Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

Once I got through my 1st year teaching elementary STEM, I was so excited. This 1st year in teaching STEM confirmed that this was a passion of mine, and I was ready for year 2. That 1st year in my STEM teacher pathway, I had the role of a navigator, and I was ready to step into that next stage as an investigator. What are these stages that I'm talking about? Let's dive into the 2nd stage of your STEM teacher pathway, the investigator, and how my experiences can connect with yours. 

Naomi Meredith [00:01:05]:

The doors are officially open to my STEM into fall group coaching program, and you are hearing it first on this podcast. I haven't talked about it anywhere else. I am actually ending my STEM into the spring cohort this week if you're listening to this podcast live. And me and the group members, the teachers in this group, we're So sad that our time is over. It has gone by so fast, and we had four incredible months together where the teachers audited their lesson plans. They looked at their inventory and were able to see where they were at in their STEM year and where they would like to go. 

Naomi Meredith [00:01:59]:

I really felt like during this time with these teachers, I got an inside look at their classrooms, and I really got a feel for what their teaching style is, how their program runs, and how I could best support I loved working with these teachers every single week, including our live calls and our group messaging, seeing pictures, hearing successes of lessons that we planned together, and how great they were, including the whole k through 5 ocean unit that we planned together. I am so sad that this group is over, but I'm confident that they're gonna be even more amazing in their STEM spaces. The spots are limited for my group coaching program, and I would love to invite you in. There are 2 different levels for you to join that can meet your needs, and by being a podcast listener, you get a bonus of $500 off on level 2 of our group coaching STEM into fall. Now, this is a limited-time bonus. It will expire on September 28, 2023, so make sure to jump into that. You can join our group coaching program at namiemeridith.com/stemintofall. And to grab that extra $500 off in level 2, use the coupon code stemintofall, all one word and no spaces.

Naomi Meredith [00:03:19]:

I'll see you in our group. Make sure to go and claim your spot. Making it through my 1st year of elementary STEM was quite a whirlwind, and there were a lot of comparisons between that 1st year teaching STEM and my 1st year teaching ever. Now, thankfully, I had 6 years of teaching in the homeroom classroom, 2nd grade for 2 years, 3rd grade for 4 years. Luckily, I had teaching experience under my belt, so it did really play into my success that 1st year teaching elementary STEM. What was it like my next couple of years teaching elementary STEM? Because I knew this was definitely the pathway for me as an educator. So, let's jump into my STEM teacher pathway and how I moved from being an investigator in my 1st year to moving into the role of a navigator. So, what is a navigator in the STEM teacher pathway? This is a whole pathway that I came up with, and you might be in this stage of your STEM teaching career.

Naomi Meredith [00:04:25]:

A navigator is you've already accomplished that 1st year teaching STEM, and you are within your 2nd to 3 years of STEM. You are really getting the hang of managing multiple projects at once. It's not as overwhelming as it used to be. You know what's going on in your controlled chaos environment, and you are really getting those systems and routines down. Of course, tweaking things when they're not working the way that they should, but you are getting that momentum in your STEM space. With that, you have your bank of lesson plans that went well your 1st year, and you're starting to work on getting creative with your lessons. Maybe not a whole overhaul of every single lesson in your program, but maybe trying some new things to see how they will work and how you can really challenge your students who are ready for it. With that, your main areas of focus are to continue building your program and refining your practices, along with building your classroom community and starting a little bit with the community outside of your own classroom walls.

Naomi Meredith [00:05:36]:

You also, with that lesson planning, are starting to plan your own original standards-based lessons now that you have seen and tried lessons that are standards-based, You are ready to start creating and implementing your own. Now that you're in your 2nd or 3rd year of teaching STEM, you're not as overwhelmed. You were reaching out to Teachers before, but really, I need a solution to this for tomorrow. but you're hoping to reach out to other teachers who are like-minded like you in a not so last minute type of situation, but people that you can talk to regularly when it comes to your lesson planning and also seeking guidance for what you're trying to do in your classroom. For me, in my role as a navigator, It was very interesting these 2 years of teaching STEM. Let's be real. So, my 1st year teaching STEM was a little bit crazy, In my schedule, my 1st 2nd year was very similar. In my 2nd year teaching STEM, I taught on Mondays instead of teaching GT science, I did my 1st year teaching STEM. I was actually teaching 8 classes a day. And that was getting a little bit crazy.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:49]:

It was extra planning time for teachers. I was getting paid through a grant. That's a whole other thing. But I was getting paid for a grant for my Mondays, and I was providing extra plan time for teachers. So I saw that Monday lesson as an isolated one-day lesson where even if I had the same classes later on that week, I wouldn't connect those lessons together. Then, on Tuesdays, I was co-teaching with the teachers in my building to help them implement STEM and innovation and creative ways. And then, throughout all this time, I was also the technology point person in managing our school-wide technology, cleaning that up, creating systems and processes that weren't there. Then, students had STEM as a specials Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, 3 days in a row for 45-minute sessions.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:35]:

So I had those same 6 classes for 3 days, and then it repeated the following week. Those Mondays did get a little bit crazy. I was really worn down after 8 classes. 6 says a lot. 8 is even more, and there was always 1 Monday where I had all my 5th graders and all of my 1st graders. And I've talked about this in a previous podcast episode. Those are, for me, my most challenging grade levels and for teaching both of those on the same day. And there's so many similarities between those ages.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:11]:

I was really struggling, so I ended up splitting up my Mondays where I taught 4 classes, their extra plan on Mondays, and 4 on Tuesdays. So, things are getting off to a good start. And then in the spring of 2020. We know what happened, but we all went remote online. And that was really intense for me because, yes, I had all of these roles, but my role as the technology point person really came into play. Teachers were seeking me out for my knowledge of technology in general and what can they do with teaching their students online. How are we supposed to connect? What are we supposed to do? So, my role as a coach and a co-teacher was really amplified during this 2020 season. There were some things that I did have to do for elementary STEM.

Naomi Meredith [00:09:06]:

My teammates and I created a choice board. And, you know, for that spring of 2020, it was kind of a Let's make the rules as we go kind of teaching because no one really knew what to do. And it was weird. It was super interesting. So, Again, I took on that role as a coach, and I got a lot of firsthand online coaching experience during 2020 time because our special schedule was really random and sporadic. So what I ended up doing is hosting a lot of mini work Shops for the teachers in my building based on their needs and based on the things that they were telling me that they needed when I popped into their grade level conversations virtually. And I was hosting these online mini-workshops for teachers that were really targeted for what they were looking for, whether it was specific Tools that they wanted to learn more about and how to utilize those online, or maybe it had to do with lesson planning. Maybe they were looking for creative ways to engage their students while they were teaching remotely.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:08]:

So I really had a lot of coaching experience and got to know my Teachers in a different realm, where I had had experience using online tools a lot, whether it's in my classroom or just talking with other teachers online. And so this was a role that I really became comfortable with and really started to love this online coaching because I was doing this in person, but now I had this experience doing this online. And so this was in my 2nd year of teaching, so that was very interesting. Going into my 3rd year of teaching STEM, it was a weird year for us. We actually did Start off with all of the kids going into the building. We had all of our students 100% in elementary, and then at any moment, a class could go online, and we would be treat teaching virtually. So we definitely had to adapt, and I had to have lessons Since ready to go, that would work remotely because maybe even I was teaching 5th grade, and then 2 hours later, 3rd grade was gone, and I was teaching them remotely. And so it was just very crazy and chaotic in that fall.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:17]:

It did start to slow down in the spring of 2021, but definitely trying to make my lesson plans work for a lot of different environments in that 3rd year. In my 2nd and 3rd year of teaching STEM, I was already planning it along with my year-long plan and really looking into the standards when it comes to creating standards-based lessons. I had a few from the previous year that were really strong, and I was just refining them when I was teaching those. And then I was adding more into my year-long plan that you all know today at that k through 5 stem year-long bundle. Out of this, a very memorable unit was actually my STEM survival camp unit. That was something coming into the fall of 2020 Was a unit that I created that could be done remotely, but also be very beneficial in person. And students didn't have to share materials, and they were actually using materials from outside. So that's a really big insight behind the scenes of how that whole unit was created and where I was in my STEM teacher journey.

Naomi Meredith [00:12:25]:

Likewise, going into this 3rd year, I was looking for more meaningful connections with other like-minded teachers like me. I wasn't finding a whole lot on Instagram. Yes. There were those little pops of conversations in relationships that I made, but I wanted to have something that was more consistent and could help me grow as an educator. So, at first, I was just going to get my certificate in STEM and have that endorsement or have that certification, which then actually ended up leading me into my master's in STEM leadership, which I started at the end of the spring of 2020. So it was funny because when I was teaching students online or when I got to see them again in the fall, I was like, hey. You were doing online learning, and so was I, and I'm still doing that right now. Like, this is a real thing.

Naomi Meredith [00:13:15]:

Online learning is not a new concept. This is something that real-life people do. I'm hoping to do a future podcast episode about my masters in more detail. I know some of you have asked me about it, so I have that in mind. I haven't forgotten. I'm just waiting on a few things before I can do that. Also, in these 2nd and 3rd years of teaching STEM and in this role at my STEM teacher pathway as the navigator, I was getting more involved with district-wide planning events. So, I was feeling confident in my STEM space.

Naomi Meredith [00:13:47]:

There were things I was still figuring out, but I felt I had more of that mental capacity at that time because my year was basically planned. I was just trying the lessons, but I had more of a capacity where I wanted to help my district even more. So I helped them with planning events such as an event we did called Steamapalooza, where we had a lot of different booths where kids could experience Different quick STEM experiences and also different people in the community to share how STEM works in the real world. I also planned our first RoboCon, and me and another teacher were in charge of the Wonder Workshop competition, where we actually created stations for the challenge where students could go apply their skills, and they were all Olympic themed. So that was a really fun experience. And funny enough, that whole RoboCon situation, that whole event happened right before The shutdown in March 2020, so that actually happened at the end of February. So we're so glad, in hindsight we were able to kick that off. Also, in the 2nd and 3rd year, I was trying other after-school clubs, adding back ones that students really, really loved, and getting more involved a little bit more in our community outside of my typical 6 classes a day and all the other roles honestly that I had.

Naomi Meredith [00:15:07]:

I just really wanted to get to know my students in a different way, build those relationships, and really try out other tools that I could use for future lessons. If you wanna hear more about the types of clubs that I've done, I have an episode where I talk about the 8 different after-school clubs, And that will be linked in the show notes if you are interested. If you are having a similar experience and you are possibly in the role of a navigator in your STEM teacher pathway. I definitely have some resources here to support you and to make sure that you are feeling well and not searching for resources and not knowing where to go, I have been curating for those and continue to improve these things to make sure that they are that serving you. 1st is this podcast, the elementary STEM coach podcast, and I definitely plan lessons thinking of all of you in what you need and the questions that you were asking me. So, thank you again so much for being here. And if you're loving it, I appreciate all of the comments and kind words and all of the reviews. So, this podcast is definitely a great resource for you.

Naomi Meredith [00:16:16]:

If you're looking for something specific, I do have a free playlist for you to check out. I have all of my episodes categorized into topics. So it's the same exact episodes, but they're organized in a way. So, if you wanna learn just about robotics, you can have all the lessons and binge listen to those about just robotics. If you wanna hear just about how I can help you and your role, you can listen to those lessons. And so it's pretty cool because once you get the link, you actually get a little private link. You can't search it up in a podcast app, but you actually scan it, and then you can get it like a real podcast. So it's pretty cool how it works out.

Naomi Meredith [00:16:54]:

Also, if you're seeking out a community, that is a huge thing that Really helped me grow as a STEM educator and is continuing to help me grow. But there are a lot of different ways where I am pulling you all together in this Online space to help you feel successful. 1st is my STEM teacher bookshelf community, where we live once a month. And we also have questions that go along with the books that I put together for you based on books I have read or ones that I really think would benefit us in this STEM educator community. And so it really pushes you along to improve your professional development reading, but also connect with other teachers who are like-minded like you? So it's a super fun community, and I live for those live calls. If you're looking for something more where when it comes to really diving into your lessons and all of the materials and how to put everything together and you really want more of that support, I invite you into my STEM into fall group coaching program where we will work together over the course of a few months. We will take some breaks with the whole winter holidays. But over the next few months, to really go through your year-long plan and push you along with that, along with also how we can use the materials you have on hand and what are some other purchasing decisions you can make in the future. I welcome you into that group.

Naomi Meredith [00:18:16]:

I am so excited to kick this off. Our live call will be in mid-October, so make sure you sign up before then. And I do have a special $500 off for being a podcast listener. So if you put in the code stemintofall, you get $500 off for this next week, off of that level, too. If you just wanna work with me 1 on 1 just for a little bit, like, maybe for a week or two, and just have that 1 to 1 time with me, I also do offer that type of coaching as well. My main goal is to help you out, just as past Naomi would've loved to have all these resources all over 1 place and really build my STEM community and feel successful. Also, if you wanna hear more behind the scenes, I created another free pop-up podcast, my not so straight pathway to STEM teaching and what I would do differently today. There are 3 episodes you could binge within the hour, so pop on over. Everything I'm talking about is in the show notes.

Naomi Meredith [00:19:13]:

Know it's a lot of things, but it's all linked there for you. But with this pop-up podcast, you can hear more behind the scenes of what my pathway was like. In the next episode, we're gonna be talking about the 3rd stage in the STEM teacher pathway and what my journey was like in that part of my STEM teaching career.