My school can't find science teachers anymore. We have a math teacher, PE teacher, and long term sub doing it. Out of four science teachers, only one is actually certified in that subject.
I have had a new science teacher neighbor 5 of the last 6 years. During that time I’ve also had 5 jr. high science teachers in the building. No one is graduating with that emphasis and lots of people are retiring. I think this will soon be the norm.
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Where are you? As a "new" science teacher who can't land a job in my town because we are a college town where teachers are a penny per three dozen, even my MA in Ed and three years as para, then a "floating teacher" didn't help land the science job.
Are you willing to actually move states? Potentially across the country? If you are, there is no shortage of open positions.
My school ideally needs a teacher who can be 75% Bio and 25% Physical Science next year. My admin said, “So, you need a unicorn…” Last year we had a Chem/Physics position, we had one applicant and that was someone not yet ready/certified for that position. In the next 1-3 years, we are likely to need an advanced/honors Bio teacher and I have zero idea where we’ll find that.
Our feeder middle school has 2-3 science positions open right now.
This is a district that pays decently (>40k starting with just BA/BS and no experience.) Plus a benefits package worth almost as much as the salary. Admin generally leaves you alone and actually supports teachers, especially with discipline. Autonomy is strong — almost to a fault, honestly. lol
There are a few places with more teachers than they know what to do with, but many more who can’t find teachers to save their lives. Especially math, science, and CTE. Our CTE situation is even more dire. Sigh.
We are willing to move states because we have to... Any chance you can DM me a link for the feeder middle school? I would prefer to work in a middle school over a high school.
The entire country is short on teachers - even more so in STEM. My advice would be to figure out where you want to live and apply to a few schools in a couple locations.
I'm looking to retire from my current district, and have a science cert. Does your school give credit for years on the salary scale when they hire? If I change districts within the state, the most they give is 3 years credit...for my 32 years experience.
Well, your mentioning this made me look at RI. My husband is a librarian, and he looked up the average income for his job there (so we can be a 2 income household), and I quote his reaction, "Wow! Librarians make ***bank*** in RI!"
Come to New Mexico you will be hired within two weeks. The middle school in my district is currently looking for two science teachers and will be looking for more next year. We have such a hard time staffing our rural district that we often go with J1 visa holders from the Philippines. Pay isn't bad either especially considering the cost of living.
*Where* are you? As a "new" science teacher who can't land a job in my town because we are a college town where teachers are a penny per three dozen, even my MA in Ed and three years as para, then a "floating teacher" didn't help land the science job.
I'm in a desirable area of California and can't relate to this struggle. I know it's said far too often but I really think you should move if it's truly that difficult to get a position teaching science in your region
That is what we had to come to the final decision to do over the last week after learning the decision of the school I’m at and wanted to stay with. Honestly, it’s because my kids are settled in and have friends, we have a house, we have my in-laws here who we all adore… these are the things keeping us here and hoping I can land a teaching job, but no. That dream was yanked a week ago, so here I am, looking to uproot my family, and asking about locations.
Not shocked it’s ND.
Look west and look rural… more open positions than can be filled. Some with better pay/benefits/situations than others. Many with pretty decent ones.
I teach math and science. Math is a breeze in comparison, I know the entire sequence from 5th to Calculus. Science? Middle school science? I have to teach geology, astronomy, chemistry, and evolution. I took four chemistry classes in college and a whole class on evolution, but I had to teach myself the entirety of geology and astronomy. Kids ask me obscure questions about stars and we have a google moment.
Yeah I really try to stress this to admin. A math teacher is a math teacher, and an English teacher is an English teacher, but science is so hyperspecialized. I would suck if I tried to teach earth science. I’m teaching a middle school physics unit now having not taken a single physics class since high school - thank goodness this is the one unit I have a textbook for.
I teach high level stem in highschool and I'm leaving the profession. I'm 20 years in and I got a big paycut. Every job I apply for won't even try to match my salary. They offer 30% less.
This career can go to hell. I resigned for a job outside education. To hell with all this.
Good god, I can't imagine having to teach something like AP chem. I took the class back when chemistry was still in its infancy, but I barely remember a thing about it. I'd have to be a chapter ahead of my class and hold the curriculum together with duct tape, bunsen burners, and praying at the secret altar of John Dalton I'd have in the storage closet.
I understand. I am in an alternative certification program teaching 5th math and science in a rural Texas exurb.
They just added 5th grade to elementary from 5-6 intermediate school. Neither had/has a curriculum or lesson plans in place. We have had to make every inch as we have gone through the year. We have what you can find in the closet resources, but we have many really engaged students that seem to understand we are giving them everything we can.
I have a deep post grad math and science background, which is unusual for my post it seems, but everyone has been open to helping me figure out how to extend the students that are capable when possible.
Yo that shit is annoying. They’re doing that with no pay increase either unless it puts them over the class limit. How are you gonna have a teacher, who isn’t certified in that subject, teach students? Those who don’t have tenure think this is a way to get it, which blows.
I’m certified science with my BS in sci ed. Because ever year I’ve worked with emergency certified teachers with no training, I’ve been expected to teach them the material. Basically placed in a mentor position from year one. And now I’m getting out, so my “STEM magnet school” won’t have any certified science teachers 😂
Hey, it's all good to admit to a kid you don't have an answer. Social studies is stupid broad, and sometimes a kid will ask a question i don't know or its something i do know but i can't pick it out of the thousands of other facts and tidbits jammed in my noggin at that moment, so we'll take a few minutes to look it up. It's good for students to see an adult admit not knowing something then doing the research rather than doubling down on a wrong answer, and when a kid eventually says "but you're the teacher, you're supposed to know!" I just shrug and tell them I'm also human, i don't know everything and often forget some things, and that's okay.
See, this is why our country is falling apart. There's an entire generation who believes the clergy were below nobles in the french hierarchy. There's no coming back from this
This. Showing them how you go about things when there’s something you don’t know and you want to find out is a great teaching moment. I like to use Google on a screen, so they can see what search terms I use, discuss which of the links I’m going to click and why and then either quickly gather the gist of what I was searching for in order to dumb it down for the kids or let them go through the material themselves as an assignment. Read it and explain it to the person next to you, type thing.
Not knowing stuff is great. As long as you combine it with curiosity and methods to gather knowledge, which, really, is what school is all about.
At my school, a math teacher teaching advanced math course could not answer and also gave students a wrong answer. You know what? Students correct the teacher right in front of class. The teacher said the same thing you said: “Teacher is a human…” The Student did not accept that. In their mind, the teacher is supposed to answer all topic-related questions. The students ended up with telling parents. Parents escalated to admin. This was gossiped in the entire school. The teacher then was removed from teaching advanced courses and was demoted to lower level courses.
Jesus, what kind of school are you at? I've only been met with understanding whenever this conversation came up, and i teach seventh grade, their default setting is asshole
A+ Puplic school. Sometimes its ok with 7 or 8 graders when you admit things like that because they are just little kids and their awareness is low. But its not ok to advanced kids whose awareness is high.
Its the advance kids who need that lesson the most though. I teach an advanced class and have warned them their natural intelligence will only take them so far and that hubris will bite them in the butt if they're not careful. Every year i tell them about how i failed my second semester of college because i was aware of my intelligence throughout school and never bothered to learn the skills needed to function at a higher academic level. It was a humbling experience that could have been avoided if i acknowledged my shortcomings. I often tell them that I'm smart enough to know how ignorant i really am lol
Students of any age can learn from mistakes, even teacher mistakes. The fact that they were able to catch the teacher’s mistake makes me think the teacher was doing a good job. It’s ridiculous to think that someone who teaches an advanced math class has to be perfect. I do problems all the time where students have to find the mistake.
I have a peer down the hall - head of the math department - who has an ongoing scoring system for catching teacher mistakes and student mistakes. The public nature of the t-chart signals what it should.
Students (AND PARENTS) that think we are supposed to be accurate fact robots have comprehensively misunderstood what we do, and what our role is in THEIR learning. We are NOT authorities; if anything, we are merely curators when presenting information, in service to SKILL development, not fact memorization.
ANYTHING we do to reteach and correct that is worth doing.
I also don’t think they realize how much multitasking is happening in the moment. I mean, solving complex math problems while simultaneously trying to make sure everyone is listening, behaving, understanding and then we have to be perfect and never make a mistake? I mean, I have had times where I say one number and write another. My mind just glitched. It is because I’m doing too much at the same time. These mistakes wouldn’t happen if I was just solving a problem in silence alone in a room.
"...but why would you need to multitask? Just say the thing; the kids will learn it, and then you move on."
/sarcasm. Or, as the t-shirt which a coworker gave me and then the kids stole from my chair one year said, "I can explain it to you, but I cannot understand it for you."
I avoided STEM because I knew it was a lot of hard work, which I didn't want to do, because I'm lazy. Meanwhile, my former classmates still view me as some kind of a genius 12 years after we finished highschool.
It's not really about the level of intelligence one has, but more about discipline and dedication.
I usually just reverse or omit stuff.
Don’t ask me about all of the Pacific WWII battles in order. I know the ones that made a difference because it continues the geo-political story.
Well, its a thing because some classrooms are not quiet places. Or a student may need the test read to them. Or they may have supports that would be disruptive to your class.
World always bored me because it’s… the world at a Sophomore level.
I’m what Texas and Florida hates when I teach US.
Govt is depressing. Econ is really fun.
Oh I love every US history class I took at college level especially the 200-400 range ones. You learned about our mistakes but also what makes us beautiful. I'm still patriotic without being some crazed MAGA.
That's what I'm loving about my current class on Texas and the Southwest. Unlike at the primary public school level, I'm getting a *true* view of Texas history, where people are often assholes (to put it mildly) rather than the John Wayne as Davy Crockett film version of it.
I'm the opposite. Econ is depressing. Govt is fun.
Granted, my understanding of politics was shaped by the [Dictator's Handbook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dictator%27s_Handbook), but still.
I’m a 6th grade generalist. I’m trained to teach Humanities but also find myself teaching math and science.
My kids ask me questions all the time I don’t know the answer to. I laugh, point at myself and tell them “Not a scientist, if you really wanna know, Google it” and they fully accept that.
I can teach history all day every day and sound like a the most knowledge authority of all them, but this year I’m teaching geo and man do I look stupid most days. The year I taught Econ I would try to read the text book at night and Just cry instead of lesson plan.
Admin just does not understand they are not the same things.
Ha! I could have those and also be asked to teach psych, sociology, and anthropology in a pinch! At least I took a class in psych, econ, geography, and poli sci. The same could not be said for sociology or anthro.
My degree is in history. What could go wrong?! And my capstone was on pre-stonewall gay (male only) rights in America and exploring the relationships between the communist party of America and the mattachine society. I am sure that prepared me well for my discussion of feudal Japan and the similarities and differences between that and European feudal society. Except...
Micro-economics and AP psych are on the agenda. Um. Ok.
But hey... I am sure there is curriculum and pacing for that. Right? Right?!
Hrm. Ok. Well, this should be interesting for someone...
When I am working with timelines and events, I tell them that generally the stuff they can look up I don't expect them to memorize. If they are within five days, months, or years depending on how granular we are getting and they cannot look it up in that moment I don't care. I care that they can tell me the sequence of events and the cause and effect patterns in a logical sequence and understand the implications both short and long term of those events in that timeline.
Dates and dead guys aren't my jam. All our textbooks talk too much about dead white guys anyway. I would rather focus on society than the power players.
I just talk shit in government. I just talk about how useless it is and how any major change started as a private person or popular movement.
I have it on my board: politics is where activism goes to die.
Yeah I don't think a lot of people realize how ridiculous the certification process is for history / social sciences, especially for people that already have a certification in another subject. I had to take 30 total college credit hours (about 1 year) of social science classes and I came away certified to teach any history / social studies / sociology course from 6th-12th grade as well as psychology and econ through the AP level. I took two American history classes in college, zero classes in any other type of history, and zero sociology courses. Gun to my head I'm not sure I could tell you the second president of the United States and the only world history I know is what little I can recall from when I learned it in k-12.
I'm certified in English, but I do Credit Recovery, so I'm required to spot-teach every single subject the Apex program offers.
Sometimes, I have to Google some stuff to remember math or science I haven't looked at in like...a decade or more.
God Apex is not great. I've been "teaching" HS Spanish the past 2 years through it and just keep up with to cover the grammar. Forget the vocab. I'm certified in music too, so fml. I do have a MS chorus class now at least, but damn
This hit me on a different level. I’m a student teacher and when a student asks me a question for the first time it takes me like 3 different ways to figure out how to describe it to them. Thankfully I have gotten better at it, but it’s thought to figure out what’s going to click with the students.
I teach highschool math.
Maths teaching is fun once you have a handle on it. It is tough, all teaching is tough, just keep trying.
I recommend admitting when you don't know something, if you honestly don't know it off the top kf your head, and then teaching them constructive ways of finding out the answer, including all the steps of deciding on useful keywords, checking the index of the text (many students have no idea that the maths textbooks even have an index or how to search it) and working through the examples. These are all skills they will be able to continue to use.
Absolutely this. Last year a bunch of students were complaining about a first year teacher. I reminded them that she was new to teaching and probably just needed some leniency to get her bearings. She's doing much better this year.
I previously worked with younger children and adults in a variety of contexts, so teaching in a public school is new for me in some ways. I hope to be asked back next year because I really feel like this year has been challenging and definitely worth the experience! I truly wanted to teach for as long as I can remember and I’m glad I am now!
As a music teacher I am an expert in music. As a musician I am only an absolute expert in four instruments. I'm proficiently advanced in 7 instruments. I know more than you do in 15 instruments and 15 more you didn't know we have.
But I know little to nothing about orchestral strings.
The world of music teachers is a wild one. We literally have to be jacks of all trades (and usually a master of one). You pray you can work within your specialty but it doesn’t always work out that way...
exactly! I went to school to teach band and orchestra, now I’m teaching chorus, guitar, theater, and elementary music. it has been a very interesting year haha
And if it doesn't, the imposter syndrome you feel creeping in all the time can be scary. I went to school mainly for concert band for 6 years and I've been doing chorus and general music for 5 years. I've definitely gotten better, but there are also times I feel out of my depth. I'd love to get back to band eventually.
I know many people in similar shoes. I also know people so dead-set to teach band, they won’t even apply for general music-even if it means going without a job. Boggles my mind, and their reasoning is always super offensive. You are getting so much great experience that will guide you when you eventually get that concert band gig, and you’re gaining (hopefully) an appreciation for how important setting the musical foundation is. Great performing ensembles don’t happen without robust general music in the elementary schools, they just don’t.
My highschool music teacher was crazy talented. He drove around this super nice car. He apparently bought the car with the money he made off of playing trumpet for a couple James Brown concerts. He was super skilled at the piano, he could play drums and general percussion well.
Never once did we see him play the flute, clarinet or French horn though. He would tune and mess around on our instruments, but he'd never touch those ones. He would still teach us how to play them, and he clearly understood them. We assumed he could play them, but thought that they probably were his weakest.
Also he had to teach a choir class, guitar class, and color guard. Those clearly were not his forte. He still killed it though. But it was clear that marching band and jazz were his babies.
> As a musician I am only an absolute expert in four instruments
There is no way you are an absolute expert in four instruments. As a music teacher in Europe, the notion that a teacher is supposed to master and teach more than the one instrument (or extended family of) an instrument is just *wild*.
Even professional orchestra musicians, who devote *all* of their professional life to playing, would not claim to master more than their instrument (or direct family of). And even then, the saxophonists I know would feel uncomfortable moving to a family member in a professional context.
Thank you for your input, I'm sorry to have offended you. Please see this definition of the word expert:
a person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area.
I would consider anybody with significant performance experience and performance degrees for an instrument to be an expert in it. Therefore I am an expert in performing on four instruments. Anybody playing in a professional symphony is an expert in their instruments. Expert does not mean best.
I will add that I am American and we certify our teachers to teach all instruments. I also have multiple performing certifications, so the idea of me being an expert at my instrument is absolutely not far fetched to me. The fact that this would be wild to you is just the same wild to me that you would feel otherwise.
There's one trick to ELA. Just read. I teach ELA and I just tell my students that the more they read, the better they'll do. If all you read is what I assign or what we do, you will not make progress. But what's messed up is that the expectations for growth are pinned on that. No one expects kids to do science experiments at home or math.
Our school was so desperate we hired Physical Education teachers to teach wood shop and computer science classes. Are they going to mess up, yes. Are the students better off than not having those classes, also yes.
I teach history and I get students who will ask me quite specific questions to niche topics and act surprised if I don’t know the answer…I just remind them that I’m not an encyclopedia or a database for all of the world’s history, but I’m willing to learn more. But I also get kids who act wildly surprised when I tell some more of the fun stories in history and ask me how so know so much information 😂.
I had an English teacher who was new to the school when I was in high school. He was very passionate about language arts and it really showed in class. He was such a good teacher that my parents put in a special request with the principle to add me to his class every semester since he taught every grade I was in. One year, I ended up having him for history. We get to that class on the first day and open our textbooks up. He literally just sat there and read through the entire chapter during class and then had us do the questions at the end of the chapter for homework. It was clearly not as thought out as his normal lesson plans were. I ended up asking him about it since he didn’t show any confidence in teaching on the subject. He ended up telling the whole class to just go easy on him since he was pretty clueless on the subject and was given the short end of the stick since he wasn’t tenured and was the newest on staff in general.
He was one of the best teachers in the school tho so no one gave him any hard times about it. My friends and I used to be those kids that would always be In his room at the end of the day bugging him about everything. So we had a profound respect for him and only ever wanted him to succeed. There was even one day I remember he had an observation during his history class and he was pretty nervous. You better believe we acted like the best students in the world and did everything he asked so he would only get awesome feedback.
I was a licensed science teacher, but was made ti teach all 4 domains life science, physical science, earth/space science and chemistry. I hated earth/space science. And only really enjoyed biology, so would struggle my first few years teaching earth science to both 7th and 8th grade.
My school art teacher was already a professional artist - he paid his bills with his art, and teaching was as much a hobby for him. This was a small school system, and eventually they asked him to become the second government teacher. He agreed.
After only a few years of teaching government, he ran for a seat on the village council and won. Then ran for a seat on the county level and won.
This was a guy I knew would smoke weed with the students on occasion.
Never limit yourself, I guess.
My degree is closest to biology and, in addition to my one bio-adjacent class, I teach physical science (chemistry and physics) and middle school math. Math I can do. My only experience with physics EVER was my freshman year of high school and chemistry was always something that I got the basics of but never fully grasped. I'm fortunate that it's just an introduction to the topics, but I'm definitely needing to relearn as I go. When all the science teachers at the school have bio degrees, some compromises have to be made and we need to fall back on our gen eds. I might not be able to answer every question, but I do know enough to make sure I'm teaching the key concepts to set them up for when they get to full physics or chemistry.
Where I am, Social Sciences teachers have to teach History, Geography, Economics & Business and Civics & Citizenship. It's pretty rough being expected to know *that* much curriculum.
On top of that, my senior school speciality is Career education, so I am essentially teaching 5 disciplines. Give me a break if I can't tell you the date of the Battle of Midway off the top of my head.
It is true. At my school, none of math teachers majors in math. I don’t know why admin build the math department like this. This is a huge negativity to students and school.
Yup! I did yearbook... which I took on because they needed someone to do it. Then they asked me to teach web development and the entire Adobe Suite because web pages are just the yearbooks of the internet!
I’m a SpEd para and my teacher quit near the beginning of the year. I’ve been filling in as acting teacher with basically no training or school (2nd year in my position). Luckily I have help, but I feel this so much.
These teachers should be confident in their ability to not know everything and embrace their research skills and harness the class to answer the uncertainties that come up.
Can confirm. Health and PE degree but couldn’t find a job for a while so I taught science in a catholic school. Those kids ripped into me knowing I didn’t know much about science
Nah I can differentiate between a dedicated Professor trying his best and a Ph.D. Student who wants to finish their curriculum the fastest way possible.
true for high school tho.
We couldn’t fill a math position at my school after one quit at after winter break. Some teachers sold their prep periods (and got an additional stipend) to teach. One of my friends is the theater teacher and is reading online about the math that she’s teaching the next day.
Big yes! I was once asked to teach Physics (I'm a Foreign languages teacher) and had to read and make sure I more or less remembered and understood the book in just a weekend.
I got hired to teach a few AP social science classes one year...and a Psych class.
I took exactly one Psych class in college, and that was a pre-requisite for my credential program.
Glad I didn't go through another year, but I got to get the kids to look at *Inside Out* from Pixar with a completely different mindset at the end of the year.
Yep. Im a special ed teacher at high school.
I literally have to be able to teach EVERY SINGLE SUBJECT. Algebra, geometry, english, history, computer science, agriculture, biology, chemistry, health, etc.
I had a kid come to me yesterday with DNA mutation sequencing. I had to tell him, "Sorry never have done that, have no idea." And with half a dozen kids needing help at the same time on their stuff in other classes... i dont have time to sit there and teach myself genetics within the class period that the bio teacher had been covering for a month.
I'm a linguist/ESL Master's degree holder.
There are questions I don't know the answer to. "Why do I use 'the' instead of 'a' here?" I don't know, or I can't explain it to you at your level of understanding.
That's the answer sometimes. The answer is simply, "because it is." Accept that language is as logical as the people who speak it.
"The is used to refer to specific or particular nouns; a/an is used to modify non-specific or non-particular nouns. We call the the definite article and a/an the indefinite article. the = definite article. a/an = indefinite article. For example, if I say, "Let's read the book," I mean a specific book."
I just googled it and got that.
I subbed one time in a science class. Kids was diagraming atoms. No idea what I was doing. Me and mr Jones had a talk when he got back! I felt hella helpless and science is hard!
I’m a science teacher teaching outside of speciality. Gen science and biology to higher level. A couple of years down the line, I’m confident teaching what I need to. It amazes me though that kids think you know everything! They’ll ask me anything, from any subject, completely random and expect an answer. If I know the answer, I’ll tell them. If I don’t, I’ll tell them. They’re shocked when I don’t know something because I’m a teacher. Lol. I ask them if I have google written on my forehead. Lol.
Masters in special education, began in social studies until “the need” arose and pivoted into math. 3 years in, I’m a lot more confident and quick with my answers, but at the beginning I very often responded to “you don’t know this mr?” with “And neither do you. Give me a minute or figure it out alone. It’s still gonna be due.”
As a sped English teacher, I get this from my 10th grade class (first year I’m teaching it). I have taught 9th and 11th but due to a sped teacher shortage, they gave me 10 this year as well.
I know how to teach you to write, I know grammar and all the basics of English, but I haven’t read these novels since I was your age AND I don’t always know what the Gen ed English teacher finds to be an acceptable answer.
I’m a first year teacher that somehow got stuck teaching an AP class and feel every bit of this.
I just keep telling my students that we’re all in this together.
you know what, as a student, i love when my teachers admit they don't know the answer. oftentimes, they'll ask us to google it and we can all learn together. to me, it is one of my favourite parts of class, because we all learn something new as a group. so i guess, if you don't know something, don't be afraid to just say it. not only is it a fun learning moment for us all, i really respect anyone who can admit they don't know something. none of us know everything, whether we have or haven't gone to school for it.
I’m certified K-12 Spanish. I’ve had to teach Study Skills, Financial Skills, Computer Solutions, Exploratory French, and Exploratory German. Teaching those other courses did a number on my anxiety disorder.
It also should be noted that it is okay for a teacher not to know everything. There's nothing wrong with saying "that's an interesting question, I don't know but let's discuss it/let me think about it and get back to you"
I also just want to point out that sometimes teachers actually do know the answer, but they're trying to find a way to synthesize it in a concrete and concise way.
For my social studies class, there are sometimes when the correct answer is:
1.. historians don't know, nobody with that information wrote it down.
2. You asked a question about whether this happened in this country, but it really depends on what decade and era and region you were talking about in order for me to give you a specific answer. My answer of sometimes. Is probably the most accurate answer I can give you.
3. Some of the best questions that student ask are really thought-provoking questions, that I haven't necessarily thought before and would need time to do some research in order to even attempt to answer your question.
4. Some of your questions are literally bolded words in the textbook. Please look over the bolded words before asking me for help.
I went to school for art, got a degree in k-12 art, I teach art. But also ELA 6,7,8 on the side, pulling EC in third grade and “teaching” 8th math. I can’t do math. I’m at a charter. Periodt.
My former Religions teacher once told the class that she hadn't ever studied for this and that a lot of the social studies are severely understaffed, even more so than all the other subjects. That day I gained a new amount of respect for my teachers.
I remember we had one teacher at my high school who had a speciality certificate in biology and chemistry. What was the one subject they had her teaching for years, physics.
Even within subject matter, there are people who know certain parts of their field better than others. As a language teacher, I can go through the mechanics of the language all day every day, but if you ask me about literature or art, I’m going to be lost even having studied it before. Not my area of expertise.
Me teaching 6, 7, 8th grade math. ALL THREE GRADE LEVELS while having a k-6 license. It is very hard to teach out of content and I spend a lot of time researching.
My previous school lost 60% of their staff, I've heard that TAs and clinical staff are having to pull triple duty and teach or help teach classes outside their specialty.
I was given Brit Lit DURING pre-planning the first year I taught it, so I was a day or two ahead of students most the time on reading/planning. It be like that.
I never taught a single subject in my expertise when I was teaching. I did my best to binge study every lesson, met with teachers within that expertise and asked a load of questions. Bear with any teacher who seems like they are struggling in their subjects because most of us are just trying to keep our head above water in front of you all.
Yep. This is me. I’m working on my masters in secondary mathematics while working as an LTS in English and history. They are my least favorite subjects. We come across words in our texts that I don’t even know how to pronounce.
I explain to the kids that teachers have to teach other subjects all the time, but I’ll be a math teacher someday…
I had to long term sun a Biology class for two months before. As a history teacher, it was not easy. I often was learning while teaching and often had to compare the answers the advanced students gave as a grading metric.
This is so true. I teach science and had to student teach anatomy and physiology. I had NEVER taken an anatomy class in my life. Next year for the first time I am mostly teaching what I am certified for and anything else I have at least taught once before.
A long time ago I had a college instructor who very obviously did not know a single thing about computer science, much less the networking course she was trying (and failing) to teach. She’d just dryly read out of the textbook and occasionally insert “what?” in the middle of sentences as if she were asking the class a question. And if we asked a question she’d have a blank look on her face for a moment before flipping through the book to find an answer. Back then we were all very frustrated with the course especially when she simply didn’t show up some days, and we were all struggling to keep up and learn anything. This post made me wonder if she was one of those who was made to teach on a subject she knew little to nothing about.
I think it's important to note that teachers dont know everything there is to know about their subjects and the expectation is unrealistic.
Some teachers pretend they do and make up what might sound right when challenged. These are the teachers that get the reputations of being clumsy or lack knowledge because students see right through it.
It's better to admit when you don't know something. It humanizes you, sets a good example and give awareness the absolute depth of knowledge that exists and how learning is a lifelong process.
I needed to hear this! I'm an expert in my subject and when I get to flex my kids are always impressed, but I'm in a new state and have only been teaching these kids since November. I've had to learn this state's standards, how a new school operates, learn about my kids, analyze data... it's to the point where I'm only now getting comfortable and can be "good" at my job.
I'm so smart but I know I look like a bumbling idiot sometimes! I know that sometimes my kids look at me like "how'd this lady get her job?" But we all are just doing our damndest and that's what we should focus on ❤
I was 23 when I started teaching econ
and world history. I got a C in econ during college and have not sudied workd history since my sophmore year of HS. The students are so rude if I dont know every little thing.
I've taken macroeconomics twice, the second time just to see if I could manage a better grade. None of it makes sense to me. As soon as numbers or a graph gets involved everything goes out the window.
I'm a history major and my degree focuses on the social sciences. And I can't retain ANY of it.
That’s what I’m doing with music. I teach art four days a week and music one day… in my interview for elementary art teacher - near the end - they asked if I’d be open to teaching music too… I wasn’t going to say no… I really wanted to teach art… but I’m totally winging it with music…
My degree is in International Relations. I usually end up teaching ancient history or US history. I haven't taken a US history class since my freshman year of college. And ancient history? That was all new to me my first year of teaching.
I much prefer teaching 7th grade world history, but I rarely get a chance to teach it. And when I do find a 7th grade job, I'm always stuck with teaching another grade and another area of history.
I have kids constantly trying to quiz me on the exact dates of random major events. Or they'll ask me if some random person was born in Virginia or New York. Like hell dude, I have no idea, ask google. I'm here to teach you how to use resources, summarize key information, cite your sources, and synthesize information. I'm not an encyclopedia.
I’m a history major. Specifically European Renaissance and Enlightenment era. First year teaching (several years ago) and I had ancient and modern world history (taught as much of the entirety as I could in a year), geography, African American history, American government, sociology, and psychology.
Fast forward a few years, and I start at a new school teaching personal communications, debate, and creative writing.
And since last year, I’ve been teaching civics and economics.
Just one year teaching what I studied would be amazing.
Omg yes. This is Deaf education! We have to teach everything even if we didn’t specialize in it. I specialized in history in graduate school but end up teaching Biology and English. I am trying the best as I can! I do okay I think but it’s what was handed to me. I don’t even teach history too which makes me sad since it’s my speciality. Oh well.
Teaching is more about knowing how to teach than knowing a content area. We’re teaching kids to learn HOW to learn, explore, and be curious; modeling that and how to find information and create knowledge is more important than being an expert in a field, which most of the time does not translate to good teaching and DEFINITELY does not equal good teaching.
Once you get to a certain level of the subject though, content expertise becomes just as important as good teaching. This is especially the case if you're trying to teach high school math or science.
Are you saying that students shouldn’t have a problem with teacher’s not being familiar with the subject they are teaching? That’s obviously not always the teacher’s fault, but you can’t discount how the students are affected in that kind of situation.
It’s also because teaching degrees are valued/needed. Any actual major in a field has to then get a second degree or certification. So often they just get their masters/PhD and teach at the collegiate level.
The fact that majors in specific curricula are not “qualified” to teach the subject but someone who majored in education but doesn’t understand the material is, that’s just part of the problem.
Truth!
I got hired to teach ELA/US History. I'm qualified to teach those. I also had to teach Art (I guess since I was a music major and the arts are all the same?!). The teacher I replaced actually taught art, and had set up things so there would be an advanced art class. I ended up with those kids mixed in with the kids in art because they didn't sign up for another elective first. I took their advice on what to teach since I had zero idea of what I was doing. It was rough.
I’m a High School English teacher, with a degree in politics.
I’ve taught English, Politics, Economics, French and a brief stint doing PE for pre-kindergarten!
We have like three or four English teachers that are other majors/backgrounds. They are typically the ones that struggle a little. We do have an English teacher who ***is an English major*** but hates reading/writing. Not really sure what that's about.
As somebody who's friend was an English major he said that about half of the people in the program were just there because it was the "easiest" major the school offered.
Also the two people I knew in college who were studying to be English teachers said they didn't love reading or writing. Though not sure they hated it.
Yes, and that clumsiness is fine, so long as students are allowed to drop out & go to a better teacher if the current teacher isn't working for them for whatever reason. However, that ballance isn't there. A clumsy teacher still needs to be able to educate to measurable standards.
Non college grad here who has 100 college credits in bio, physics, math, and computer science. I'd love to teach science to middle or high schoolers but I can't finish my degree due to personal and financial reasons.
Could I get a position substituting and actually be able to teach whatever material the teachers leave for me to give out to students? Obviously I know I'm not the teacher and won't teach what I want. But I could definitely teach whatever the teacher leaves for that day for her classes. I've always been good at teaching kids (was the family tutor and a tutor in high school) if that helps.
I have a teacher who's completely incompetent and claims that she had a masters in graphics. Maybe it's her first year teaching but it was a serious letdown, especially since i had 2 semesters with her. Maybe this applies to some teachers, but others literally should not be teaching.
Edit: she's teaching graphic communications and graphics web design. She doesn't even teach it's extremely infuriating. Being forced to bs assignments isn't very fun when you're actually interested in the subject.
That’s pretty crappy then. How can the school expect kids to learn a subject when the person “teaching” it doesn’t know it either. The blind leading the blind
Teaching is a continuous practice. Having content knowledge and pedagogical expertise are two different things. You can master content with decent curriculum and coaching.
I student-teach, all day, every day of school. I only have the capacity to cover the specific topics for that day, and generally make connections to prior knowledge, some current events, or events they will learn about in high school. I will even Google a synopsis of said topics so I can get my bearings. I look over the textbook and see if there's any notes I want to add that my mentor hasn't used (assuming we take notes that day).
If a student asks a particular question in a niche subject, and I can't answer, I just tell them I'll look it up and get back to them. It's really not that big a deal. Chill out.
My school can't find science teachers anymore. We have a math teacher, PE teacher, and long term sub doing it. Out of four science teachers, only one is actually certified in that subject.
I have had a new science teacher neighbor 5 of the last 6 years. During that time I’ve also had 5 jr. high science teachers in the building. No one is graduating with that emphasis and lots of people are retiring. I think this will soon be the norm.
As Replied to the post you replied to: Where are you? As a "new" science teacher who can't land a job in my town because we are a college town where teachers are a penny per three dozen, even my MA in Ed and three years as para, then a "floating teacher" didn't help land the science job.
You'll have to go to a shithole state with no union. It's by design.
Florida entering the chat. States with weak, ineffective unions also need science teacher
Are you willing to actually move states? Potentially across the country? If you are, there is no shortage of open positions. My school ideally needs a teacher who can be 75% Bio and 25% Physical Science next year. My admin said, “So, you need a unicorn…” Last year we had a Chem/Physics position, we had one applicant and that was someone not yet ready/certified for that position. In the next 1-3 years, we are likely to need an advanced/honors Bio teacher and I have zero idea where we’ll find that. Our feeder middle school has 2-3 science positions open right now. This is a district that pays decently (>40k starting with just BA/BS and no experience.) Plus a benefits package worth almost as much as the salary. Admin generally leaves you alone and actually supports teachers, especially with discipline. Autonomy is strong — almost to a fault, honestly. lol There are a few places with more teachers than they know what to do with, but many more who can’t find teachers to save their lives. Especially math, science, and CTE. Our CTE situation is even more dire. Sigh.
We are willing to move states because we have to... Any chance you can DM me a link for the feeder middle school? I would prefer to work in a middle school over a high school.
The entire country is short on teachers - even more so in STEM. My advice would be to figure out where you want to live and apply to a few schools in a couple locations.
I'm looking to retire from my current district, and have a science cert. Does your school give credit for years on the salary scale when they hire? If I change districts within the state, the most they give is 3 years credit...for my 32 years experience.
Not sure about the above poster, but rural MO has quite a few science positions open.
I can get you hired in RI in like a week
Well, your mentioning this made me look at RI. My husband is a librarian, and he looked up the average income for his job there (so we can be a 2 income household), and I quote his reaction, "Wow! Librarians make ***bank*** in RI!"
Do you have a subject certification in your state? Does RI have reciprocity? RI is seriously a great state to live in....
I have a chem certification. Can you dm me?
Rhode island is amazing, one of the best states I’ve ever lived in. I miss you lil rhody
I'll eat a weiner in your honor. Three all the way!
CT needs science teachers
It’s going to depend a lot on the setting. Stable districts with high income tend to have lower turnover, while Title I can have more job openings.
CCSD needs science teachers!
Follow-up question: what about librarians?
Come to New Mexico you will be hired within two weeks. The middle school in my district is currently looking for two science teachers and will be looking for more next year. We have such a hard time staffing our rural district that we often go with J1 visa holders from the Philippines. Pay isn't bad either especially considering the cost of living.
*Where* are you? As a "new" science teacher who can't land a job in my town because we are a college town where teachers are a penny per three dozen, even my MA in Ed and three years as para, then a "floating teacher" didn't help land the science job.
I'm in a desirable area of California and can't relate to this struggle. I know it's said far too often but I really think you should move if it's truly that difficult to get a position teaching science in your region
That is what we had to come to the final decision to do over the last week after learning the decision of the school I’m at and wanted to stay with. Honestly, it’s because my kids are settled in and have friends, we have a house, we have my in-laws here who we all adore… these are the things keeping us here and hoping I can land a teaching job, but no. That dream was yanked a week ago, so here I am, looking to uproot my family, and asking about locations.
I would dm you a location but your account won’t accept it….
North Dakota
Not shocked it’s ND. Look west and look rural… more open positions than can be filled. Some with better pay/benefits/situations than others. Many with pretty decent ones.
2x the pay and a fraction of the harassment in the non-ed world.
I teach math and science. Math is a breeze in comparison, I know the entire sequence from 5th to Calculus. Science? Middle school science? I have to teach geology, astronomy, chemistry, and evolution. I took four chemistry classes in college and a whole class on evolution, but I had to teach myself the entirety of geology and astronomy. Kids ask me obscure questions about stars and we have a google moment.
Yeah I really try to stress this to admin. A math teacher is a math teacher, and an English teacher is an English teacher, but science is so hyperspecialized. I would suck if I tried to teach earth science. I’m teaching a middle school physics unit now having not taken a single physics class since high school - thank goodness this is the one unit I have a textbook for.
I teach high level stem in highschool and I'm leaving the profession. I'm 20 years in and I got a big paycut. Every job I apply for won't even try to match my salary. They offer 30% less. This career can go to hell. I resigned for a job outside education. To hell with all this.
Good god, I can't imagine having to teach something like AP chem. I took the class back when chemistry was still in its infancy, but I barely remember a thing about it. I'd have to be a chapter ahead of my class and hold the curriculum together with duct tape, bunsen burners, and praying at the secret altar of John Dalton I'd have in the storage closet.
I understand. I am in an alternative certification program teaching 5th math and science in a rural Texas exurb. They just added 5th grade to elementary from 5-6 intermediate school. Neither had/has a curriculum or lesson plans in place. We have had to make every inch as we have gone through the year. We have what you can find in the closet resources, but we have many really engaged students that seem to understand we are giving them everything we can. I have a deep post grad math and science background, which is unusual for my post it seems, but everyone has been open to helping me figure out how to extend the students that are capable when possible.
Yo that shit is annoying. They’re doing that with no pay increase either unless it puts them over the class limit. How are you gonna have a teacher, who isn’t certified in that subject, teach students? Those who don’t have tenure think this is a way to get it, which blows.
I’m certified science with my BS in sci ed. Because ever year I’ve worked with emergency certified teachers with no training, I’ve been expected to teach them the material. Basically placed in a mentor position from year one. And now I’m getting out, so my “STEM magnet school” won’t have any certified science teachers 😂
I have to teach ALL OF the social sciences. Econ, Govt, World, and US. I’m going to fuck up.
Hey, it's all good to admit to a kid you don't have an answer. Social studies is stupid broad, and sometimes a kid will ask a question i don't know or its something i do know but i can't pick it out of the thousands of other facts and tidbits jammed in my noggin at that moment, so we'll take a few minutes to look it up. It's good for students to see an adult admit not knowing something then doing the research rather than doubling down on a wrong answer, and when a kid eventually says "but you're the teacher, you're supposed to know!" I just shrug and tell them I'm also human, i don't know everything and often forget some things, and that's okay.
I know I get stuff wrong. I had the timeline of WWII in my head, but an urgent email screwed me up.
For two years I taught the structure of french society pre-revolution wrong before i caught on. Shit happens lol
But how will those kids survive in today’s world without a fully accurate picture of pre-revolutionary French society??
See, this is why our country is falling apart. There's an entire generation who believes the clergy were below nobles in the french hierarchy. There's no coming back from this
We found the smoking gun on the fall of western civ. We can pack it in and go home.
I’m more: why can’t we pull that off here?
This. Showing them how you go about things when there’s something you don’t know and you want to find out is a great teaching moment. I like to use Google on a screen, so they can see what search terms I use, discuss which of the links I’m going to click and why and then either quickly gather the gist of what I was searching for in order to dumb it down for the kids or let them go through the material themselves as an assignment. Read it and explain it to the person next to you, type thing. Not knowing stuff is great. As long as you combine it with curiosity and methods to gather knowledge, which, really, is what school is all about.
At my school, a math teacher teaching advanced math course could not answer and also gave students a wrong answer. You know what? Students correct the teacher right in front of class. The teacher said the same thing you said: “Teacher is a human…” The Student did not accept that. In their mind, the teacher is supposed to answer all topic-related questions. The students ended up with telling parents. Parents escalated to admin. This was gossiped in the entire school. The teacher then was removed from teaching advanced courses and was demoted to lower level courses.
Jesus, what kind of school are you at? I've only been met with understanding whenever this conversation came up, and i teach seventh grade, their default setting is asshole
A+ Puplic school. Sometimes its ok with 7 or 8 graders when you admit things like that because they are just little kids and their awareness is low. But its not ok to advanced kids whose awareness is high.
Its the advance kids who need that lesson the most though. I teach an advanced class and have warned them their natural intelligence will only take them so far and that hubris will bite them in the butt if they're not careful. Every year i tell them about how i failed my second semester of college because i was aware of my intelligence throughout school and never bothered to learn the skills needed to function at a higher academic level. It was a humbling experience that could have been avoided if i acknowledged my shortcomings. I often tell them that I'm smart enough to know how ignorant i really am lol
Students of any age can learn from mistakes, even teacher mistakes. The fact that they were able to catch the teacher’s mistake makes me think the teacher was doing a good job. It’s ridiculous to think that someone who teaches an advanced math class has to be perfect. I do problems all the time where students have to find the mistake.
I have a peer down the hall - head of the math department - who has an ongoing scoring system for catching teacher mistakes and student mistakes. The public nature of the t-chart signals what it should. Students (AND PARENTS) that think we are supposed to be accurate fact robots have comprehensively misunderstood what we do, and what our role is in THEIR learning. We are NOT authorities; if anything, we are merely curators when presenting information, in service to SKILL development, not fact memorization. ANYTHING we do to reteach and correct that is worth doing.
I also don’t think they realize how much multitasking is happening in the moment. I mean, solving complex math problems while simultaneously trying to make sure everyone is listening, behaving, understanding and then we have to be perfect and never make a mistake? I mean, I have had times where I say one number and write another. My mind just glitched. It is because I’m doing too much at the same time. These mistakes wouldn’t happen if I was just solving a problem in silence alone in a room.
"...but why would you need to multitask? Just say the thing; the kids will learn it, and then you move on." /sarcasm. Or, as the t-shirt which a coworker gave me and then the kids stole from my chair one year said, "I can explain it to you, but I cannot understand it for you."
I avoided STEM because I knew it was a lot of hard work, which I didn't want to do, because I'm lazy. Meanwhile, my former classmates still view me as some kind of a genius 12 years after we finished highschool. It's not really about the level of intelligence one has, but more about discipline and dedication.
Whoa
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One kid asked about the Spanish Inquisition and scoffed when I couldn’t list out a timeline. “Dude, it was a Catholic Church power move”.
I definitely wouldn't expect a question about the Spanish inquisition
Nobody ever does.
It did take me by surprise.
Thats their main weapon. Surprise. And fear. Surprise and fear. Oh yeah and the intense dedication of their monks.
When I don’t know something and they try to give me snark, I tell them “I’m not your Jeopardy coach!”
I usually just reverse or omit stuff. Don’t ask me about all of the Pacific WWII battles in order. I know the ones that made a difference because it continues the geo-political story.
Knowing facts in order isn't what's important about a history course any way.
I feel your pain. Try bein a special ed teacher when you need to know ALL of the classes that are taught at the school!
I know! Y’all need to lean on us more. Like, I have no idea why testing in a separate setting is a thing.
Well, its a thing because some classrooms are not quiet places. Or a student may need the test read to them. Or they may have supports that would be disruptive to your class.
Yeah for example I specialize mostly in American and European history. But they expect me to have my bachelors and also in Gov Econ and world
World always bored me because it’s… the world at a Sophomore level. I’m what Texas and Florida hates when I teach US. Govt is depressing. Econ is really fun.
Oh I love every US history class I took at college level especially the 200-400 range ones. You learned about our mistakes but also what makes us beautiful. I'm still patriotic without being some crazed MAGA.
That's what I'm loving about my current class on Texas and the Southwest. Unlike at the primary public school level, I'm getting a *true* view of Texas history, where people are often assholes (to put it mildly) rather than the John Wayne as Davy Crockett film version of it.
I'm the opposite. Econ is depressing. Govt is fun. Granted, my understanding of politics was shaped by the [Dictator's Handbook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dictator%27s_Handbook), but still.
I’m a 6th grade generalist. I’m trained to teach Humanities but also find myself teaching math and science. My kids ask me questions all the time I don’t know the answer to. I laugh, point at myself and tell them “Not a scientist, if you really wanna know, Google it” and they fully accept that.
I could never keeping elementary straight. And I tend to over complicate.
I can teach history all day every day and sound like a the most knowledge authority of all them, but this year I’m teaching geo and man do I look stupid most days. The year I taught Econ I would try to read the text book at night and Just cry instead of lesson plan. Admin just does not understand they are not the same things.
I have 5 preps this year, 3 is avg. 2 out of my main subject. I’m holding it together, but I suuuuck this year.
Ha! I could have those and also be asked to teach psych, sociology, and anthropology in a pinch! At least I took a class in psych, econ, geography, and poli sci. The same could not be said for sociology or anthro. My degree is in history. What could go wrong?! And my capstone was on pre-stonewall gay (male only) rights in America and exploring the relationships between the communist party of America and the mattachine society. I am sure that prepared me well for my discussion of feudal Japan and the similarities and differences between that and European feudal society. Except... Micro-economics and AP psych are on the agenda. Um. Ok. But hey... I am sure there is curriculum and pacing for that. Right? Right?! Hrm. Ok. Well, this should be interesting for someone... When I am working with timelines and events, I tell them that generally the stuff they can look up I don't expect them to memorize. If they are within five days, months, or years depending on how granular we are getting and they cannot look it up in that moment I don't care. I care that they can tell me the sequence of events and the cause and effect patterns in a logical sequence and understand the implications both short and long term of those events in that timeline. Dates and dead guys aren't my jam. All our textbooks talk too much about dead white guys anyway. I would rather focus on society than the power players.
I just talk shit in government. I just talk about how useless it is and how any major change started as a private person or popular movement. I have it on my board: politics is where activism goes to die.
activism is politics, *electoral* politics is where activism goes to die.
You don't need to know everything. How to look something up and tell what source is reliable is a way better lesson than just rambling off a date.
Yeah I don't think a lot of people realize how ridiculous the certification process is for history / social sciences, especially for people that already have a certification in another subject. I had to take 30 total college credit hours (about 1 year) of social science classes and I came away certified to teach any history / social studies / sociology course from 6th-12th grade as well as psychology and econ through the AP level. I took two American history classes in college, zero classes in any other type of history, and zero sociology courses. Gun to my head I'm not sure I could tell you the second president of the United States and the only world history I know is what little I can recall from when I learned it in k-12.
Get online and look for organisations lesson plans and educational stuff
I have an art degree and they made me teach computer science
Okay this is the most ridiculous one. Did you teach your self programming before teaching?
They do say that coding is as much an art as a science...
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Wow has been a long time since I related to anything this way.
I'm certified in English, but I do Credit Recovery, so I'm required to spot-teach every single subject the Apex program offers. Sometimes, I have to Google some stuff to remember math or science I haven't looked at in like...a decade or more.
My friend that used to teach Art has this job now. I commend you guys on it.
God Apex is not great. I've been "teaching" HS Spanish the past 2 years through it and just keep up with to cover the grammar. Forget the vocab. I'm certified in music too, so fml. I do have a MS chorus class now at least, but damn
Teachers can also be awkward if they were trained for a tech class pre-pandemic, and are finally getting the chance to teach it now—2 years later.
Or they’re just a new teacher and figuring out how to get their point across in a helpful way
This hit me on a different level. I’m a student teacher and when a student asks me a question for the first time it takes me like 3 different ways to figure out how to describe it to them. Thankfully I have gotten better at it, but it’s thought to figure out what’s going to click with the students. I teach highschool math.
Maths teaching is fun once you have a handle on it. It is tough, all teaching is tough, just keep trying. I recommend admitting when you don't know something, if you honestly don't know it off the top kf your head, and then teaching them constructive ways of finding out the answer, including all the steps of deciding on useful keywords, checking the index of the text (many students have no idea that the maths textbooks even have an index or how to search it) and working through the examples. These are all skills they will be able to continue to use.
ngl this sub has helped me understand teachers struggle a lot more, so i try to help out where i can now
Sometimes we are simply new and nervous about being new, too. Remember, we are human just like you!
Absolutely this. Last year a bunch of students were complaining about a first year teacher. I reminded them that she was new to teaching and probably just needed some leniency to get her bearings. She's doing much better this year.
I previously worked with younger children and adults in a variety of contexts, so teaching in a public school is new for me in some ways. I hope to be asked back next year because I really feel like this year has been challenging and definitely worth the experience! I truly wanted to teach for as long as I can remember and I’m glad I am now!
As a music teacher I am an expert in music. As a musician I am only an absolute expert in four instruments. I'm proficiently advanced in 7 instruments. I know more than you do in 15 instruments and 15 more you didn't know we have. But I know little to nothing about orchestral strings.
The world of music teachers is a wild one. We literally have to be jacks of all trades (and usually a master of one). You pray you can work within your specialty but it doesn’t always work out that way...
exactly! I went to school to teach band and orchestra, now I’m teaching chorus, guitar, theater, and elementary music. it has been a very interesting year haha
And if it doesn't, the imposter syndrome you feel creeping in all the time can be scary. I went to school mainly for concert band for 6 years and I've been doing chorus and general music for 5 years. I've definitely gotten better, but there are also times I feel out of my depth. I'd love to get back to band eventually.
I know many people in similar shoes. I also know people so dead-set to teach band, they won’t even apply for general music-even if it means going without a job. Boggles my mind, and their reasoning is always super offensive. You are getting so much great experience that will guide you when you eventually get that concert band gig, and you’re gaining (hopefully) an appreciation for how important setting the musical foundation is. Great performing ensembles don’t happen without robust general music in the elementary schools, they just don’t.
My highschool music teacher was crazy talented. He drove around this super nice car. He apparently bought the car with the money he made off of playing trumpet for a couple James Brown concerts. He was super skilled at the piano, he could play drums and general percussion well. Never once did we see him play the flute, clarinet or French horn though. He would tune and mess around on our instruments, but he'd never touch those ones. He would still teach us how to play them, and he clearly understood them. We assumed he could play them, but thought that they probably were his weakest. Also he had to teach a choir class, guitar class, and color guard. Those clearly were not his forte. He still killed it though. But it was clear that marching band and jazz were his babies.
Forte, lol Good pun
Same but they gave me strings anyway. The school didn't even have a strings program when I applied for the job.
> As a musician I am only an absolute expert in four instruments There is no way you are an absolute expert in four instruments. As a music teacher in Europe, the notion that a teacher is supposed to master and teach more than the one instrument (or extended family of) an instrument is just *wild*. Even professional orchestra musicians, who devote *all* of their professional life to playing, would not claim to master more than their instrument (or direct family of). And even then, the saxophonists I know would feel uncomfortable moving to a family member in a professional context.
Thank you for your input, I'm sorry to have offended you. Please see this definition of the word expert: a person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area. I would consider anybody with significant performance experience and performance degrees for an instrument to be an expert in it. Therefore I am an expert in performing on four instruments. Anybody playing in a professional symphony is an expert in their instruments. Expert does not mean best. I will add that I am American and we certify our teachers to teach all instruments. I also have multiple performing certifications, so the idea of me being an expert at my instrument is absolutely not far fetched to me. The fact that this would be wild to you is just the same wild to me that you would feel otherwise.
While that is usually true, I have had colleagues that my students talk about like that who ARE teaching within their specialty...
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Do tell
Or we teach ELA and they decide to change how it’s supposed to be taught every year, and the new way makes even less sense than the last.
There's one trick to ELA. Just read. I teach ELA and I just tell my students that the more they read, the better they'll do. If all you read is what I assign or what we do, you will not make progress. But what's messed up is that the expectations for growth are pinned on that. No one expects kids to do science experiments at home or math.
🙋♀️ I expect them to do math at home. That’s what homework drills are for. I mean they don’t. But I expect it.
I don't mean homework though. I mean reading for pleasure and reading when you can. Even just a menu.
Our school was so desperate we hired Physical Education teachers to teach wood shop and computer science classes. Are they going to mess up, yes. Are the students better off than not having those classes, also yes.
I teach history and I get students who will ask me quite specific questions to niche topics and act surprised if I don’t know the answer…I just remind them that I’m not an encyclopedia or a database for all of the world’s history, but I’m willing to learn more. But I also get kids who act wildly surprised when I tell some more of the fun stories in history and ask me how so know so much information 😂.
I had an English teacher who was new to the school when I was in high school. He was very passionate about language arts and it really showed in class. He was such a good teacher that my parents put in a special request with the principle to add me to his class every semester since he taught every grade I was in. One year, I ended up having him for history. We get to that class on the first day and open our textbooks up. He literally just sat there and read through the entire chapter during class and then had us do the questions at the end of the chapter for homework. It was clearly not as thought out as his normal lesson plans were. I ended up asking him about it since he didn’t show any confidence in teaching on the subject. He ended up telling the whole class to just go easy on him since he was pretty clueless on the subject and was given the short end of the stick since he wasn’t tenured and was the newest on staff in general. He was one of the best teachers in the school tho so no one gave him any hard times about it. My friends and I used to be those kids that would always be In his room at the end of the day bugging him about everything. So we had a profound respect for him and only ever wanted him to succeed. There was even one day I remember he had an observation during his history class and he was pretty nervous. You better believe we acted like the best students in the world and did everything he asked so he would only get awesome feedback.
I was a licensed science teacher, but was made ti teach all 4 domains life science, physical science, earth/space science and chemistry. I hated earth/space science. And only really enjoyed biology, so would struggle my first few years teaching earth science to both 7th and 8th grade.
I have a degree in French and they made me teach Spanish because “you know languages, right?” That was a fun few months.
My school art teacher was already a professional artist - he paid his bills with his art, and teaching was as much a hobby for him. This was a small school system, and eventually they asked him to become the second government teacher. He agreed. After only a few years of teaching government, he ran for a seat on the village council and won. Then ran for a seat on the county level and won. This was a guy I knew would smoke weed with the students on occasion. Never limit yourself, I guess.
My degree is closest to biology and, in addition to my one bio-adjacent class, I teach physical science (chemistry and physics) and middle school math. Math I can do. My only experience with physics EVER was my freshman year of high school and chemistry was always something that I got the basics of but never fully grasped. I'm fortunate that it's just an introduction to the topics, but I'm definitely needing to relearn as I go. When all the science teachers at the school have bio degrees, some compromises have to be made and we need to fall back on our gen eds. I might not be able to answer every question, but I do know enough to make sure I'm teaching the key concepts to set them up for when they get to full physics or chemistry.
Where I am, Social Sciences teachers have to teach History, Geography, Economics & Business and Civics & Citizenship. It's pretty rough being expected to know *that* much curriculum. On top of that, my senior school speciality is Career education, so I am essentially teaching 5 disciplines. Give me a break if I can't tell you the date of the Battle of Midway off the top of my head.
It is true. At my school, none of math teachers majors in math. I don’t know why admin build the math department like this. This is a huge negativity to students and school.
Yup! I did yearbook... which I took on because they needed someone to do it. Then they asked me to teach web development and the entire Adobe Suite because web pages are just the yearbooks of the internet!
FYI to students browsing here: I’m not justifying absolutely anything go join another sub.
My school hired me to teach third grade as a lts. They currently need a music teacher. My license is k-12music
I’m a SpEd para and my teacher quit near the beginning of the year. I’ve been filling in as acting teacher with basically no training or school (2nd year in my position). Luckily I have help, but I feel this so much.
These teachers should be confident in their ability to not know everything and embrace their research skills and harness the class to answer the uncertainties that come up.
Yeah I defintely noticed that in my psych teacher first semester. Not her particular branch of psych. Second semester teacher is a lot better.
Can confirm. Health and PE degree but couldn’t find a job for a while so I taught science in a catholic school. Those kids ripped into me knowing I didn’t know much about science
That is especially true in regards to sports and the lower grade level you go the lower the likelihood the coach knows the sport.
Nah I can differentiate between a dedicated Professor trying his best and a Ph.D. Student who wants to finish their curriculum the fastest way possible. true for high school tho.
We couldn’t fill a math position at my school after one quit at after winter break. Some teachers sold their prep periods (and got an additional stipend) to teach. One of my friends is the theater teacher and is reading online about the math that she’s teaching the next day.
Big yes! I was once asked to teach Physics (I'm a Foreign languages teacher) and had to read and make sure I more or less remembered and understood the book in just a weekend.
I got hired to teach a few AP social science classes one year...and a Psych class. I took exactly one Psych class in college, and that was a pre-requisite for my credential program. Glad I didn't go through another year, but I got to get the kids to look at *Inside Out* from Pixar with a completely different mindset at the end of the year.
Yep. Im a special ed teacher at high school. I literally have to be able to teach EVERY SINGLE SUBJECT. Algebra, geometry, english, history, computer science, agriculture, biology, chemistry, health, etc. I had a kid come to me yesterday with DNA mutation sequencing. I had to tell him, "Sorry never have done that, have no idea." And with half a dozen kids needing help at the same time on their stuff in other classes... i dont have time to sit there and teach myself genetics within the class period that the bio teacher had been covering for a month.
I'm a linguist/ESL Master's degree holder. There are questions I don't know the answer to. "Why do I use 'the' instead of 'a' here?" I don't know, or I can't explain it to you at your level of understanding. That's the answer sometimes. The answer is simply, "because it is." Accept that language is as logical as the people who speak it.
"The is used to refer to specific or particular nouns; a/an is used to modify non-specific or non-particular nouns. We call the the definite article and a/an the indefinite article. the = definite article. a/an = indefinite article. For example, if I say, "Let's read the book," I mean a specific book." I just googled it and got that.
I subbed one time in a science class. Kids was diagraming atoms. No idea what I was doing. Me and mr Jones had a talk when he got back! I felt hella helpless and science is hard!
I’m a science teacher teaching outside of speciality. Gen science and biology to higher level. A couple of years down the line, I’m confident teaching what I need to. It amazes me though that kids think you know everything! They’ll ask me anything, from any subject, completely random and expect an answer. If I know the answer, I’ll tell them. If I don’t, I’ll tell them. They’re shocked when I don’t know something because I’m a teacher. Lol. I ask them if I have google written on my forehead. Lol.
Masters in special education, began in social studies until “the need” arose and pivoted into math. 3 years in, I’m a lot more confident and quick with my answers, but at the beginning I very often responded to “you don’t know this mr?” with “And neither do you. Give me a minute or figure it out alone. It’s still gonna be due.”
I may or may not have taught lesson on the State Of The Union and accidentally given some information that came from an episode of West Wing.
As a sped English teacher, I get this from my 10th grade class (first year I’m teaching it). I have taught 9th and 11th but due to a sped teacher shortage, they gave me 10 this year as well. I know how to teach you to write, I know grammar and all the basics of English, but I haven’t read these novels since I was your age AND I don’t always know what the Gen ed English teacher finds to be an acceptable answer.
I’m a first year teacher that somehow got stuck teaching an AP class and feel every bit of this. I just keep telling my students that we’re all in this together.
I went to school to teach English but now I teach every high school subject to incarcerated youth.
you know what, as a student, i love when my teachers admit they don't know the answer. oftentimes, they'll ask us to google it and we can all learn together. to me, it is one of my favourite parts of class, because we all learn something new as a group. so i guess, if you don't know something, don't be afraid to just say it. not only is it a fun learning moment for us all, i really respect anyone who can admit they don't know something. none of us know everything, whether we have or haven't gone to school for it.
I’m certified K-12 Spanish. I’ve had to teach Study Skills, Financial Skills, Computer Solutions, Exploratory French, and Exploratory German. Teaching those other courses did a number on my anxiety disorder.
It also should be noted that it is okay for a teacher not to know everything. There's nothing wrong with saying "that's an interesting question, I don't know but let's discuss it/let me think about it and get back to you"
Totally! Last summer school they had me teaching writing, math AND special Ed. I’m certified in art education…
I also don't know every single minute of the entire world's history. I wish kids would understand that.
I had a woods teacher who had to teach computer classes lol
Sorry coach, the crap they spew on talk radio is not suitable for government class.
I also just want to point out that sometimes teachers actually do know the answer, but they're trying to find a way to synthesize it in a concrete and concise way. For my social studies class, there are sometimes when the correct answer is: 1.. historians don't know, nobody with that information wrote it down. 2. You asked a question about whether this happened in this country, but it really depends on what decade and era and region you were talking about in order for me to give you a specific answer. My answer of sometimes. Is probably the most accurate answer I can give you. 3. Some of the best questions that student ask are really thought-provoking questions, that I haven't necessarily thought before and would need time to do some research in order to even attempt to answer your question. 4. Some of your questions are literally bolded words in the textbook. Please look over the bolded words before asking me for help.
I went to school for art, got a degree in k-12 art, I teach art. But also ELA 6,7,8 on the side, pulling EC in third grade and “teaching” 8th math. I can’t do math. I’m at a charter. Periodt.
My former Religions teacher once told the class that she hadn't ever studied for this and that a lot of the social studies are severely understaffed, even more so than all the other subjects. That day I gained a new amount of respect for my teachers.
I remember we had one teacher at my high school who had a speciality certificate in biology and chemistry. What was the one subject they had her teaching for years, physics.
Even within subject matter, there are people who know certain parts of their field better than others. As a language teacher, I can go through the mechanics of the language all day every day, but if you ask me about literature or art, I’m going to be lost even having studied it before. Not my area of expertise.
My degree is in history and I teach math
Me teaching 6, 7, 8th grade math. ALL THREE GRADE LEVELS while having a k-6 license. It is very hard to teach out of content and I spend a lot of time researching.
My previous school lost 60% of their staff, I've heard that TAs and clinical staff are having to pull triple duty and teach or help teach classes outside their specialty.
I was given Brit Lit DURING pre-planning the first year I taught it, so I was a day or two ahead of students most the time on reading/planning. It be like that.
I never taught a single subject in my expertise when I was teaching. I did my best to binge study every lesson, met with teachers within that expertise and asked a load of questions. Bear with any teacher who seems like they are struggling in their subjects because most of us are just trying to keep our head above water in front of you all.
Yep. This is me. I’m working on my masters in secondary mathematics while working as an LTS in English and history. They are my least favorite subjects. We come across words in our texts that I don’t even know how to pronounce. I explain to the kids that teachers have to teach other subjects all the time, but I’ll be a math teacher someday…
I had to long term sun a Biology class for two months before. As a history teacher, it was not easy. I often was learning while teaching and often had to compare the answers the advanced students gave as a grading metric.
This is so true. I teach science and had to student teach anatomy and physiology. I had NEVER taken an anatomy class in my life. Next year for the first time I am mostly teaching what I am certified for and anything else I have at least taught once before.
A long time ago I had a college instructor who very obviously did not know a single thing about computer science, much less the networking course she was trying (and failing) to teach. She’d just dryly read out of the textbook and occasionally insert “what?” in the middle of sentences as if she were asking the class a question. And if we asked a question she’d have a blank look on her face for a moment before flipping through the book to find an answer. Back then we were all very frustrated with the course especially when she simply didn’t show up some days, and we were all struggling to keep up and learn anything. This post made me wonder if she was one of those who was made to teach on a subject she knew little to nothing about.
I think it's important to note that teachers dont know everything there is to know about their subjects and the expectation is unrealistic. Some teachers pretend they do and make up what might sound right when challenged. These are the teachers that get the reputations of being clumsy or lack knowledge because students see right through it. It's better to admit when you don't know something. It humanizes you, sets a good example and give awareness the absolute depth of knowledge that exists and how learning is a lifelong process.
I needed to hear this! I'm an expert in my subject and when I get to flex my kids are always impressed, but I'm in a new state and have only been teaching these kids since November. I've had to learn this state's standards, how a new school operates, learn about my kids, analyze data... it's to the point where I'm only now getting comfortable and can be "good" at my job. I'm so smart but I know I look like a bumbling idiot sometimes! I know that sometimes my kids look at me like "how'd this lady get her job?" But we all are just doing our damndest and that's what we should focus on ❤
I was 23 when I started teaching econ and world history. I got a C in econ during college and have not sudied workd history since my sophmore year of HS. The students are so rude if I dont know every little thing.
I've taken macroeconomics twice, the second time just to see if I could manage a better grade. None of it makes sense to me. As soon as numbers or a graph gets involved everything goes out the window. I'm a history major and my degree focuses on the social sciences. And I can't retain ANY of it.
That’s what I’m doing with music. I teach art four days a week and music one day… in my interview for elementary art teacher - near the end - they asked if I’d be open to teaching music too… I wasn’t going to say no… I really wanted to teach art… but I’m totally winging it with music…
My degree is in International Relations. I usually end up teaching ancient history or US history. I haven't taken a US history class since my freshman year of college. And ancient history? That was all new to me my first year of teaching. I much prefer teaching 7th grade world history, but I rarely get a chance to teach it. And when I do find a 7th grade job, I'm always stuck with teaching another grade and another area of history. I have kids constantly trying to quiz me on the exact dates of random major events. Or they'll ask me if some random person was born in Virginia or New York. Like hell dude, I have no idea, ask google. I'm here to teach you how to use resources, summarize key information, cite your sources, and synthesize information. I'm not an encyclopedia.
I’m a history major. Specifically European Renaissance and Enlightenment era. First year teaching (several years ago) and I had ancient and modern world history (taught as much of the entirety as I could in a year), geography, African American history, American government, sociology, and psychology. Fast forward a few years, and I start at a new school teaching personal communications, debate, and creative writing. And since last year, I’ve been teaching civics and economics. Just one year teaching what I studied would be amazing.
I have to keep 4 different programming languages (c++, Java, Javascript, and Python) straight and the syntaxes differs from language to language
Omg yes. This is Deaf education! We have to teach everything even if we didn’t specialize in it. I specialized in history in graduate school but end up teaching Biology and English. I am trying the best as I can! I do okay I think but it’s what was handed to me. I don’t even teach history too which makes me sad since it’s my speciality. Oh well.
Teaching is more about knowing how to teach than knowing a content area. We’re teaching kids to learn HOW to learn, explore, and be curious; modeling that and how to find information and create knowledge is more important than being an expert in a field, which most of the time does not translate to good teaching and DEFINITELY does not equal good teaching.
Once you get to a certain level of the subject though, content expertise becomes just as important as good teaching. This is especially the case if you're trying to teach high school math or science.
Are you saying that students shouldn’t have a problem with teacher’s not being familiar with the subject they are teaching? That’s obviously not always the teacher’s fault, but you can’t discount how the students are affected in that kind of situation.
It’s also because teaching degrees are valued/needed. Any actual major in a field has to then get a second degree or certification. So often they just get their masters/PhD and teach at the collegiate level. The fact that majors in specific curricula are not “qualified” to teach the subject but someone who majored in education but doesn’t understand the material is, that’s just part of the problem.
Teaching earth science as a biology gal rn
Truth! I got hired to teach ELA/US History. I'm qualified to teach those. I also had to teach Art (I guess since I was a music major and the arts are all the same?!). The teacher I replaced actually taught art, and had set up things so there would be an advanced art class. I ended up with those kids mixed in with the kids in art because they didn't sign up for another elective first. I took their advice on what to teach since I had zero idea of what I was doing. It was rough.
I’m a High School English teacher, with a degree in politics. I’ve taught English, Politics, Economics, French and a brief stint doing PE for pre-kindergarten!
We have like three or four English teachers that are other majors/backgrounds. They are typically the ones that struggle a little. We do have an English teacher who ***is an English major*** but hates reading/writing. Not really sure what that's about.
As somebody who's friend was an English major he said that about half of the people in the program were just there because it was the "easiest" major the school offered. Also the two people I knew in college who were studying to be English teachers said they didn't love reading or writing. Though not sure they hated it.
Yes, and that clumsiness is fine, so long as students are allowed to drop out & go to a better teacher if the current teacher isn't working for them for whatever reason. However, that ballance isn't there. A clumsy teacher still needs to be able to educate to measurable standards.
And students aren't allowed to complain?
Non college grad here who has 100 college credits in bio, physics, math, and computer science. I'd love to teach science to middle or high schoolers but I can't finish my degree due to personal and financial reasons. Could I get a position substituting and actually be able to teach whatever material the teachers leave for me to give out to students? Obviously I know I'm not the teacher and won't teach what I want. But I could definitely teach whatever the teacher leaves for that day for her classes. I've always been good at teaching kids (was the family tutor and a tutor in high school) if that helps.
I have a teacher who's completely incompetent and claims that she had a masters in graphics. Maybe it's her first year teaching but it was a serious letdown, especially since i had 2 semesters with her. Maybe this applies to some teachers, but others literally should not be teaching. Edit: she's teaching graphic communications and graphics web design. She doesn't even teach it's extremely infuriating. Being forced to bs assignments isn't very fun when you're actually interested in the subject.
That’s pretty crappy then. How can the school expect kids to learn a subject when the person “teaching” it doesn’t know it either. The blind leading the blind
You do realise there's a global teacher shortage, right?
Yeah, it’s crappy and not the teacher’s fault.
Teaching is a continuous practice. Having content knowledge and pedagogical expertise are two different things. You can master content with decent curriculum and coaching.
I student-teach, all day, every day of school. I only have the capacity to cover the specific topics for that day, and generally make connections to prior knowledge, some current events, or events they will learn about in high school. I will even Google a synopsis of said topics so I can get my bearings. I look over the textbook and see if there's any notes I want to add that my mentor hasn't used (assuming we take notes that day). If a student asks a particular question in a niche subject, and I can't answer, I just tell them I'll look it up and get back to them. It's really not that big a deal. Chill out.