Malea Mullins
Upper School Science
Malea Mullins has been at USJ for more than 10 years teaching Chemistry I, Honors Chemistry, and AP Chemistry. She has been an AP Chemistry reader since 2003. She is teaching a new course this year called Forensic Science. It is an elective offered to seniors with requirements of biology, chemistry, and physics.
Mrs. Mullins has a bachelor of science in chemistry from Lambuth University and a masters in education in curriculum and instruction from Texas Tech University. She is a member of the American Chemical Society. She also worked in Research/Development at Buckman Laboratories in Memphis, Tennessee and has taught math and science courses at high schools in Texas, Florida, Alaska, and Tennessee.
In her classroom, Mrs. Mullins has high expectations for her students and works hard with them to help them learn. She says, “Most of my students probably won’t go into a science-related field, but all of my students will leave me with the ability to apply scientific methods of investigation, analyze data, and employ their reasoning to new situations.”
She tries to incorporate technology into her lesson plan as much as possible. "I am very passionate about technology in the classroom. I want every student to be proficient in using technology so that they won't get to college and be unschooled in this area."
Outside of class, Mrs. Mullins enjoys reading, sewing, and watching UT Football. She also plays the flute and leads a Bible study. Her daughter, Katharine, is a 2007 USJ graduate, and her son, Justin, is a 2008 USJ graduate.
Email Malea Mullins
"I love to teach. I love to go to school each day"
If it's lunchtime at the Upper School, you'll find students with chemistry teacher Malea Mullins in her classroom. Sometimes, it's a meeting of the new chemistry club. Often students are playing chess or catching up on their work as they eat. They know they're welcome.
In fact, Mullins spends her entire day with her students. Instead of having one of the day's class periods for planning, Mullins requested that she be allowed to teach all seven periods. With 23 students signed up for AP chemistry this year, she thought they would learn more easily if she divided them into two classes.
On Monday nights, she continues her teaching by leading a Bible study through her church's outreach program in a disadvantaged Jackson neighborhood, and on Sunday afternoons, she teaches Hispanic children Bible study at her church's Hispanic mission church.
"She gives so much here and in the community," said Jane Ramer, chairman of USJ's Upper School Science Department.
"I love to teach," Mullins says. "I love to get up and go to school each day. I don't call it work because I don't consider it work. I get paid to do what I love! I hang out with teenagers all day and get to show them how much fun it is to do chemistry." Her favorite age group, she says, is sophomores and juniors.
She considers her mission work on Monday nights and the Bible study on Sundays with Hispanic children two of the most important things she does every week.
To learn Spanish, she used her free period at USJ to sit in Jimmy Glosson's and Michelle Steen's Spanish classes. She took tests and did assignments just like the other students. She went on Glosson's Spanish immersion trip to Costa Rica last summer not only to help chaperone, but also to become more fluent in the language.
In her own classroom, Mullins has high expectations for her students and works hard with them to help them learn. "Most of my students probably won't go into a science-related field, but all of my students will leave me with the ability to apply scientific methods of investigation, analyze data, and employ their reasoning to new situations," she says.
She incorporates technology into her lesson plan as much as possible. Her lectures can be found in PowerPoint presentations on her web site. "I am very passionate about technology in the classroom," she says. "I want every student to be proficient in using technology so that they won't get to college and be unschooled in this area."
Mullins has been at USJ for more than 10 years teaching Chemistry I, Honors Chemistry, and AP Chemistry. She has been an AP Chemistry reader since 2003. She has a bachelor of science in chemistry from Lambuth University and a masters in education in curriculum and instruction from Texas Tech University. A member of the American Chemical Society, she also worked in Research/Development at Buckman Laboratories in Memphis and has taught math and science courses at high schools in Texas, Florida, Alaska, and Tennessee.
Her daughter, Katharine, is a 2007 USJ graduate, and her son, Justin, is a 2008 USJ graduate.
"One of the things that I tell my students," she says, "is that they need to find a career in which they will LOVE to get up and go to work every day." In this instance, Mullins certainly practices what she teaches.
