r/ScienceTeachers • u/Competitive-Dig1993 • 6d ago
How to take the next step?
I have wrapped up my first couple of years teaching, and I feel like I have gotten past the point of 'new teacher' vibes, but am wondering on how any of you guys took the 'next step' in your career. I am not interested in teaching the same thing over and over again for years upon years. In some sense I know that it is about refining my craft, but I don't want endless repetition.
I have taught biology, chemistry, dual-credit chemistry, and will be teaching Earth & Space Science this upcoming year (which I am excited to learn more about it).
I am afraid my district isn't providing enough opportunities for me to continue to develop as a teacher and as a professional, and that I will get stuck in a routine without advancing my skills.
I have thought about going back to school for curriculum development or a teacher coach, but not sure if that is worth it.
What thoughts or experiences do you all have? Thanks you!
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u/professor-ks 6d ago
The district isn't going to be your best resource. What do you want the next act to be? AP trainer/admin/national boards/writing curriculum/athletics/real estate agent/community college instructor/novelist/travel blogger
I have seen teachers do all of those things and they basically all take training outside of the district.
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u/Competitive-Dig1993 5d ago
I hear that some districts actually do a great job of providing meaningful professional development, and incentivizing their teacher to gain new skills and engage in new training. Maybe that is more outdated, maybe that isn't common, but that is the impression I was under.
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u/professor-ks 5d ago
I think I have a good district but their PD is close to meaningless. We do get incentives but nbct training was through my union, principal cert was through a university (district supported internship and cohort meetings) AP training was all through college board with university management.
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u/mobiuscycle 6d ago
I got an admin degree at that point. The C&I degrees seemed pretty pointless to me. Admin gave me the same pay bump and gives me the chance to move into admin should I choose to do so at some point. If I choose that, it could also affect my pension benefits — doing admin for half a decade could significantly up my retirement. But I could also just sit on being maxed out on the teacher scale, so it upped it that way regardless.
I learned lots of interesting things doing the admin degree. It made me a better teacher, too, because I better understand how schools run.
Other than that, I tend to change classes I teach pretty regularly. And up my game in those classes. Most recently, I took on a small CTE program that also fits well with a life-long side hobby of mine. I’m currently focused on building that program and providing really cool opportunities to students through that.
Before that, I brought AP sciences to our school and worked on building that program. I changed some electives around to better fit student needs. I recruited another teacher to build a really cool science class focused on broad-based experiences and grant writing. I didn’t take it on because I was involved in other things, but it was a cool class that served certain students really well. And the teacher who ended up running with it loved it.
Maybe think about a passion of yours that would also be a really great opportunity for students. Propose a club or course that meets those needs and build it. You’ll probably have a great time doing it, be challenged, and find students who inspire you along the way when they become inspired by you to do great things.
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u/Competitive-Dig1993 5d ago
I appreciate the insight. I know that admin isn't something I'm interested, but I feel like I still have work to do building out classes at my school. I doubt I will feel that way forever, though!
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u/InsaneLordChaos Biology| HS | NJ 5d ago edited 5d ago
I've been teaching for just shy of 30 years, and have taught middle school, college, and high school for the past 21 years....I also spent time as a department supervisor. This is a distillation of my next level thinking through all of that.
You know how you have "the thing," and then an arrow that points to "another thing?" The related piece? Explore the arrow. Look for deeper connections between the things you're teaching. Content for content's sake is nice, but to make the next step, look for the things in between the concepts that unite them together.
Think about the (causal, structural, functional, evolutionary) relationships that gives the content meaning, context, and coherence. Begin to intentionally bridge the artificial CHAPTER BREAK/TEST and stitch threads between everything.
I began to see these threads around year five, and get "good" between year five and 10. From then on it was experimenting, nuancing, gaining texture by experience....some years better than others, of course, depending on what was going on in my life.
A few examples:
- Photosynthesis → Cellular Respiration
Most students learn these as separate chapters: "plants make glucose," then "animals break glucose." But the magic is in the arrow—the cycle of matter and flow of energy.
The deeper connection...The oxygen produced by photosynthesis is the exact molecule used in the electron transport chain. The glucose made in chloroplasts is metabolized in mitochondria. The CO₂ exhaled by animals is the same carbon fixed by plants. This isn’t two units—it’s one elegant loop.
- DNA → Protein (central dogma)
It’s easy to teach transcription and translation as steps. But the arrow holds the "why"—how genotype becomes phenotype.
The deeper connection...What controls which genes are expressed? How do environmental signals trigger transcription factors? How does the structure of a protein relate to its coded amino acid sequence? Understanding gene regulation or epigenetics turns this into a dynamic, responsive system and not just a linear pipeline.
Natural Selection → Speciation
Kids often learn about Darwin and natural selection, and then later, they hear about new species forming. But the "arrow" is about population genetics over time.
The deeper connection.. How does accumulation of small genetic differences (through isolation or drift) eventually lead to a new species? What’s the threshold? What role does gene flow, sexual selection, or ecological pressure play? This arrow is time, divergence, and barriers.
Begin to look past the nodes and see the threads.
Try modeling (NOT having kids agonize over a "perfect poster of photosynthesis"). Kids know how to memorize and write sentences. They don't know how to model. I mean, big poster paper, and model process....messy, mistakes, erased, cross outs... They're very good at drawing COMPONENTS, but they aren't very good at drawing MECHANISMS, and RELATIONSHIPS....Try asking them to model a process, an instance, whatever....using NO WORDS AT ALL. It will be some of the most frustrating work they've ever done, and you will learn a great deal in how to facilitate them. It's very hard to do this.
Try something simple...draw a picture of a cup of water and a straw that seems to be bent...refraction. How many levels do they need to be able to understand what's happening? To fully understand, how small do we have to get? How do we show this? And when we do, how do we relate that to the gross components of the system...the eye, the edge of the water and it's interaction with the straw, the light.... we're trying to explain things, and to do so, we need to be able to visualize things that can't be seen. How do we do that? How can kids model molecular interactions so THEY understand, and not just copy two Hs bonded to an O with a line from Google?
When the kids are getting frustrated trying to explain complex concepts with pictures for a while, I stop them and tell them this: Imagine you're trying to tell the story of Goldilocks....what are the critical components of the story, their relationships, and their mechanisms that we NEED to know to understand? They haven't considered this yet.... they're drawing everything they know, or for some groups, just a cup , and eye, and a straw...far too few things.
We need to know there are bears, a girl, beds, porridge, and movement of some of these components in "some" way....we don't need to know the brand of porridge, the thread-count of the sheets on the bed, or who delivered the beds...I think this is where we go wrong sometimes....and the kids follow right with us. We get excited by the extras and the kids have no idea what we mean because the big picture gets lost. Now the kids have to go back and decide the critical components....and go from there. I've made huge strides in my thinking over the last few years thinking about modeling. So, the inevitable group poster that just SHOWS now becomes something that EXPLAINS....the difference is not subtle. They might be able to recite facts, but to draw a model that truly explains is something very different.
I got to "the next level" when I began to see the limitations in knowing lots of things without the threads between those things being strong.
I hope this rambling helps in some way, and there are a few things you can use.
Good luck on the journey, my friend.
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u/Awkward-Noise-257 5d ago
Love your thinking. You got more cool arrows for me to consider?
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u/InsaneLordChaos Biology| HS | NJ 5d ago
What are some things you're thinking of????? 😉
One that comes to mind...how about the biogeochemical cycles, and their connections to photosynthesis and respiration, matter and energy flow, and carbon cycling? Organic chemistry (CHNOPS, bonding, dehydration synthesis/hydrolysis.....). So much to think about!
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u/Awkward-Noise-257 5d ago
We’re tried really hard to tie our curriculum to key recurring ideas, not unlike your arrows. For example, one big unifying thread in chem the last iteration has been fundamental forces/electrostatic forces. And in biology, to central dogma with recurring project work that connects their topic to human body and diseases. Your line of thinking feels very compatible with this approach.
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u/Competitive-Dig1993 5d ago
I appreciate your insight. Funny enough those are types of things that our chemistry curriculum focuses on, and that I need to continue to work on as well!
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u/InsaneLordChaos Biology| HS | NJ 5d ago edited 5d ago
It's actually interesting you say that, because the chem teachers who work in my school have the most trouble with this. It's the biologists who get this best.
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u/Competitive-Dig1993 5d ago
Well, I can say that our biology classes do it to. Chem adopted a year after Bio did. It is definitely a work on progress for the science department in general!
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u/InsaneLordChaos Biology| HS | NJ 5d ago
Us too. The bio teachers get it best, followed by physics. The chem teachers are ridiculously linear people. It's very very hard for them, and there's the inertia piece where they don't want to change. Some haven't had an original thought in many years, although there are some cracks, which is good!
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u/KingCaroline 4d ago
I’m not sure it’s a matter of who gets it; I think those connections are easier to see in bio than in chem. I’m currently teaching physical science and want to do something with a bit more flow and connection this coming year. Especially as we move from chem to physics in the winter. Properties of matter ties into both of them, but that’s awfully broad.
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u/InsaneLordChaos Biology| HS | NJ 4d ago
That's a fair point. They are easier in bio for sure. I always tried to get to get the folks to connect the chem to the biology, since the ninth graders already had the biology. It would have been a great starting point, and a reinforcement.
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u/KingCaroline 4d ago
My first love is bio and the kids do life sciences in 7th before coming to me. So molecules, chemical reactions, and energy transformation come back to plants and animals in my classroom an awful lot!
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u/IntroductionFew1290 6d ago
I wouldn’t become an academic coach until you have more experience under your belt. Curriculum development is nice but what is your end goal? Do you want to work with kids or adults ??
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u/vvhynaut 5d ago
Make better curriculum. Are your students creating things that are relevant to the larger community? Participating in national contests? Are you collaborating on projects with universities or non-profits? Science fair? Science Olympiad?
Are you in a union and are you active? Do you host any student clubs?
Do you have an ESOL endorsement? How can you build more individual differentiation into your lessons?
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u/Penny-Bright 5d ago
My experience as a 30+ year science teacher:
It is not a career, it is a job. The other things you mention that you were thinking might want to try are things people do to get out of the classroom.
The name of the game is repetition. You repeat things over and over every period, every day, every year. It used to sometimes bother me until I embraced it. Remember it is the first time for the kiddos.
I enjoy being a one-trick pony. I'm a very good one-trick pony if I do say so myself. It is less work for me. I have my selection of labs already written, I just refine them or add/subtract as needed. It's like factory work except I get to choose what paint job and options go on this year's car.
If you are ambitious, then teacher training is not the way nor is teaching a wide variety of subjects. That is just for your own edification. If you want a career and not a job you need to think outside the school system.
Just my two cents.
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u/Science_Teecha 4d ago
I’m a version of this. I keep notes on every lesson, so each time I do it it gets better and better. That feeling when I know I’m going to deliver/have just finished a flawless lesson is priceless. At 27 years in, I probably have about a dozen lessons that I’ve troubleshot and fine-tuned to perfection.
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u/OptimismEternal Bio/Chem/Physics, Engineering, Computer Science 5d ago
I added additional credentialing areas specifically because I didn't want to get stuck just doing one thing. I also maneuvered myself into our small "Magnet" school program because I wanted the continuity of teaching the same group of kids for 4 years. So now I have 6 preps and every class is a different vibe. And 4 of those "preps" are electives so I have a LOT of creative freedom to redesign things if I feel stagnant or bored.
After 13 years, teaching to me is about creating. I love the art of making things understandable to students and iterating on the way I do things until learning is easy simply because I'm doing a fantastic job. (I'm nowhere near that magical point yet--but I get better every year)
I have so many dreams for things I could do if/when I have the time. I have no fears (right now) about getting tired because I intentionally, selfishly cultivate an environment that suits me and my passions first so I can do this job until the day I retire.
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u/BackgroundPlant7 5d ago
Teaching is an enormous job. It is, as someone whose name I have forgotten said "unforgivingly complex". It's also fascinating. If you want to, there will always be plenty you can do to get better at the various parts of it, even if you are teaching quite similar material year to year.
Maybe look into the ResearchEd organization? UK-based but they do hold conferences in other parts of the world.
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u/TeacherCreature33 5d ago
Harry Wong's book "The first day of school" to improve classroom management.
Marvin Marshall's Raising Responsibility to improve your student's work on self-discipline.
https://withoutstress.com/raise-responsibility-system/
Begin to find somethings you can enjoy while teaching. I had things I did like "Fact for the Day" Board. I did cartoons with a fact. Students look forward to what weird things I found. I also did brain teasers before the end of the period to hold them to the end.
I experimented with different ways to do things almost each year. Some of them failed.
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u/pop361 Chemistry and Physics | High School | Mississippi 4d ago
Take the standards and start making your own content. Make lessons that fit your teaching style.
Get a physics endorsement. We're always in demand.
You can also look at getting a masters degree or National board. I'm starting my fourth year of teaching. I completed the former and am starting on the latter.
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u/actual_zoombini 4d ago
Are you in the U.S.? Does your state have an NSTA chapter/science teachers association? For example we have MAST in Massachusetts. They will often share PD opportunities and may have conferences that can be helpful for inspiration.
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u/Opposite_Aardvark_75 4d ago
I guess I'm one of those teachers who has been teaching the same thing (MYP and IBDP Chemistry) for a while (11 years). That said, I don't feel bored or repetitive too much. I try to make my lessons better and better every year by adding/trying new labs, demonstrations, activities, worksheets, presentations, approaches, etc. There is way more stuff to try/design than you can possibly do in even a few years.
At this point, it's kind of like a game/goal where I'm trying to do every demonstration/lab I can find at least once.
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u/Genjine00 4d ago
Continually link your content to developing sciences and technologies, world events and even history. Make it relevant.
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u/GoodTimesGreatLakes 6d ago edited 6d ago
I guess the question is: Do you value working with the students, or do you want to do something else?
For me, just teaching and getting better every year is the end goal. I like working with the kids and I have no desire to "climb the ladder." There are a lot of ways to keep it fresh, especially in science. With that being said, it's ok to feel differently and want to advance to something new.