Roderick Mobley

Specialties: Chemistry, AP Chemistry, Physics (1st year, non-calculus based), IB exam prep

Hello! My name is Roderick Mobley. I discovered my passion for chemistry towards the tail end of high school and dove headlong into chemistry and research when I enrolled at Yale University. After my sophomore year I began working for the Wood Group and that set me up with a research position with a pharmaceutical company right after graduation. Though I liked the work I did, I quickly learned that it wasn’t the lab work that piqued my interest in chemistry; it was the problem-solving and the learning the nuances of chemical reactions and planning syntheses that got me excited about chemistry. So when the opportunity to be a long-term substitute chemistry teacher arose, I eagerly took it to figure out what my next steps would be. 20 years later, I am still teaching because I truly enjoy showing others the beauty of chemistry.

I have taught many different levels of chemistry - introductory, honors, and organic chemistry. I have completed the College Board training for AP Chemistry and required workshops to teach International Baccalaureate Higher and Standard Level Chemistry courses, and I currently teach these courses, helping students gain a better sense of how the topics of chemistry are tied together and earn college credit while still in high school. I teach and tutor using the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning philosophy: what is your assertion, what can you cite as proof that your assertion is logical, and what principles can you draw upon from the text and discussions to explain the relevance of the proof and support your claim.

This philosophy also applies to problem-solving: a good understanding of the purpose of each step in a problem allows the student to modify their strategy and solve not just the problem before them but many like it that they may encounter later. This is how I have helped students improve in their coursework and find success on the AP and IB Exams.

Though my specialty is chemistry, I do have experience teaching non-calculus based physics, specifically physics for first-year high school students.