10 Truths Every New Teacher Needs to Know

No matter how prepared you are for your first classroom, there are a few more things you need to know before your start teaching.

I’m not going to lie to you, I felt pretty confident going into my first year of teaching. Not in a “I know everything there is to know and you can’t convince me otherwise” type of way, but more in a “I feel prepared and I feel comfortable enough asking about things I don’t know” kind of way. For the most part, I think I did okay. I mean everyone survived and everyone learned something, so I’ll chalk that one up as a win! As I reflect on that first year, though, I think about some really important truths that I wish I had known, and more importantly, believed. Inevitably, your first year of teaching is going to be tough because it’s new! These truths may not make your first year “easier” but I believe they will help you to keep your head in the right place and ultimately be able to show up as your best self everyday!

Truth #1: Your job is really important, but so are you.

Have you ever heard that quote about how teaching is the profession that creates all other professions? It’s a little daunting when you think about it. Teaching is really important. It is really easy to feel the weight of this job. As important as teaching is, you are more important. You should never sacrifice yourself and your personal life for your job. Self care has become a bit of a trendy topic, making it kind of hard to take seriously. Take it seriously! You, as a person, should be a higher priority than your job, not matter how important your job is.

Truth #2: You can do a lot, but you can’t do it all.

This is something I struggled to accept. (Let’s be honest, I still struggle to accept this.) We have so many ideas and so many resources and we want to do ALL THE THINGS. Well, guess what, you can’t. No really, you physically cannot do everything. THAT’S OKAY. With Pinterest and Instagram we have an endless supply of lesson ideas, management ideas, storage ideas…you get the point. It’s so easy to fall in love with way too many ideas and feel defeated because we don’t have the time to implement them all. We have to sift through the ideas and choose a few that feel attainable.

I was disappointed in how many ideas I did not have time for during my first year of teaching. I sort of felt like I wasn’t doing my best because I had all of these awesome ideas and couldn’t physically get them all done. I had so many unused ideas saved to my Pinterest boards. Do you know what happened though? I chose a few more ideas my second year of teaching and added on to what I was able to accomplish in my first year. Honestly, there is no point of arrival. Ask teachers who have been teaching for many years. They’ll tell you they still have new ideas and don’t feel like they are doing everything they can. Give yourself time. Be really patient with yourself and do only what you can.

Truth #3: Just because someone else is doing it, doesn’t mean you need to do it.

You need to do what is best for you and your students. Period. Just because Janet down the hall is doing flexible seating, it doesn’t mean you need to. Just because your favorite teacher on Instagram does guided math doesn’t mean you need to do guided math. Of course, your school will have certain expectations that you will need to meet, but outside of that, do you! This truth goes hand in hand with truth #2. You can’t do it all. Janet down the hall and all your favorite teachers on Instagram aren’t doing it all either. We all pick and choose what want to do and what we can do. It’s okay to see an idea, or even try an idea, and decide it’s not for you.

Truth #4: Not every lesson is going to be incredible, but your delivery of the lesson can be.

You know those awesome lessons you spent hours preparing for your student teaching observations? Not all lessons can be like that. There is not time to make every single lesson the best lesson you’ve ever taught. What I’ve learned, though, is that you can act like every lesson is the best lesson you’ve ever taught. For example, I was not a fan of my math curriculum during my first two years of teaching. I had to use it, but the lessons were honestly pretty boring. I did not have time to rewrite every lesson and make it an amazing, Pinterest worthy lesson. Instead, I brought a ton of enthusiasm and acted like comparing two digit numbers was my absolute favorite thing in the world. Students feel that. They know when you think a lesson is boring and when you’ve put your heart and soul into creating that lesson. Pretend like you put your heart and soul into every lesson as you teach it.

Truth #5: You will either use others to tear yourself down or help yourself grow.

You know the saying, “comparison is the thief of joy.” Well, the reason you know that saying is because it’s true. You can look at what other teachers (in real life or online) are doing and feel like the worst teacher who has ever lived. It’s really easy to see what that teacher is doing that you aren’t doing. Comparison. (Remember Truth #3! Just because someone else is doing it, does not mean that you need to!) Here’s what I am learning to do. When I see something another teacher is doing and it makes me feel inadequate, I ask myself, “Is this something that would make sense for me to do in my classroom?” If not, I can simply think, “Wow, they are doing an awesome job!” and move on because that idea is not for me. If it is something that makes sense for my classroom, I think, “Is this something that I have the time or energy to implement now?” If not, I save the idea for later and think, “Wow, they are doing a good job, maybe I will implement that some day!” and move on. If I do feel like I have the time any energy to implement that idea, I go for it! By doing this, I use other educators to help myself grow. I do not use other educators to tear myself down. Of course, I am still working to keep this mindset all of the time, but these questions have really helped me to use my colleagues for my benefit instead of my detriment.

Truth #6: It’s better to under promise and over deliver than over promise and under deliver.

During my new teacher training before my first year of teaching, one of the presenters said “Do not promise to send home a newsletter every week. Even if that’s what you plan on doing. Promise to send one home every month. If you do end up sending one home every week, the parents will be pleasantly surprised. If you decide you don’t have time to do one every week, no problem, because you didn’t promise that! Under promise and over deliver!”

That piece of advice stuck with me. Whether it be with parents, students, or colleagues, I find it best to under promise and over deliver. This saved me from stretching myself too thin so many times! Most of the time, I was able to over deliver. I’d promise to have my data sent to my colleagues by Friday and send it on Wednesday. Other times, I’d need that extra time I had given myself and I was able to still deliver what I promised when I promised it. Don’t overwork yourself because you made promises that were too big.

Truth #7: You can choose what you let get under your skin.

There were so many times in my first year of teaching that I let things get under my skin that I shouldn’t have. I wanted everything to be perfect and go the way I planned it. Unfortunately, that rarely happens. While I was fully aware that I was working with a group of six and seven year olds and there was a very high probability that nothing I planned would go exactly the way I planned it, I still let silly things get under my skin.

I feel like every teacher has those few things that really get under their skin no matter what. Some teachers can’t stand when kids lose their glue sticks 1,000 times a week. Some teachers can’t stand when students won’t stop talking. Some teachers can’t stand when they have to repeat the directions 5,000 times. We all have those things that drive us crazy! The deal is though, we can’t let everything drive us crazy.

When you find something that’s getting under your skin, ask yourself if you are doing everything you can to help your students to be successful in that area. For example, I was so annoyed that I constantly had to remind my students to put their name on their paper. To help my students to remember, I put a pencil cup of highlighters by the turn in bin with a sign asking them to highlight their name before turning in their paper. I needed to do something to help my students to be successful in remembering to put their name on their paper instead of just letting it get under my skin. Do I still get papers without names on them? Of course. However, now I don’t let that get under my skin. I am trying my best to help them to be successful. Now, I have to remember that they are kids and everyone makes mistakes and I have to be okay with it. I make a choice not to let that bother me.

There will be things that always bother me (reminding my students what to do with their completed paper even though we’ve been using the same turn in bin for months…) but I can also make a conscious effort to let things go. Speaking from experience, when we let every little thing get under our skin, we are not only making our job harder for ourselves, we are making our classroom less calm and welcoming for our students. It’s okay to let some of it go. I have heard the advice to “pick your battles” when referring to student behavior. I think this applies here as well. Pick your battles. Choose what bothers you the most and try to help your students in that area, then let the rest go.

Truth #8: When all else fails, it’s okay to just read a book.

That lesson you planned totally flopped? Read a book. Your students finished their work way earlier than you planned? Read a book. You can’t find the materials you need for you lesson? Read a book. You need a break? Read a book. I can’t tell you how many times one of these situations has happened to me. It’s easy to feel flustered, frustrated, and maybe even like a failure. Instead, take a deep breath, grab a book of the shelf, and just read. Your students will never be hurt by listening to you read a book. It’s okay to take that pause, whether it’s because you’ve had a bad day and you simply cannot pretend like you are excited about fractions or because your amazing lesson about fractions totally flopped. Knowing I could always just pause and read a book helped me to feel less anxious about planning my days perfectly. It’s okay to simply read a book.

Truth #9: You don’t have to make things difficult, unless you want to.

As a first year teacher, I would often have tasks on my to-do list like “create labels for reading group bins.” Not a big deal, right? However, my second year of teaching, I slapped a different color sticky note on each bin and called it good. Is either way the “right way?” Nope! My first year, making labels for my bins was something I wanted to do. It was a little more difficult, but I wanted it to look a certain way and I was okay with doing the work. My second year, I really didn’t feel like making labels for my bins and I thought, “Why would I spend all that time making those labels if I don’t really care about them?” I didn’t feel like making it difficult, so I didn’t. You can choose how much extra effort you put into this job. Maybe you are inspired to do a classroom transformation and you are willing to put in the work to do it. Maybe you think that’s way too much work and don’t want to make lesson planning more difficult than it already is. That’s okay! You don’t have to make things difficult.

Truth #10: Someone will try to take away your love for this profession. You don’t have to let them.

As an education student or a student teacher did anyone ever tell you about how awful teaching is and how “you’ll see” once you’re really in the classroom? Yeah, me too. Here’s the thing, it’s very likely that you will still hear those comments throughout your career. As with all things in life, it’s easy to focus on the negative, and there are many tired, burnt out teachers out there that are going to focus A LOT on the negative. When you are surrounded by negative feelings toward this profession, it’s really easy to get swept up in the complaining. I challenge you not to participate in this complaining. I noticed a HUGE difference in my ability to show up as my best self and enjoy my job when I decided to stop participating in the daily complaints about the job. I’m not saying teaching is all rainbows and butterflies, we know it’s not. What I am saying is that spending your lunch time telling your colleagues about the student that ran around your room during your lesson for the 1,000th time will make you feel much different than telling your colleagues about your student that read a book independently for the first time. If you do go to your colleagues with the negative, go seeking advice. The purpose of the conversation should not be to complain but to problem solve.

Bonus Truth: You are ready for this!

You have prepared for your own classroom for a long time. You’ve done the learning and the watching and the practicing. Now, it’s time for the real thing and let me tell you…you are ready! You won’t be perfect, no one is, but you will be exactly what your students need.