1- Be yourself. Always believe in yourself, go with your gut instinct. It will be your guide from day one. The moment you step in the classroom, it will be your gut that will show you the way. Trust it.
2- Everything you learned in teacher preparation is just the circle. The outline. The shape of your career. Everything within it comes from experience. Experience is coming. Relationships are forging. Your educator mindset is expanding. Welcome the new, its forth coming.
3- Find a mentor. In your building. On Twitter. Find a community who think like you. Bounce off ideas with them. Ask lots of questions. When I started teaching we didn't have Twitter. Now, 19 years in, it shapes me every day.
4-Respond not react. Simply put, deep breath and realize, they are not out to get you. They are children and children act out, speak out of turn and yes, misbehave. Go with the flow, it ebbs and wanes frequently.
5- Try new things. Never get 'set in your ways.' Strategies, tools and ideas are meant to be exchanged and upgraded. Tweaked and remain malleable. That is the essence of teaching, staying open-minded, growth-oriented and innovation.
6- Think about home-thinking rather than just homework. Give students something to think about and let them think about it. Sometimes we need to just think and talk things through at the dinner table, rather than being alone, nose in a book.
7-Cross-curricular assignments. Bring in STEAM, reading, writing and creative design into every subject. The more we make those big connections, the better students will too.
8- Relationships first. From love and kindness, wisdom will bloom. Listen, ask them questions and ask for student feedback. Building strong, trusting, respectful relationships is the most important part of teaching- hands down.
9- Reflect, a lot. I use Post-its around the classroom, a daily journal and blogging. Show yourself grace when a lesson goes badly and make sure you reflect in order to grow on a consistent basis.
10- Plan and design well. I am not a specifics planner but an out-liner. I change things a lot on the fly. But, I do have a check-list. I have a framework from which I teach. If I didn't, I would not be comfortable. Write plans that work for you. There are many organizers and lesson planners- choose the one you love, it means another level of comfortability.
Alright so 11, I have one more.
11- Its kind of a combination of a few of them. Always set high expectations. Always have high goals and aspirations. Set them for yourself and your students. Then be flexible. Adjust, pivot when ever necessary. Don't forge in stone plans, because there will be problems with technology, or pep rally's or a fire drill.
There will be days where you don't feel well. Where students don't feel well. Where the weather is gloomy, the air conditioner doesn't cool off the building. I could go on, but we all know uncertainty is in full force. Hybrid versus in class learning is inevitable for at least part of the year. So we have to plan for both.
We have to keep our eyes on the prize- teaching students. We have to be ourselves. Listen and ask for feedback. We have to trust our students and they will trust us in return. We need to be patient and show grace. We need to smile, yes and be funny and kind day one- not wait until after a few weeks to be 'cool.'
What we need to do is be consistent. Start with firm and friendly. Set a routine. Set high expectations. Smile. Make eye contact. Create a classroom for them, not just for you. Engagement comes when students feel safe to be themselves and that they are able to collaborate and have the freedom to choose demonstration of their knowledge.
As a new teacher, I struggled a lot because I had no mentor, I entered the classroom with teacher preparation knowledge and no experience (not really). But, when I found my teacher voice, my educator persona and I trusted myself, things changed. Above all else- know for sure in your mind, things will go wrong. Its how you cope with them that matters.
I am here. If you need a mentor to bounce ideas off of. I am here.
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