New Teachers Are Most Worried About the First Day of School. So Why Don’t New Teacher Orientations Talk About It?

There’s always lots of ground to cover at New Teacher Orientation. Inspiration. Information. Registration…

As a result, Orientation events tend to mix fire-hose levels of district information with inspirational parables, all set to a soundtrack of Wind Beneath My Wings on repeat. Unfortunately, this means the combined message new teachers receive right before they step into their first classroom feels something like this:

“You are the wind beneath kids’ wings…Your job is to be the force of nature that keeps children from dropping out of the sky. So always remember what a difference you make! Oh, but also make sure you’re never alone in a room with a kid. And everything you do needs to be backed up by data. But make sure to be confident! Students can sense when you’re not confident! Now, please read this binder that describes our evaluation system.”

And yet, New Teacher Orientations often leave out the number one subject on teachers’ minds: The first day of school.

With this in mind, I wanted to use Medium to share a short, free email series I created to help rookies prepare for their first day of teaching: The School Year Starter Kit.

The Starter Kit is meant to help new teachers cut through information overload and focus on the few, basic things that will most help them prepare for their first day.

The series is only three days of emails since new teachers are working on such a tight timeline. It’s meant to serve as a reference point, with links to things like first day lesson plan tips, suggested classroom rules, tips for assigning seats, and a 10-day countdown checklist.

It ends with an FAQ section to address nagging concerns, including questions teachers can ask in real time using an optional survey at the bottom of each email.

It also includes notes from my own Orientation speeches around the country, which explain why it’s helpful to imagine the first day of teaching as an airport.

If you know any incoming teachers who could use this, please pass it on. If you’re the rookie teacher in question, you can sign up for the School Year Starter Kit here.

Best of luck to all of you as you prepare for the first day!