Welcome! If you’re reading this post, this means that you are probably getting ready to start your first year teaching! So glad that you decided to join the #best job ever. But I won’t lie to you – it’s hard. They say the only thing harder than teaching is parenting. I know that you’ll do great, but before you go forth and change lives, here’s some advice for new teachers, from several veteran teachers!
Advice for New Teachers, from Current and Former Teachers
“My advice to first year teachers is to give yourself some grace. Don’t compare yourself to other experienced teachers because you’ll begin to feel inadequate. It’s okay not to know everything right away. I remember how much pressure I felt my first year. I would stay up lesson planning and prepping until midnight. I wanted everything to be perfect every time. The truth is I worked myself to exhaustion and nothing was ever perfect. As time went on, I learned to do my best and leave the rest. Your skills will get better as you go, so don’t try to learn and implement everything at once. You’ll get overwhelmed. My last [piece of] advice is to try to leave your work at work and have time for yourself and family. Remember that no one ever said ‘I wish I’d worked more” on their deathbed. They always say ‘I wish I spent more time with those I love.’”
Aghogho from Hope Like a Mother – https://hopelikeamother.com/
“Go easy on yourself and ask questions! Make friends with a couple of other teachers that you feel comfortable confiding in. Go to them with all of your questions. You are going to learn so much in your first year of teaching. But don’t let it overwhelm you.”
Melissa from Connect Again – https://connect-again.com/
“My advice (and was given to me) is to know your contract and hours. It’s okay if you don’t get everything done everyday. Also advice from my mentor teacher: you can always teach the academic lesson the next day and sometimes that relationship is more important.”
Kat, a former elementary special education teacher, from Getting Into German – https://gettingintogerman.com/
“If I could give advice to new teachers, I would tell them to create work-life balance early on. Being an educator is great, but the job is quite demanding, and it’s important not to leave ‘everything’ in the classroom. Prioritize family & self-care. ”
Sheenia, a former elementary teacher, from Withered Blooms – https://witheredblooms.com/
“My advice for new teachers is two-fold: find the joy in your work every day and set boundaries. Teaching will always take more; it’s an endless cup that will never be filled. If you can set clear guidelines for yourself, like a firm start and end point for your workday (and weekends) and work on developing sustainable systems you can reuse again and again, you’ll have a much easier time managing your time and you’ll spend much less time recreating the wheel again and again.”
Rachael, a former teacher, from Milk Glass Home – www.milkglasshome.com
“Establishing self-care and work/life boundaries are so important. Here is some other advice I’d offer: First, don’t spend all of your energy creating a Pinterest-worthy classroom. This can lead to burnout. Second, don’t focus on perfection. Instead, focus on growth—this goes for your students and for yourself. The sign of a good teacher is one who can self-reflect in order to find ways to improve their practice. Finally, don’t underestimate the power of a positive phone call. Parents expect to be contacted when there are academic or behavioral issues. But, you can cultivate strong parent/teacher relationships when you reach out with good news too!”
Ms. Sally, a special education preschool teacher with over 10 years in the classroom, from Tenderhearted Teacher – www.tenderheartedteacher.com
“Develop good routines so that you can dedicate your time to learning, and not on figuring out what comes next. Also model excitement in learning, and focus on teaching the love of learning. That will take your students further than good grades will.”
Melinda, a teacher who has taught in small private schools, from Connecting with Littles – https://connectingwithlittles.com/
“My advice would be to build good relationships with the kids and especially with their parents. If a child loves a subject they usually do well in it. And the most important reason they love a subject is because they love the teacher. Being able to listen to them, taking the time to hear about their day and connect on a heart level with them is so important. And connecting with parents is VITAL! They know their child, you need to tap into that knowledge to support that child better. Remember you’re a team serving the purpose of helping their child reach their potential. You have to work WITH parents and support them. I always say, the parent is the expert on their child, the teacher is the expert on teaching their child. Parents usually feel so out of their depth when it comes to helping their children in school. We need to come alongside them because they care for their child even more than you do! My other advice would be – similar to what others have said – compassion fatigue, burn out it’s real – guard yourself. Pouring into others lives is SO rewarding and a huge blessing but it takes its toll! Learn about it, recognize it and then take action. The sooner you learn how to fill your cup, the easier it is to protect yourself while you’re pouring it out for others. ”
Lisa, a teacher with 11 years of experience through grades 4 through 7, from Learn With Confidence – https://learnwithconfidence.com
“My biggest advice is to be consistent. If you’re trying a new classroom management style, stick to it for a while – it won’t work in a day! Kids need routine so stick to your decisions and after some time, you’ll be able to tell whether or not you need to make changes.”
Vicky, a former teacher turned children’s book author, from At Home Author – https://www.athomeauthor.com/
“1. Find some balance.. not all work no play 2. Use resources that have already been made and adapt to suit your classes. 3. Remember that you are your most important resource so look after yourself 4. Write all the positive parts of your week on Sunday evening!”
Hayley, a teacher with over 24 years of experience, from Just Hygge – https://justhygge.co.uk/
Overview of the Advice for New Teachers
1. Create a work-life balance from the beginning.
From the beginning, figure out how you can turn teacher-mode off when you leave work. After 6 years of teaching, I can say that it has taken me becoming a mom to truly figure out how to balance my time between work and home. But it is so important to do so to protect your mental and physical health.
2. Establish procedures that work for you.
When it comes to procedures, this can be your grading practices, how you plan, your management style, how you keep up with your email, how you communicate with home, and so many other things. There is a lot on our plates as teachers, having procedures that keep you consistent and help manage time is a great way to set yourself up for success and also help with the work-life balance.
3. Focus on Social-Emotional Learning with students – the academics will come.
When it comes to teaching students, always focus on building relationships and their social-emotional health first. When you create a safe and inviting classroom environment first, students are more comfortable learning and making mistakes – leading to more learning! The academic skills will come with time, but getting to know students should be your focus before even beginning focusing on content!
4. Give yourself grace and recognize you are always learning.
You are not going to know everything about teaching. There are going to be moments that you realize that something doesn’t work for you – and it’s okay to recognize and change it. I have files in my curriculum that I brainstorm changes that I would like to make for the next year or reflect on lessons that need some tweaks.
3 Comments
All great advice! Thanks for sharing! ❤️
As a lecturer, I agree with all these advices. In my first I struggled mostly with work-life balance and I was too hard on myself. It did me no good. Thank you for sharing this with first year teachers. Very helpful
Wow, these are great! Thanks for sharing. I especially resonate with the importance of developing relationships with kids and their parents. I’m not a M-F teacher, but I’m a Sunday School teacher, and it’s also important in Sunday school. I’m also glad someone mentioned compassion fatigue so self-care is important for caregivers.