Advice for First Year Teachers – 12 heartfelt videos

Hello! I made these videos over a year ago as a part of a course that I made for this website. I put a lot of effort trying to compile useful advice for first year teachers. As I look back on what I made, I stand by the advice but I wish I had organized it differently.
Anyway, if you find it useful, I am glad! Here are all the resources in one mega post!
Mistakes that I made:
Mistakes will happen
Mental health days
Your work-life balance will be broken for a while
You won’t be a perfectly postive super teacher, but avoid negativity spirals
Classroom management is where most teachers struggle
Mistakes I made
Knowing more than experienced teachers
Saying “What is best for students?”
Giving daily homework
Yes… but do not grade it daily. An assignment can get graded once a week (or less)
Working harder than my students
Do not put grading and feedback for a rough draft, second check in, final draft, and makeup all on yourself. You’ll burn out. Teach your students to look at their work and improve their own work.
Filling time with busy work
Writing long email replies to parents
Calling is a better alternative, wait to respond to emails
Trying to keep it all in my head
Caring too much about the test
Advice for First Year Teachers: How to grow during your first year
Make videos of yourself
Schedule time off
Exercise and eat right
Keep a journal
Join our private Facebook Group
Here is a link to some great conversations with teachers! This would be a great place for someone to gather even more advice for first year teachers!

What you should know about your students
Even high schoolers are still kids
Don’t always say what they mean.
Need you to be strict
Students will rise to your expectations
Want to know why they should do things
Will be an adversary if you let them
So stay positive, especially after a negative interaction
What you should know about other teachers
Some may be threatened by you
Ask them for advice
Others you just won’t be friends with
Try not to show it
Check yourself for resting angry face
Mentors – get a good one
The best advice for first year teachers: Be teachable
Get to know your secretary and business office staff
You will need help with ordering or with 100 other random things. Stay on thier good sides.
Be friendly to the janitorial staff
Introduce yourself the first time you see them
Getting your content ready before you start
Get to know what your predecessor did
Decide right away what you will continue doing
If you can use their stuff, you’ve won the jackpot
Reverse plan starting with the outcomes, standards, units you will do
Make a folder system that makes sense
You will be making a lot of files and want to keep them organized
Don’t be afraid to do the things you love in your content area
Worksheets aren’t all that effective
You’ll probably use them anyway, just don’t expect much
Larger, less frequent assignments are easier to manage
Concurrent homework and projects work well
Outside class is great
Professional advice to a new teacher
The first day of inservice
I was embarrassed in my tie next to others in worn jeans
Most of my learning happened in my first years
Older teachers have a lot of wisdom
Keep your resume up to date
It gets difficult to remember if you don’t
Imagine every email and social media post printed and shared widely
Go through your histories and fix privacy settings.
Caution connecting with students online
Getting your classroom set up
It can take a long time to make it look nice
Look at it from your students seats
Most classrooms are visually noisy
Less is more, simple is best
Premade posters are largely ignored
(Someday goal) Classrooms can be functional and awesome
Classroom Management
If you attended chaotic schools, chaos might seem normal to you
Being strict lets you be fun
Being strict makes your job easier
How to be strict:
Expect respect
Follow through
Invoke or involve parents
“if you cannot decide on a topic for your project, I have next hour free to call your parents and we can brainstorm together. I don’t want you stressing about this tonight!
No warnings
you can remind them of your expectation but once it is clear what you expect, they are making a bad choice and need a correction
Use the seating chart
If there are no warnings, move the kid who is chatty right away
No arguing: “The answer is no”
Sweat the small stuff
Let fun things be wrecked by misbehavior
Never accept “I misheard you” or other BS
Allow movement without disruption
Do it again if neccessary
This one and the next one are a bit of an art form. You’ll need to figure out how this works for you.
Call out poor attitudes, expectations, habits
Avoid power struggles by giving choices
The teachers around you have the best advice for your specific students
Focus on the behaving students
Positive emails are very much appreciated
It is difficult to restart after the first days
Practicing classroom management is important. Practice how you will word everything above.
What to share about yourself
You don’t want to be a flat character
Be really into something
Share video clips of that thing with your classes
Accidentally let them see a youtube tab with that thing
Avoid only talking about just your content
Be yourself
Share when you are taking a risk teaching
Get excited about mistakes and what you learned
Be imperfect and say “I don’t know”
Any topic you dive into can be misconstrued
I summarize myself to avoid having students going home and telling their parents something incorrect
Have strong opinions in writing at your own risk
The bad things in your past can be your strength
Questions to ask after you meet your team
Conclusion
What works for me isn’t automatically the best for you
Your style will come with practice
Practice, practice, practice
Reach out with your feedback on this course
Connect on social media – see links below
I am also trying to make Facebook a better place – here is where you can join us!

This site also has placed for teachers to post and find more resources. I hope you found some great advice for first year teachers here!
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