Advice for New Teacher Linky Party

Fun in 4th Grade is hosting an “Advice for New Teachers” linky party.

Here is my advice:

1. Work hard, but not too hard – be sure to take care of yourself and have fun outside of your job.

2. Be wise in how you spend your paycheck – you can easily spend all of your pay on your classroom, but be careful that you buy things thoughtfully. After all, you never know if you will change grade levels or have curriculum changes.

3. Be flexible – with your students, adults, curriculum, lessons

4. Know that you will always be a learner – no matter how much you know as a teacher, there will always be more to learn and other ways to do things.

5. Be friends with support personnel – your custodians, nurse, secretaries, librarian, and so on can be some of the most helpful people in your job.

6. Find a great support buddy – having one really good friend you can vent to and work with makes life so much easier!!!

7. Develop your organization and planning habits early – this comes from someone who didn’t and, 11 years later, I am desperately trying to figure out what I have and purge what I don’t need. Get control of your papers and materials and try to keep up with it.

8. Survive it – I know this sounds negative, but one of my best teaching friends was a first year teacher when we were hired in the same district and I was going into my 6th year, but first at this district. She asked for my advice and I said “survive”. She said to me at the end of that year that my response had puzzled her, but she truly understood at the end of the year. The first year in any job is rarely easy and sometimes you just need to move through it and move on. You will laugh and cry your first year, but you will make it through and learn SO much!