It's still technically Day 2 of Teacher Week, right? I tend to do my blogging / teacher blog-stalking late at night...
Advice for New Teachers
1. Find a mentor you trust. She'll let you know which of your crazy, new initiatives are worth pursuing. She'll also be your sounding board because as much as our family and friends are there for us, if they are not teachers themselves, they really don't "get" it like another teacher does.
2. Routines, routines, routines.
3. Don't try to do everything in your first year.
4. When you're feeling overwhelmed, just remember we've all been there and it really does get easier with time.
5. If the topic is sensitive or lengthy or you just don't know the parent that well, pick up the phone and call, even if the parent was the one who initiated the email.
6. Finally, a nugget of wisdom my teaching partner shared with me when I was just starting out:
The kids will learn in spite of you.
PS. If you're a new teacher reading this, you are already ahead of where I was when I first started out. It wasn't until recently that I started to develop my PLN.
Routine is so important. I took a workshop called The Responsive Classroom. It said to practice everything the first 6 weeks of school and then your room will operate by itself. It is sooooo true. Great advice!
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Even still, I get a little nervous each year about whether I'll start the year off right.
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