The February meeting of the New Teacher Working Group focused on navigating new lesson expectations set by the NYC Board of Education, strategies for lesson planning, and fostering student engagement in active learning. With the updated standards closely aligning with NGSS, teachers discussed whether to adopt pre-prepared lessons or create their own. The group emphasized the importance of thoroughly vetting any pre-made materials to ensure clarity, logical progression, and alignment with preferred terminology. Members recommended a balanced approach—selecting one unit to fully develop while relying on pre-existing resources for others—allowing for gradual curriculum customization over time.
To support effective lesson planning, participants shared a variety of instructional resources, including Magic School AI for generating teaching materials, POGIL for inquiry-based learning, Rewordify for simplifying text, and PhET simulations for interactive science experiments. The discussion also highlighted the value of professional organizations, such as the American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT), American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT), American Modeling Teachers Association (AMTA), and the National Conference of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), as sources of lesson ideas, teaching strategies, and networking opportunities. These organizations offer structured support that can help new educators refine their teaching approaches and stay up to date with best practices.
Encouraging students to take a more active role in their learning was another major topic of discussion. Teachers noted that many students are accustomed to passively receiving information rather than engaging deeply with the material. Specific challenges included students struggling to ask meaningful questions, participate in group discussions, construct their own definitions, and develop testable scientific questions. The group explored strategies for building these skills, such as scaffolding discussions, modeling inquiry-based learning, and using structured questioning techniques.
Building from a desire to better support their students in growing requisite skills, the group discussed ways to seek professional development opportunities. Members suggested reaching out to administrators for in-house and external training options, including workshops on Socratic questioning and effective discussion techniques. They shared specific resources for questioning from Betterup, the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, and the University of Michigan. The meeting reinforced the importance of both teacher and student growth, with a focus on creating engaging, inquiry-driven learning environments that empower students to think critically and independently.
Note: summaries are written with aid of AI text software