This post has been in my heart for a very long time. If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I used to be an accountant for several years before transitioning to classroom educator. Every time I share this fact with people, I always get the same question, "Why?" Why spend all that time on a career just to leave it? The answer seems simple at first, but it's actually somewhat complicated. ROAD TO COLLEGE I always knew I wanted to go to college. This was a fact. I worked really hard in high school to get good grades. And although I did get ... Read More
Five Mistakes I Made My First Year of Teaching
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 ... Read More
Classroom Management
Sometimes creating a classroom management system can seem overwhelming. I've been there. I was fortunate enough to have a tremendously informative and caring mentor during my first and second year of teaching. She taught me everything I needed to know about classroom management. I decided to create this post to share some of her tips (and mine) in the hopes that they will help you in your journey. The first thing I would suggest you do is sit down and finalize your non-negotiable items regarding behavior. What are some things that you ... Read More
Teacher Burnout
I know, you've heard every trick in the book regarding teacher burnout. The truth is: there is no magic pill or instant trick to beat it. Avoiding teacher burnout involves a series of purposeful decisions. Below are some tips that help me avoid feeling like I want to quit every five minutes. ARRIVE EARLY OR STAY LATE IN MODERATION Are you a morning person? If so, this tip is for YOU. Get to work an hour earlier than you're required to. You're less likely to get interrupted as you work, and you will eliminate the guilt of (gasp) leaving ... Read More
Teaching for Testing
I'll start this post by saying that I'm obviously not a fan of standardized testing. We live in a world where a student and a teacher are both evaluated by a performance on a state test. It's unfortunate. And sadly, we can't afford to ignore it because there's just too much at stake. Nevertheless, this post is not meant to convince you to "drill and kill" with passages everyday, all day. I'm here to tell you that there's a micro solution to this. In fact, I think I have found a healthy balance between organic teaching and test prep. It's ... Read More