I’m a Teacher – Now What

Congratulations! You’ve got a job as a new teacher! Welcome to a fulfilling, challenging, noble, stressful, and ultimately rewarding profession! You, like many other new teachers, are probably asking yourself: I’m a Teacher – Now What?

Compiled below is the I’m a Teacher – Now What Guide – a short list of resources and advice for how to spend your time leading up to your first day teaching. This guide is not comprehensive – rather, it is here to help you begin thinking about the different aspects of teaching, and help you set yourself up for a successful first year. This guide is split into several sections, each with their own information and links to further resources and development.

Curriculum Overview

The summer leading up to your first year of teaching is an excellent time to become familiar with the curriculum you will be teaching. Spend some time learning what is included in your curriculum and what standards need to be taught. You should also create lesson plans and student assignments for at least the first whole unit (or more). This will save you a lot of time in the future, knowing exactly what the day to day plan is for the first month or more of school.

If you have the opportunity, consider the following:

• Ask your administrator if a veteran teacher is willing to come in over the summer and discuss curriculum
• Ask your administrator if there are curriculum maps or resources available to review over the summer
• Checking out the book The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher (Book & DVD). This book directly addresses what to do with your students the first days of school, and is a great starting point for new teachers. (#ad)

Resources and Classroom

The classroom you teach in will be the first impression your students get of you. If you have time over the summer, visit your classroom to see what it looks like, and how you can make it a more safe, inviting, and exciting place to learn. Take some time to discover what resources are at your disposal. Do you have a budget, and who is in charge? What technology do you have? Do you have posters or big paper to put on the walls?

If you have the opportunity, consider the following:

• Are you sharing a classroom or a traveling teacher? Ask your administrator if you can touch base with the other teachers in the classroom and ask what their norms are.
• Are you sharing a classroom or a traveling teacher? Ask your administrator or janitor for a cart you can easily transport materials on.
• Working on your classroom early is not always necessary. However, it does show dedication, and can pay off with time saved in the long run.

School Logistics

Your school probably has a formal workshop week where new teachers are shown the building, and learn about how the school is run. However, the following points are all logistical questions that will need to be answered by the first day of school. Getting a jump start on these can make the first day and first week much easier and less overwhelming.

• Where are the staff bathrooms?
• Where is the media center, gymnasium, and other shared locations?
• How do you use the school phones?
• Where is your mailbox?
• How do you use a sick day in an emergency?
• What is the referral process for your school?
• How do you use the copy machine?
• Where is pick up and drop off, and busing for your students?

Take Care of Yourself

Teaching is not easy work, and new teachers especially can find themselves easily stressed. During your summer leading up to the school year, find some relaxing and comforting activities that you can do in an evening after work. This might involve playing games, having a great meal, reading a book, or sitting with your eyes closed listening to music.

During the school year, if you find yourself stressed, overwhelmed, panicked, or any similar emotion, fall back on these activities. Sometimes it helps to even add them to your routine! Finally, don’t forget to get your sleep! Remember, you will be a much more effective educator if you are well rested and not completely stressed as you go through your first year of teaching.

Focus on the Details

As the school year gets closer, begin visualizing your lessons. Walk around your room, and pretend to teach to your class. The purpose of this activity is to think of the small details that you are not remembering. Forgetting to explain these details to students will often lead to misbehavior, and it is one of the most challenging things for first year teachers to learn. Important details to consider might be:

• What a student does if they come to class late
• Where late homework is turned in
• How students get into partners
• How students get into groups of 4
• Where regular classroom supplies are
• Where Kleenex or tissue is
• What to do for a bathroom break
• Where students will sit (and how students will know where to sit)
• What students will do as soon as they enter the room

There are a lot more considerations, and it would take too long to list them here. However, visualizing your lessons step by step, detail by detail, will catch most of these aspects of your lesson that you might be overlooking. Making sure to include them in your instruction, and to teach your students expectations, can save a lot of headache in the long run.

Be Ready to Work Hard

Teaching is not an easy profession, and does require hard work. Your first year teaching will probably be the year that requires the most amount of work.

Remember to strike a balance. Do your best. Ask to volunteer when you can, and apologize when you can’t. Help your colleagues out, and don’t be afraid to ask for help when needed. Be sure to get your work done, but also take care of yourself. Ultimately, teaching is a job – but it’s an important one.

Build Relationships with Colleagues

As your workshop week begins, put effort into building relationships with your colleagues. Schools are big systems with a lot of tiny nuance. Having a friendly, supportive teacher you can easily ask a question (or a few) during your school day can help solve a myriad of issues.

Perhaps more importantly, find a colleague that can help you with emotional support. There may (or may not) be days where you want to scream in frustration, or curl up and cry. Having a colleague there for support, even if it is just an ear to listen, can make the difference between you figuring it out, and you spiraling down a more negative path.

Don’t Be Afraid to Make Mistakes and Learn

You are about to be a first year teacher. You are going to make a lot of mistakes. This is completely okay! Just make sure you learn from your mistakes.

Have a growth mindset as you begin teaching. It will give you the flexibility to try new things. It will allow you to bounce back from any setbacks. Most importantly, it will allow you to keep going and keep learning, once you do make mistakes. Remember – it’s okay to make mistakes! (#ad)

I’m a Teacher – Now What

Ultimately, teaching can be a very fun profession. Take time to smile and reflect on the positives that happened during the day. Human nature tends to focus on negatives, and that can overwhelm you quickly. Take an active approach to focusing on your victories during the school day, no matter how small. After all, life is too short to not enjoy what you do!

This is a working article that is updated frequently to best suit the dynamic needs of new teachers. Most recently updated on 5/21/2018.