Why I Didn’t Do Science Experiments the First Year of Teaching

I have always wanted to be a teacher. I followed the path, received my bachelor’s degree, and was hyped for the first year of teaching. The students were going to love me, I was going to rock it, and we were going to do ALL THE THINGS. Then, it was the first day of school, and I was really nervous. Reality set in. 

You see, I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. I was prepared. Or, I thought I was prepared for the classroom, but I truly wasn’t. 

In college, you take all the teaching courses and go through student teaching and lesson planning. Still, there are many things that nobody teaches you. 

It’s the small stuff. 

During student teaching, you get a glimpse of what planning will be like, the variety of students, and the meetings you’ll have to attend. 

HOWEVER, here are some of the things you do not get a glimpse of:

• YOUR first classroom
• YOUR students
• Everything that your cooperating teacher did to prepare for your arrival

Flashback to my first day of class, my first year of teaching. I was prepared with my syllabus and procedures to review. Truly, it seems like a blur. 

Don’t get me wrong, I usually have my stuff together. I’m very organized, responsible, and I believe I have many qualities that a teacher should have. I JUST WAS NOT PREPARED for the disrespect, the diversity of the students I was dealing with, and the lengths that students would take to test the waters.

Fast forward through my first year teaching. Due to classroom management mistakes, trying to teach like the other successful teachers; many activities failed. I went through the year without completing any science experiments. 

Except for one. 

And it ended with iodine on the floor. 

Teacher Fail

So, why tell you my “teacher fail” story? 

I believe that my past mistakes can be avoided, and I want to help YOU. 

In fact, it’s actually a passion of mine. I went back to school to get my Ph.D. so I could “teach teachers how to teach science”. 

I constantly think about all of the opportunities that my students missed out on because I was too scared to try activities and science experiments with my students during my first year teaching. Luckily, I learned from my mistakes quickly and was able to provide the rest of my students in later years some wonderful scientific opportunities.

I have talked to several of my students that I taught my first year and apologized to them for being a “bad teacher”. They made me feel better by telling me that I was their favorite. Deep down, I still feel bad. My students still saw a lot of success, so I try not to beat myself up about it. 

First Year of Teaching Tips

I truly could write all day long about my first year teaching and everything I’ve learned. I plan to write more, but for now, I will leave you with three tips to avoid the “no experiments” first year.

1. Be prepared. 

If you go the student teaching route, don’t just do enough to get by. Do more than what’s expected. Go to all the meetings, grade all of the work, learn about your students, help call parents, learn how to create a classroom management plan. You need to know what it will truly be like in the classroom.

2. Be realistic. 

Truth is, you are not perfect and your students are not either. This doesn’t mean that you cannot do any experiments and activities with your students. You may not be able to do anything with fire, but that’s ok. Do activities within your limits

3. Be yourself. 

This was my biggest mistake. I didn’t have the best classroom management plan as a first-year teacher, so my solution was to try to manage my classroom like the other teachers in my school. This is a MISTAKE. The students could see right through me. It wasn’t until the second year that I realized that I couldn’t do things like anyone else. I had to be myself.  Everything began to change when I realized this.

So, why didn’t I do science experiments the first of teaching?

First, I wasn’t prepared. Next, I wasn’t being realistic. Finally, and most importantly, I wasn’t being myself. 

If I could go back, I would change things. Don’t make the same mistakes that I did! 

Check out this blog post for some strategies to engage your students in science class. 

Remember, everything may not be realistic for you right now, but everything is worth a try!

99 Engaging Strategies for Middle School Science

Need some engaging strategies for your classroom? Check out these 99 strategies that can be used in your science classrooms to make sure that your students are engaged 100% of the time!