It Doesn't Actually Get Easier

I had a few different interactions this week that got me thinking. I know that I have been guilty of saying this as well, but we really need to stop telling teachers (especially new teachers) that it gets easier. Here me out...

The first couple years of a teacher's career is about learning WHAT to teach. You focus on learning the standards, learning the curriculum, working to build lesson plans, and figure out how to manage the classroom. Often during those first few years you either rely heavily on others to give you lessons/resources or you rely heavily on using the curriculum as it is handed to you. And guess what, this is absolutely fine as you navigate the world of education.

However, after those first couple of years is when people think that teaching gets easier. There may be some aspects of the job that get easier, for example, classroom management and organization. But now a shift occurs. By year 3-4, the focus needs to shift from what to teach to HOW to teach it best to your students. Assuming that you have stayed in the same grade and the standards or curriculum haven't changed, teachers must now think about how they can teach the content better. You have learned that there is not curriculum/program that is perfect. So at this point teachers will begin to put in extra work to take the resources given to them and make it better to fit the needs of the students in their classroom.

Even veteran teachers have to work hard if they want to truly do a good job teaching their students. Each year we are given a set of students. This group of students is never the same as the year before. They have different interests, different learning styles, different abilities, and the list goes on. As a teacher we must use what is given to us or even what we have created previously and adapt it for the current class. Just this past week I had to put in some work to think about how to teach the topic of factors. I used my resources from last year and it just wasn't working for my current students. I did some research and tried some new things. If I wanted to take the easy way out then I could have just said oh well and kept moving forward without my students understanding.

While teaching may not get easier year after year, what teachers do gain is experience. This experience helps you work more efficiently, helps you make better decisions, and helps you build your catalog of resources for you to store away for those times when you have to pivot and teach something a different way.

If it doesn't get easier, then why do we do it? Because of the kids. Year after year, watching students learn and grow is so rewarding.

To all the new teachers, hang in there. While I won't say that it gets easier, I will say that it does get better. As you gain that experience, you will learn what works and what doesn't and you will be able to make better decisions that will affect your students and yourself. 

**Side note - I know that everyone's experience teaching is different. I have been in schools where the climate was toxic, the support from admin didn't exist, and things just never felt like they would get better. I also know that teaching is not for everyone. The words above are my experience and for all of us to think about keeping things realistic when talking to new teachers.

Classroom Library Organization

This year I decided to redo my classroom library organization. Books are organized by genre or by series, so I created genre posters to help kids learn about the different types of books. New organization means new resources to share!

Book Buddy

My classroom library has been my pride and joy since I first started teaching. Facebook Marketplace, yard sales, and McKay's Used Book store are great places to look to get used books. If you work in a title 1 school you can also sign up for First Book Marketplace to get new books for really great prices.

I can be a little Type A, so I also use an app called Book Buddy to keep track of my books. You can easily add books to the inventory by scanning the barcode on the back of the book or doing a search online. You can set it up to have students check out books from your classroom library, but I use it more often to see if I have a book that a student wants to read. Unfortunately, the app is only available on Apple products and it does cost a one-time fee of $4.99, but compared to the free versions it was worth it in my opinion.

Book Bin Labels

I created the book bin labels to match the genre posters below. I like to organize my classroom library by genre or content area. The chapter books will each have a bin for the genre, unless I have enough of a book series to create their own bin. The picture books are organized by content area (ie. math, social studies). Click the link above to download your own copy of the labels.

Genre Posters

I created these posters as a fun way to learn about the different genres. I wanted them to look like movie posters and Canva made that possible! Click the link above to download your own copy of the posters.

Back to School Math Activities

Here are some math activities to do the first week of school that allow students to get to know each other by working together and you to get to know your students through observation and conferring.

Set up your math classroom community through teaching math norms. I use the math norms that we used when I taught in Maryland. They come from the SFUSD and can be found here.

image from SFUSD

Each day I do a different activity to help students practice that norm. Some of the activities include:

• Use tangrams to complete different challenges (there are plenty online for all age levels for free!)
• make sure to have a discussion afterwards about the challenges and how it feels when we make mistakes or when math gets frustrating and what students can do when this happens
• this is also a time to discuss expectations for math tools

• Introduce math/number talks to get students talking about each other's thinking (here are some examples to get started)
• use this time to set up routines and expectations for math/number talks and discuss stems students can use to agree/disagree, add on, or explain
• here is a resource of sentence stems students can put on their desk or math notebook

• Use an activity from Building Thinking Classrooms to get students working together and show off their problem solving abilities
• This is also a great time for the teacher to model the asking questions norm and have students practice asking questions as well

• Give students a task that allows them to model using multiple representations. This will look different depending on the grade level and your curriculum as this is a great time to kick off your first unit with some review
• At my current school where I teach 4th grade, we have students use 36 tiles and ask them to design rectangles that use all 36 tiles. Students can attempt to make a connection to multiplication and arrays from grade 3.
• You could also give students a word problem and tell them that they can solve it using any strategy they would like and then have students share

• The last thing I do during the first week of school to get to know my students is a math screener. I use this on the day I introduce that math norm that answers are important, but they are not the math.
• I explain to students that if they don't show me their thinking using math then I can't help if they make an error.

• I also use the first week of school to introduce math games. I choose a topic that students should already be familiar with so that we can focus on practicing the expectations for math games. This is a great time to again practice routines for getting materials and cleaning up