5 Tips I Wish I Would Have Known During My First Year Teaching
By Kaitlyn Long, Third Grade Teacher
Recently, I was asked by my administration to become a mentor for beginning teachers. I immediately felt honored by this, but then reality set in. I had to sit down and reflect on my first few years of teaching. I asked myself the question: if I could go back to that first year, what would I tell myself? There were so many things that came to mind, but I managed to organize all of that information into five tips that I thought were the most important to tell my mentee. Here are the five tips that I wish I had followed during my first year of teaching.
Set Up Your Classroom Early!
If you are anything like me, one of your favorite hobbies is looking for classroom decor. There is just something about buying a bulletin board border that just makes my day. My first tip is to use all of the decor that you have stocked up and start setting up your classroom a few weeks before the school year starts. By starting this process early, you can set up your classroom just how you want it and can change anything you may need to. This also gives you the chance to “purge” anything that the previous teacher may have left. The best part about setting up your classroom before those teacher work days is that you can work on your classroom a little at a time so the whole process doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. If your school is anything like mine, those first few days of coming back to work are full of meetings, which means you may feel rushed to get your classroom set up in time. You may have to ask your administrator about coming in early in order to set up your classroom, but I have found that this makes coming back from the summer months a little bit easier.
Get to Know the Curriculum
If you would like to get a jumpstart during the summer, go ahead and read all of the standards for the grade level/subject that you will be teaching. This will get your creative juices flowing regarding lesson plans, activities, and assessments. When I started teaching, my grade block had already mapped out our curriculum for the entire year. They had also created lesson plans for the first few weeks of school. This was a great resource, so ask your fellow team members for lesson plans and ideas. Working together on a curriculum is better and easier than working alone. If you are the only one teaching a certain grade or subject, the online teaching community is a great place to find lesson plans and ideas that will fit with your teaching standards. This is also a great place to ask for help if something in your curriculum or standards is not very clear.
Get Connected!
Starting out the school year at a brand new school can be intimidating. I know when I started out, I was very shy and honestly a little scared about meeting new people. You may not know anyone at your school. My advice is to put yourself out there and talk to other teachers, administrators, and even people in the community you are teaching in. If you are introverted like me, this can be a challenge but creating connections in the work environment can be very beneficial. Those connections will give you access to resources that you may not have had if you were working by yourself. I have made connections with local businesses and parents that have helped my classroom tremendously. Don’t be afraid to talk to your co-workers and people in the community because by doing so, you show that you are open to learning about the culture of the school.
GO HOME!
During my first year of teaching, I would stay at least two to three hours after school every day in order to get ready for the next day. I would meticulously go over every detail in my lesson and make sure that I had all of the materials that I needed for all of my lessons lined up and ready to go. My fellow teachers would sometimes have to drag me out of my classroom because it was so late in the evening. My beginning teacher coach advised me to go home at clock-out time at least a few days a week because she was afraid that I would burn out. I did not think that I would burn out and that I would be able to keep going like this for the whole school year, but I was wrong.
Burnout hit hard during the middle of the year and I realized that I had to go home and rest in order to be a better teacher for my students. Teacher burnout is a real thing that can creep up on anyone if they are working too hard. “Living” at school is stressful and seems to make your world feel smaller. It can also take the fun out of teaching. So go home — rest, recover, and reflect on the day. Find something that you like to do to relax. The work that you have to do in your classroom will still be there, but you will be able to tackle it feeling refreshed and ready to go. As you continue teaching, you will be able to organize your time to where you will not have to stay after school very often. I have been teaching for five years and I now stay one day after school each week in order to get ready for the next week. So, one of my biggest tips is to go home at the designated time in order to recharge so you can be the best teacher you can be!
Stick With It!
The term “stick with it” can be used in so many areas of education. I am going to focus on the areas that were challenging to me as a first-year teacher. The first thing that you have to “stick” with is classroom routines. These are VERY important during the first few weeks of teaching because they can set the tone for the rest of the school year. These routines could be coming into the classroom and completing morning work, lining up, lunchroom behavior, or bathroom breaks. I am an elementary teacher so setting up these routines can affect the behavior system of my classroom. Regardless of grade level, students need to know what is expected of them.
This goes to my next point of sticking with your behavior system. Some schools have their own behavior system, but some schools leave that up to the teacher. Behavior and classroom discipline is something that I still struggle with. My advice is to find something that works for you and stick with it. If you slack on enforcing your behavior system, the students will slack on following it and your classroom organization can fall apart. State your behavior system at the beginning of the school year, follow it, and students will know what is expected.
The last “stick with it” tip is to stick with teaching in general! There is a reason why you decided to become a teacher. Keep that reason in mind whenever things start to feel challenging. When I was a first-year teacher, I would sometimes lose sight of what I was doing and why I was doing it. I simply felt like I was just trying to survive day by day. I forgot why I wanted to be a teacher in the first place. I had to stop and remember why I started teaching in the first place. That renewed sense of purpose helps me enjoy being a teacher. So, when things get tough, remember why you wanted to be a teacher, find that purpose, and stick with it!
There Are More Tips Out There!
These are just a few tips that I thought of that would have helped me during my first year of teaching, but there are many more tips out there from other teachers that are waiting to be discovered! Being a teacher means that we are constantly learning and wanting to improve and so even if someone has taught for thirty years, there are always more tips, tricks, and lessons that can be learned. So, get out there, apply what you have learned, and make the world a better place!
Kaitlyn Long graduated from Western Carolina University in 2018 with her degree in elementary education and then graduated in 2022 with her Master’s degree in Literacy. She has been teaching third grade for five years in Cherokee, North Carolina. Kaitlyn has a strong desire to help her students succeed and cares deeply about the needs of every student.
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