The first year teacher is often a very lonely and isolated person. They often feel like everyone else has everything already figured out, and they are the only one struggling. That is not the case. In fact, so many of us are in survival mode and dealing with our own issues that we forget to help the first year teachers out. Below is a list of 50 things I picked up in my first 10 years of teaching that can hopefully help you through some of those lonely times.
I am in my 11th year of teaching now. Where did the time go? One of the top search results that sends people to this blog is “First Year Teacher” so I thought that the beginning of a new school year would be a great time for something like this. I’m sure there are tons of other things that first year teachers should know, but here are a handful of tips.
- Persevere
- Learn from the wisdom of others
- Avoid gossip
- Work diligently
- Leave room for a personal life
- Live on less than you earn
- Students are a reflection of their parents
- Students are a reflection of their teacher
- Persistent problems are usually caused by something you are doing/allowing/omitting/forgetting
- Find a core group of other young teachers and learn together
- Mistakes happen; admit when you are wrong
- Parents often know about problems before class is over; students text crazy fast and subtly
- If a parent complaint is going to hit an administrator’s desk, make sure they are prepared beforehand
- Take “mental health” days off from time-to-time as necessary
- Don’t try to understand why kids do what they do, try to planhow you will respond
- We’re all making it up as we go
- Don’t take anything personally
- Love your students
- Don’t let anyone walk all over you
- Smile more (read You Better Smile Before Christmas!)
- Plan your lessons, but don’t tie yourself to your lesson plan
- Fire drills happen
- Bus tires don’t always stay inflated
- Bus wrecks sometimes happen too
- Before you yell at kids for not staying focused, think back to how your acted during your last inservice
- Don’t argue with anyone in front of anyone else
- Choose your battles (I used to have kids call home about chewing gum, now I simply have them spit it out)
- Practice THE LOOK (authoritative, but not condescending)
- Study your body language
- Shut your mouth more often
- Strive to eliminate these words: Umm, uh
- Minimize the use of these words: Like, cool, well
- Ending your directives at a lower pitch level will greatly increase student compliance
- Audio record 20-45 minutes of teaching a week (however much you can bear to listen to); find one area to fix and write it down in a journal
- Write that same focus area on a post-it note and keep it with you whenever you are teaching
- When you listen to the recording the next week, figure out if the problem got better; if not, address it again
- If a problem persists for three weeks in a row, move on to another problem and come back to this one later
- This same process works with your students too; if they are having a particular problem, address it three times, then move on and come back to it later
- Go observe other teachers as much as you can
- Find at least one mentor
- Create a Culture of Encouragement rather than a Fortress of Fear
- Remember that your students are real multidimensional people
- Teenage girls are crazy; Teenage boys occasionally have brains and use them even less often
- Respect comes when people feel safe
- Be as consistent as you possibly can be
- If you must be inconsistent, make every effort to at least be fair
- Make someone’s day every day
- Say “thank you” more
- The secretaries run the school/district; treat them accordingly
- Don’t seek out special recognition
What are your best First Year Teacher tips? Share them in the comment section below.
Great list of tips Joel – I have tweeted this out to our followers on Twitter! Are you on Twitter so I can mention you in the post? Regards Kate
Great! Yes, I am @sywtt. Thank you.
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