As I work my way through year number 15 of teaching, I feel like I have finally reached a place where I can impart some wisdom to the new teachers that are just trying to tread water until summer and hope they can make it to the next year. So, here it is. My words of wisdom.
1. It gets better.
I cried most days my first year teaching. Some times I had someone cover my class so I could go in the hall and cry. On Fridays I taught 6 classes with a double period at the end of the day. Whenever I needed a mental health day, it was always on a Friday. When I didn't take a mental health day on Fridays, I would often take a nap in my car after I got home because I didn't have the stamina to walk to my house after my exhausting day. For several months in my second year I could never turn my back on one of my classes because whenever I did, shenanigans would ensue. I even got hit in the back of the head with a paper airplane (though they swore they weren't aiming for me).
This feeling that teaching is a million times harder than anything you ever imagined is something we all go through. It will take a few years but you will get better at teaching and your experience in the classroom will get better. Stick with it. The first few years are rough but it really does get better.
2. When a more experienced teacher offers to help you, take them up on it!
When I was a new teacher I was in a school full of new teachers. Only one teacher in our school had experience and we leaned heavily on him. He was our anchor when we were all caught in the riptide of a new school and being new to teaching. But he was a math teacher and I am a science teacher. I would have given anything to have a science teacher with some years under her belt to help and guide me. It probably would have saved me from teaching 4 months of the wrong curriculum (eek).
Your best resources is other teachers. It took me a long time and three schools to realize the value of having a strong professional learning community. You as an individual have plenty of good ideas, but you don't have all of the ideas. If someone is offering you fresh eyes and a new perspective it can only help. Sometimes you have to swallow your pride a little bit and take the grows with the glows, but you will end up a better teacher for it.
3. When you are ready, take chances with your pedagogy. Try the new thing. Put yourself out there.
When you are new to teaching it is scary to take chances in your classroom. Heck, when you are not new it is scary to try something new. What if it fails? What if my admins walk in and the lesson is a mess? What if?
BUT, what if it doesn't fail? What if it is an amazing success and you find something you and your students love? I promise you your students will learn from you. Even if the lesson flops there is no way the students are going to walk out of the classroom having learned nothing. If nothing else, they will learn that everyone fails sometimes. What you take from those failures can make even your worse failures a success. Since I started trying new (and scary) things in my classroom, I have transformed my teaching. I love what my classroom has become. I can finally say I wish that I was a student in my class.
4. Have FUN!
You spend all day in your space. Sometimes you are teaching the same thing 5 times a day. It can get repetitive and boring by the end of the day. But not if you make your class a place where your students can have fun and engage in the learning. It makes the day fly by for you and for them. If you are having fun in your class, students are too.
Teaching is amazing, hard, rewarding, frustrating, fulfilling and draining. When I started I couldn't imagine doing it for the rest of my life. Now I can't imagine doing anything else.
1. It gets better.
I cried most days my first year teaching. Some times I had someone cover my class so I could go in the hall and cry. On Fridays I taught 6 classes with a double period at the end of the day. Whenever I needed a mental health day, it was always on a Friday. When I didn't take a mental health day on Fridays, I would often take a nap in my car after I got home because I didn't have the stamina to walk to my house after my exhausting day. For several months in my second year I could never turn my back on one of my classes because whenever I did, shenanigans would ensue. I even got hit in the back of the head with a paper airplane (though they swore they weren't aiming for me).
This feeling that teaching is a million times harder than anything you ever imagined is something we all go through. It will take a few years but you will get better at teaching and your experience in the classroom will get better. Stick with it. The first few years are rough but it really does get better.
2. When a more experienced teacher offers to help you, take them up on it!
When I was a new teacher I was in a school full of new teachers. Only one teacher in our school had experience and we leaned heavily on him. He was our anchor when we were all caught in the riptide of a new school and being new to teaching. But he was a math teacher and I am a science teacher. I would have given anything to have a science teacher with some years under her belt to help and guide me. It probably would have saved me from teaching 4 months of the wrong curriculum (eek).
Your best resources is other teachers. It took me a long time and three schools to realize the value of having a strong professional learning community. You as an individual have plenty of good ideas, but you don't have all of the ideas. If someone is offering you fresh eyes and a new perspective it can only help. Sometimes you have to swallow your pride a little bit and take the grows with the glows, but you will end up a better teacher for it.
3. When you are ready, take chances with your pedagogy. Try the new thing. Put yourself out there.
When you are new to teaching it is scary to take chances in your classroom. Heck, when you are not new it is scary to try something new. What if it fails? What if my admins walk in and the lesson is a mess? What if?
BUT, what if it doesn't fail? What if it is an amazing success and you find something you and your students love? I promise you your students will learn from you. Even if the lesson flops there is no way the students are going to walk out of the classroom having learned nothing. If nothing else, they will learn that everyone fails sometimes. What you take from those failures can make even your worse failures a success. Since I started trying new (and scary) things in my classroom, I have transformed my teaching. I love what my classroom has become. I can finally say I wish that I was a student in my class.
4. Have FUN!
You spend all day in your space. Sometimes you are teaching the same thing 5 times a day. It can get repetitive and boring by the end of the day. But not if you make your class a place where your students can have fun and engage in the learning. It makes the day fly by for you and for them. If you are having fun in your class, students are too.
Teaching is amazing, hard, rewarding, frustrating, fulfilling and draining. When I started I couldn't imagine doing it for the rest of my life. Now I can't imagine doing anything else.
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