I’ve had many people ask me to share tips and tricks for first year teachers, but for this post I decided to take a different angle. Rather than tell you what you should or shouldn’t be doing, I’d rather share some realness with you all! I want to share with you the five (there’s probably more) mistakes I made as a first year teacher. Are you ready?
MISTAKE No. 1
I spent way too much money on my first classroom. Yes, this one is one that I’m not proud to admit nor will I ever tell you just how much I spent on my first classroom, but I can tell you it was a lot. I’m not just talking money. I spent a lot of time on it, too. It had green polkadots and frogs everywhere! It looked really pretty, but I quickly learned that I had spent so much time decorating and not enough time studying my lessons. This was the real tragedy.
The first week of school my mentor pulled me to the side and said, “We need to focus on these TEKS.” So, I shifted gears. I quickly got over the fetish of matching classroom decor. Although I think it looks very pretty and I’m not judging people who still do this, I don’t think it’s the MOST important thing. If you can do both, standards and decor, then yay for you!
MISTAKE No. 2
I stayed late and came in on Saturdays. Crazy, right? It was almost like I was addicted to being in my classroom and “working on stuff.” There really wasn’t anything that was urgent or that needed to be done by a certain deadline. I truly enjoyed working in my classroom on a Saturday with minor interruptions. I remember being so organized that I had copied assignments one semester in advanced! The urgency to work harder, smarter, and faster was real, y’all! Truthfully, I was working hard to prove myself to my mentor and principal. I wanted to be known as someone who was hardworking and dedicated. Perhaps that is why I felt like I needed to stay late.
Something inside me changed around year three. By then I was only staying late once or twice a week, and I stopped coming in on Saturdays. That’s when I realized I felt happier and relaxed. I was finally able to enjoy my life outside of the classroom, too!
MISTAKE No. 3
I mainly kept to myself. This one still haunts me. Today I constantly tell my teachers to collaborate and work together because that was something I did not do when I was a first year teacher. I blame it on the fact that I’m an introvert (I am), but honestly I’ve always been the type of person to solve their own problems. Aside from my mentor, there wasn’t anyone that I reached out to for help when I felt like I was struggling. I was almost embarrassed to admit that I needed help. Anyone else? My school had amazing teachers I could’ve easily gone to for help or to collaborate with. I kick myself now for not seeing the potential and reassurance I could’ve gotten just by sitting with someone to help me plan out my lessons.
Sometimes the best PD is the classroom down the hall.
MISTAKE No. 4
I volunteered for everything – including working summer school! Yes, I was that teacher that wanted to do it all. Like I perviously stated, I always felt like I needed to prove myself. Why? Honestly, I have no clue why I have this need to please everyone around me! I was a member of all the committees, I tutored evenings, I signed up for summer school, etc. Weekend PDs were my jam, too! This was heaven to me as a first year teacher, but it got old very quickly.
I noticed that by my third year, I was starting to resent myself for signing up for all these things. I stopped working summer school and I stopped adding my name to things. Several co-workers notice this shift, and their behavior towards me changed, too. Oh well… I started feeling more relaxed the moment I started saying no to things, but I’m still working on saying no without feeling like I have to explain myself.
MISTAKE No. 5
I planned my lessons according to my team and not my students. Don’t get me wrong, I worked with AMAZING educators! Their lessons were great, but I failed to question whether they were appropriate for my students. I know that team planning is the norm for many schools. And more often than not, one person is in charge of one subject for the entire team. Though I agree that this saves time (and our sanity), it also sends the message that “one size fits all,” which is rarely the case for our students.
Ideally, you are expected to take the lessons prepared by someone else and tweak them to fit your needs. I didn’t do this as often as I needed or wanted to. I focused heavily on differentiating reading and math, but dropped the ball when it came to science and social studies – if I’m being honest.
In January I decided to sit down and make changes to my plans to ensure my students were getting the most of my lessons. Even my mentor noticed the change. That was a proud moment for me!
OK, you’re probably wondering why I crossed out the word mistake in my post, am I right? It might sound cheesy, but I’m working on trying to forgive the actions of my former self. I actually don’t see them as mistakes but rather human decisions. I call them that because I genuinely believe they’re “mistakes” any human can make when they don’t know better. I’m happy to say I know better than what I knew to be true 10 years ago. It’s really never too late to self-reflect and make changes to how you do things.
So now that I’ve shared my “mistakes,” care to share your past decisions? Comment below.