First day of school approaching? “How brave”, is often the response I get when I say I am a high school teacher. I’ve been lucky to have experience teaching all ages, including 5 year olds up to adults at university. Teenagers, for me, are the most engaging and enjoyable to teach. As someone with 5 years experience in teaching, here’s the advice I wish I received before my first day.
Advice 1: Stay Calm
It can be intimidating standing in front of teenagers. Especially when you have little experience. You feel as if they can sense it, smell it, and soon your nerves can start to show. But don’t let it! You have done training for this, everyone has to start somewhere and students are, at the end of the day, kids. Sometimes on the first lesson, depending on the school, they can be a little quieter as well, as they sniff you out. So take a deep breath, remember you are in control. If a student tries to confront or do anything, stay calm. When you don’t, it looks like you don’t have control of the situation. A calm teacher is however always in control.
Advice 2: Ask for help
We are so lucky that often in this profession, teachers do want to help. It’s quite rare that I find a teacher that doesn’t want to help when I ask a question. So ask away! You could skip 20 steps by asking them. Have a difficult student? Find another teacher who teaches them. Didn’t know how to respond to a question? Ask another teacher what the school protocol is. The fact of the matter is, everyone is learning in schools, every day. This includes students and teachers.
Advice 3: Arrive to class early
Nothing more calming then being in your classroom 10 minutes early. You can have all your sheets ready, your whiteboard set up with clear directions ready to go. It not only sets a good example for your students, but it helps settle them. When you are calm and ready to go when they arrive, this signals that it’s time to learn. Not ready? Keep the students outside, or risk them bringing their conversations inside the classroom.
Advice 4: Utilise the resources around you
Now by far the best resource are surrounding teachers. That said, if you are lucky, your school might have some opportunities surrounding you. Is there a printer you can use? Do students already have textbooks? Do they have access to laptops or computers? For instance, I thought I had to do all my printing, until I learnt there was someone at the school hired to do that! Ask around and find what type of resources you could use to your advantage.
Advice 5: Celebrate the small wins
Teaching can be hard. It has it’s good days and bad days. If you’re like me, you’ll have days when you think you’re a terrible teacher and other’s when you’re the best. Remember to keep going, everyone has off days. You might often blame your lack of experience but every teacher has bad days. A teacher I thought was incredible once said to me he had an off day. In response, I thought if this genius teacher with 30 years experience has off days, so can I. Don’t dwell. You’ll do better tomorrow, and remember you are teaching the future generation! So congratulations for having one of the most important jobs there is !
Leave a Reply