have my permission, they’re all able to go get them.

Rebecca Joyner [00:37:27]:
Got it.

Mandy Farrar [00:37:28]:
And then use them for the lab and then go put them back up.

Rebecca Joyner [00:37:30]:
Okay, I love that. So you can kind of do special permissions there. I love that.

Mandy Farrar [00:37:33]:
School policy.

Rebecca Joyner [00:37:34]:
I like, I always hate to tell teachers this, but I’m like, sometimes like, I think we think the students are the problem and all, or we’re the problem and it’s like, no, like your admin’s the problem. You need to go somewhere else where they have like better policies and better reinforcement. I have been so grateful to be at schools with great admin. It makes such a difference. Okay, what about student apathy? I feel like that’s like a. Our post pandemic epidemic is like the apathetic student. So how do you motivate those students in your classroom that are just like.

Mandy Farrar [00:38:03]:
Not very motivated at what has been hard? Because I this year I have a class of and it’s the same class, but I’ve got one that’s like super motivated and one that’s like super not motivated. And I’ve almost had to turn the one that’s like not motivated into just like kind of a game where I will walk around and just sort of like talk show host style. Just ask them questions and get them involved. And it’s like for me, it’s a bit exhausting, but it’s like the more engaging I am, the more engaged I can get them to be. And they are, at least at my school, they are still grade motivated. And so when I’m like, hey, you’ll need to know this is on a test. What about this? Remember this? And I’m like just going around like kind of. I don’t want to say interrogating.

Mandy Farrar [00:38:44]:
That sounds wrong, but like, but like.

Rebecca Joyner [00:38:47]:
Like you said game show, like quizzing.

Mandy Farrar [00:38:48]:
Yeah. And getting them like on their feet and thinking and making it fun and engaging. Like I can get them to like kind of buy in with me and. But I also, I am privileged to say that I do have a smaller class size, so I feel like I Have more freedom to do that with.

Rebecca Joyner [00:39:04]:
Them, which I love though. But I mean that’s, I mean that’s great. I feel like really leaning into your own personality. And like you said, if you’re engaged, if you’re fired up, they will be like, I’m naturally introverted, but I also went to art School like 4th through 12th grade, so I can like channel my inner musical theater kid like if I need to. And yeah, I’m gonna be exhausted when I get home, but like I can spice it up, you know, just to get em fired up. Okay, what about just classroom management in general? Do you have a technique or a hack or anything you found really successful for managing your class?

Mandy Farrar [00:39:36]:
So I had a teacher friend call it this and I was like, that’s actually really accurate. But I don’t know if it’s a good thing. Obviously I work at a high school so I have a lot of like teenagers, a lot of attitudes. And when I get like attitudes or sass from students, it really doesn’t faze me because like, you know, whatever. And she’s like, you will just sass them back harder. And for some reason that just really works for my class so well. And it’s like, you can be sassy all you want. I’m going to out sass you any day of the week.

Mandy Farrar [00:40:10]:
And at the end of the day, we’re all going to get done what we need to get done and that’s that.

Rebecca Joyner [00:40:14]:
And that’s you like again, like leaning into your personality. I’m like, that my daughter. I’m like, she tries to sass me. I’m like, sister, who do you think made you like, who do you think you got those genetics from?

Mandy Farrar [00:40:24]:
You got my personality.

Rebecca Joyner [00:40:25]:
Never out sass me. I know. She really is like a. It’s a humbling to like have a miniature version of yourself, you know, parroting back at you things that you say. It’s crazy. Okay. When we originally connected, it was over the concept of AI. So I want to provide a little bit of space here at the end of our conversation just for any ways that you are currently using AI that have just simplified your life and have just been really effective to implement.

Mandy Farrar [00:40:50]:
I feel like with chemistry sometimes and with like problems like stoichiometry and physics, you know, it’s kind of the same problem that you’re writing over and over and over again, but you have to figure out like a new one. And I just have AI do it for me. I’ll like put in the problem and I’m Like, I want five variations of this thing and I do have to go through and check it because AI is actually really bad at stoichiometry, which.

Rebecca Joyner [00:41:13]:
I have found so bad at chemistry.

Mandy Farrar [00:41:15]:
Yes. Really, really bad.

Rebecca Joyner [00:41:18]:
No, I found that when I was writing my chemistry curriculum in 2023, that was like, early AI days, and I would try to help get it, to help me come up with problems. I was so sick of it, and it was so bad at it. I was like, okay, you might be smart, AI, but you are terrible at chemistry. Especially stoic. But now I didn’t even think until I talked to people about AI in the podcast last fall. But when you. You put in the example and then it learns from you. Like, you’re like, you said, give me five different versions of the same thing.

Rebecca Joyner [00:41:48]:
So smart.

Mandy Farrar [00:41:49]:
So you do kind of have to, like, double check it. But, like, when I would never have.

Rebecca Joyner [00:41:53]:
It make an answer key. Cause, like, absolutely not.

Mandy Farrar [00:41:56]:
Oh, gosh, no.

Rebecca Joyner [00:41:57]:
Yeah, it’s terrible.

Mandy Farrar [00:41:57]:
I did one time try to teach it so that I could have it grade for me, and I was like, literally sitting there trying to teach a robot about mole ratios. And I was like, I give up. I cannot do this well.

Rebecca Joyner [00:42:07]:
And that’s the reason why I think so many of us are, like, just not into AI because we tried it once, we realize it’s not as smart as people make it out to be. And so then we’re like, I don’t have time for this. Like, I don’t have time to teach this computer how to do science. But it is, like, definitely a little bit of a back and forth situation. You can coach it up, but you gotta be patient. I don’t have patience for a computer.

Mandy Farrar [00:42:29]:
And it is sometimes good for email communication too. Like, if I’m really struggling with especially a delicate situation. Like, I had a student make some sexual innuendos in class and I was like, how do I politely say professionally say this? And ChatGPT actually did a really great job. And I, like, took it and edited it and made it like, what I wanted, but it was like I was having a hard time. Coming up was like, how do you say this? Like, this is awkward.

Rebecca Joyner [00:42:55]:
I want to circle back to that. So, like, you list out the three bullet points of the sexual innuendo, as they say, but you’re not going to call it a sexual innuendo. So what are you saying after you listed out those facts of, like, these are three things they said? Are you saying they felt inappropriate? Are you not even saying something like that? Like, how are you? Because that’s tricky. So how are you transitioning from the facts of what they said, that was a sexual innuendo into not calling it that?

Mandy Farrar [00:43:23]:
I think in that situation I actually did because I didn’t want to leave it to chance. Yeah, I said actually reading the email, I wanted to reach out to you regarding some behavior patterns I’ve seen starting to emerge that I find a little concerning lately. The student has been the instigator of some inappropriate jokes during class. While I understand that students sometimes test boundaries with humors, these comments are not appropriate for the classroom environment, can be distracting to the learning process.

Rebecca Joyner [00:43:52]:
Ooh, I love that follow up sentence. So you did call it inappropriate.

Mandy Farrar [00:43:55]:
But I like what you said.

Rebecca Joyner [00:43:57]:
These can be funny, like in the humor. I like that you said that, but great work.

Mandy Farrar [00:44:02]:
That one was like so awkward. I was like, it’s like sometimes it’s hand motions or like sound effects and it’s like that doesn’t translate well to an email. An email. So it was like, sometimes I feel like you just gotta call a spade a truly. And then if it, if the parent does like say, like, why disagree? You can be like, okay, refer to admin. Like, now what? Like, right. Maybe this does need to become like an in parent conversation. And you can have the student like, hey, why don’t you show the hand motion you did? Why don’t you make the sound effect that you did? Because I’m not going to do it.

Mandy Farrar [00:44:36]:
Like, right. Sometimes those situations a little trickier.

Rebecca Joyner [00:44:39]:
Secondary teacher problems, you know?

Mandy Farrar [00:44:41]:
Yeah, I get jealous of the elementary teachers. I’m like, oh, that must be nice.

Rebecca Joyner [00:44:45]:
I know.

Mandy Farrar [00:44:47]:
Okay.

Rebecca Joyner [00:44:47]:
I always like to end my conversations with my guests asking if there’s any way that you’ve simplified your life recently. So it could be school, outside of school, whatever. So how have you been simplifying your life?

Mandy Farrar [00:44:59]:
Okay, so I’ve been like low key fangirling this whole thing. Because the way I simplified was I took your course on secondary science, simplified. And it was life changing.

Rebecca Joyner [00:45:08]:
And it was so good you took it recently. Yeah, I had no idea. Clearly I’m not like tracking these things now that I made it like evergreen because it used to be like cohort style, but now it’s, you know, take on your own time. Okay, that’s so exciting.

Mandy Farrar [00:45:21]:
So I was like, when I was meeting you face to face, I’m like, wow, okay.

Rebecca Joyner [00:45:25]:
Really sweet. I’m obviously just a very normal person here. Okay, so what did you feel like? What was like if you had to pick One takeaway that you’re excited about the packets.

Mandy Farrar [00:45:34]:
A hundred percent. The packets have been like, life changing to me. I’m still like, the formatting is probably not my best work, but I’m getting better every unit on how to do them, but.

Rebecca Joyner [00:45:45]:
And you figure out your way. Like, even I wrote Biology was my first one in 2016, and then I redid it in 2020 because by then I had a new way of like, yeah, just working with it.

Mandy Farrar [00:45:56]:
I discovered that doing them in PowerPoint is way easier than doing them in Word. But you know what? It’s okay. I’ll get there.

Rebecca Joyner [00:46:02]:
It is. It’s way easier. But I feel like I’m too far gone. Like, I’m too committed to Word and the toxic relationship I have with it and like, image, text arrangement. But yeah, it is so much easier if you can just do PowerPoint. Okay. I’m so encouraged to hear that.

Mandy Farrar [00:46:19]:
Thank you.

Rebecca Joyner [00:46:20]:
A surprise plug I was not expecting. So I’m so excited to hear that. Okay, so if my listeners want to connect with you, what would be the best way to do that?

Mandy Farrar [00:46:28]:
So I really am hoping to, like, put some of the, like, labs and stuff I’ve developed on teachers, pay teachers, but I haven’t done it yet. I think the best would be my Instagram, which is chemwithfarrar.

Rebecca Joyner [00:46:40]:
Okay, we’re gonna link that in the show notes and then hopefully everyone listening, Mandy and I are having this interview and normally I’m like, on it know exactly when the things are gonna air, but I’m not a hundred percent sure when this is gonna air. So maybe by the time this airs, though, if you have that all set up, we can link it in the show notes. So we’ll add that there. If it’s set up by the time this airs or just whenever you set it up, let me know and I can add it after the fact.

Mandy Farrar [00:47:02]:
Okay.

Rebecca Joyner [00:47:02]:
Cause that would be awesome. Seriously, thank you so much for your time. This has been a delight.

Mandy Farrar [00:47:06]:
Thank you. I really appreciate it, y’. All.

Rebecca Joyner [00:47:10]:
Sincerely, thank you for hanging with me this month and listening to my countdown of the top five replay episodes. This was the number one most listened to episode this year. And I hope after re listening to it or listening to it to the fir for the first time just now, you realize why it was the most listened to because it was just so good. And as I mentioned, you can find the show notes with the sample correspondence that Mandy shared with me at it’s not rocketscienceclassroom.com episode 2 15. Now I know I have not shut my trap about this all month, but I. I just, I have to mention it one more time because we are just days away from the end of 2025 and if you remember I told you that I uploaded my first free resource on teachers pay teachers as it’s not rocket science December 20, 2015 and I made my first sale. It was like $2 and 20 cents on January 1, 2016. So I personally mark January 1 as my Internet anniversary and this January 1 will be 10 years of it’s Not Rocket Science.

Rebecca Joyner [00:48:16]:
So the Secondary Science Simplified Podcast. If that’s the only way you engage with me, I’m still so happy you’re here. We’ve had four years of the secondary Science Simplified podcast, but 10 years of it’s Not Rocket Science, which is the umbrella over which the secondary science of world is housed. So I would love for you to celebrate with me. So I’m going to run through the reminders real quick of how you can do so. So first, I’d love to hear from you reviews of the podcast reviews of resources you purchased DM me on Instagram, shoot me an email@rebecca rockefellsclassroom.com anything goes. Would love just to hear directly from you. Second, if you’re already logged on to TBT or Instagram, follow me.

Rebecca Joyner [00:48:54]:
It would mean so much. So close to hitting 10k on followers on TBT and Instagram. Would love to hit 10k by 10 years. And then lastly share about the podcast or share about an It’s Not Rocket Science resource with a teacher you know in real life with your district, tell your department, let’s listen to the these podcast episodes each week and kind of use it as informal free pd. It would just mean so much for you to do that. I really feel like word of mouth is just the best way for more teachers to learn about It’s Rocket Science and Secondary Science Simplified. And I want as many high school science teachers as possible to simplify their lives to be able to engage their students while they’re simplifying so that teaching cannot be rocket science for them. Like that is the whole point of why it’s called It’s Not Rocket Science is we want it to be fun again.

Rebecca Joyner [00:49:44]:
We want you to have the energy and the capacity to do what you love most, which is actually teaching your students. Which is why we want to simplify all the other things that go into this job. And so I hope that isn’t Rocket Science resources and these podcast episodes have helped you to do that. And again, just thanks for being here. Just the fact that you are even listening to this means so much to me, and I’m truly so grateful. Happy New Year. All right, teacher friends, that wraps up today’s episode. If you’re looking for an easy way to start simplifying your life as a secondary science teacher, head to it’s not rocketscienceclassroom.com challenge to grab your Classroom Reset Challenge.

Rebecca Joyner [00:50:22]:
And guess what? It’s totally free. Thanks so much for tuning in, and I’ll see you here next week. Until then, I’ll be rooting for you, teacher friend.