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New Teachers

Lack of Confidence Teaching Science

Author Post
Irene Garza Irene Garza 620 Points

Hello everyone. My name is Irene Garza and I am in my third year at the University of Texas Rio Grande in Texas. My major is Bilingual Education and plan to become an elementary teacher. Science is not my strong suit and I get anxious when I think about teaching science. Although I do know science, I tend to get more nervous when I try to explain or teach it. What are some ways or tips to feel more confident teaching science? Thank you in advance! 

Andrea Diaz Andrea Diaz 465 Points

Hello Irene Garza, I'm glad we go to the same University, and I agree with you sometimes we may feel nervous, anxious, and scared to start teaching students. However, we should first take a big deep breath because we need to have a positive attitude where we can show our future students about the importance of science. A great tip that everyone needs is to understand all the material of the subject, so you can be prepared towards your students and teach them anything that correlates with Science. Another tip that I think is necessary for all teachers to have in all subjects is to have confidence and to believe in your self, sometimes we tend to forget about our abilities to perform tasks and that's where we think 'We can't do it', but that's not true. We are capable of anything and if your say to yourself, you will do great in teaching Science, Math, Reading, and History. I also believe that if you want to teach Science, you could do it in a fun and interesting way so you understand that everything that you are doing is amazing and exciting for your students. Also, great tips that as future educators we need to keep in consideration are: be prepared, organized, be patient, active, clear, and fair to all of your students. Our job is to grow and to reflect on our actions and by doing this, our students will see us as role models because they will comprehend that everything we are doing is for their benefit and for their future. We need to engage and encourage our students to learn about the different topics that are important in the world and how everythiing correlates with science. 

Therefore, Irene have fun and a postive attitude towards teaching Science and you will do great, I know it. Just be confident about your self and your future career. Thank you Irene. 

 

Samantha Alanis Samantha Alanis 330 Points

Hi Irene! I'm glad to know we are attending the same university, i am pursuing an education major with a Bilingual concentration as well. I found your post interesting, we are on the same boat. I openely admit that Science has definitely never been my favorite subject, the thought of trying to even explain it or teach it feels worse with me, but I am interested in learning this semester and I'm hoping everything feels better at the end of the semester. One way I would feel more confident when teaching this subject would be to avoid going through the motions, students would feel more comfortable if you show them how much you enjoy teaching, if you are having a good times... chances are your students will too. Refuse to be the boring teacher! Enjoy one another.

Carmen Vanderhoof Carmen Vanderhoof 1230 Points

Hi Irene, 

It's normal to feel nervous when you're starting out. Be kind to yourself and realize there's no perfect lesson. You can prepare by watching classroom videos, rehearsing your lesson with a roommate or family member, and having additional questions ready for discussion. If you haven't heard of talk moves from Ready, Set, Science, do take a moment to check them out. You can download a free pdf of the book: 

https://www.nap.edu/read/11882/chapter/6 

Once you finish teaching your lesson, take a moment to jot down what was effective, areas for improvement, and other ideas while everything is fresh in your mind. You got this!

Hello Andrea, this is my third year at UTRGV and surprisingly I hadn't thought about how concern I'm suppose to be to teach science to my future students. The elementary school that I attended had it's own science teacher therefore, students would attend her classroom once everyday and learn there. After science class ended students would come back to class and begin a new subject with the teacher. I figured that this would be the scenerio for me but I now realize that it isn't. Just like Irene, I've never been good at science nor have I had an interest in learning science so, I know I would lack a lot of confidence when teaching the subject Science. However, the tips that you provided did help a lot to get myself motivated into achieving teaching science succesfully. I believe creating a hands-on activity is the best way to learn science most of the time and that's what I plan on doing in order to motivate my future students to learn science. 

Raul Covin Raul Covin 70 Points

Thank you for post

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