If you are a beginning teacher, then I am sure everyone has tried to tell you all the tips and all the things you need to do. You are probably already feeling overwhelmed and honestly, some of this well meaning advice actually adds to your anxiety. That is not my goal here. My goal is to build your confidence and share some simple tips that will help you through those first few weeks of your new school year and learn to run your own race.
1. Don't Try To Do It All
No doubt you are searching and looking through all the blogs and all the TPT products finding so many amazing things and ideas from other teachers. Room transformations, making a pinterest worthy classrooms. All those things that will take a lot of prep, energy, and no doubt funds from your own bank account.
STOP!!!
It is fine and even fun to save those amazing ideas somewhere for a later time, But right now is not the time to burn yourself out trying to do it all. Narrow down to maybe a couple of those “mind blowing” ideas to try this year. Maybe choose one or two room transformations that you want to tackle sometime during the year. Try just a few of those Pinterest decorating ideas. Set a limit to the amount you will spend and stick to it. Just know there will be time to do more of these things later as you become more comfortable in your job as an educator.
2. Learn Your Content
If you are so busy creating a “Pinterest worthy classroom”, you may just miss out on the most important things you can do as you prepare for your classroom.
Know what you are teaching and how to best teach it to your students.
Just because you have a beautiful, eye-catching classroom does not make you a great teacher. Truly taking the time to dive into the standards you teach and knowing the new research in how to best teach these standards is a much better use of your time.
Understand that this is something you will need to pace yourself for. Choose one subject or one standard at a time that you really want to dive into. Then slowly add on others as you build onto your knowledge. You won’t know it all to begin with and that is absolutely fine. But if your are willing to put in the work and learn over time, you will begin to feel more at ease and understand what you should teach as well as how you should do it.
3. Ask For Help
Anytime anyone is beginning something new, there is no way they can ever be expected to know everything. That is why it is so important to not be afraid to ask for help. Hopefully, if you are a beginning teacher, you will be assigned a mentor. But that does not mean that you can not ask others for advice and help. Everyone has their own strengths so watch and learn what the strengths are of those around you. Then you will know who to go to when you have certain questions. And if you are in a school where you are not assigned a mentor, then search out and find someone who you trust that you can go to with questions, concerns, and some days just a shoulder to cry on.
I am speaking from personal experience as someone who hates to ask for help. I have learned the hard way that even with my years of experience as a teacher, I should never be afraid to say I need help.
4. Give Yourself Grace
Even the best teachers have days when it all falls apart. I can’t tell you how many times I have gotten in my car and thought “boy did I mess that one up!” We are not perfect, you will make mistakes, but that is part of the learning process. When you have a rough day, take some time, reflect on what you could have done differently, and then move on. The next school day is a new day and you can use what you learned from a bad day to make the next day a better day. Don’t be afraid to learn from mistakes and let them help you grow as a teacher.
5. Learn To Laugh At Yourself And
With Your Students.
This advice can truly help you get through a rough day. There is nothing like stopping and just having a moment of pure joy with your students. My students love it when I make a mistake and instead of getting upset about it, I love to somehow turn it into a reason to laugh. Not only do I feel better, but it is teaching them an important lesson- everyone makes mistakes and that is OK. This goes along with building those relationships with your students.
As I wrote this I couldn’t help but think of these verses from Ecclesiastes.
I don’t know about you, but I know I would much rather have a classroom filled with laughter and dancing.
In the end it is your classroom. The way you handle things, the way you teach, cannot be a copycat of someone else because we are all so different. Although we can always learn from each other, you have to run your classroom according to your personality and what works for you. So watch, learn, and grow from the advice of others. But never be afraid to run your own race in your journey as an educator.
Until next time…
If you are looking for a resource to help build community at the beginning of the school year in your classroom, then check out my Back to School Get to Know Each Other Boards for Jamboard or Google Drive.
