Challenges of Science Teaching: Aesa’s Top Three Walls to Smash Through.

Being the starry-eyed idealist I am, I’ve always had a bit of an issue separating the grandiose visions in my head from reality. Over the past few years of my life, I’ve been building up this idea of a glorious future I’m going to be a part of. All this time in methods and theory classes, all this talk of what makes a great teacher, and all of this positive rhetoric  of the type found in this TED talk referencing how we teachers can make a difference to kids that really need us have made me feel really excited about entering the profession. “Yes!” I’d shout in my head, “Yes! I’ll be influential! I’ll make my classroom fun! I’ll be kind and supportive of my students and help them unlock their fullest potential!”.

It was naive of me to think that it would be that simple. Recently, I’ve come to the semi-heartbreaking realization that I haven’t the foggiest idea of what I’m doing. If being an exemplary teacher only required the will to do good and a bit of content knowledge, then there would be more than eleven people in our cohort. Being the natural optimist I am, I’ve always come at things in my path with a sort of “I’ll figure it out when I get there.” mentality. While it’s a great attitude to have when it comes to keeping calm under duress, I’ve learned that it’s a thorn in my side when it comes to teaching, as now I’m “there” and when students’ futures are on the line, “winging it” just won’t cut it any more.

Teaching. Is. Hard. Period. Anyone who tells you otherwise has never had to be an artist, a scholar, a confidant, a tutor, a secretary, a caregiver, a therapist, and an expert in a field all at once while being assaulted by aggressive students, angry parents, and the ever-changing state requirements. It’s the best and most important job in the world, and as good ol’ Teddy Roosevelt said “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty…”.

That said, the purpose of difficulty is to present us with a challenge that can be overcome; to give us an opportunity to break past our limits and do something truly amazing. When the lives of kids with potential are on the line, there’s no giving up. With that in mind, this blog is going to be about my biggest walls: the four challenges that I  believe will serve the biggest blockades to my own personal growth and future as a teacher. If I truly want to achieve excellence, I can’t continue using the strategies that I’ve been using my whole life to avoid walls. Great teachers don’t weasel their way underneath walls, they don’t ignore them or try to find a way around. They summon as much of their effort as they possibly can and they smash through, emerging on the other side with bloodied knuckles; standing in a pile of smoldering rubble. This is what I have to do, and these are the challenges I’m going to have to face if I want to make a difference in this profession.

Number 3: Tact: Complexity and Difficulty

I love science. I really liked it when I was a kid, and that love was launched into the stratosphere when my super-cool high school science teacher came along and showed me all of the possibilities that science opened up in life. It is this love of science that has lead me to endure dozens of painstakingly detailed lab reports, tear-filled phone conversations with my mom about exams, and energy drink induced sicknesses in college. I love science, and it comes very naturally to me. I can see the little interactions between particles and energy, I can relate the equations back to the observed phenomena in the real world, I can make sense of charts and diagrams and interpret data to make a claim. All of these are awesome skills to have in the world of science.

Awesome skills that a lot of students either haven’t learned or don’t care to learn. Not everybody is really passionate about science, and not everybody has the type of brain that allows them to make connections in such a straightforward way without a little guidance. One problem I’ve found myself facing during my time in the field is that I have a tendency to operate under the assumptions that A: all of my students care as much as I do about science, and B: all of my students definitely understand all of the big rambley words that are currently coming out of my mouth.

The true challenge here is to find a way to say things in simpler terms without dumbing them down. After all, these kids are capable and smart, making things way easier because you don’t believe in their abilities would be doing them a great disservice. Here are some ways to ensure that your students are getting the information they need in ways that will stick with them.

• Metaphors: My mentor teacher at my most recent field placement loved using metaphors, and she suggested that they’re one of the best ways to ensure that students get the opportunity to make things into stories. “These gas particles are like hyperactive three-year-olds. They’ve got lots of energy and they’ll float around all over the place unless you keep them contained”. Scientific relationships are a lot easier to remember when you’ve got some crazy metaphor about dinosaurs in refrigerators to look back to. The key to using metaphors is variety. You’ve got a classroom of thirty different kids, make sure that you use thirty different metaphors, describing the interaction of factors in as many different creative ways as possible, relating it to a specific kid’s life as often as you can (a la social constructivism).
• Let students define their own terms and explain things using simple language: One of the cardinal sins of science in education is its extreme blandness and obsession with terms. When students have to remember a billion Latin phrases with all their crazy prefixes and suffixes, it’s easy to just say “this is dumb” and go back to thinking about the Kardashians or whatever the kids nowadays think about. But, when you give your students a chance to play with data themselves and define a term in their own words, then they can use whatever analogies or structure makes sense to them personally. Also, just think about your language a little more and make good use of synonyms. You don’t have to say “pressure differential”, you can just say “difference in pressure”. You don’t have to say “isothermic system”, you can just say “A system where heat stays the same”.
• Scaffolding: The order in which you teach things is important. If you make sure that students have a strong background in really key, basic, concepts, it will give them something to relate the content back to. For instance, if you drill into students’ heads (using a variety of engaging methods, of course) the idea that heat is energy is movement from the very beginning of the semester, then learning thermodynamics and states of matter will make a lot more sense later on down the line.

Number 2: Guts: Confidence and Bravery

Teaching is as much about performing for an audience as it is about knowing and explaining your content. There are so many ways you can lose students’ attention while teaching. If you don’t inflect your voice enough, if you don’t keep your energy up, if you talk too fast or too slow, BAM! Half the class is asleep. Great teachers don’t just teach, they put on a show too, keeping things interesting even when the action of the classroom hits a bit of a lull. This is something that I know is a problem for me. When being watched by a class that’s not quite into the lesson or when hitting a snag, I have a tendency to get nervous and unravel. The grandiose vision of what teaching science looks like in my head becomes further disconnected from reality, and it becomes hard for me to keep my energy up once things become derailed. Thankfully, these problems are ones that will become easier with practice. That said, there are a few things to keep in mind while considering which habits to practice and which to throw aside.

• PUMP YOURSELF UP! Something I found working in my favor during the presentation of my final lessons in the field was a tip my mother gave me. She told me to get into a quiet, safe place and force myself to stare into a mirror while smiling and posing as superman. You know, Like this:
  
  As stupid as it seems, it really helps you get into a good mindset. How could I possibly fail? I’m powerful, creative, and prepared enough to accomplish this task with all the charismatic bravado of the greatest hero of all time. Other great ways to do this involve playing inspirational, upbeat songs, doing jumping jacks, or splashing cold water on your face. Tense up! It’s time to perform. You’ve got this.
• Pace Yourself: I talk fast. It’s a side effect of being really passionate and wanting to just vomit science all over all things that I come into contact with. That said: science vomit’s not exactly the best idea when it comes to getting students to understand what you’re saying, and by talking really fast, I alienate half of my class by forcing them to stop and think about what words are coming out of my mouth. The solution? Pace yourself. I’ve rehearsed lessons to the beat of a metronome, to the tempos of my favorite songs, and even to my own heartbeat. Keeping time is easy once you’ve decided what your pace is. If you find yourself speeding up too much, just pull it back. Remember that your students will need a little time in between each statement to process information and complete tasks. Take advantage of this and remind yourself during every lull to reset your tempo. Keep it nice and easy.
  
• Don’t be so hard on yourself: Everybody messes up, but the worst thing you can do is let an unenthusiastic class take all of the wind out of your educational sails. If you get nervous and botch a lesson, if you explain the second law of thermodynamics way wrong, if you accidentally light yourself on fire with a bunsen burner, it’s okay. Teaching well is really important, but it’s not so important that a mistake is irrecoverable. Did you give your students a misconception? Come in tomorrow with a fresh attitude and correct yourself. Did your lab end in complete and utter confusion? That’s fine. Meet with a college, get a new perspective, and come up with a different way to present the same information. Allow yourself to learn from your mistakes, and make sure that you’re honest with your students. Ask them how they’re doing and whether or not they have ideas for how they can learn better. Let them know that you’re trying. If you’re all in this together, then your students will understand that you’re doing your best. Just make sure you keep trying!

Number 1: Strategy: Organization and Preparation

And here we are. My final boss, my ultimate bugbear, my biggest wall: Organization. I’ve always been a very “Fly by the seat of my pants” type of guy. I’ve been able to weasel my way out of most bad situations I’ve been in, and planning ahead for things is something I’ve never really ever needed to do. Improvising and using my social skills has always been a solid enough backup plan for me to fall back on.

THAT. DOESN’T. FREAKING. WORK.

"Barriers to recruitment and retention include: Inadequate teacher preparation when teachers enter through alternative routes and try to teach while they are in training…" #teacherprep #edpolicy https://t.co/5Spsgw7zfU

— TC's Office of Teacher Education (@TC_OTE) April 23, 2018

If I were teaching one, two, heck, maybe even as many as three or four kids, my go-to strategy of “I’ll figure something out.” might have worked, but in a room of twenty kids, each with their own backgrounds, learning styles, and hardships? It’s frankly ridiculous to think that such an approach could ever work out. This was a very harsh lesson for me to learn, but I hope that I’ve come out of it wiser for the experience. You can never prepare too much for a lesson, and the more you have in your back pocket, the more you’re able to pull out when needed. Here are some ways to get your head in the game and ensure that everything goes as smooth as silk.

• Do things as early as possible! That’s right Aesa, you procrastinating human landfill, I’m talking to you. The earlier you start busting out lessons, the more feedback you can get. Start brainstorming a week’s lessons as far in advance as you can, and come up with as many cool ideas as possible. Bounce these off of colleagues, friends, spouses, and even students as much as you can. Ask your students if a project sounds like something they’d think is cool while also asking your peers about the nitty-gritty details of how this lesson is going to do down. The earlier you start, the more time you’ll have to polish that activity to a mirror’s shine.

  

• Prep your materials and test your labs: The logistical side of teaching isn’t sexy. The relationships with students, the passionate bravado, the inspiration and encouragement: these are the aspects of the profession that attract us to it. Nobody becomes a teacher so they can pour some acid into some flasks. That said, you know those wonderful activities where students can make connections and learn the material? Those ain’t happenin’ if you don’t have stuff set out and ready to go. The less students have to worry about setup, the more they can focus on the science, so get everything ready beforehand to ensure things can transition easily and use time effectively. Also, make sure you run through a lab at home before trying it in the classroom! Experiment with your process a little and see what you can improve on before blowing your students away the next day in lab. Making sure your materials are prepped also means making sure your students have everything they’ll need written down right in front of them. Handouts are your students’ friends as much as they are yours!
  
• WRITE. DOWN. EVERYTHING. I hate taking notes. The only classes I’ve ever done so in were the ones that were so hard I needed to force myself to write down what was being said so that I didn’t fail the nightmare exams that would assail me later. That said, in teaching, you absolutely have to write down as much as possible at every possible opportunity. Yo, you’re a science master and you’re doing a demo on the greenhouse effect tomorrow? Give yourself bullet points, you’ll get carried away and forget something. Wow, you’re a wonderfully social teacher and you love your student? Keep a record of some details anyway, it’ll be cool to wish a kid a happy birthday unprovoked. Did you just blow your huge lesson you spent a week on? Grab that lab sheet and start making notes and corrections. Even if you know you’ll never read these notes, grab a pen and commit them to memory anyway.

  

  Teaching is hard. It’s the world’s best, most fulfilling, most difficult, most draining, most important, most inspiring profession, and it’s not work for the faint of heart. All this time, I’ve believed that only my will to become a great teacher would be enough. That I would just walk right in and be an amazing and inspiring teacher that students will love and remember. I was wrong. To become anything meaningful, it requires determination. A will to do good that overpowers all else and pushes you to the absolute limit of what you are capable. My students don’t deserve 100% of my ability, they deserve 110%. They deserve 150% or 200%. They deserve as much of it as I can give, and to do anything less than that is a disservice to them, the profession, and myself. The time has come to push past what I’ve been setting as the bar for myself. The time has come to burst through my walls and reach the kids that need me. There’s no time left to waste.

  I think the superhero ALL MIGHT (who is also a teacher) phrased it best awe-inspiring fight scene with Nomu in my recent favorite show “My Hero Academia”.

  “You were made to fight me at 100% of my power, huh? Then I’ll just have to surpass my own limits and force you to surrender! Hey villain! Have you ever heard these words? Go beyond! PLUS ULTRA!”

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3XVGHL_nUQ