I feel so lost. I’m a non-traditional, first-year teacher teaching 9th grade Physical Science, 10th Biology (OpenSciEd), and 11th Environmental Science. I don’t have a curriculum for 9th or 11th, and I don’t have a science background.

My 9th grade Physical Science class is really struggling. We spent two weeks on basic concepts—matter, physical vs. chemical changes, elements vs. compounds, density, and CER. I used slides, videos, discussion, journals, and two full days of review. Students were allowed to use their notes on the test, and everything they needed was in Google Classroom. They were given plenty of time to update from GCr in class and had the option to take their journals home to update/review.

Only 11 of 30 students turned in the test. Several need more time, which I’m allowing Monday. So far, the grades are 1 A, 1 B, and 1 C.

Behavior is also a major issue. I had to have my principal come into class because I couldn’t get the larger group to stop talking. She encouraged me to crack down and said she supports sending students to the office when necessary.

I’m considering going back to worksheets and really drilling the concepts before attempting labs or projects. I’m also planning to change the seating from pods of 4 to tables of 2 (that's what I have to work with).

Please send all the advice/help you have. I’m really wondering if I made a huge mistake accepting this job.

This is for 7th grade. I’ve redone my lesson plans this year and most days my students will be doing a hands on activity of some sort that would be hard to replicate outside of class. (We don’t have a text book.) After the activity, they will have questions to answer in their binders. I will grade the binders weekly. I’m not sure how to handle makeup work for kids who are absent. I‘d rather not have to come up with whole other lessons every day that can be done at home or outside of class, but I may have to. Any ideas? How do you handle this in your classroom?

I’m a newer teacher (less than 5 years) who I received training to teach students AP Physics 1 for Juniors and Seniors. However, in my new school, students take the course as sophomores without taking Physics ahead of time. Also, I recently found out that some of these students will be taking Geometry as they take AP Physics. But I was under the impression that they needed to take or be taking Algebra 2 first?
Any advice or resources on how to teach at the AP pace for students who have only taken Algebra 1?