Tips for 1st Years During the School Year (AKA How to Ensure Your Sanity)

1) Learn to recognize which, among all the bullshit your school will inevitably tell you “has” to get done, in actuality, you “have” to get done. Your school will bombard you with deadlines for all types of menial tasks: countless homeroom headcounts, lesson plans, intervention plans, etc., etc., etc. Despite what anyone tells you, NOT ALL OF THIS HAS TO BE COMPLETED. At least not by you right that moment (or even when by when they initially say they need it). You have to figure out which of these things are the most important. Typically, anything the principal tells you directly to do gets priority. Typically, anything that can be emailed quickly I try and knock out of the way. But if you have 30 essays to grade, 3 lesson plans to write for tomorrow, 15 parents to contact, and grades are due by the end of the week, then get some of your stuff done first.

2) Make friends with the people who have any type of control over you. The librarian and the secretary saved my ass so many times. Many people disliked these particular employees, but I was always as polite and nice as possible, making sure to wish the secretary a good evening every night as I left for the day, and making sure to make small talk with the librarian. In return, my copies were (almost) always ready when I needed them, I didn’t have to wait in the office for more than 15 minutes to speak to someone (this is considered good), and I had access to the computer labs and/or TVs last minute whenever I needed them. A well-placed “thank you” or a card of appreciation goes a long way.

3) Watch who you associate with. I think because I hung out with a lot of the “trouble-makers,” even though I rarely caused trouble myself, I caught a lot more flack from the higher-ups than I probably deserved. Generally, the people who aren’t ass-kissing, who state their opinions, and who don’t always follow district policy tend to be the more liberal, and thus I naturally gravitated towards that circle. So when I was seen in the halls talking, it appeared to others as if we were “conspiring.” (It’s unbelievable how paranoid principals are.) I’m not saying don’t hang out with these people, but be aware of who’s watching you and what it looks like. Hang out with the others too.

4) Grow thick skin. Your students are astute and very perceptive (at times). They’ll figure out what annoys you or even hurts you, and they’ll use it over and over again. It’s not personal (even though they may personally attack you), that’s just what kids do. You did it too when you were in high school or middle school. Get used to it, and understand there’s a reason behind that child’s words. Don’t hold a grudge. Same thing goes with your principal(s). He/she has a job to do, a lot of stress, and may not always give you the benefit of the doubt. He/she may ream you out in front of students, parents, faculty, or by yourself. Be prepared to accept it in public (I know it’s hard for some of you to swallow your pride) and handle it professionally, even if he/she has not.

5) Please remember why you’re here. Even if kids tell you they hate you and don’t like you or your class, you’re helping. Don’t lose your ideals.

What should I be doing these next few weeks if I’m a first year?

Working. Organizing. And working some more. I know it sucks, especially considering you haven’t had a break from lesson planning and teaching since the second week of June, but it will make things so much easier for the Fall. In fact, I wouldn’t so much work on lesson planning right now as I would organizing and writing out a 9 weeks (or even a full year) syllabus. This is the most important thing you can do, because it will give your lesson plans and classes direction. If you already know what you’re teaching, contact the principal or curriculum administrator at your school and find out if there’s a pacing guide for your district/school. Find out if you’re required to lesson plan with the other teachers who teach the same subject as you. (It would suck if you worked so hard on these lesson plans and then you find out you’re not able to use them, or not able to use them until February.) Your principal will be very impressed with your assertiveness. Think about what overarching concepts you want your students to be able to know/identify/apply at the end of the year and think about how you’re going to incorporate those concepts throughout the year. Think long and hard about how you’re going to teach vocabulary, give tests, or assign homework.

Then, when you’re done with all that, work some more. Research how your school discipline structure works. For this, I’d try and contact someone who worked at your school previously in TeacherCorps or another teacher that currently works there. Again, you would hate to do all this work creating classroom rules and procedures on beautiful poster board and then you find out on the first day of school that because your school has a specific bathroom policy plan, you can’t use the brilliant one you came up with.

I’m not saying work all the time all day, but formulate ideas in your mind and actually write them down (I can’t count how many good ideas I had at one point throughout the school year that eventually got lost in the crevices of my mind). The more work you put in now, the easier the first nine weeks will be. The less likely it will be that you’ll want to kill yourself or your students. I can preach because I know first hand. My time off was spent at BestBuy, Finnian’s (a local pub), or on the foosball table. And I suffered in the long run. I came in with half-assed, poorly-thought-out lessons and strategies and my kids could tell. I’m so much more excited about next year because I’m actually writing out a week-by-week plan of what I’m going to teach for the entire year. Granted, I’ve had a year teaching it, so I know much better than you do what works and what doesn’t, but at least I can see where my year is going.

Go get drunk. Go explore your city (or town, or village, or hamlet). Go hang out with the rest of MTC. But those early Sunday mornings when you’re watching Sportscenter and drinking the Bloody Mary to recover from the even earlier Sunday morning, pull out the ol’ laptop and start typing away.