I had a reader e-mailing me today asking me about some first year teaching advice and since I'm fresh off the first year train I actually had some advice to give! I know several people have told me they are teaching third grade next year for the first time. Hopefully some of you newbies can benefit. I know most of you have more years of experience and if you have any advice you would like to give please comment and share with us:)
In no order of course:
1- Books
Collect books from garage sales, retired teachers, or goodwill. Remember books are only new the first time you open them and they will never look that way again. Put on Facebook that you are needing books, post it at church, send e-mails to family members and look for ads on craigslist or ebay. People love to give books to teachers and lots of garage sales will GIVE you items when you tell them you teach.
2- Parent Contact
You can also never have enough parent contact. You want the parents to be on
your side---REMEMBER that. Introduce yourself. You can see my introduction letter
HERE. Everyone is nosey and wants to know what their child's teacher is about. Keep it professional but let them know that you are in fact a person that functions just like everyone else. When I wrote to parents I always signed my first and last name..never Miss Janes. Not sure why but I think I thought it made them think I was more of an adult than just their child's young new teacher. (You made have a different opinion on your signature)
In my building we do something called
Pay It Forward. Every payday we send a note or phone call phone praising at least one child. You don't want parents to think that every time you are trying to get a hold of them it is because something bad has happened. It gives you brownie points too- who doesn't love to talk about their child's successes?
3- Newsletters
Always have a newsletter that is easy to read and right to the point. NO ONE wants to read 3-4 page newsletters! I kept mine to upcoming events, vocab/spelling list and math/science/communication art topics. You can also list birthday shout outs and parent thank yous. It should be useful you don't want to waste anyone's time. Parents are busy and if you start off my making your newsletter full of junk they will assume it is junk every week. The truth hurts right?
4- Discipline
I sent two kids to the principal's office all year. I think discipline should be dealt with inside the classroom until you A)Run out of options, lose total control and need backup or B)Run out of options, lose total control and need backup. Don't send kids to the principals office for everything. They will remember that and so will your principal. The first time I sent someone to the office was because he brought a knife to school. The second time was because another child (with extreme issues) lost control of himself. When my principal came to get him she told him that she knew he must have broken a lot of rules because "Miss Janes takes the principal's office very seriously". I was so happy when I heard that.
Don't forget to be consistent in discipline and follow through with discipline. But have patience--you will learn several students learn slower than others and need more reminders.
5- Build Relationships
One of the best things I did this year was give up my lunch time to eat with 3-4 students each day. We sat in my room and got to know each other. It was so rewarding and really built a connection between students and also myself. It is important for kids to get to know you as someone else besides
their teacher. You will gain respect for them and they will gain respect for you. I got to know so many things about my student's lives that I would never find out from just teaching math. Another thing we did was go around each Monday and share one thing we did in the past weekend. The kids LOVED it. We even came to the point where we could predict what each other did. It really build great friendships.
6- Make The Time For it
Whatever you put into this job is what you are going to get out of it. If you don't do research, don't get to know your kids, and don't make engaging lessons etc. you better kiss it goodbye. You won't enjoy work, your kids won't want to be in your class, and basically you won't last in the teaching field. I was so proud to say that all my kids told me they would miss my class at the end of the year. I can't say that they would have all said that back in December but with lots of hard work I did whatever I could to make everyone happy(most of the time of course).
Don't forget to work early because by the end of the day you will DIE and be emotionally drained. The first weeks or even months your bed may turn into your best friend. I'm pretty sure this is acceptable as long as you pull yourself together by December or so:) The first 2-3 months of school I was there over an hour 1/2 early to prepare and left the MOMENT I could! I needed the quiet time to organize and prepare myself for the day.
7- Resources
When you get to the your new school you may be alone and that is okay. But you won't be alone for long. Your team should be people that you can turn to in time of need rather it be for a laugh, vent, or educational resource or question. Find someone who has been in the field that you can turn to and trust. It may not even be your mentor. Mine wasn't and that is perfectly fine! It also was great that I had a few friends teaching across the state that I could also call or e-mail when I needed someone outside my building to relate to. (shout out to Katie HOLLA)
Save everything but not in paper form...Beg, borrow, steal,--- use resources like teacherspayteachers and google. Start a Pinterest account and start pinning!! Also get a Googledocs account to back up EVERYTHING you find. Organize all your files on your computer and upload the files to Googledocs. You never know when your computer will crash-it happens. You can also share files easier that way with other teachers AND search them. It's like having a secretary find all your papers for you whenever you need them.
8- Reading
Find a reading program that is structured and allows children to read what they CAN read and what they want to read. I wish I would have found this out last fall when I started school. My kids made amazing improvements in reading and I know it was because I finally put a limit on what they could or couldn't read. I really pressed that reading too easy/too hard books is a waste of time because it doesn't make them a better reader. I drilled this into their little brains until they were able to pick out just right books and maybe scared them a little bit. I took books away from kids allllll the time and gave kids books that I made them read and take test on. I really focused on teaching the kids how to help themselves and I know all my kids benefited. I only hope they take this to fourth grade. I also told them if their teacher didn't have books for them on their level to come back and I would help them. Read this
post and be sure to send home book bags with your struggling readers. Make sure the child knows how important these bags are and so do the parents. You may have parents that are not involved in your kids reading (unfortunately) and that is when you must make sure the little person knows the responsibility is on them. Celebrate the small successes in this! If you assign books to kids they can't read they will hate reading. You have to find ways to make it fun and spark their interest:)
9- Technology
You will realize that technology is your best friend. KIDS LOVE technology and most of them already know how to use it. Don't be afraid of the computer lab. The first couple times it may be rocky but you can use it to your advantage if you are using it properly. Don't waste time in there, get straight to work, and practice it often. Some of the best learning tools can be found online.. You just have to look for them:)
10- Enjoy Your Life
Don't forget the real world and don't get offended when people talk about your job and say it is easy. Most of those people can't handle kids or had bad experiences in school. Go to happy hour, online shop on your lunch break, and if someone asks you on a date don't use an excuse that you have to grade papers or something. It makes the rest of us look bad;)
I hope this helps some of you think a little more or differently than you were before - hey you may not even agree with all my advice and that is okay. We all teach in buildings with child that have individual needs. These are my experiences and what I have learned from them. If you would have anything to add please share with us! What are the biggest things you learned in teaching? Or wish you knew before? And a BIG THANK YOU to Ashlie who inspired this. I love hearing from readers.
Remember If you would like to guest post this summer please comment with your e-mail or e-mail me at cljtz3@mail.missouri.edu! Hope to hear from you soon. Have a great week
