5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me as a 1st Year Teacher

As the new school year is approaching, it’s always a time for reflection for teachers. It’s probably the same feeling that other people get around New Year’s Eve (btw, I can’t be the only one who thinks in school year? For me, the “beginning” of the year is always September”.) where we reflect on our last school year, and what we want to do better or do differently.

This time of the year always brings back memories of my first year of teaching and I find it so fascinating to think about 22 year old me as first year teacher and I wish I could sit down with her and drop some knowledge. Here is what I wish someone would have told me when I was a first year teacher:

Be Yourself.

You have been preparing to have your own classroom for years. Throughout your education, your fieldwork, and your student teaching, you always had to do something someone else’s way. You’re finally free to do things your own way and don’t let other people dull your shine. Every teacher as a unique style, personality, and presence they bring to their students and lessons and it’s okay to do things differently than others.

Wear all the costumes! Sing all the songs! Genuine joy and excitement is contagious and your students will love you for being “that” teacher that brings something different to the classroom. Students can see right through you when you are not being authentic, so just be yourself and don’t be afraid to be weird or try new things.

Bottom line: Haters gonna hate and you need to do you, boo boo.

You’re going to make mistakes - and that’s okay

As a first year teacher, you probably feel so much pressure; the pressure to be “fun” teacher, the pressure to nail every observation, the pressure to plan and execute engaging and challenging lessons, it’s never ending! Remember when you are thrown all these responsibilities and faced with all these expectations, that not everything is going to go according to plan.

You might realize that letting your 9th graders choose where ever they want to sit will lead you chaos by December. You might look back at the handouts you were so proud of and realize they were total crap. You might realize that trying too hard to be the “cool, young teacher” will backfire and your students won’t take you seriously. All the mistakes I made my first year of teaching helped me become a better teacher going forward. If you learn from what went wrong, it’s not really a mistake but a learning experience.

Bottom line: You will make mistakes, but don’t worry, the only person who expects you to be perfect is yourself.

Be humble and learn from others!

When you first start teaching, you’re going to tell yourself that you will never be like “those” teachers. You’re going to want to be different from the ones who bored you to death in high school, or that fellow teacher who the student always complains about. While this is not a bad thing, you will want to be so different from them, in real and in imagined ways, that you might start to think that your ways are the best ways.

When I was a first year teacher, it’s not that I was trying to be arrogant, on the inside I was just as scared and clueless an you would expect any first year teacher to be, but it was just that I had all these ideas about what a “good” teacher did, that I prematurely judged other teachers styles, ideas, or strategies. After getting to know my coworkers on a more personal and professional level and making an effort to learn from my peers, my lessons have gotten so much better through collaboration and teamwork.

Additionally, whenever something wouldn’t work out in the classroom, or I got critical feedback from my students, coworkers, or supervisors, I took it super personally. Although I didn’t let it out at work, on the inside I would tear myself apart and blame my personality or myself as a teacher on why things didn’t work out the way I wanted, rather than seeing that it’s not me as a human being, it’s just that there are better ways of doing things that I didn’t think to consider before.

Bottom line: It’s perfectly normal to not be good at something the first time you do it! Learn from others, take feedback professionally, and don’t get prematurely stuck in your ways.

Don’t let your vision cloud your reality

I feel like a lot of the problems I had as a first year teacher had to do with difference between what I had built up in my head as what I thought I would do and be like as a teacher and my reality. When we first start teaching, we all tell ourselves “when I finally get my own classroom, I’m going to _______”. We have amazing, fulfilling moments when our dreams come to fruition but there are also a lot of moments when your amazing ideas you had don’t actually work in your real life classroom.

For example, one of the things I dreamed about doing as a teacher was assigning my students the super fun, creative projects my favorite AP US History teacher would assign my class back in high school. I have so many fond memories of making these hilarious movies and performing crazy skits about history in class with my friends and I wanted to bring that joy of learning to my students. When I was a first year teacher, I thought I had a brilliant project assigned. I let my students choose their own groups and based on a list of topics we had learned that unit, they had to create a mini-movie, perform a skit, or do a poster presentation. I really wanted to see my students get creative, so I even offered extra credit for any group that created a movie or a skit. When my project was finally due I was disappointed to see that not a single student made a movie, the skits were half-heartedly done, and most groups ended up doing an informative presentation. When I expressed my disappointment and asked why no one had taken the “fun” route, I got a super logical and simple answer: My students didn’t have the resources to make movies or the time to get together.

I went to school on suburban Long Island. All my friends and I lived in the same neighborhood, walking distance away from each other. We would walk to each other’s houses on weekends, borrow our parent’s video camera and use our computers to edit the videos. My students didn’t have those luxuries.

Although all my students went to the same school, they commuted from all over New York City, it wasn’t accessible to just meet up over the weekend, especially since their student Metro cards

don’t work on weekends. Furthermore, many of them expressed that in their neighborhood, it wasn’t safe to wander around with a video camera and a group of friends. Most students didn’t have time to meet up after school because they lived an hour away and had to go home to take care of siblings.

I naively let my ideal vision cloud the reality of my classroom. I assigned a similar project a few years later, this time, considering my students realities. Thankfully, by this time, phone technology had progressed so making movies was much more accessible and could be done easily on a smartphone. I allotted much more time in class and extended the due date. I also gave students who wanted to work on weekends a Metro card so they could travel to each other and made sure I was available certain lunch periods and days after school so they could have a place to film on their free time during the week. This time, I was not disappointed in the results and we all enjoyed the creative, hilarious, and educational videos made by my very own students!

Bottom Line: Your ideals and your dreams about teaching should guide you, rather than define you. Get to know your students and what works for them, rather than trying to re-create your memories or visions.

This last one is a little silly, but still true for me!

Don’t get mad when people say you look like a student

Remember how it felt to first get ID’d at a bar? Especially for all the rebels out there, it was scary at first. Then when you finally turn legal, the thrill of being asked for ID and actually being able to present your real ID. You get a little older and it becomes totally normal and you don’t really think about it. And then, you stop getting asked for ID. At first, you think it’s nice and convenient to not have to dig through your purse at every door. But then comes that moment when you see the bouncer ID’ing everyone in front of you and when you approach him, he looks at you and waves you through. Eventually this keeps happening, and you start to question, “Why didn’t he ID me?” and the truth hits that you’re getting old. If this sounds extremely specific, it’s because yes, this is my reality now and I freakin’ love getting ID’d. The biggest compliment I got was when some usher gave me a questioning look and asked to see my ID when I was buying tickets for an R rated movie. Honestly, that was an amazing feeling.

This is what I think about every time I think back to how I complained about constantly getting confused for a student my first year of teaching.

I started student teaching at 21 and was 22 when I was officially hired as a full time teacher. When I first started teaching, I had so many school staff, especially office staff, try to kick me out of the staff elevator, ask what I was doing in the teacher’s bathroom, or question me as I was walking down the halls. I found it so annoying and frustrating, especially since I would make an effort to dress professionally and more formal to differentiate myself from the students.

This is the selfie I took when I first got hired as a full time teacher! I was so excited and nervous!

But just like getting ID’d slowly people stopped saying, “Wow! You look like a student!” and then I turned into the person on the elevator thinking, “Hmm is that a student or a first year teacher?”.

Bottom Line: Don’t take it personally when people confuse you for a student. One day, it will be a compliment!

P.S.: I know this last one comes off as silly or annoying to those who are actual adults. I know I’m still young but I can’t help it that I’m having a quarter life crisis. Maybe teaching ages you faster?

#firstyearteacher #teachertalk #teacherlife