**fun fact - I started this post 3 years ago. I stumbled across it today and decided that this year is the PERFECT year to complete it.
I recently finished the book Letters to a Young Teacher by Jonathan Kozol and it inspired me to write my own letter to young/new teachers. My school actually chose this book as a book study throughout the year during staff meetings and to be completely honest, I did not read it then. This summer I have been on a kick reading educational books that I have had on my shelf, as well as, some new ones that I have been wanting to read. I read another one of Kozol's book in college titled Savage Inequalities and enjoyed how he gave eye-opening, honest facts of the inequalities in schools across the United States. This book does very much of the same when it comes to things that first year teachers may/will experience in their own classroom.
*you may have the perfect lesson plan and nothing will go as planned
*some of the best lessons you will teach, won't have a lesson plan written up at all
*those memes about your students are absolutely true, there's always that one student who you will need a break from that is never absent
*the students who need your attention the most, will ask for it in the worst ways
*there will be parents that you will never meet, it isn't because they don't care or aren't supportive
*there will be parents who you will meet too much
*just when you think you have the curriculum down, the county, state, or country will change something
*there are SO many acronyms in the education world (don't know what something means, just ask, we've all been there)
*there is a lot of "educational jargon" which is basically 5 different ways to say one thing
Dear New Teacher,
This year is going to be a roller coaster. You will experience a roller coaster of emotions. There will be excitement for the first day of school, you will be nervous and worrying about what you are going to do once they arrive, you will feel anxiety over the uncertainty of this school year with the current pandemic, you will feel relief as you finish the first day, and the meme about there is no tired like first day of school teacher tired... it's 100% accurate.
Your first year teaching is one of the hardest. My former principal once told me that once you survive your first year you can handle anything. That statement will be even more true this year. Whether you will be teaching at school with a full class, teaching a hybrid model, or teaching virtually, this year will be challenging. Once you make it to the end, you celebrate by taking some time for yourself.
My first piece of advice, you can go to Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, etc. for inspiration and ideas, but please DO NOT compare yourself to other teachers. It is great to build your personal learning network to continue learning from other teachers and professionals throughout your teaching career, but just know people don't usually post the negative stuff. So when you have had "one of those days" and you feel like you are the only one... you're not.
My second piece of advice, make time to take care of yourself. Teaching is not easy and this year more than ever you will need time to separate work and home. This could be something as simple as not checking email after hours, leaving things to be graded at school (or in a pile at home) until the next day, or taking a weekend to do NOTHING for school. Don't worry everything will still be there on Monday morning.
I could go on and on, but those two things above are truly the most important. If you focus on doing what is best for you and your students, you will do big things this school year. Don't try to do too much (set the bar low your first year, you can always improve the next), ask for help when you need it (we have all been new teachers before, just ask!), and go with your gut instincts (you got into this profession for a reason you do you).
I wish you all the best of luck! Even though I am just a little ole blogger, I am only an email, tweet, or instagram message away!
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