So what does a STEM teacher do all week?

One of the biggest questions I get is what does a STEM teacher do all week? I know that the role of being a K-5 STEM teacher looks different in every school. Let me share my typical week with you and I'm sure you'll find some things that we have in common.

After 6 years teaching in the general education classroom, I took my experiences and applied them to K-5 STEM teacher.

Since this would be my third school, third district. I would teach over 600 students a month! This was a learning curve, but the right amount of challenge that I was looking for.

Monday:

First, comes Monday. My first year in this position, I taught extension Gifted and Talented groups for 3rd-5th grades. I extended the learning of GT students identified in Science.

With my Gifted and Talented groups, we worked on Project Based Learning experiences. We accomplished two projects. Each project connected to what they were learning in class.

The following year, Mondays looked different. I would teach 2 grade levels all day, 7-8 classes, and students would come into my room for a Bonus STEM class. Classroom teachers would get extra plan time while I taught their kids in STEM. This extra time was amazing since this allowed me to have them finish up projects from previous weeks, build background knowledge on upcoming projects or even introduce fun, one day lessons like Doodle For Google.

What is co-teaching like?

Tuesday:

Next, is Tuesday. This day was reserved for me to co-teach with other teachers in their classroom and also work on school-wide technology management. With my prior classroom experience, I was able to help teachers integrate technology and STEM naturally into their lessons.

Importantly, lessons would look different, depending on the teacher's needs. Some needed more guidance where I would teach the lesson and they would observe and help with classroom management throughout the lesson. This would allow teachers to see how a lesson with technology integration could be taught, and be carried on during the days I am not there.

Try this co-teaching lesson

A popular lesson that I taught with grade 3rd-5th grade was the basics of Google tools, like Google Docs, Drive and Slides. These lessons were in the form of a scavenger hunt where students have to find the tool and try it before moving on to the next task. You can find these scavenger hunts for your classes here.

Other teachers who were more comfortable with their technology, my role was more of me teaching the lesson with them side by side. We would both take active roles when teaching the lesson as well as sharing equal parts when working with students.

Often on this Tuesday, planning for future lessons would take place. This allowed the opportunity for me to share resources with grade level teams and plan ahead for the next time I would be in their classrooms.

I also would reserve time to work on basic technology management in our building. Some of those tasks included setting up new device carts, communicating with the Help Desk to troubleshoot device issues and entering classrooms to assist with technology adjustments.

STEM teacher job description

Wednesday-Friday:

Meanwhile, the last part of my week might be what you would see in your typical STEM teacher job description. These three days were when I saw students for their STEM specials rotation. I taught Kindergarten-5th grade specials, with 4 week rotations.

In the beginning, many lessons were basic. They focused on building basic technology skills. They also focused on STEM practices that we would continue to use throughout the year.

Some of those skills included:

logging in and using district student platform for web based applications
navigating Seesaw
using the Engineering Design Process
basic coding processes
collaborating and working with others
creating projects with constraints.
learning how to work through failure and make changes to projects without giving up

After School Roles

Along with class time, I run after-school clubs. I will switch up the clubs throughout the year. One of my most successful clubs was using Stop Motion Animation. The after-school clubs are free for students. I think running clubs are important. Students can find new passions. As a teacher, you can try new content and tools. It's a win for everyone!

Once a month, I also run a Tech & Innovation Committee. A representative from each grade will join our group. We will discuss various topics in our meetings such as:

successes
struggles
upcoming events
resources to try
trainings

Likewise, I participate in district wide planning committees. This helps me connect with other STEM teachers near me. I also can add value to events that are being planned for our district. It's a cool way to get the inside-scoop on what's to come next!

Don't feel overwhelmed!

For those of you just starting out in STEM, my best advice to you is to go slow to go fast. Create a vision of what you want students to be able to do after they leave your school forever and work up to that.

As the weeks and years would pass, the students’ capacity with the above skills grew immensely. The projects kept getting better and better. Never assume that the students know how to do everything. They love using technology and working on projects, however, you really do need to be explicit and have repetition with your processes to make things flow with your short time together.

From there, my lessons for classes became more robust and connected with content they were currently learning in class or were going to learn that school year. I wanted to ensure that my class was meaningful, but also had purpose behind it. I felt like my STEM classroom was a way to bring their general education content to life and they can make connections to their learning in hands-on ways.

STEM teacher resources

Moreover, three days isn’t a lot of time for a project! Over the years, I learned ways to make our short time together fun and meaningful; for both the students and I. While the amount of STEM teacher resources out there are growing, I know how it can be tricky to know where to get started. I lived it! I was constantly creating my own curriculum and content to meet the needs of my students and make their class time impactful. In fact, you can even see what I typically taught my first week of STEM each school year.

In addition, I put together for you all of my go-to resources that I created for my STEM classroom. This is the starter kit that I wish someone created for me!

These are simple things to get started:

In conclusion, what does your role as a STEM teacher look like? Feel free to direct message me on Instagram, @naomimeredith_ and I would love to chat with you!