5 Things I Wish I Had Done Differently My First Year of Teaching

The first year is the hardest.

Seriously.

If you're in your first year now, just know that IT GETS BETTER. And easier.

I hope you can use this advice to have a better first year than I had!

(I cut off the tip of my thumb with a paper cutter my first year of teaching. If you haven't maimed yourself, then you're doing better than me.)

Take time for yourself.

I got up at 5:30am and regularly didn't get home until 8:00pm.

I worked on lesson plans and graded papers 7 days a week every single week like my life and all my students' lives depended on it. 

I didn't see my friends for almost the entire school year. It wasn't healthy!

Take time for yourself at least once a week. 

See your friends.

Do something that isn't related to work.

Get some freaking sleep.

Don't be hard on yourself.

Every single kid didn't leave my 42-minute class having mastered all 12 vocabulary words I threw at them today?


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The sky is actually not falling.

There's not a good chance that any of them will be in a life or death situation today in which they have to correctly name the Spanish word for "pencil". It's just not that serious.

Of course you want your kids to learn, but they have a lot going on in their lives, they haven't dedicated their lives to Spanish like you have, and they're teenagers. They only care about themselves. 

Maybe they'll learn how to say "pencil" tomorrow.

Recognize that teaching is a JOURNEY.

It takes YEARS to do what the teacher down the hall (who has been teaching since I was in elementary school) can do.

There were numerous demon children in my classes my first year of teaching who were angels in other teachers' classes.

ANGELS.

I couldn't believe it when I saw certain kids sit quietly and do their work without being threatened within an inch of their lives. 


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But I learned how to make good Angry Eyes, how to command authority in a classroom of 34 teenagers, and how to build great relationships with the kids that would be most tempted to test me.

Teaching is a journey and every year you get better. 

You create better systems in your classroom to stay organized, you improve your lessons, and you fine tune your behavior management skills. 

That amazing teaching down the hall from you started out struggling too.

Be flexible.

There will be snow days.

There will be last minute (poorly planned) assemblies.

There will be lessons that are a total flop.

There will be sick days.

Lesson plans are a good intention. 

They are not engraved in stone.

They must be flexible with how they are delivered and when.

Stressing about how the snow day pushes all your lessons back a day AND NOW THE TEST HAS TO BE ON MONDAY AND TESTS CANNOT BE ON MONDAYS BECAUSE EVERYONE WILL FAIL AND LIFE IS TERRIBLE is not going to make it stop snowing.


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Find someone to take you under their wing.

I did this my second year of teaching and it was the best thing that happened to my teacher life.

I met a teacher friend at one of those Professional Developments that I only went to in order to miss an entire day of teaching. You know what I'm talking about.

And I met a new teacher bestie!

We co-planned together. 

I could text her on Sunday night saying "help! I have to teach XYZ tomorrow and I don't know what to do!" and she would text me ideas for how to do it in an engaging way.

She gave me classroom management advice.

I could email her about what a nightmare those certain kids in that certain class are and she would give me tips for how to better manage the classroom and how to deal with their atrocious behavior.

How did I make this mentorship happen, you ask?

I offered to come to her school to co-plan.

I came on days that were convenient for her.

I brought cookies.

I soaked up every word of advice she had.

Basically, I held on tight and refused to let go of her.

No one is going to knock on your classroom door and tell you they'd love to give you endless advice. You have to seek out that person and keep asking questions until they block your number. 

Hopefully they never do that.

Do you have any advice for first year teachers? Or do you have any horror stories from your first year? Please share in the comments below!