Throughout the time in a teacher education program, you are constantly bombarded with all of sorts of information to take into account, ways your students could need extra assistance, things you could do better, and knowledge about the profession that could make teaching, especially science, seem daunting.
Some things that could be challenging include:
- students on IEPs
- English Language Learners
- students with ACE scores
- students uninterested in the material
- your own inability to connect with what some students may be experiencing
- socioeconomic differences
As long as you can recognize that your students are all people first, you will be able to put their needs ahead of your own personal problems and help them to succeed in whatever way they may need.
In addition to being able to differentiate your classroom in a way that helps all learners, you may also struggle with general instruction
Inquiry
We like to talk about inquiry, but when you really get down to it, sometimes its not as easy as it seems. Maybe your district lacks the resources for you to do a lot of the lessons you would like to. Whether that be monetarily or physically not having a specific technology or place to conduct a lesson.
To help with this problem, try to remember that inquiry doesn’t mean doing a lab every class period. Remember that inquiry can be in the form of research, discussions, or anything that gets the students actively involved and interested in their learning.
This video does a good job of explaining how being a good teacher is more than helping students get good test scores:
Advancing News
Another thing that could be challenging with science teaching is that science is changing and more information is being discovered daily. This is hard to make your students aware of and to incorporate into your lessons without some help.
One way to remedy this is by having a “Science News Friday” where each student brings in a summary of an article they have found regarding science news. This is a good way to see what students are interested in as well as to keep updated on the world of science.
Teaching science can be difficult for a number of reasons. Keeping your head up and taking the challenges in stride is ultimately what will help you to be a transformative teacher that makes a difference in students' lives. @AnnMacKenzie #NSTA #ScienceTeaching #EDT432 #inquiry
— Margaux Haiber (@margaux_haiber) May 5, 2019
Hello Margaux!
Excellent post! I usually don’t get to respond to you, so here it is. I agree that what you listed can be a challenge with teaching. For kids with IEPs, non motivated students, and students with high ACE scores, I found that the trick is to let them know you care, are willing to help them succeed, and you understand them. I have a high ACE score and wasn’t motivated in high school. Since I have experienced this, it has helped me be a better teacher to those students because I know what the need. I worked in the IEP classroom at Middletown and loved it! Great ideas for inquiry. I agree that it is not just labs and doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. It is synthesizing and internalizing/ building knowledge. Correct? It is very important. I like your science article idea to make all of the jargon in science easier. Great ideas. I do have a question. What else do you suggest for students who just don’t like science or don’t get the complex jargon?
Delsina
Margaux,
I appreciated the reminder that there is inquiry in research and discussions. Too often, I picture a time-consuming demonstration when there are other options available.
“Science News Friday” sounds like a great idea. Did you learn about this from personal experience?
Thanks Will! Im glad I could remind you of that. I too will sometimes forget. When I was in 7th grade we had to turn in science news every Friday, but we never talked about it, which I think is a lost opportunity. There are so many cool things happening, so why wouldn’t you have discussions?
Margaux, this a very interesting blog post. I agree with all of the challenges that you included on this blog post. The video is also spot on throughout this blog. I also enjoyed the advancing news section as well. I love the tweet when it states taking the challenges in stride because I believe that is the main thing that teachers need to do to be good positive teachers! Overall great blog post!
Thanks Bailey! I’m glad you liked the news section. I think its so important to make sure that students realize that science is always changing and advancing and the more involved they are at researching and learning about it, the better. And yes, as long as teachers can always be positive adult role models and be the best for their students, everything else will work out.