I will not pretend to be an expert at education. After all, this is only my second year as a full-time educator. However, going into my second year, I’ve come to realize that there are some things I wish I had been told before I began my first year. Things that would have made that first year a million times easier. And so I shall try and write them down now, in the hopes of helping future first-year teachers, listed in no particular order.
- Find a mentor and ask them questions
Most school districts will provide a mentor teacher for you. If not, or if you and your mentor teacher simply don’t get along, find someone else at your school who can help you learn the ropes. I was never really given a mentor teacher, and never really took advantage of the teachers who actually wanted to help me out in the beginning. As a result, I struggled a lot more those first few weeks than I should have.
A mentor teacher isn’t just a resource for when you have questions. A mentor teacher is a resource for when you need someone to talk to about things going on in the classroom, for when you need someone to listen to, or just for when you need to know that someone else has got your back. They are an incredible resource, and deserve every ounce of respect you can give them.
- Don’t bring your work home
Teaching is incredibly stressful. It’s just the nature of our job. But it doesn’t have to take up all of your free time.
Find something that helps you relax. For some people that’s yoga. Others it’s lying on the couch watching Netflix. For me, it’s riding my bike or playing video games. Find something that will never fail to bring your spirits up, and make sure you try to do it on a regular basis.
For that matter, try to avoid bringing schoolwork home. Try to avoid grading papers, or lesson planning, or sending emails/making phone calls. Save that for your school. You don’t get paid enough to do all of that on your own time.
- Avoid raising your voice
Sometimes students get loud. Sometimes you need a way to get their attention. But try to avoid raising your voice.
Notice that I don’t say never raise your voice. There will be times when you need to raise your voice, whether it’s to get their attention or to get them to do something right then and there. But don’t make a habit of it.
Why? Because your students will respect you for it.
My first semester, I raised my voice all the time. I used the “One Two Three Eyes on Me” attention getter pretty frequently, and I often had to raise my voice to near-shouting level in order to get them to hear me. The students didn’t like it, I didn’t like it, and it didn’t help anything.
Second semester, I stopped that. Instead I would just raise my hand and wait for them to all raise their hands. The classroom atmosphere altered dramatically; my relationships with my students was more positive, and we were able to get through a lot more material much more quickly. There was a noticeable difference between how the class operated before and after, and it was a very positive change.
I’m not going to say that it will work for every teacher. I’m sure some teachers have a much more booming voice that can terrify their students into submission. But for me, choosing not to raise my voice earned the respect of my students.
- Be willing to change (but don’t be crazy about it)
Your first year you will be assaulted with hundreds of different teaching methods. You will hear from your fellow teachers, from professional development speakers, from your administrators, all about different ways how you could teach your class. It will be overwhelming.
When you start off, find a niche that works and stick with it for a few weeks. Get a feel for yourself as an educator, and your students as a class. But once you’ve done that, once you really understand the balance between educator and class, feel free to experiment. You will find that some methods will work beautifully and you will wonder why you weren’t using them to begin with. Others will fail miserably and you will doubt yourself as a professional. But in reality, that’s what being a teacher is about.
After all, you’re a new teacher! Even after my first year, there are still new things to try – even after ten, twenty, or thirty, I’m sure there will be new things to try. So go out there and try those things! Don’t let yourself become one of those boring, stale teachers with the personality of a cabbage.
- Always come in with a positive attitude
Students will frustrate you. Parents will frustrate you. Administrators will frustrate you. There is no avoiding that. But you can avoid displaying your frustration, especially in front of your students. That is the biggest way to make them turn against you. Wait to vent until you get home, whether it’s to your spouse, significant other, or cat. Save your frustration for when you’re in the shower, or when you’re working out, or when you’re eating dinner. Don’t display it at school. Not only will that help you feel a little bit better about your time at the school, but it will also make sure that your classroom is a positive place for your students (who might not have that at home).
Jacob Ryckman 