Making it through your first year of teaching is exhausting. The days can seem never-ending, and you begin to wonder, will I make it through? Are you starting to doubt your decision to become a teacher? WELL DON’T! What you need to do instead, is to create some time for yourself – some of “your OWN time.” I’m hoping this blurb will give you some tips to help you survive your 1st year. Please know that things will get better. Becoming a great teacher is about progress not perfection. You will inevitably have days when your lessons tank, your students aren’t engaged, and you end your day feeling like your students learned nothing. When those moments happen (and they will), here’s what you can do. Give yourself grace: You wouldn’t expect your students to master reading the first time they pick up a book, and you can’t expect every lesson you teach to go perfectly to plan. Being a teacher means also being a lifelong learner, so consider it a learning opportunity.

Here are 12 things suggested to help you survive the year:

1. Learn to plan a week ahead.

It might be too late for the current year, but you can get a start in August planning for the next year ahead. Have your first full week planned out before the first day of school, and during that week, work on the next week’s plans (with supplies and materials needed too).

This simple routine will take away AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF THE LAST-MINUTE STRESS that comes with doing things at the last minute.

2. Take at least a 15-minute lunch break.

Don’t get in the rut of eating at your desk so that you can just get one more thing done. Take time for de-stress from the morning.

3. Learn to let students help you with small tasks that you can assign to them.

Have a student (rotate using different students) stay … if they want to, and their parents are OK with it …. for 15 minutes a few days each week to do little tasks, like, sharpening pencils, straightening the class library books, stapling papers for you, wiping down the marker board, etc.

4. Don’t take TONS of work home with you.

That huge bag or rolling crate will only add to your anxiety. Take no more than two things home; LEARN TO PRIORITIZE! One thing I did when my daughter was in after school activities was to take papers to grade with me to practices so that I could get through a stack quickly.

5. Learn to keep a running list of “things to do.”

I actually got to where I enjoyed being able to “scratch things off the list.” Every few days I would re-write the list (taking off what was already done) since by then it would have more scratched off than not. Place stars next to things that need to be done right away or first on the list. Look at everything you need and then BREAK IT DOWN into each step (which is then listed separately on the “list.”

6. When a friend invites you for coffee or an after work get together, GO!

Everyone needs a break now and then. Take time to connect with old friends. Or take the initiative and invite one of your new teacher friend colleagues. There is nothing better than nurturing a friendship!

7. Learn to delegate.

Have your kids at home finish making dinner (if they are old enough). Or ask your husband or roommate. Ask for help when you need it.

8. WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN

When you remember something, write it down right away. Take a post-it to lunch with you (or use the note section of your smart phone) so that when a thought comes to you, you can write it down right then and there. This helps because the more we try to remember all the little things that go through our minds the more that we can become anxious. Once it’s written down, if it’s something that needs doing, add it to the LIST you have (see #5 above), if it’s an idea about teaching or information about a student, add it where you keep that information.

9. Try your best to do things AHEAD OF TIME whenever possible.

Two weeks before parent teacher conferences, make a chart with time slots available craft your note to parents so that you have time to edit it and add cute graphics. Then when the day arrives to send it home it is ready, stacked and in the backpacks on time. ZIP off a quick email to parents letting them know to look for it and then VOILA! It is done!

10. Each Friday afternoon, before leaving for the weekend, do a quick comparison of your lessons plan book with the school calendar, the district calendar, your own (and your family’s) calendar.

Doing this quick comparison with all the calendars enables you to coordinate the important/crucial items. Add in school activities in you plan book (moving over the plans you’ve already PENCILED IN – because you have planned a week ahead of time. (see #1 above).

11. Take your family (or just yourself) to local events on the weekend at least once a month (twice is even better).

Everyone needs to have outside fun activities to add to life’s moments.

12. Begin working on report cards three weeks before they are due.

Do little things like giving the citizenship grades or writing in some comments. For subjects that you’ve already completed all the testing for, calculate those grades and put them on the report cards ahead of time. That way when the time comes, a good portion is already completed. As the years go by, you will find a system that works well for you; just don’t put it off to the last minute/day.

I’m sure there are probably 12 more “things” you can do to lessen the STRESS of being a beginning teacher. Find what works for you and embrace it.

JUST DON’T GIVE UP! You can survive your first year of teaching! I have faith in you!

12 Things to Do to Survive Your First Year of Teaching - Teacher Buddy Helps

Asia Hamilton-District Instructional Coach-New Teachers Middle/High

When school starts in late July, I am an organized master! My routine for work is a well-oiled machine. My outfit is selected, lunch made, and materials needed are packed the night before. This routine sputters and falters a little in September, but fall break usually gets the machine back on track. By November, my well-oiled machine machine needs gas, a tune-up, and new tires. I am grabbing fruit for lunch and frequently praying the wrinkles in my clothes are not visible. Thank goodness for Christmas break! I always make the time to reorganize myself and I can usually keep this up until spring break. Why am I telling you all this? Because this is the nature of routines and procedures, in life and in our classrooms. We all become distracted by the shiny things of the upcoming holidays and the familiar has become markedly less desirable in our students' eyes. What we pay attention to grows! Don't miss the video of Ms. Caltha Crowe, third grade teacher reteaching her students a classroom expectation. As you prepare for the holidays, giving some thought toward revisiting expectations along the way will make for a smoother and more productive learning season.

Keep up the hard work!

Julie Deffenbaugh

New Teacher District Instructional Coach - Elementary

jdeffenbaugh@mauryk12.org

Does this sound familiar? You teach your students classroom routines at the beginning of the year and watch as they integrate these new routines into their learning, but for some reason – either because they’ve forgotten it or never quite understood it in the first place — a certain routine doesn’t quite stick.

If you recognize this scenario, you’re not alone. Most educators have had this experience at one point or another. We all want our students to remember the routines that we teach them, both because it makes managing the classroom smoother and because it helps each student reach their fullest potential. But it may be unrealistic to expect students to maintain the standards you’ve set without support from you. An effective teaching strategy for providing that support is to revisit routines with students.

Interactive Modeling

When revisiting routines, it can be tempting to go back through them and re-introduce them without going through each step in detail. But think about it this way: you are going through them again for a reason. It is essential to go through them thoroughly and break them down into manageable parts for students.

A great tool for breaking down and teaching routines step-by-step is Interactive Modeling. This practice is simple and direct and is a non-negotiable way to teach routines that will help keep the classroom running smoothly and safely.

One way to prepare to reteach a routine to students is to consider how the routine was originally introduced. What parts are students most likely to forget? What are some ways to enhance those steps, so students are clear on the expectations?

When to Revisit

These are the best times to be proactive and reactive and revisit routines with students:

• The first few weeks at the start of the school year
• When students have a long stretch without a break or holiday
• After a long weekend
• After a long break or holiday
• After inclement weather days

Keep it Positive

If students get the sense that we no longer support them as they follow through with the routines that we taught them, they may feel as if they are no longer important. This is why it’s essential to keep routines alive by celebrating students’ successes. For example, use reinforcing language to celebrate when students all place their backpacks in the proper place without reminders.

Remember to also try and make revisiting routines fun, such as by incorporating a chant or an energizer. Rather than feel like a chore for students, our goal should be to help students understand how routines meaningfully support them in learning and achieving more during the school year. Strike a healthy balance between a fun activity and a routine being revisited so students feel engaged without feeling that the fun activity is a bribe for completing the task correctly.

Revisiting routines throughout the school year can empower students in the classroom: when they have a clear understanding of expectations, they will be less reliant on you. Routines can also maximize their learning time and give them a focus that leads to engaged and purposeful learning. This will free you up to engage in the fun parts of teaching, such as having deeper conversations with students and helping them explore new concepts.

Productive Struggle

Who does the "heavy lifting" in your class? Who goes home tired in the afternoon - you or your students? These are things to ponder as we think about who is doing the work in our classrooms.

What is productive struggle?

Heibert & Grouws: "Effortful practice that goes beyond passive reading, listening, or watching - that builds useful, lasting understanding and skill"

Jackson & Lambert: "When students grapple with the issues and are able to come up with a solution themselves, developing persistence and resilience in pursuing and attaining the learning goal or understanding."

Giving students opportunities for productive struggle is part of learning and encourages creativity. More independent opportunities will build authentic student engagement and perseverance.

https://www.teachbetter.com/blog/supporting-student-productive-struggle/

Phonemic Awareness

There are so many terms related to foundational skills. Let's take a moment to look at the phoneme aspects of foundational skills and understand the differences in each of the components of phonemic awareness.

• Phonological Awareness: umbrella term for any work helping students learn to notice and/or manipulate sounds in speech. This includes work on the word, syllable, and phoneme levels (phonemic awareness).
• Phonemic Awareness: subcategory of phonological awareness. It is the more specific work of helping students learn to articulate, notice, and manipulate the individual speech sounds (phonemes) in words.
• Phoneme Blending: taking separate sounds (phonemes) and putting them together seamlessly to make a single word.
• Phoneme Segmentation: breaking a word into its individual sounds (phonemes).
• Phoneme Isolation: locating and separating one individual phoneme from the rest of the word.
• Phoneme Discrimination: hearing the similarities and/or differences in two or more phonemes, usually within words.
• Phoneme Deletion: removing one phoneme from a word completely. Deletion can result in a new word or can be a preparatory step for substitution.
• Phoneme Substitution: removing one phoneme from a word and replacing it with another phoneme. Substitution is the most complex work because it combines segmentation, isolation, deletion, and finally blending.

8 Habits of Math Teachers Who Value Productive Struggle

1. Call on students who may not have the correct answer - guide them in the process of questioning their thinking

2. Praise students for perseverance in problem solving, not for being smart - they'll be more motivated to face challenging problems

3. Display work that shows creative problem solving, not the highest scores - they will learn to value the struggle toward a learning goal

4. Provide non-routine problems that can't be solved with a memorized formula - this challenges students to make sense of the problem then figure out the math needed to solve it

5. Give students informative feedback - provide context to help students course correct toward the solution

6. Don't give easier work to struggling students - this gives the message that some students can't handle challenging work

7. Allow students time to ask questions and tinker with ideas - slowing down the learning process optimizes retention

8. Encourage having a growth mindset - remind students that everyone has the ability to be mathematical problem solvers

See this link for more details:

https://www.stmath.com/productive-struggle-math-rigor

Blending Social Studies and ELA

Social studies is more than just teaching students facts, dates, states, and capitals. It's about the stories - it's the "why" behind each individual's choices, their interactions with each other and the world.

Resources:

https://www.weareteachers.com/integrating-language-arts-and-social-studies/

https://www.georgiastandards.org/Georgia-Standards/Pages/Marrying-Social-Studies-and-ELA-The-Inquiry-Method.aspx

https://truthforteachers.com/social-studies-in-literacy-routines/

Using Science to Bring Literature to Life

Teaching science provides an opportunity to meet ELA standards and improve reading skills. When you tie language and literacy instruction to science, your students develop disciplinary core understanding while following their curiosity about phenomena.

Integrating informational text with a discipline such as science is beneficial in multiple ways:

• Students can engage in scientific inquiry in multiple forms.
• Teachers have more time for discipline-specific instruction to meet the informational text standards.
• All students can learn the grade appropriate language and content they need to prepare them for college and careers.

Resources:

https://www.amnh.org/learn-teach/curriculum-collections/integrating-literacy-strategies-into-science-instruction

https://landing.carolina.com/smithsonian-resources/read-like-a-scientist-whitepaper#:~:text=Teaching%20science%20provides%20an%20opportunity,following%20their%20curiosity%20about%20phenomena.

Email: contact@mauryk12.org
Website: mauryk12.org
Location: 501 West 8th Street, Columbia, TN, USA
Phone: (931) 388-8043