Mistakes I Made as a New Middle School Science Teacher

I’m going to be transparent and tell you some of my biggest mistakes with the hopes that they won’t be repeated. I grouped them into categories in terms of organization, planning, relationships, and life balance.

Organization

My Lessons Were All Over the Place

I was a hot mess as a new middle school science teacher at 22 years old. I came out of my Masters program and had not a clue how to organize my classroom! I didn’t even know how to put together a gradebook and weigh the grades! 

As a middle school teacher in a private school, I was teaching multiple grades back to back all day long. Keeping all of those subjects organized was a nightmare that I struggled with for more years than I’d like to admit.

Literally every June, when school let out, I would make a resolution that I was going to organize myself better for the following year. I would spend a good chunk of my summer trying to figure it out. One year I had binders for each subject, which cost a fortune.  Another year I got the idea to make a PowerPoint for each unit.  Then I tried putting together file boxes so that I could rearrange my lessons. Each of these endeavors seemed great at the onset but then I petered out halfway through them and barely referred to them!

I am embarrassed to say that, as little as six years ago, I discovered the free app called Trello. (How Teachers Can Use Trello For Organizing Lesson Plans!) Once I put everything on there, I found that I refer to it all the time and it’s so ridiculously easy. I sound like I’m advertising for them but I’m really not.  I’m just mad at myself that I didn’t find something similar a long time ago! 

I Had No Idea What Materials I Had

When I first moved into my science room it was a big mess with random weird things in all of my cabinets from previous teachers. I would dig through them to find what I thought I needed but I never took the time to personalize and inventory everything. In reality, most of the stuff that was in the cabinets was trash. 

When my school built a new wing many years ago I was the first and only science teacher. I could start fresh with my cabinets and organizational system. I still use my method today on files in my phone. (Basic Supplies You Need In Your Science Classroom)

Planning

I Really Didn’t Know How to Plan

Why don’t they teach you how to do plans in college? I’m not talking about the ridiculously long, unnecessary lesson plans that get assigned as busywork during your education college classes. I’m talking about laying out a week, figuring out how much time each activity takes, figuring out when you’re going to set up your labs and take them down. Where are you going to get the information for these labs since the textbooks are relatively weak. Many teachers nowadays don’t even have decent textbooks!

 I see on Facebook groups all the time that there are new middle school science teachers who are scrounging around taking little resources from Teachers Pay Teachers or other sites and trying to put together something that matches their state standards.

I Was An “Impulsive Planner” Which Caused Student Stress

A big mistake that I made as a new middle school science teacher was being impulsive with new ideas for doing labs or activities! I would get inspired in the shower in the morning and run around to carry out my spontaneous and unorganized plan. I usually didn’t have time to type it up or really think it through.  I would verbally give it over to the kids.

 I would actually stand In the front of my classroom and wonder why this wonderful idea was flopping! 

Why were the kids all in distress and unclear with the directions?  I hadn’t taken the time to write it out, plan it out and execute it in a way that was calm and organized! It seems so logical now!

I Didn’t Use Backwards Planning. At all.

Do you know how many times I would look at the clock five minutes before the end of class, when the kids were in the middle of a lab, and I would freak out??

I’ve mentioned backwards planning, in several of my blog posts, and once I started doing that my entire teaching attitude, teacher sanity and teaching quality improved. Backwards planning involves starting at the end of your class and working your way backwards. 

• How much time do you need to clean up?
•  How much time do you need to review and solidify the concepts? 
• How much time will the activity take plus adding some spare extra time?
• How much time will you need to introduce the lab and go over safety concerns?
  

 I plan my time and keep a constant eye on the clock. This had really reduced the stress level in both me and my students. (Planning Lab Activities for Middle School Science)

Relationships With Students

I Was Their “Friend”

True confession time. I was 22 when I first started teaching. The eighth graders were the same size as me and wanted to be my buddy. Since I had never taught before, it felt flattering and I used to “hang out“ with some of the eighth grade girls during free periods.

Wow, did that backfire on me!

They started being mouthy in class and feeling entitled.  I had absolutely no power or authority over those students. When they graduated out that year I vowed that I would never get into that again. 

I Didn’t KNOW My Students

On the flip side of that story, I found that I really didn’t know much about most of the students that I taught. I would find out talents they had way too late!  One student played amazing piano at graduation. How did I not know that?  I started doing “About Me” activities at the beginning of the year, which helped a lot. I make a real effort to remember what I learned about each student and I try to bring it up during the year. 

Relationships With Parents

I Was Terrified Of Parents!

Yep! I was petrified of parents. Most of them were the same age as my own parents and I felt like I had absolutely no authority over them. I was timid at parent conferences. If a parent had an issue, even if I knew I was right, I would back down so fast that it makes me cringe to think of it now. I was also relatively shy as a child, so speaking openly to an older person was very intimidating. It took me a long time to realize that I was the professional and knew more about teaching than them. 

I Had No Parental Perspective When Assigning Projects

As I became a parent myself, I COMPLETELY changed the way I taught. I used to assign projects that would go over weekends and even breaks sometimes. Once I became a parent, I realized that every minute over the weekend is precious. Having to stop our activities mid Sunday afternoon, so that my daughter could do her homework, really annoyed me.

I started to give students a lot more class time to work on projects. I rearranged the structure so that the students stayed very accountable and I was there to guide them. Many parents since then have thanked me for this approach.

Parent Conferences Made Me So Nervous

Parent conferences almost made me break out into hives. I was an absolute nervous wreck and I’m sure it showed in my body language. The more aggressive parents picked up on that very quickly. I realize now that those type of people need a calm and strong response. That’s not so easy for a young teacher.(Strategies For Successful Parent Teacher Conferences) 

I had parents YELL at me over things as silly as their child getting a B+ rather than an A. Instead of standing my ground, and defending my decisions with good strong data, I would be frozen.  To be honest, I probably didn’t have good strong data, at least not in front of me at the conferences. 

I Didn’t Keep Enough Data to Defend Myself

Nowadays I’m a virtual data queen! I mentioned this story in another blog post… I had a student who basically didn’t do anything for an entire semester.. His parents had aspirations for him going to a rigorous private high school. When it came time to apply, this high school told them that his grades were not good enough. The parents came flying at my administration and demanded to know why they weren’t told that he was failing. Administration came at us teachers demanding documentation. I printed out at least 30 UNANSWERED emails that I had sent the parents. I stapled them together and left it on my principal’s desk.  I never heard another word about it.

Learning to document everything, and putting everything in writing, has become extremely necessary. 

Relationships With Administration

I Ended Up Doing All the Unwanted Jobs

I mentioned that I was very shy, as a new middle school science teacher, and that caused me to be very submissive and intimidated by my administration. My principal would ask me to do things that were extra and I had no clue how to say NO. Not a clue. I ended up coaching soccer, doing professional development classes for the other teachers on computers, doing artwork for the school newsletter, etc. I was pulled in so many directions because I did not know that two letter word!

Years later, I ended up being in charge of parts of graduation, teaching summer school, teaching after school classes and training other teachers on iPads.  I finally, probably less than seven years ago, cut those things out and learned to say “NO” when new things came down the road. It’s still hard!

I Didn’t Always Keep My Administration Up to Date

Always, always, always keep your administration aware of any issues that you are having in the classroom BEFORE a parent calls them. No administrator wants to be caught unaware and off guard and it WILL come back on you.

You will end up being forced to defend yourself.

I now “CC” my administrators on any email I send that I think might be questionable. I also stop by my principals office with a “I just want to let you know…”

Relationships With Colleagues

I Got Swept Up Into “Friendships”

I got burned so many times during those first years of teaching by letting my colleagues know too much about my private life. It was my first real workplace, and everyone felt so friendly, so I didn’t really understand the concept of “work friends” versus “true friends”. Working in a relatively small school, everything spread around very quickly with embarrassing consequences. 

When I changed schools, I made certain that I made friends but nurtured those friendships OUTSIDE of school.  We included husbands/wives and really cultivated a true friendship. I was very careful who knew about my private life. 

I Didn’t Know How to Network

Your colleagues are not just in your school. When I discovered Facebook groups, with fellow middle school science teachers, it really made a big difference.I learned  a lot about classroom management, handling problems, great activities and more.  These are people that have the same job and problems as you, and tons of them jump on with suggestions! Now you can even post questions anonymously. If you work in a smaller school, or your administration scrolls through these groups, you can still feel safe.

Life Balance

I Had No Fun On The Weekends

During those early years of teaching my weekends were shot. My husband worked on Sundays and I spent the entire day fussing around with lesson plans, writing tests and grading papers. That was time that I could’ve been relaxing and recharging.  Later, I wanted that precious time spent with my daughter.

 Once I started getting all my digital systems into place, with digital notebooks and using Trello for lesson plans, I got my home life back! How crazy was it that I actually had all my teacher guides and activity books in my bookcase AT HOME! I finally brought all those books back to school where they belong. I started using my free periods more wisely, and it made a big difference. 

I Never Left Work On Time

I used to be the last teacher out of the parking lot and sat in rush hour traffic because of it.  I arrived home cranky and exhausted. Once I started organizing with student digital notebooks, planning with Trello and inventorying everything, I now leave when the students leave! 

Conclusion

As a new middle school science teacher, you should be using mentor teachers as much as you can and learning from the veterans around you. (Tips For Success as a New Middle School Science Teacher) We made the mistakes so you don’t have to! You can visit my other blog posts on this site where I cover lots of topics to help you not reinvent the wheel. As always, feel free to contact me for any specific help that you may need.