Advice For New Teachers

Granted, it has been forever since I was a first-year teacher. In fact, we were still writing on stone tablets lo, those many years ago. (Just kidding! But we did use those purple ditto machines!) 

My first year of teaching was as a fourth grade teacher - in fact, I was THE fourth grade teacher at my small school. I had 34 students and taught every subject except music. (We had a teacher that came to our campus every other week so our kids could have music. Thank goodness - have you heard me sing?) I had no team mates to plan with and no clue what to do. I desperately needed a mentor.

That's why I'm linking up with Fabulously First's linky: A Teacher's Wisdom.

New teachers, hopefully you will be assigned a mentor who will be awesome. But if you aren't, find a teacher who you want to emulate. Tell him or her that you would like to "pick his/her brain." And do it! Don't be afraid to ask for help.

Get your classroom management under control. That is extremely important. There are all sorts of tools out there to help you and wonderful books full of advice. Find the system that works for you. Mine is a combination of things I've picked up from many books and teachers over the years. 

Finally, the advice I give to all first year teachers: Get through the year and want to come back. Everything else is gravy!