How to be a Rock Star in Your First Year as a Teacher

10 tips for creating an amazing first year in the classroom

Teaching for me has always been fun, but it hasn’t always been easy. Now that I am entering my 7th year in the classroom, I feel like I have learned a thing or two about teaching.

However, most of my learning came from my mistakes that I made in the early years!

So for all of you new teachers out there, here are some tips for your first year in the teaching trenches!

1. Always Have a Plan

For years I would walk into my classes without a plan or only a topic I wanted to talk about. That was a miserable way to teach! I was stressed, and my students took advantage of the lack of structure. Even last year, there were times when I would only plan a few items for my lessons, and those classes felt terrible. Through those experiences, I observed a connection: The more you plan, the more the students engage.

Students long for structure. Go in with a detailed plan. Plan every 10 minutes of class (that’s usually 5–6 items). Here is an example of a Spanish Class Lesson Plan:

9:00–9:10 — Bellringer / Class Journal
9:10–9:20 — Grammar Point / “AR” Verbs
9:20–9:30 — Practice / Conversation with a partner
9:30–9:40 — Cultural Investigation on Computers/ Investigate Santiago, Chile
9:40–9:50 — Discuss with a partner 3 facts you learned about Chile
9:50–10:00 — Put up computers / Talk about homework / Clean

I have also gone through phases where I would spend days trying to make the “perfect” lesson plan.

Don’t do that.

Just make a solid plan, go with it, and then tweak it for next year… which brings me to my next point.

2. Always Keep Your Lesson Plans!

For years, I would throw away my lesson plans because I would either have a new crazy idea or I would think the lesson plan was a flop. Don’t throw lesson plans away!

Even if the lesson plan bombed in one class, it might work with a different group of students. Also, it is always easier to start with something than to start with nothing. You can take your lesson plan that didn’t work, keep that parts that worked, and tweak the rest.

After a few years of tweaking the same lesson plan, you will have an amazing prepared class that keeps getting better every year.

3. Make Classroom Discipline Easy.

Don’t over complicate discipline. Don’t be a tyrant, and don’t be a push over. The method that I use in my classroom is from Love and Logic. I love their methods because they are easy to remember.

Here is an easy system of discipline for your classroom based off of Love and Logic:

Classroom Rule:
1. Don’t create problems
2. If you create a problem, I will ask you to solve it.
3. If you can’t solve it, I will do something.

Easy to remember. Easy to apply.

For example, if Timmy talks out in class, you smile and say “Timmy that’s a problem, can you fix it?” If he says “ yes “ and stops talking, great! The problem is solved. If he continues to talk later, say, “ Timmy that’s still a problem. I’ll need to do something. We can talk about it after class”

Bonus tip: If a student is distracting a class too much, send him out of the room or to the office so that you can calm down and think of a creative consequence that works for you.

4. Make Mistakes

One of my best semesters of teaching was when I thought that I was in my last semester as a teacher. I was going to make a career change, so I thought, “ I am going to try all the crazy things I want to try in the classroom. What’s the worst that can happen? I’m leaving anyway.”

It became my best semester of teaching to that date because I took risks.

Did I make mistakes?

Plenty.

However, because I was trying new things, I grew as a teacher, and the students appreciated the creativity that I brought to the classroom.

It is your first year of teaching. You won’t get it perfect this year (or ever for that matter). Be kind to yourself and allow yourself to take risks in the classroom. If you are concerned about an idea that you have, talk to your administration about it to see if they will support you.

5. Use Your Planning Periods

I used to make a classic mistake. I would spend all of my planning periods in the school office. Naturally, because of that, I would be asked to help with other tasks… or a student would come in and I would talk… or another teacher would come in and I would start chatting.

Sure, there are times where you need to talk to your fellow teachers (that is actually one of the tips in this article), but you also need to protect your planning period! Find a place in the school to plan where you won’t be distracted. If you have your own classroom, close the door and stay there. If you share a classroom and the other teacher’s class is distracting you, find another place!

Really focus during your planning period. That way, you will be well prepared for your classes and you will be taking less work to your house at night.

6. Learn from the Best

If you want to be the best teacher, you need to observe other teachers. The times in my career where I have grown the most have been the times that I have observed master teachers in their craft! It is one thing to read about best classroom practices and another thing to experience them. Start with the teachers in your school. Which teachers do you see making the most impact? See if you can sit in on their class.

Also when you get a chance, visit other schools and see what they are doing. One of the most life changing experiences I have had with teaching was when my school visited Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Georgia. The school seemed odd to me until we went into Ron Clark’s class. He had about fifty 5th graders doing advanced math for their grade level and all of them, every single one, had their eyes glued to Ron Clark! He had them completely captivated.

By visiting the class, I was able to observe the whole experience instead of simply reading about it.

7. Keep it simple

You are going to have a lot on your plate. I remember the first time that did an in-service as a full-time teacher, I almost had a small panic attack every night for the first couple of days. There was so much to remember and so much to learn. I had so many responsibilities!

Don’t stress. You will be fine. The trick is to keep it simple.

Simplify your lesson plans. Simplify your discipline. Simplify your grading. Simplify your classroom procedures. Every time you feel like a system in your classroom is too stressful, make it simple again.

Simplicity will give you peace of mind.

8. Take Notes

You are going to be having a lot of new experiences. Something that I wish I had done as a teacher is to write down my experiences in a journal. Just 5 minutes each day would have been enough to document what went well during the day and what did not go well.

I saw a significant change when I started blogging about my teaching experiences. If you want to blog, great! If not, five minutes in a journal will do. Writing about your experiences helps move your observations from abstract thoughts to concrete action plans.

9. Get to know other teachers

Don’t just get to know other teachers’ styles of teaching, get to know your co-workers! One of the reasons that I love the school where I work is the community that I have there. Over the years, I have built friendships. The people I work with not only help me in my professional life but also sincerely want to support my family and my hobbies as well.

Teaching is fun but challenging. You will need a community of people to help you grow and feel comfortable at your work. To have friends at work, you need to be a friend. Reach out and get to know your co-workers.

10. Connect with Your Students the Right Way

Learning happens in the context of relationships. There is no other way. If you want your students to truly retain and apply the information that you are giving them, they need to trust you.

In my career, I have observed two extremes of first-time teachers. I’ll see the tyrants, or I will see the pushovers. The tyrants control their classroom with an iron fist. They are strict and will plow through the lesson plan at any cost. They are not interested in building relationships, they only want to teach information. The students never learn well from the tyrants.

The other teachers I have seen are the pushovers. These teachers make great relationships with the students, but let the students abuse those relationships by getting away with things in class that they should not be doing. The students control the classroom. They leverage the friendship for their own advantage.

I should know. I used to be one of those teachers.

Don’t’ be a tyrant and don’t be a pushover. The best sentence I have heard concerning this is from Love and Logic:

“Mr. Smith’s class is the best, but he is the strictest teacher I know!”

Be fun and build relationships, but love the students enough to give them a structured environment.

Conclusion:

You will probably hear the following as you progress in your teaching career:
- Teacher’s don’t get paid enough.
- Teaching is so stressful.
- Parents are too hard to deal with.
- Grading takes away all my free time.

Don’t listen to the negative comments. You made a great choice!
- You will have fun.
- You will see lives transformed.
- You will have an awesome vacation schedule.
- You will build amazing friendships.

Your first year of teaching can be one of your best years. Use the tips above to start off on the right foot.

And from one teacher to another…Welcome to the world’s greatest profession!

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