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I know that you have already heard all the teacher jokes and discouragements you need to hear to last a lifetime. Two of my personal favorites are: "Those who can't do, teach" and "Teachers are like government slaves." If you haven't heard either of these two statements yet, you will.
You might even hear it from a student.
However, we're not here to talk about that right now. We're here to talk about you. Let's cover some of the basics.
As a new teacher, you're a bit mortified. If you're not, you should be; and if you are particularly the soldierly type, the type that fears nothing at all, you are especially in danger. Teaching is an Atlas-esque job. The moment you step into that classroom, the weight of these kids' worlds is on your shoulders. If they leave you worse off than they were when they came to you, you are responsible for that.
A bit of good news is this. If they leave you better off than they were when they came, you're responsible for that too. No one may ever say that to you directly, but it is still a logical and statistical truth. Good teachers are a major deciding factor in whether or not a student achieves success in elementary school, whether or not a child survives the emotional highs and lows of middle school, whether or not a budding adult graduates from high school.
Of this you should be proud. This is the legacy of great instructors that stretches all the way back to the beginning of communication between primitive peoples.
Now, if you are going to survive such a weighty undertaking, there are a few things you should know before you engage and overextend yourself.
A) You musn't be offended by the REAL NEGATIVE ELEMENTS of our profession. When veteran teachers whisper the dirty dozens to you about waves of teaching mantra, administrative evil doings and social promotion, you need to listen. This is not an old person trying to kill your spirited excitement.
This is a seasoned person trying to teach you temperance.
Teaching is so filled with highs and lows that if you go in with a lofty idea of how much of the world you are going to change each day, you're going to burn out before the year is over. Rather, you must be prepared for great home runs and embarrassing strike outs with an understanding that there are real forces working against you. Not everyone agrees on what those forces are, but they are there.B) The "A" concept is not me saying, "Sit down in the teacher's lounge and gossip about how much you hate your homeroom," because the "B" concept is NEVER, EVER gossip about your job. Just don't do it. Don't gossip to your colleagues, your mentor, your husband, your friends or your blog readers about your job.
You might be asking yourself, "Am I supposed to just keep all of my frustrations to myself?" The answer to that is no. You should talk to others about your struggles as you grow as a teacher, but there is a BIG DIFFERENCE between "Let me tell you how I screwed up this discipline issue today" and "Let me tell you about this brat that got my temper up today."
If there are other "professionals" asking you to divulge students' personal information for the sake of building an arsenal against what they call "forever troublesome kids," you've got the wrong support group. You need people you can talk to who are going to fortify you against the sticky situations that WILL arise when you find yourself dealing with a difficult student. You need wise advise about how to de-escalate children who are enraged because of home issues, antsy because of Attention Deficit Disorder, afraid of school because of teachers who have turned them against school as an institution.
You don't need gossips who don't expect you to last the year anyway. (You're on their list too.)
C) You are not a dumping ground. DO NOT take on every school club that needs an advisor to get in good with the administrators. Ambition is beautiful, and it is good to show your commitment to children and their development by being a club sponsor. However, there's a very good chance that your health insurance will not cover every cent of a coronary if you almost drop dead after working so many extra hours at your school. If you feel like you can handle your early years (teaching years 1-3) with the additional responsibility of a club, take on one club, something you can enjoy.
Do not take on the club that takes trips every week, or the one that keeps you out late every night, or the club that absorbs all of your weekends. That's like asking a six year old to bench press 300 pounds. I love your drive, but I also appreciate your worth. As a new teacher, you need some time to adjust to a marking schedule, a planning schedule, a testing schedule, a meeting schedule that can easily intrude upon your personal life. Let's not make things too crowded before you get used to controlling those always changing demands. Which leads to D...
D) Go home. Go home, and don't take your papers. This recommendation is EXTREMELY unpopular with many new teachers who find it hard to mark during their planning time (or hard to mark period). Yet, I present to you that there are many veteran teachers who are single or divorced or sickly because they refused to practice the habit of leaving school at school.
You might as well start now. Ask for mentorship with regard to the kinds of assignments that need level one, level two and level three grading, and if you have no idea what that means, ask that too. Your formative and summative assessment of your students must never zap you of all the energy you need to teach, teach and return to teach again. If you dry up because of marking overload, you cannot be a good teacher.
These first four recommendations are enough to kick and scream about already, I know, and this post is already quite long. So I will stop here.
I invite new teachers (years 1-3) and veterans to weigh in on these ideas and make other suggestions that could help our young colleagues stay with us and retire from (instead of running from) this great responsibility that we call teaching.
Don't be shy. You could be the reason a teacher comes back to school next year!!!
Pencils and Pocketwatches,
Ms. Moss
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