First-year teacher needs to savor the moment

My first year of teaching was a perfect storm of on-the-job training. I was hired after the school year began, which feels much like jumping into the deep end of a swimming pool head first with your hands tied together. School routines have been established, class rosters have been set, and as the new teacher in the building, you play catch up for the first month or so until you learn the ropes, personalities and pitfalls of your chosen profession. All the while, striving to be the best educator you can be without killing yourself in the process.

I was fortunate enough to have mentors alongside me those first years. They guided me toward finding, for myself, what is truly worthwhile of my energies and my heart, and they helped to shape who I am now as an educator in her 11th year of teaching. It is because of Larry, Charlie and others that I was even able to keep my head above water those first few years.

Our school hired a new second-grade teacher last week; three weeks into the school year. I noticed the custodian busily gutting the classroom two doors down from mine and as I walked by, seeing the hodgepodge of rickety bookcases and bare walls, I smiled. Been there, done that. Next week, we will welcome our newest staff member, a brand new, shiny, first-year second-grade teacher. And so, in the interest of paying it forward, let me offer her some advice, some words of wisdom gathered after surviving that first year, kicking madly, fingers crossed, and holding my breath, at the deep end of the pool.

You are not just a teacher. You are also a nurse, psychologist, recess monitor, counselor, mechanic, social worker, party-planner, and very nearly a parent to every child in your classroom. You will be bombarded with little events daily that illustrate just how multifaceted your job is. Try to relax and take it as you will. You can’t let it swallow you whole. Our job is a stressful one to be sure. The rewards, though, far outweigh the unwritten job description. You are up to the task.

Be a detective. Lunches at our school are eaten in the classroom. Take this opportunity to get to know a side of your students that you don’t get to see from the front of the room. Grade papers at the reading table, tidy up the classroom, walk around. Find ways to listen to their stories, to what they are and aren’t saying, and to experience life from your students’ point of view. You’ll be surprised what you can learn about your classroom and yourself between bites of peanut butter and jelly.

Paperwork stays at school, you don’t. You will be tempted to work in your classroom for long hours into the night and on weekends, and bring home mounds of papers to grade. Some days it’s completely unavoidable and those things have to happen. Remember, though, you are trying to teach kids to live rich, varied and interesting lives, so you have to live one too. You can’t do that if you are missing out on your own life by grading timed tests. Live a little. Laugh. There is a life outside of school.

You are not the only adult in the room. Well, most of the time you will be, but metaphorically speaking you aren’t. Teaching can isolate you very quickly if you allow it to happen. Basic needs such as bathroom breaks take on an entirely different light for a classroom teacher. Find a friend in the building; participate in school groups if they fit with your lifestyle outside of school, talk to other teachers. Ask for help, and take it when it is offered. There are no prizes at the end of the year for the most urinary tract infections, or for clinical depression due to stress. Remember, we’ve all been there. Remember your audience. The pressure to teach the curriculum, the mandates of testing, the constant push for excellence; these are all realities for educators today. Try not to get caught up in the flurry of paperwork and test scores. Remember, you teach children first. Their personalities, life experiences, and daily realities will influence what they are capable of learning and doing each and every day. Don’t let them be completely defined by their numbers. They are just as human as you are, and it’s your bonds with them that create the magic that is teaching. Don’t underestimate the power of those connections.

Document it all. Ask any teacher about funny anecdotes from the classroom and you’ll get stories that will make you laugh until you cry. Most of us don’t take the time to write these things down because we are too busy moving from one thing to the next. Consider a journal. Nothing fancy, just a notebook in your desk drawer. You won’t be sorry you jotted down what they said, or that you honored the sad story of a hamster on her death bed told through the tear-filled eyes of a 7-year-old. The richness of human experience is the very essence of teaching and of learning.

The first year of teaching is seldom easy. Most of us know this to be true. There are pitfalls and heartbreaks, tears and joy. Heck, that’s nearly every day some years, but you never ever forget your first year, so above all savor it. Kick your legs, splutter about, and rise to the top of the deep end. We’re here, cheering you on.

Vanessa Powell is a National Board Certified fifth-grade teacher at Snowshoe Elementary School. Her Chalk Talk column appears every four weeks.