Being a new teacher can be overwhelming. Going from a student teacher where you have someone to hold your hand to being in charge of 25-30 small humans is a big leap. The first year of teaching can be especially daunting. Although it’s normal to make mistakes, here are 3 common new teacher mistakes and what to do instead.
Working Non-Stop
You need to lesson plan and prep activities and make copies and grade papers and check your emails and call parents and analyze student data and create bulletin boards and… the list basically never stops. I know many brand new teachers (myself included) and many veteran teachers who never seem to stop working. They get to school early, stay late, bring work home every night, and spend their weekends lesson planning. Dedication is great, but teaching shouldn’t be your entire life. It’s not healthy. Working all day and night is the fastest way to burn yourself out. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with spending a lot of time working, especially in the first few years. However, it’s not sustainable. So, don’t fall into the new teacher trap of working constantly with no breaks.
Instead: Work Hard, Take Breaks & Work Smarter
So, what do you do instead? It’s not simple. I’m not going to pretend it is, but there are 5 key things to prevent the never ending work cycle for teachers.
- Do what needs to be done. Often times new teachers spend a lot of time working on things that don’t really matter. It’s really easy to waste hours on the perfect bulletin board or designing a super fun and (probably overly complicated) activity. It’s easy to get caught up in the trends of over the top classroom decor and room transformations. Take it from me. Most of that is unnecessary fluff. In those first few years, focus on what needs to be done. Plan lessons, grade what needs to be graded (FYI not everything needs to be graded), and maintain your classroom. Of course, it’s fine to do extras sometimes, but focus on the necessities first.
- Don’t reinvent the wheel. It’s so easy to waste a ton of time creating the perfect activity. While there’s nothing wrong with creating great activities for your students, you can often find activities for every subject (math, reading, writing) online or from other teachers in your building. Before you spend 3 hours making the perfect Google Slides lesson or creating a fancy escape room, do a quick Google search and see what’s already out there. There are tons of free resources out there. (I have a whole bunch for you in my free resource library). And, there’s a ton for purchase as well. Sometimes, it’s worth spending a few dollars to get your weekend back. Additionally, not every activity has to be super cute. So, if you need to make something yourself, don’t feel pressure to make it fancy and pretty and perfect. Your students will learn either way.
- Set boundaries and stick to them. This can be the hardest thing for new teachers. I know I personally struggle with this, but it’s so helpful and important. Set some hard boundaries and then stick to them. Maybe you leave at the last bell on Fridays. Maybe you come early, but don’t stay late (or vise versa). Or, maybe you don’t work during your lunch break or on Saturdays. Only you can decide what you need. Whatever you decide, once you pick a boundary, stick to it as much as possible. Obviously during report card time, you might need to stay a little late, or when you’re working on a new unit plan. However, giving yourself some space and distance from your classroom and time to focus on yourself and family will help you be less stressed. You and your students will benefit from that.
- Focus on content. It is very easy to be sucked into the comparison game. And, there’s nothing wrong with making your classroom engaging and fun. In fact, you definitely want to do that! But, as I mentioned in number 1, don’t get caught up in trends. Instead, focus on what your students need to learn. Focus on the content and the standards and skills your students need to gain to be successful. There are plenty of ways to make content fun and engaging. You can get them moving and make learning hands on all while focusing on the standards, keeping it simple, and not spending every second at school.
- Delegate to students. Students love to help, and you can use this to your advantage. One of the best things I ever did was start delegating anything and everything I could to my students. What you can put students in charge of will depend on your grade level, but even kindergarten students came handle more than you’d think. The key is to 1. delegate things that save you time 2. spend time teaching them the correct way to do it and 3. truly giving up control and letting them handle it. You can delegate tasks through classroom jobs, but even more, you can simply teach all students to take care of things themselves. You can also just teach them what to do if they see trash on the floor, a book out of place, and so on. It will help create a sense of community, ownership, and takes things off of your plate.
Here’s a non-comprehensive list of things you can delegate to students: sharpening pencils, picking up trash, organizing supplies, putting supplies away, cleaning desks, taking attendance, managing their own bathroom trips, passing out papers, grading their own papers, turning in homework, collecting papers, watering plants, getting their own supplies, sharing supplies, organizing their desks, asking each other’s common questions, pulling absent work for other students, teaching new students routines, asking others for help, reminding you when it’s lunch, time to leave, or specials
Trying to “Save” Your Students
In my teacher classes at university, and in my first few years teaching, I heard the same sentiment repeated different ways. “You might be the only person who care about a student.” “You might be the only consistent thing in their life.” This all is dripping with saviorism. Although teachers have a very important job and often are important people to their students, in no way, shape, or form is it your job to save your students. If you teach students who are poor, you are not their savior. If you teach students who are rich, you are not their savior. Kids with a rough home life? You. are. not. there. to. save. them.
There’s this idea in teaching that is very often rooted in racism and classism that teachers are the only thing holding their students together. It’s the idea that we have to push our students and help our students and love our students because we might be the only people who are doing those things. The fact is that we need to teach and love and motivate our students literally because it’s our job. No matter what our students’ lives are like outside of school, it’s our job to do those things. We are not saviors who are pulling our students out of some awful life situation. Truthfully, our students might not remember us in 10 years.
We teach and motivate our students simply because that’s what teachers do. When we fall into the trap of saviorism, we are elevating ourselves. We’re doing it to make ourselves feel important. The second we try to “save” our students, we stop doing our job and instead begin to do a disservice.
Instead: Recognize Family’s Value
So, how do we prevent ourselves from falling into this mindset? First, we recognize the value our students’ family and caregivers bring. Second, we realize that our students are whole people without us. We see our students as humans, like us, who are learning and growing and have knowledge we don’t have, experiences that have shaped them, and a future after they leave our classroom.
We also need to realize that every parent, every care giver is doing their best. Just because a mother doesn’t come to parent teacher conferences doesn’t mean she doesn’t care. She could be busy working, or she could have other children and no babysitter. Just because a child lives with an aunt or a grandma or foster parent doesn’t mean their home isn’t filled with love. Just because a student struggles financially doesn’t mean their adults aren’t trying. (And on the flip side, just because a family is wealthy doesn’t mean the family has it all together.) No matter where our students’ come from, we are not there to save them. Should we teach them? Yes. Should we build a relationship? Of course! Should we try to work with parents who are able and willing to engage? Absolutely. In fact, we must, But, we don’t need to “save” them.
Not Knowing How to Ask for Help
Asking for help is hard. It’s especially hard if you feel like you should know what you’re doing. After all, you’ve been a students for years. You went to college! You’ve student taught. You should know what you’re doing, right? Well, it’s not always that simple. Even if you attended a great teacher program and had a wonderful student teaching experience, there are things that will come up that you’ve never experiences before. Teaching is a job like no other. As a new teacher, it can be hard to ask for help. You don’t want to appear incompetent. However, not asking for help, or waiting too long to ask, can result in many failed lessons, behavior issues, management issues and a whole bunch of unneeded stress.
On the flip side, sometimes new teachers have no problem asking for help. In fact, they ask and ask and ask for help about every little thing. Eventually, they alienate the teachers around them who have their own classroom to manage. When those teachers poke their head in the hallway, the other teachers all scatter. No one wants to answer 400 questions a day.
Instead: Ask for Help from the Right People for the Right Things
So, how do you know when to ask and when not to ask? Well, it can be a fine line to walk. I think, generally, it’s good to err on the side of asking a question if you’re not sure. However, make sure you’re asking the right person. If you’re a new teacher, you’ll often have a mentor. So, if you want a question, start with them. If there’s a teacher coach at your school, they will likely be a helpful resource. I recommend talking to your mentor, your teacher coach, and your grade level partners about when and how they would prefer to receive questions from you. This will ensure that they’re not overwhelmed and are able to answer your questions. Maybe they’d prefer an email. Maybe they’d prefer to chat on their prep. Ask them what works best for them and stick to it.
Additionally, sometimes you don’t need to ask someone. Before you ask a question, think if you can find it yourself somewhere. For example, if you’re wondering what time the assembly is on Thursday, look for the notice you received in your email. If you’re wondering if you can wear jeans on Friday, look in your faculty handbook. It’s always great to use your resources. If you look for an answer, but can’t find it, then go ahead and ask. And, in a year or two, you might be the one answering the questions for that nervous, new teacher.
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