The first year of teaching is a little like experiencing the pool for the first time. Picture a toddler grinning from ear to ear, nervous but excited, and having heard all about the steps to swimming, the rules of the kiddie pool, and how to engage with fellow swimmers. This was me as a first-year teacher; I thought it would be like splashing around in a kiddie pool.
Sure, I knew it would be a little chaotic, and I might get water in my eyes, but I was prepared to process things when they didn't go as planned. My professors had told me about engagement strategies to help students grasp material. I had unit plans centered around Socratic seminars, fishbowl discussions, and reading groups. My students would not sit at their desks for more than 20 minutes without movement or games.
Instead, I was thrust off a high dive. I got beat over and over by pounding waves of paperwork, classroom management, stress, parents, extra duties, lesson planning, and terrifying observations that made me wonder what my boss was writing on her clipboard. It was nothing like what my professors had described. It was nothing like student teaching. It was nothing like what school had looked like when I was a student.
The first day on the job, I was immediately told by fellow teachers to be "mean." I laughed and said, "Oh, I know. I plan to be very strict."
"No, seriously," they replied, using a familiar adage: "Don't smile until Christmas."
But what about all those stories about teachers being their students' heroes? I was going to be kind and firm and a model teacher—all in my first year.
Tricks of the Trade
I quickly learned that the goal of first-year teaching is to keep yourself afloat and hopefully want to do it again next year. Now that I'm in my sixth year, I wish I had known the struggles before I started. There's a reason teachers get summer break. But I promise it's worth it. Helping a young person learn and grow is a job only teachers can claim. Nothing rivals witnessing a "light bulb moment" for future leaders and world changers.
The best piece of advice I can give new teachers is to take any help veteran teachers offer and ask for more. To start you off, here's what helped me the most as a newbie teacher.
1. Spend the first week of school just going over procedures.
Seriously. Make a procedure for everything and practice it every day that week. How do you want students to enter the room? How do you want them to hand papers back? How do you want them to hand papers forward? Where do they turn in work? How do they ask to leave? What happens if they leave and don't come back in 10 minutes? What happens if they don't do their work? What happens if they need a tissue? What happens if they won't stop talking out of turn? The list goes on. Once you've set the rules and reviewed them with students, follow through with the discipline. Let them know you are serious. It's so much harder to revisit the rules and convince students that you are serious if you let something go early on. I promise it's worth coming off overly strict or "extra" (as my students will sometimes tell you I am). They'll learn that you have rules and that you are firm about them. They'll still love you. Promise.
On day one, I have students practice entering the classroom quietly and quickly, even though I feel a bit like a drill sergeant. Once we've figured that out, I pass papers to the student in the first seat of each row, and we practice (with a five-second timer) how to hand the papers out to the rest of the class. If it's not silent, we start again. If it takes more than 10 seconds, we start again. Then, I have students practice following assignment instructions and sharing work with the class. Sometimes, I simply ask them to list the procedures we've already covered or 10 things they know to be true. I make sure to give an example of what I'm expecting and how quiet I want them to be. We also practice all-class sharing. Students must raise their hands, wait to be called on, and one person talks at a time without interruptions or inappropriate comments. Students need to know what all these procedures should look like and how you will hold them accountable.
2. Plan overboard.
If you have a 45-minute class, plan for 1.5 hours, even if it's for something as simple as a refresher of previous material. You can always make up what you missed, but students equate extra time with party time. Once, I ran out of material and had students read at their seats. Although independent reading is normal in my class, this time it was for a longer period than usual. One of my students decided to get up and do the Macarena. I didn't know 11-year-olds in 2019 even knew the Macarena, but it happened, and I had to employ a procedure that every teacher has to learn: send the kid out into the hallway (do not laugh), quiet the class, talk to the kid outside, send the kid with a pass to the office, reenter the class (do not laugh), switch lessons because no one will be able to focus on reading anymore, and, later, review the policy on independent work with the dancing queen.
3. Make friends.
This step might seem like an added stress to pay attention to, but it has helped so much to have people who are in this crazy teaching life with me and who make me laugh. I joined a book club at work that meets monthly. I drop in and ask how so-and-so is doing in my colleagues' classes or share strategies for how to motivate or connect with specific students. I plan cross-curricular lessons by letting my colleagues know what unit I'll be teaching next and how we might connect with what's going on in their classrooms. I also ask to see organizational methods for an exceptionally cool-looking classroom. My day can be going terribly, but I feel so much better after I spend my planning period in a fellow teacher's room laughing about something crazy.
Professional learning community (PLC) meetings with friends are a lot better than PLC meetings with coworkers. Coaching after-school with a buddy is better than coaching alone and wishing you could go home at a reasonable hour. Being in a tedious professional development seminar with a friend makes it almost bearable. Although it's easy to sit in your room with the door closed (there's so much work to do!), it's important to say hi to your hallmates and reach out to your coworkers. You need them.
In the end, you also need to give yourself time. You won't be perfect your first year. Aim to be your best, but don't be afraid of the struggle. Learn from it and find someone to help guide you through it. By having firm, consistent procedures and mentors who are also friends, my classroom has been able to grow more interactive each year. Every veteran teacher was once a new teacher. We've got your back.