I blame the following for my nearly month-long blogging
hiatus:
-State standardized testing
-Applying to grad school (%**@IFHDJFD#%*#@RE$$W)
-Crossfit
-Promptly quitting Crossfit three weeks later and taking
up running in the morning at 5:15
-Deciding to coach soccer
-Creating a book study with some friends
-Writing up and teaching a research unit
-Writing finals
Also, one of my students brought a ten-pound tray of
fruit his mom had chopped up to a class party and I ate roughly half of it and
had diarrhea for 24 hours straight. That has nothing to do with my
blogging ability, but I just thought you should know.
Summer? You come now?
Anyway, I’m really excited to be writing this post. I've
found myself reflecting on my first year a lot in the past few months-- I think
partially because I work with so many newbies and feel like somewhat of a
Yoda/mother hen hybrid toward them, but also because I'm far enough removed from my
first year now to think about it without experiencing PTSD. I feel a
strong sense of purpose in trying to help new teachers, and wanted to share
things that have been game-changers for me; things that I've either learned
myself (the hard way) or that others have passed on to me that have made my life as a teacher
drastically easier, better, and more fun. I hope you'll share this with a
new teacher or a soon-to-be new teacher, or, if you’re a veteran, that you'll
share some things that helped you when you were a new teacher in a comment.
If you’re not a teacher and don’t know any new teachers
and don’t care about advice, I hope you at least found the diarrhea story
funny.
Ready? Here we go.
The Top Ten Things I Wish I'd Known as a First-Year
Teacher
1) Don't eat lunch in the teachers' lounge.
Why? See my post on the Perpetually Negative. That's where they eat.
2) Post instructions as often as possible on the board
It sounds
unnecessary and/or like something you should only be doing for kindergartners,
but it completely revolutionized my classroom management. As much as
possible, post exactly what students are supposed to be doing and be as
specific as you can. Every day when students come in, I have posted what
materials they should have, what they should be doing, and how much time they
have to do it after the bell rings.
This eliminates two major stressors, at least for me: one
is students using the excuse "Oh, I didn't know," the other is
having to repeat myself. By late September, if a student is still asking
“What do we need today?”, most of the time another student will take over your
response for you (“It’s on the board!!”)
I also post instructions for what to do when they're done
with a test or quiz, what they can be doing during structured free time, and
any other time where I have a feeling they could become "forgetful".
3) Use teacher detentions for minor infractions
For students who forget materials consistently, won’t
follow directions, can't stop talking, do nothing, are marginally sassy, or for
other behavior that doesn't quite warrant a write-up, use a teacher
detention. These are informal detentions that don't go on school record,
but can be used as documentation if the behavior continues. Really, it's just closer to Time-Out for older kids. You can
arrange these detentions with a student before or after school, but lunch
detentions are my weapon of choice. My students HATE them. I blare
my 90s female singer-songwriter Pandora station and eat tuna, and their poor
little ears and noses just can't handle it. Another teacher commented on my
blog once and said that she took lunch detentions one step further and eats her
lunch next to her students at their seat in the cafeteria! Genius. My other favorite is morning detentions because I have them do the things I hate, like organizing my supply closet, clearing out bookshelves, arranging/rearranging desks, cleaning my dry erase board, etc.
But the other great thing about teacher detentions is the
appreciation you'll get from your administrator. APs get a ton of office
referrals for minor infractions that technically should be dealt with by a
teacher, and nine times out of ten the teacher won't have called a parent OR
taken any documentable steps to correct the behavior themselves. Teacher
detentions will cut back on the amount of actual referrals you write, so that
when your AP does get a referral from you, they'll say, "Yikes-- Ms. Lang
hardly ever uses referrals, AND Johnny skipped her detention. TO THE
CHOKEY WITH JOHNNY!"
Just kidding. Here at Love, Teach we don't advocate
The Chokey. But you get the idea.
4) Procedure the heck out of everything
The first 2-3 weeks are the most important of the school
year in terms of getting what you want from your students. You can either
set up your classroom as a place where things get done safely and efficiently,
or a place where the students call the shots and you are constantly in need of
shock therapy. Read The First Days
of School by Harry Wong, after you giggle a little bit over the author's
name. He's the procedures guru. Here's how Wong's method works.
First, you need to figure out exactly how you want
everything done. What do I mean by everything? The way students
enter and exit, when they can sharpen pencils, if and how they will borrow pencils
from you, what heading they will use on their papers, what to do when a visitor
walks in, how to ask to go to the bathroom, how you will get their attention
quickly, how students will pass in papers, how to work in groups, how to
demonstrate active listening, etc. Then, have students practice these
procedures until they are not just ok, but perfect. This can take
anywhere from 1-3 weeks. (I have about 25 procedures and it took me 2
weeks this year with 50-minute classes.) Only once your students have mastered
your procedures can you begin real instruction.
CRAZY, HUH?! I know it may sound a little brainwash-y and restrictive, but having these procedures in place actually allows you and your students more freedom in the long run. It builds trust and your students will feel secure. Just read the book, preez.
5) Don't ever be less than 100% nice and accommodating to
clerks/receptionists
As far as the title of this list goes, I'm
kind of cheating since I am fortunate enough to have received this piece of advice before I started my first year, but I still wanted to include it because it's ÜBER IMPORTANT, YA. Just off the top of my head I can think of four new
teachers that are currently suffering from bad relationships with staff members
at our school, and can think of probably ten more that have been through the
same thing over the past couple of years at different schools. You should
know three things about clerks and receptionists. They:
- work the closest with and talk most often to the
people who hire, fire, appraise, and make other important decisions
- often (but not always!) enjoy drama/gossip/blowing
situations out of proportion
- are the ones in charge of assigning things that can
either be really helpful or a huge pain for teachers (lunch duty, testing
assignments, substitute arrangements, etc.)
Do you see how important it is to be aware of each of these characteristics? Do you see how together they can easily
create the perfect storm for ruining your life as a teacher? DO YOU SEE HOW
CRITICAL IT IS TO BE NICE TO YOUR CLERKS?
Does this mean you'll have to pretend to be thrilled to
pieces to see the 257th picture they've shown you of their
nephew/granddaughter/cousin's god-cat, even if you've got 5 minutes to make 75
copies and be on the other end of campus? Yep. What if the receptionist asks
for a student to be sent to the office who's making up an important test that
you should have had graded a week ago? "Yes ma'am, I'm sending her right
now." Don't even think about negotiating until you have a solid
relationship there, one which can only be achieved by being 100% nice for
anywhere from several months to over a year. Try to ask on a regular
basis what you could do to make that person's job easier, because a lot of
people do treat them like crap. And mark Staff Appreciation Day on your
wall calendar, little black book, phone alarm, forehead, etc.
It's probably a good idea to try to be nice to everyone as much as
possible, but let's be real, it doesn't always happen. Teachers are generally more understanding and less grudge-holding
toward each other about time crunches, bad days, and other things that can mess
with our niceness. What I ‘m saying is if you're going to be cranky, be
cranky to another teacher. Then apologize and send him/her three of your
nicest pens.
6) Think really hard about friending anyone from school
on Facebook
First, let me be clear that I have nothing incriminating
or that I feel I would need to hide on any form of social media (except maybe
my high school Xanga, but that's because it's frighteningly annoying). I'll be
the first to tell you that my life outside of school is about as risqué as a
Puritan's. But I still wish I'd never friended any of my current colleagues.
Why?
- You will find out things about other teachers you wish
you hadn't. This never occurred to me because I was way more concerned
with what my colleagues would become privy to in my life than the other way
around. You might find out that the math teacher down the hall apparently often
comes to school after pretty intense "nights on the town," or that
the history teacher you thought was precious and grandfatherly is actually a
total bigot. Some information might just be annoying or disappointing, and some
may leave you feeling obligated to report them.
- Once you friend one colleague, you may find yourself
friending all your colleagues. All of them. ALL of them. Think about it.
- You won't miss out on anything. You and your
coworkers will swap stories and pictures of anything important at lunch or
after school, and happy hours and get-togethers are usually arranged via school
email anyway.
I mean, what? I don't know anything about that.
7) Be firm, but kind.
A very wise teacherwoman told me this little phrase about
halfway through my first year and I've never forgotten it. I think it instantly
stuck because I realized it was true of the approach of all the teachers who
have had the greatest impact on me.
Firm, but kind. If
you're firm without being kind, you're unapproachable and cannot inspire.
If you're kind without being firm, you're unstable and a doormat. It has
to be both.
8) Set life boundaries
My first year got dramatically better once I started
setting boundaries. I decided in January of my second semester that I would
never stay at school to work past the two-hour mark after the last bell, and
that I would not, under any circumstances, work on Sundays. This meant that my
to-do list was a little longer and that occasionally I'd have to take work
home, but on the plus side, I got to be a real person. I've changed my
boundaries since then-- sometimes I have to make exceptions when I'm behind or
notice that something's not working-- but the process of creating and
respecting boundaries is now just as important as the things on either side of
them.
Make fun weekly plans with people on the same days each
week and follow through with them. Don't cancel plans to grade papers or
do anything that isn't extremely time sensitive-- your work WILL get done. If
you're having a particularly bad day, make a list of all the awesome things
you're going to do when you leave and commit to leaving as soon as possible
after the bell. Here's an example of what my list might look like.
This is just a hypothetical list I made (I actually haven't had any truly horrible days this year!), but you can easily see where using foot moisturizer ranks in my list of life's pleasures. Pathetic.
9) Don't compare yourself to other teachers about things
that don't matter.
I think I'm a pretty good teacher. My kids learn a
lot every year and I try really hard to get them to think critically and
creatively, love reading, and believe in themselves and important things.
But sometimes I look at other teachers and feel like a big, gigantic loser.
These teachers change their bulletin boards monthly and have rotating charts
for classroom jobs (you know, Errand Runner, Materials Manager, etc.) complete with salaries and "official" job applications that
have to have references. They have a classroom currency system with
monthly silent auctions. They write their students handwritten letters for all
major holidays.
When I first realized I wasn't those teachers, I felt
inadequate.
But when I realized that I wasn't those teachers, but
that that was okay, I felt empowered. I will NEVER have class jobs! I
tried them one year and it felt so hokey, lame and awkward! I change my hallway bulletin board maybe once a year, or
whenever the girls with good handwriting in my 5th period have finished their
tests early. I am not too worried about my students moving on to 8th
grade without the real-world knowledge of how to participate in a silent
auction. Those things just don't work for me as a teacher, but it doesn't
mean I'm not doing enough, or that I'm not enough.
Now, I say "about the things that don't matter"
because there are times when you should compare yourself to other teachers and
care about it. You probably shouldn't ignore another teacher's students
outperforming yours by a 30-point average, or every one of your students
signing a petition for your retirement.
10) Go in humble, ready to learn, and ready to laugh at
yourself.
Don't assume that teaching is going to be just like volunteering,
babysitting, or any other role you've ever had with children. If you do, grab
a sturdy umbrella because you're in for a shitstorm, my friend. Prepare
as much as possible, yes, but be aware that your first year is essentially one
nine month-long learning curve. Humility, a sense of humor, and a pack of
people who love you are your best weapons for getting through and doing it
gracefully.
And that's all I have to say about that.
What game-changing advice would you give to a soon-to-be
new teacher?
Love,
Teach
