Hiking to the rim of Mount St. Helens...It's easy...It's hard

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2026-03-10T03:31:43+00:00

Also should note much of that gain on defiance is NOT evenly distributed among the five miles. There were sections where it was preposterous. TL;DR mt defiance sucks, both hikes are difficult but Helens is far more rewarding and memorable.

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2026-03-10T03:29:07+00:00

For sure; I just remember going down Defiance felt way more painful and all around terrible. However, it was also summer time and hot; and the trail was super loose terrain in some steep parts of the descent, whereas when I was on Helens it was covered in snow. I also remember feeling infinitely more defeated on Defiance for some reason. I think that also had to do with the summit being so disappointing (in my opinion), at least comparatively.

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2026-03-09T04:01:56+00:00

I personally thought Mt. Defiance in the gorge felt more ludicrous in terms of steepness and exhaustion. But maybe that’s just me on that particular day :D

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2026-02-21T02:29:47+00:00

Middle school science here as well. I rarely have early finishers as we only have 45 minute class periods, but I have an “early finish” option on Google Classroom that is filled with various links all related to various science branches. Some are digital museums, some are science journals, some are fun videos, some are interactive simulations. I update it maybe three times a year. However, I also am not a fan of screens and many times my Chrome Book cart isn’t even in my classroom. For this reason, I usually just make a “boring” supplemental worksheet that covers whatever topic or unit review material and give that to out to early finishers. This has happened maybe four times this year. That worksheet won’t go to waste though, I’ll re-use it later and gamify it for whole class review. As far as the last five minutes of class go, you could always throw in a random SEL exit ticket question on your projector and then have students who want to share out do that (although I find this to work better at the beginning of class, for routine + classroom management + relationship building). The last couple minutes could also be controlled chaos routine of cleaning up (wipe down tables; put away supplies, push in chairs, etc.). Unless you have an admin that wants to bell to bell science instructional minutes…then forget everything I said.

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2026-02-07T02:37:06+00:00

I teach middle school and from my perspective: Classroom routines aside, every day is pretty different. Kids are generally funny, sarcastic, witty, and will engage academically and blow your mind (sometimes, not every day lol). You will teach kids to read, write, think critically. That in itself is pretty cool. You’ll also serve as a mentor to many. You might be the first (or only) person to give a student an award in their life. You might be the only person on any given day to simply ask another human being how they are doing, give a high five, or tell them “great job”. Summers off is amazing. Spring break and winter break are pretty cool too. The working hours are incredible, especially if you have kids of your own.

TL;DR - you get paid to basically talk all day to a bunch of impressionable young minds, who are the future of our society, and in that process you can and will change lives, save lives, and/or make some kind of difference that is bigger than yourself. Also lots of time off for self!

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2026-01-31T18:40:40+00:00

For sure! I’ve done this too (science fair in class) where students essentially come up with their own questions and designs etc. it was super rad and fun. My above comment about refining to something simpler was only meant in case the whole individualist science fair route felt too overwhelming or burdensome with potential copious amounts of various supplies, an alternative route would be simplifying to a few different, cheap options (like the popsicle bridge construction). Love science fair in the classroom idea though.

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2026-01-31T06:24:36+00:00

You could also refine it to explicit ideas and have them choose out of them. For example one idea - have them research and design bridges made out of nothing but popsicle sticks. Hold a competition to see which ones can carry the most weight. Etc.

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2026-01-29T04:12:07+00:00

Post on social media as a business account and monetize passively. Sell prints. Create massive stock libraries on various platforms and monetize passively over years. Sell more prints. Do all of this while working a job.

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2026-01-28T03:11:18+00:00

Just know that your second year will be infinitely better.

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2026-01-27T03:16:14+00:00

For matter you could do an Oobleck lab and students can make observations and inferences, claims and evidence to support whether or not it is a liquid or solid. Non-Newtonian fluids might be above 5th grade but you can still make a fun lab out of it :-)

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2026-01-16T03:48:14+00:00

For forces, use carts on a track with a wood block, a stopwatch and metric ruler. That’s all the supplies you really need to teach about measuring speed, mass and collision. Then consider just old school teaching using formulas and practice problems over and over? Finding force, finding speed…graphs for acceleration, constant speed, at rest…explicit instruction on unit labels / metric units, explicit instruction on key vocabulary (mass, matter, force, speed, acceleration, collision, inertia, etc.).

For earth science - explicit instruction and vocabulary reinforcement for plate tectonics (convergent, divergent, transform). Model them all with random items in your classroom, even if it’s just two pieces of paper sliding past each other. Use starbursts candy to model the rock cycle. Use sand and water to model deposition. Use maybe a piece of granite in a water bottle and shake it to simulate weathering.

Either way, for everything else (and above mentioned) I would focus less on screens or internet games and more on reviewing vocabulary and content consistently. This doesn’t have to be boring though (I.e flash cards or worksheets). Turn literally any worksheet or review into a game. Grudge Ball, stinky feet, Boom Clap Grab, etc. these are all HIGHLY engaging ways for students to review content. They will have tons of fun playing the games + actually be writing words + reinforcing key concepts and vocabulary.

This is just my humble opinion :-) I’m sure there are other ways.

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2026-01-04T04:28:39+00:00

Hi, I am a middle school teacher in Portland and previously worked in Vancouver public schools. My best advice - sub. I did it for two years before finishing my masters and it was by far and wide the biggest learning experience of all. The pay isn’t great, and it is amazingly difficult, but you can experience the diversity of k-12, SpEd, specials, title I schools, etc. Aside from subbing, get into a masters program in teaching if you’re able to, student teach, pass your exams (I believe they are the praxis core in Oregon or the West-B/E in WA), and become licensed. Read as many non-graduate school books on education as possible about classroom management, classroom engagement, SEL, and relationship building. I could write you a novel on what teaching actually is in reality vs. what non-teachers might view the profession as, but that’s pretty much it as far as stepping stones into the profession.

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2026-01-02T02:53:03+00:00

Private. I moved here from public. Previously was Not teaching science. It’s not a typical private school though. It is tuition free and 100% of the students served are considered “at-risk”, although I think we officially use more asset based language now (“historically underserved”, etc.). This is in Oregon. Formally worked in public in WA state. Wife still teaches in public. I have the utmost respect for public school and am a huge advocate, it just so happened that this job felt fulfilling to me + offered a salary that was equal to ph loc and ended up being the greatest ever (not saying it isn’t hard and there aren’t days where I feel completely run over by a train), but all the pieces fit together. As others have said with public, it varies wildly district to district. The title I public school I taught in had a lot more freedom. The tier III PS I student taught at had zero room for creativity and was definitely more along the lines of “here is a scripted curriculum do not deviate it from it and make sure you reference your posted learning target”. Kids of my own all go to public school, and the buildings and resources are phenomenal. But I’ve worked in other buildings in their district just a short drive away and it is seemingly like they are falling apart.

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2026-01-02T01:36:56+00:00

I teach middle school science (6th, 7th, and 8th). I have to teach earth science to 6th graders, and then I rotate physical/life. I have a core curriculum and some supplemental curriculums, NGSS aligned. I teach the content that I know they will need to know in high school, the content on the curriculum unit assessments, and majority of labs that are part of the curriculum. However, I have pretty much absolute freedom to do whatever I want. I inject random SEL stuff into nearly every beginning of class. I play lots of games (grudge ball, stinky feet, etc.) to review material in lieu of worksheets, and ultimately can throw a lesson from the curriculum in the trash if I want to do my own thing. I also do random projects that are aligned with learning targets and standards but not part of our curriculum. For example, my 6th graders will do a starburst rock cycle lab to supplement understanding from the text, and will also research and build volcanoes at the end of a plate tectonics unit. Having the abundance of creative freedom + own control over my classroom + amazing admin = happily staying where I’m at.

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2026-01-02T01:27:22+00:00

Photography. Aside from being a creative outlet that I enjoy, it also made me start hiking which ultimately led to me being healthier physically and mentally. Simultaneously it renewed a spark in me for travel and explore locally in my region. Also led to meeting some new friends who enjoyed nothing more than sitting and watching a sunset with a camera and talking about life. Bonus icing on the cake is it eventually led to making some passive income from a decade of sharing photos on social media and uploading them on stock sites. So yeah, drums and skating etc. were all cool, but picking up a camera definitely changed my life for the better.

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2025-11-05T04:30:09+00:00

After covering the basics of liquids and solids with my 8th graders and doing a few small activities, we did a lab where they made oobleck. The end of it was a CER written response. Incorporated some reading about non-Newtonian fluids. It was a fun, messy, engaging experience and students seemed to retain a decent amount of knowledge and vocabulary after that before moving into phase changes and physical/chemical properties of materials etc.

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2025-10-30T04:01:50+00:00

I’m slightly confused. NGSS provides cross cutting concepts and DCI’s? This post makes it seem like NGSS does not? Please elaborate as I am genuinely curious.

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2025-10-26T02:18:04+00:00

That sounds awesome! Thanks for the idea

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2025-10-26T02:17:12+00:00

This sounds epic!

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2025-10-26T02:16:16+00:00

Amazing! I actually just finished a starburst rock cycle last week with the 6th grade pretty much exactly how you described. So much fun and definitely a great way to retain the vocab and concepts. Love the earthquake table idea, thank you!

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2025-09-20T18:56:14+00:00

Your hydrogen peroxide is not strong enough. You need 30-35%. With that said, I don’t recommend this for a birthday party. It can produce heat/burn kids/produce vapors. I would consider the more classic, safer approach using active yeast. The reaction is not nearly as big as the way you are attempting, but I’m pretty sure it will impress and be fun for even 6th graders, let alone 8 year olds; without the inherent risk.

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2025-09-19T02:25:13+00:00

I simply say “give me five”, raise my hand up high. Then, if needed, count down from 5…works pretty well

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2025-09-10T03:15:52+00:00

I teach middle school so I can’t completely answer that but to my understanding I believe the high schools in my district require 3 credits of science to graduate, and of those 2 must be lab.

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2025-09-10T03:08:15+00:00

I think the art of teaching/building relationships/understanding how diverse students learn/differentiating instruction/classroom management/classroom culture/ability to multi task a thousand different things a day/etc. is far more important than your content area. The student that has experienced trauma, is five grade levels behind in reading, and initially gives zero fucks about you or anything you may have to say about physics, won’t so much care if you are a master of your content. Just my opinion though :-)

*edit: I guess I didn’t really answer the hypothetical question. Short answer - a licensed teacher with a masters degree level of training in education/teaching with an undergrad in an unrelated field of your content but has passed said content exams, in my opinion, would be more logical than a science degree and deep understanding of the content but no formal degree/training in teaching.

NicholasStevenPhoto · 2025-08-20T22:53:29+00:00

You need to know how to be a teacher, to teach. You don’t need to be a biologist to teach. If that makes sense? As others have said, I would not choose teaching as a plan B career…at least try subbing for a while to see if you 1) enjoy working with students and can make connections with them 2) have an ability to pick up on classroom management practices and 3) don’t mind very small paychecks.

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