8 Things I Wish I Had Known as a New Teacher
Lalilo understands teachers because we are teachers. And that’s why Lalilo so passionately believes in making a teacher’s job easier. In honor of that, here’s some advice we have to offer those entering the profession. These are eight things I wish I had known as a new teacher…
- How Tiring the First Year Is
I’ve worked with kids all of my life. I’ve had a range of jobs in overnight summer camps, emergency services, and the corporate world. I even worked 12–16 hour days for six days of the week with three jobs before my first year teaching. NONE of that is as tiring as your first year teaching. There’s no way to prepare for it except to be as diligent as possible with self-care and teacher mentor help. Trust me; it gets easier.
2. Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
When I came into the industry, over 12 years ago, we didn’t have the teacher resources we do today like Pinterest, TeacherTube, Facebook, and Lalilo. That being said, it was still valuable to find lessons, ideas and collaborate with other teachers as much as possible. As new teachers, we have these delusions of grandeur about being able to incorporate all of these inspiring units and making our ideal classroom. In reality, there just isn’t enough time to execute all the *extra* duties we run into every day. Therefore, use what’s tried and true. You can still put your personal touch on it — and trust me, it will evolve into yours the more you teach it — but sometimes life is better when we don’t try to do it all ourselves. Teaching is absolutely no different. Find those resources!
3. Flexibility
I kept hearing this advice, but I think it took me learning the hard way to get really good at being flexible. The honest truth is that no matter how much you prepare, things will go wrong or change, so it’s best to give yourself an “outline” when planning rather than a “script.” As you gain teaching experience, you learn how to teach and work on the fly naturally. The sooner you figure out your own personal areas of adaptability, the better. In the end, the job will cause you to choose these battles.
4. Choose Your Battles
The reality of teaching is that there is just SO much to do and so little time. There’s also a lot more policy and administrative duties than many people realize. Therefore, prioritizing your daily duties and your own value system will go along way. Categorize what is expected of you to get done and then reassess where you are setting higher expectations for yourself than necessary. A lesson in teaching is simply that we will have to make sacrifices. Making those compromises saves you from burning out, and that lesson is the bigger picture to always keep in the back of your head. After all, if you burn out, then you make far less of a difference than if you merely just back down on one particular issue or expectation.
5. A Great Mentor is Everything
New Teacher Preparation programs are on the decrease. But that doesn’t mean, we can’t recreate the best part of them: mentoring. Find a great mentor your first year. They will help guide you on the places where you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, where you can be flexible, and also, advise you on choosing your battles. My first-year mentor was absolutely inspiring. He gave me an idea of who I wanted to become and, as my biggest advocate, even helped me fight some of my fiercest battles when sometimes I didn’t realize it was my battle to fight. Having that support system is invaluable.
6. The Extra Duties
Meetings, calls, paperwork, extra duties, and supervision. As a student teacher, I significantly underestimated how much time was being spent by my supervising teacher behind the scenes. Additionally, as the new kid on the block, many extra duties can fall to you. Sometimes the best advice is learning how to say “no” when you can.
7. Grading Hacks
Think holistic scoring guides, completion work, and peer review to name a few. All of these are little hacks in the system that make grading easier. Peers reviewing first versions helps catch trivial mistakes. Holistic scoring guides help you hit that 2–5 minute per assignment grading time (always have a time limit and strategize methods for keeping to it). Completion work is easy grading, but also really great for student practice and helping those struggling kids find some achievable success to get them to buy-in, too. (P.S. — Follow me — article on this coming soon!)
8. It Gets Easier
The teaching industry is notorious for a high turnover rate. Many don’t last past the first 5 years, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t see improvement each year. You will find a rhythm and your own style, not to mention seeing your former students grow from your work with them. Take solace in knowing that, like any job, with experience comes ease. Allow yourself to celebrate the small wins. Marinate in the good memories. Keeping a gratitude journal, jar of happy thoughts or teacher scrapbook of memories from each year is really great for recharging and remembering why we do this.
Bonus: Teach from the Heart
Teaching is magical. Overnight, you become a mentor, expert, parent, and friend to young minds. Remember that even in your first year, you are creating your own legacy. I’m still in touch with so many students over the years, and the ones from my first year hold a special place in my heart. I’ll never forget their faces lighting up when I enthusiastically taught a fresh new lesson (translation: I was up all night planning out of sheer excitement) nor the fact that they were some of the most forgiving of my biggest teaching mistakes. The reality is that they won’t remember (or sometimes even know) the lesson that failed, but they will remember who you were to them. And that, my teacher friends, is the BEST part of teaching that I wish I had known as a new teacher.
Please message me at tiffany@lalilo.com if you’re a teacher who’d like to be a part of what we’re doing here at Lalilo.
You may also find me on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/tiffany.croom.503
