Secondary Science Simplified™ – Détails, épisodes et analyse

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Secondary Science Simplified™

Rebecca Joyner, High School Science Teacher

Éducation

Sciences

Éducation

Fréquence : 1 épisode/7j. Total Éps: 249

Secondary Science Simplified is a podcast specifically for high school science teachers that will help you to engage your students AND simplify your life as a secondary science educator. Each week Rebecca, from It's Not Rocket Science, and her guests will share practical and easy-to-implement strategies for decreasing your workload so that you can stop working overtime and start focusing your energy doing what you love - actually teaching! Teaching doesn't have to be rocket science, and you'll learn exactly what you need to do to simplify your secondary science teaching life so that you can enjoy your life outside of school even more. Head to itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com/challenge to grab your FREE Classroom Reset Challenge.

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https://itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com/winter
217 partages
https://itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com/challenge/
214 partages
https://itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com/labs-when-limited/
71 partages

https://www.instagram.com/its.not.rocket.science
210 partages
https://www.instagram.com/thelazygenius
4 partages
https://www.instagram.com/apbiopenguins
4 partages

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/secondary-science-simplified/id1596788731
215 partages

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208. 5 Tips for How to Lesson Plan While Managing Constant Disruptions

lundi 10 novembre 2025 • Durée 24:04

Are constant disruptions messing up your perfectly planned weeks? You’re not alone! When I taught at small schools in particular, it often felt like every week held a new disruption. Between spirit weeks, fire drills, and field trips, I sometimes wondered if I’d ever get a “normal” week with my students! In this episode, I'm sharing five practical tips for lesson planning that will keep learning moving even when weeks don’t go as planned.

➡️ Show Notes: https://itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com/episode208

Resources Mentioned:

Desktop Paper Calendar
Download your FREE Classroom Reset Challenge.
Take the Free Labs When Limited virtual PD course
Send me a DM on Instagram: @its.not.rocket.science
Send me an email: rebecca@itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com
Follow, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts.
Follow, rate, and comment on Spotify.

Related Episodes and Blog Posts:

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207. Dealing With Combative Parents - 6 Tips and 2 Warnings

lundi 3 novembre 2025 • Durée 30:35

No matter how far we are into the school year, those dreaded surprise parent emails can still hit your inbox, often full of big emotions and even bigger accusations. In this episode, I’m diving into one of the most challenging parts of teaching: handling combative parents with confidence and professionalism. I’m sharing six practical strategies (plus two important warnings) to help you stay calm, protect your peace, and respond in ways that preserve relationships without sacrificing your boundaries.

➡️ Show Notes: https://itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com/episode207

Resources Mentioned:

Related Episodes:

Episode 70, “It Isn’t an Attack on You”: Dealing with Difficult Parents with Guest Zach Matson

198. The Most Important Thing You Need to Hear This School Year

lundi 1 septembre 2025 • Durée 20:54

It’s September, which means it’s time for your annual pep talk, teacher friend! In this episode, I’m sharing the one message every secondary science teacher needs to hear as the school year kicks off. We’ll talk about the unique challenges you face, why boundaries and clarity matter, and how to model humanity and humility in your classroom. Plus, I’ll walk you through a simple exercise to brain dump your goals, assess your current season, and limit your priorities this year so you can let go of perfection, embrace grace, and actually enjoy teaching!

➡️ Show Notes: https://itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com/episode198

Resources:

Secondary Science Simplified episodes by topic
Download your FREE Classroom Reset Challenge.
Take the Free Labs When Limited virtual PD course
Send me a DM on Instagram: @its.not.rocket.science
Send me an email: rebecca@itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com
Follow, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts.

Related Episodes:

108. 5 Must-Have Routines and Procedures for Secondary Teachers

lundi 11 décembre 2023 • Durée 30:03

Happy December, y’all! The one word that describes my life right now, which might describe yours as well, is frantic. So, I thought for the rest of the month, we’d revisit episodes from this past year that can either be good reminders for you during this last month of school or ideas you need to think about or reinforce when you return from break in January. In today’s episode, we’re listening to the third most popular episode, which focuses on five classroom management routines and procedures for your secondary classroom.

The number of procedures and routines you have set up in your classroom is solely determined by your own teaching philosophies, personality, and style. So before setting up a procedure because “that’s what you should do,” make sure you reflect and ask yourself some questions regarding consistent conflicts, disruptions, and personal preferences.

My constant message when it comes to classroom management is finding ways to be proactive instead of reactive. With each of these five classroom management routines and procedures, they establish an effective work ethic and eliminate distractions and late or incomplete work.

Even though you’re in the middle of the year, it’s never too late to reflect and examine your teaching and classroom behaviors to see if they need to be reworked or newly enforced. These are my top five classroom management routines and procedures, so whether you implement these or come up with your own, make sure they’re what you need and best fit your classroom.

Resources Mentioned:

107. NGSS and Standards-Based Grading With Guest Boni Hamilton

lundi 4 décembre 2023 • Durée 58:55

You all know that I want to bring you as much information and perspectives on a topic as possible. With last week’s episode on standards-based grading being a new idea and way of grading for some of you, I wanted to bring on another teacher who has years of experience implementing this in her classroom. Boni Hamilton, a friend and experienced teacher, is sharing how to integrate NGSS and standards-based grading in both a middle school and high school science classroom.

Boni has such a unique perspective, as she simultaneously used both a traditional grade report alongside a standards-based report. While this eased the minds of parents and students who were comfortable with traditional grading, it did bring up challenges. Boni is honest in our conversation, along with her students, as she navigated this type of grading system. She describes why she believes standards-based grading is more accurate, authentic, and honest as it pertains to mastering skills and content.

As you listen to this episode, you will see how this conversation, and others involving this topic, has stretched my thinking and will stretch yours as well. Although work ethic, behavior, and responsibility need to be addressed, with standards-based grading, you truly get the best picture of how a student is performing academically in your content-specific classes.

Resources Mentioned:

Download your FREE Classroom Reset Challenge
Send me a DM on Instagram: @its.not.rocket.science
Send me an email: rebecca@itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com
Follow, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts

Show Notes: https://itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com/episode107

106. Standards-Based Grading, Citizenship Grades, Motivation and MORE With Guest Jennica Harrison

lundi 27 novembre 2023 • Durée 59:28

I love talking about science content, curriculum, engaging activities, and practical strategies you can implement in your own classroom. But when my audience inquires about topics I’m not so sure about, I bring in experts who can share their knowledge. That’s exactly what I did when it came to discussing standards-based grading. My guest on today’s episode, Jennica Harrison, shares her perspective, experience, and implementation of standards-based grading in her secondary science classroom.

Jennica is very open and honest about the challenges she faced when implementing standards-based grading but says the pros outweigh the cons. She discusses her transition to this type of grading, practical tips for doing it, and how it impacted her students. Since this might be a different way of thinking, Jennica shares examples from her own classroom and grade book that provide clarification on how this works in a secondary science classroom.

As our conversation flowed, each topic she discussed brought up more questions from me about how standards-based grading worked, along with the mathematical side. Jennica explicitly explained her interpretation and how she has made this switch successful in her classroom. Ultimately, she says it really comes down to being transparent with your students, making mistakes and readjusting, and knowing it’s not going to be perfect all the time.

Resources Mentioned:

Grading for Equity by Joe Feldman
Inner Orbit NGSS Assessments
The Wonder of Science
Download your FREE Classroom Reset Challenge
Send me a DM on Instagram: @its.not.rocket.science
Send me an email: rebecca@itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com
Follow, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts

105. What Happened When I Stopped Assigning Formal Lab Reports

lundi 20 novembre 2023 • Durée 22:26

As science teachers, or teachers in general, we tend to have the mindset of doing things in our classroom the way we were taught, the way our department runs things, or what our colleague down the hall does. But if you really think about the reason behind what you’re doing, what you normally do might change. That’s exactly what happened with formal lab reports in my classroom. In this episode, I’m sharing why I ditched formal lab reports and how that decision impacted me and my students.

When I started to examine why I was assigning formal lab reports, I realized I was doing them for all the wrong reasons. So, when I finally made the decision to ditch them altogether, it greatly benefited my students and me. The pressure was off, and labs started to become enjoyable again, along with many other positive benefits. And since students weren’t getting critical thinking and scientific writing skills from the formal lab reports, I incorporated supplemental activities that provided students opportunities to practice those skills.

I’m aware that some science teachers feel very strongly about doing formal lab reports, and this might be a controversial episode, but for me, they didn’t serve a purpose in my classroom anymore. By ditching formal lab reports, it transformed the culture on lab days while still finding ways for students to practice skills that will help and support them later in their educational career. So whether you continue to do formal lab reports in your science classes or not, I hope this episode encourages you to make appropriate changes that are best for you and your students!

Resources Mentioned:

Grab your FREE Thanksgiving Science Activity
Download your FREE Classroom Reset Challenge
Send me a DM on Instagram: @its.not.rocket.science
Send me an email: rebecca@itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com
Follow, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts

Show Notes:

104. Using Summative Assessments to Prepare Students for Standardized Tests

lundi 13 novembre 2023 • Durée 19:43

After we teach a unit, what typically comes immediately after are summative assessments, and there are a lot of different types. Last week, I talked about authentic assessments, which still assess student learning but in a non-traditional way. And even though I value that type of assessment, I still believe in taking traditional tests. In today’s episode, I’m sharing how to use your unit test to prepare your students for taking any future standardized test.

Giving traditional summative assessments does provide useful information for the teacher, such as personal benchmarks and self-reflection on teaching concepts. But it also benefits students as they learn valuable test-taking strategies for when they take standardized tests or other forms of assessments throughout their educational journey. The five tips I share will specifically help your students with standardized tests as they take your unit tests.

Taking summative assessments is completely valuable to both teachers and students, so it’s important to highlight the benefits and show that test-taking skills and strategies are valuable. By giving unit tests, you are supporting students and building those skills needed to take standardized tests in the future.

Resources Mentioned:

Biology Midterm and Final Exam Review and Test Pack
Physical Science Midterm and Final Exam Review and Test Pack
Anatomy Midterm and Final Exam Review and Test Pack
Download your FREE Classroom Reset Challenge
Send me a DM on Instagram: @its.not.rocket.science
Send me an email: rebecca@itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com

103. Authentic Assessments: How to Assess Students in a Way That Actually Matters

lundi 6 novembre 2023 • Durée 27:26

If you ask any student what they didn’t like about school, I bet assessments would be toward the top of their list. But what if you could create assessments that students actually enjoyed and liked? Okay, well, maybe that’s going too far, but you can definitely create assessments that are the best representation of their knowledge. I call those authentic assessments. In today’s episode, I’m going to share why I incorporate non-traditional assessments and four practical tips on how to implement them in your own classroom.

Authentic assessments might be a new term, so I help break down what I mean and how it directly impacts students in a positive way. Additionally, I give reasons why authentic assessments should be used, especially in relation to expressing what students know in a way that’s more than multiple choice and memorization. Likewise, when it comes to implementation, keeping the whole child in mind, along with their qualities, is why they’re at the forefront of my mind.

With midterm exams, semester exams on the horizon, and other exams in your class, now seemed like a good time to discuss assessments. And while traditional assessments are necessary at times, I encourage you to think outside the box and give your students the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge through authentic assessments. Stay tuned to next week’s episode for more on this topic as we continue our mini-series on summative assessments!

Resources Mentioned:

102. Tips for Teaching Waves and Kinematics in Your Physics Class With Guest Laura Preiser

lundi 30 octobre 2023 • Durée 27:07

All month long, I’ve been diving into the most difficult topics to teach in each of the science disciplines, and we have finally made it to the last discipline - physics. I love all things science, but physics is not a discipline I have a lot of experience in. So instead, I decided to bring on a listener of the podcast who is knowledgeable and has experience teaching physics. Laura Preiser is my guest on this episode and is sharing the two topics that are difficult for teachers and students and tips and advice for teaching each.

As Laura identifies waves and kinematics as the most difficult topics to teach in physics, she also shares various activities, labs, and general tips that make these two topics engaging, fun, and enjoyable for her students and herself. By making small changes to the way topics are taught and the timing of when they’re taught, it can make a huge difference in how a student feels about the topic.

With the help of Laura, we have concluded our series that tackles the most difficult topics to teach in each discipline while also sharing advice and tips that make the topics in those disciplines engaging for teachers and students. Make sure to listen or revisit any of the other episodes on biology, chemistry, and anatomy!

Resources Mentioned:

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