Getting through your first year of teaching

Uncategorized Mar 06, 2020

The first year of teaching is tough - kind of like a trial by fire kind of tough. It's such a shame that 1 in 6 teachers quit in their first year of teaching, and 1 in 3 quit after 5 years. 

I remember my first year of teaching being one of the biggest challenges of my life - it was pretty much just about survival. But the good news is that you can get through it, and once you do, it gets easier every year. 

My first teaching placement was in a 'hard to staff' school in the city, and boy was it hard. There were many students with behavioural issues and learning difficulties. I remember the first parent-teacher night, and I had requested around 60 interviews (yep that's how many students I had serious concerns about), and only 2 parents showed up. What hope did I have if there was no support from parents? 

I was told by my head of department that the best approach was 'don't smile until Christmas' (this is the worst advice by the way). It felt terrible, like I had to go through a whole personality change to take on this new role (confrontation did not come easily to me). Every morning I was so wracked with nerves that I literally could not eat all day, and every night I cried on the drive home. I felt like I was already failing at my job - rather than doing any actual teaching, I was mainly 'managing behaviour', and the amount of paperwork I had to complete for behavioural issues was insane. I had chairs thrown in the classroom, students get into fights and run out. How was I supposed to actually teach anyone? The department I worked in was ok, but it was very much each teacher for themselves - there wasn't a huge amount of support or teamwork. 

That was just a one-term placement (a maternity leave cover). For the second term, I was given one weeks notice to move to a country town - however, there was no accommodation available. I ended up having to board on a farm for a few months until something became available. Whilst not quite as rough as the first school, there were still quite a few issues, and unfortunately self-harm and bullying was prevalent. In addition, I was the only Society and Environment teacher, and the previous teacher had left behind no materials. I had to write all of my own teaching and learning programs from scratch, develop all of my own materials (there were no textbooks either), and manage my own budget. So yet again I felt I was thrown in the deep end with zero support. 

Somehow I managed to get through my first year. Here are some of the lessons I learnt: 

  • I had to let go of perfectionism - as much as I wanted everything to be perfect and every lesson to be amazing, the first year was truely about survival and just trying to get through each day. Over time I learnt to be ok with that. 
  • I learnt to take it one day at a time. In the first year it's easy to get overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done. When I was feeling overwhelmed or anxious, I just focused on what needed to be done to get through the next day. 
  • Don't take it personally - kids can be cruel and I often felt like all the effort I had put into preparing a lesson wasn't appreciated. Just try to keep in mind that hurt people tend to lash out and try to hurt other people. The most 'difficult' kids in the class are often the ones that need the most help. 
  • Taking the time to get to know the students and build rapport can really help with behavioural issues  - kids learn best from teachers that they know care about them. 
  • It's great to talk to other teachers to try and get tips from them, but take their advice or opinions of students with a grain of salt. Their experience doesn't have to be your experience. Check in with your own instincts and your own knowledge of your students and don't let their negative experience colour your own. 
  • Be you - don't try to be someone that you are not. Kids are finely tuned for detecting authenticity and will lose respect for you if you are not being yourself. 
  • If you make mistakes, own them - don't try to brush them off or hope that your students didn't notice - they did. Owning your mistakes helps your students to realise that it's ok to make mistakes, as long as they are learning from them. 
  • Don't try to become friends with your students or win them over with rewards like chocolate. It might work in the short-term but never in the long term. 
  • Surround yourself with uplifting people - ever heard the saying that you are the average of the 5 people that you spend the most time with? If you feel like you are constantly getting sucked into negative conversations with a certain colleague and it's getting you down, try your best to either make a point of changing the topic or try to avoid them. 
  • Get a mentor - either someone in your school (it doesn't necessarily have to be in your department), or get involved in some online groups and reach out to someone that you admire. This should be someone that you feel that you can go to for advice or just to share what you are going through. 
  • Let your friends and family know that you are going through a bit of a tough time and could do with some extra support. 
  • Have clear priorities - focus on the most important things that need to be done, the rest can wait. 
  • Get to school early to get all your prep and making done - it's much more productive than staying back late or taking work home with you. 
  • Prioritise healthy eating and exercise - it makes all the difference to your mindset. 
  • Finally, when you do get a moment to breathe and reset, take some time to put a clear plan together so that you feel more organised going ahead. Make sure your teaching and learning programs are well thought out and organised, plot out all of your lessons and assessments on a term planner, and make sure your resources and lesson plans are prepared at least a week ahead. 

I know that the first year can sometimes feel like you are drowning and it's all you can do just to keep your head above water. But over time, you will get into the groove and it will come a lot easier to you. Lessons won't take as long to plan, you will have resources from the previous year that you can use, and marking won't take you as long either. It WILL get easier and you ARE an amazing teacher, so remember that. The world needs more teachers like you, so stick with it and you will make a massive difference in the lives of all of your students. 

 

 

 

 

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