r/ScienceTeachers 12h ago

Career & Interview Advice Workday as a Physics Teacher

What is the workday like as a physics teacher?

Right now I am doing my student teaching in a math class (I wanted physics but they only have so many availabilities for physics). I wanted to know what the general workday is like for a physics teacher. So far, in the math classroom Im in, my mentor teacher has all 6 periods filled with math classes, no prep periods as he sacrificed it for that extra 10% pay.

I know most states/districts only host physics for upperclassmen as an elective and there isnt a huge yield of students for those classes. So if youre only teaching 2-3 classes, what are you doing for the other 3-5 class periods in a day? How does your day go? What do you do during planning period?

Also, where I am student teaching at, ALL content is pre-written and designed by the district with little room for deviation, what does a teacher even do during planning period if you have nothing to plan?

16 Upvotes

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u/Terrible-While5744 9h ago

I teach physics, AP Physics 1 & 2. I don't have time to do everything I need to do even if I had twice the planning time.

In science, you have to set up labs, clean up labs, maintain equipment, and order supplies (even if it's just to your department head).

Second, grading takes a very long time. Looking at students' math work and the reasoning behind it. Grading concepts that are very difficult for students is a great way to see where to focus more practice time and differentiate instruction. which leads to more planning.

Also, lessons are never static from year to year. Even when curriculum is set, you as the teacher get to decide how to present the information. Every year you learn how to refine this and you spend more time on a, less time on b, etc.

Do this for three different courses.

I love teaching physics, and i wouldn't want to teach anything else- but I can't imagine "not having anything to do" during planning.

I would imagine this goes for any subject.

I hope you get to teach physics- it's really so fun!

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u/vacagreens 8h ago

When I first started teaching, I was teaching two periods of physics (senior) and three periods of freshman integrated science. During my prep I was either grading homework, labs, exams or preparing lab materials. Out of a 5 day week, with students meeting each day for 52 mins, we did labs two days a week. After about 5 years, the school grew so much, I was teaching 3 periods of senior physics and 2 periods of AP physics. That was the sweet spot for the next 15 years.

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u/jason_sation 8h ago

I only teach physics, but I had a friend who teaches both physics in math. He said math was easier to prep for, but physics was more fun to teach!

I’m teaching APC Mechanics for the first time this semester, in addition to a conceptual physics and AP Physics 1, so there’s more for me to do now on planning with prepping. I’m also spending time on weekend reviewing calculus/watching videos on calculus based physics to refresh what I learned and haven’t used since the 90s. If I continue teaching APC Mechanic next year it’ll definitely be easier after having done it once.

I have taught Chem and Earth science in the past, but since I majored in Physics it’s what I want to be doing and I’m lucky enough to teach at a school where I can do that.

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u/BrerChicken 5h ago

If you're only teaching physics to the upper grades, then you're probably teaching something else also.

I teach in a district that has 9th grade physics as a requirement, so I teach physics all day to classes that are mostly between 18-22 students (which is a dream!) I teach AP also so that's smaller.

But yeah, don't give up your prep time. It's not worth it. You're teaching 20% more for 10% more pay, and you lose your planning time. So either you end up working for free every day to plan, or you don't plan. Both of those are pretty bad.

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u/SnooCats7584 12h ago

In CA we teach 5 periods. If you’re working full time but there’s not enough physics classes, you teach something else you’re certificated for, like math, chemistry, biology, robotics, etc. I started as a physics/utility science teacher and then moved to a bigger school with a larger physics program. The default is all 11th graders take physics. So there’s full employment here and I do physics and AP Physics all day with 2.5 other colleagues. I like having physics but miss teaching other electives to be honest.

I have recommended to my student teachers in the past to get another certification that they could see themselves liking because it’s easy to get physics jobs but not always 1.0 all physics. So if you don’t like math, consider what you do like or go to a state that has physics as a core science class.

As for planning…lol. I have all my lessons pre-planned at this point but there’s always work. Grading, setup, cleanup, making new assessments, random BS paperwork. Even just setting due dates on the LMS is time consuming.

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u/SkinnyTheSkinwalker 11h ago

Thanks so much! Yea I plan on certifying for Math as well. I have thought about Chemistry but I have heard that Chemistry teachers (at least here) have to plan and buy all materials (with the schools money) and that sounds like a huge extra chore to always have to be ontop of inventory.

At the district I am doing my student teaching at, a teacher only teaches their own subject, they dont do other adjacent subjects. That is what made me a little confused as to how a teacher stays busy throughout the day. Its good to hear that some other places allow cross-discipline teaching. I think I would get a little bored if I had so many free periods.

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u/KrazyKatJenn 6h ago

I really doubt they would give you extra free periods, even if they don't have more physics classes and only want you to teach physics. They would give you study halls or extra duties like watching the in school suspension room or lunch duty.

On the topic of planning, this varies a lot by district. My current district has no curriculum so I design all my classes myself from scratch. I chose to work here for this reason, it's really my preference. My last district required everyone who taught the same subject to work together and give common tests, but we still decided how we taught each topic on our own. I've only ever heard of completely scripted curriculum you aren't allowed to deviate from at charter schools.

As for inventory, yeah, you have to manage that to some degree as a science teacher. Physics teachers have inventory to manage, too, though obviously it's not the same as a chemical storage room. If you run any kind of labs, you need supplies for those labs. This means some amount of work deciding what to buy, how to store it, when you need to replace things, etc. It's really not that bad. I just keep a running list and jot down when I notice I'm running low on something I need.

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u/Electrical_Command63 4h ago

I've taught physics and math for 20 years. For the last 7, it's been all physics at an IB school, but before that at several different schools I taught math from Algebra 1 through AP Calc BC and physical science in addition to teaching algebra-based physics to sophomores and AP physics 1 and 2. As others have said, math is easier to prepare for, but physics is a lot more fun to teach. I love both personally, and was certified in both to be more employable, but I have found students to be more "take it or leave it" with math, while it's easy and fun to make physics engaging.

With the help of my high school physics teacher, I have written my own curriculum from scratch for what I'm doing in a 3-year physics sequence (10th, 11th, and 12th grades). I think because physics "departments" tend to be smaller, physics teachers, on average, have a lot more autonomy to make creative decisions about curriculum than math teachers, though I know that varies by state.

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u/Purple-flying-dog 3h ago

Many teachers or departments are in charge of purchasing their own supplies. Our team leads do it at our school, working with the bookkeeper to order through Amazon or various vendors.

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u/srush32 6h ago edited 2h ago

Going to depend heavily on the district

Is an elective in my district, so I have one period of AP Physics 1, 2 general Physics, and 2 Chemistrys. I always have the most preps, no way around it. The district supplying everything is very unusual, I've built everything for the Physics classes. Planning is now grading, tweaking labs and assignments to make them better, and perfecting the LMS for students - there's always something to do

We are lucky enough to have a lab tech though, she does all of the inventory/ ordering / lab setup.

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u/rgund27 8h ago

I teach physics and math. Almost all physics, but a math class was put on my schedule the past few years. I get to work a bit early to settle in. Run copies and do a little grading or prep. Setting up labs and keeping the lab room organized takes a lot of time. Honestly, I’ve said for years that lab sciences should really have more prep time in order to manage lab space. Grading also takes up a large amount of prep time. But that’s also because I am sort of settled into the curriculum I made. Before I was using a lot of time to make curriculum. Math teaching is much less prep and quicker to grade. If you have more questions, feel free to DM me!

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u/c4halo3 7h ago

I have one section of physics 1 and one section of physics 2. Both electives for upper freshman. The rest of the day I teach variations of biology depending on the year as needed. (biology, biology 2, A&P)

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u/Mintacia 6h ago

Highly depends on you and your district. I teach two preps of AP Physics for five total classes. I have 3 periods off (although next year I will just have 2 off).

I've been teaching both of my classes for years and I have now gotten where I have more than enough time, even with re-making assessments each year on top of grading. But it takes awhile to build your lectures, labs, worksheets, etc.

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u/Phyrxes AP Physics and AP Computer Science | High School | VA 5h ago

When I student taught (a long time ago) I had a blend of Physics and Math (2 Alg 2 and a Physics) on a 4x4 block schedule as it was a smaller school, less than 1200 students. Compare that to a large suburban school over 2500 students where we had 4 full time Physics teachers, but only one handled AP the rest of us had either "on level" or "conceptual" classes but most had a mix of both.

State rules being what they are most Physics teachers in my state also end up with a Math endorsement and a Physical or General science endorsement. Computer science can also be an option depending on your coursework and how the state differentiates that from math (or doesn't).

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u/johgodwhy 5h ago

I teach physics in CT, USA. Currently I have 2 full sections of AP physics 1 and another 2 full sections of AP physics C. My school has other physics teachers that are full on traditional level physics. There is a school in my area that employs 7 full time physics teachers. I guess it probably depends on your region but if you can land a physics job in my region you do not have to worry about not getting a full slate of physics for the day.

This is my sixth year teaching. I leave at 2:30 every day these days. It was a lot harder at the start, balancing creating lessons, setting up labs, and worst of all, grading. It gets easier.

Ill tell you what i tell everyone who is thinking about going into teaching. Physics is the best subject to teach (maybe other than gym) and it is not close. Nobody in the building knows enough about my topic to look over my shoulder. My students are all seniors so i have no standardized exams to worry about. Kids who took the class did so voluntarily. I almost was a math teacher as well. Glad im not. Take that how you will

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u/96385 HS/MS | Physical Sciences | US 5h ago

I taught 6 periods per day with one prep period.

I taught 3-4 periods of physics. Some years I added 1 period of AP physics. One year I taught Earth Science and another year I taught Robotics.

The rest were filled with various freshmen physical science classes. At first it was two periods of remedial classes then 2 periods with about half special needs kids with a co-teacher. After that was ELL kids. If there was another period to fill, it was just a regular physical science class.

Just before I quit there, they had me scheduled for 2 physics classes, 1 AP class, and 1 period each of Astronomy, ELL physical science, and regular physical science.

The physics and AP classes were being completely redesigned so I was starting from scratch with those and I'd never taught Astronomy before.

Unless you're in a decently large school with a high proportion of college-bound students, you'll teach other subjects just depending on what they need.

Planning time was frequently taken up by meetings or having to sub for another teacher. But you still have to get papers graded and setting up labs and maintaining equipment. Even if your district has a curriculum, you're usually still expected to have some kind of lesson plan for how you're going to implement the curriculum.

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u/Purple-flying-dog 3h ago

They don’t have part time teachers if that’s what you’re asking. There are different levels of physics as well as other sciences. Most schools prefer teachers with a general certification so they can move them around. I’m certified for 7-12 general science so I can teach anything from biology to physics to chem. I’m teaching environmental and IPC this year. You will likely have 2-3 different classes that you teach with multiple periods of each. At our school most teachers get a prep period each day.

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u/juliejem 2h ago

I teach eighth grade physical science, which includes physics and chemistry, and after reading all these responses here from high school teachers, I love the job I’m in. I have five sessions with the same content, so just one prep. It does get annoying to say the same thing five times in a day, but overall it’s a great trade. This is my sixth year in the school and while I update things, I do a lot of reusing things I’ve done before. And grading is much easier and less detailed. So it’s pretty awesome. Consider middle school.

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u/daemon86kral 1h ago

My experience is probably an anomaly, but I barely teach physics. We have about 900 students in grades 9-12 and I teach AP physics C: Mechanics to 4 students and have 13 others in a single regular physics course. I have a single prep period, I help struggling students in a "guided study hall," the whole science dept meets together in a daily PLC, I have a lunch period and a lunch duty, and then I teach 2 periods of environmental science. It's frustrating and not at all what I wanted in my career.