New Teacher? No Problem!

Best practices and advice for new educators entering the K-12 classroom.

So you’ve decided to step over to the wild side and become an educator? First, congratulations on your new endeavor and career! Despite the many horror stories you’ve heard about K-12 education, it’s not all bad, and as educators we really love our jobs or maybe we’re just insane, haha. Either way, WELCOME!

Every experienced teacher was once a new teacher and trust me my experience as a new teacher was HORRIBLE! I literally tried to quit within the first week. Unfortunately, I was not able to find a job fast enough. I then quit after the school year ended … yeah it was THAT bad. Although I had extreme improvements from the first day to the last day, I was 100% over it! Many factors impacted my experience during my first year which is why I’m here to help start your first year off RIGHT! 

As I mentioned, my journey with education wasn’t smooth, and going into the classroom was absolutely nothing like I thought it would be. Like many individuals, I thought ‘It’s just teaching, it can’t be that hard’ or ‘It’s just children, how hard could that be’, but boy was I wrong! For context, I was a lateral entry teacher. Lateral entry means I was not initially trained to become a K-12 teacher because my degree is in Public Health Education. As a Health Educator, I was taught to educate with the intention of training professionals and community members. I worked at a Title 1 school in a rural and impoverished area. According to the county’s health report, a concerning health issue included interpersonal violence and abuse (this is going to be important later). Additionally, I did not feel supported by staff members, therefore I had to learn a lot on my own and as I like to say, get it out the MUD.

Going into the education field I knew what I qualified to teach based on my degree. The goal was to teach health science, which is what I currently teach, on a high school level. However, I did not start within my discipline. I began teaching 5th-grade English Language Arts, along with some Science and History. With a background in health/health science, I didn’t feel confident in my knowledge and ability to teach ELA. While ELA was not necessarily hard for me to teach, it was also not a subject I loved, which I believe impacts how well an educator shows up in the classroom. Of course, with time things got better as I grew in knowledge, skills, and experience. The following year I was able to transfer to a position within my content which was much more suitable for me, especially considering I am more comfortable and tolerant of high school students compared to elementary and middle schoolers. Currently, I’m in year 7 as an educator. I’ve taught Health Science courses every year except my first year and I worked as a Special Education In-Class Resource teacher for a fundamental mathematics and NC Math II course during my 5th year of teaching. Although my first year was challenging and I felt very discouraged during that time, I can truly say I love being in education, and the experiences I’ve had made me the educator I am today. My experiences are exactly why I’m writing this post, to help those who love education go into the classroom feeling equipped and excited as they enter the education field.

I. Content Preparation: Preparing properly to teach is extremely important. If you don’t feel comfortable presenting the information students may not have a favorable learning experience due to a potential knowledge gap. Lack of preparation will certainly increase the anxiety you feel when you enter the classroom. Not only will you be anxious-wreck, but a day of winging it can make an 80-minute block feel more like 180 minutes. Which is why it’s best to be prepared each day when you enter the classroom.

Love and Know Your Content: Perhaps you don’t love the content you teach, but it does help to have a genuine interest in the subject. If you don’t enjoy the subject you’re teaching it would be beneficial to make sure you spend time researching the content you teach and creating well-informative presentations. Knowing and feeling comfortable with the information you’re going to disseminate plays a huge role in feeling prepared and will impact how confident and how well you can effectively teach your students. As a new teacher, you may not have as much time to prepare unless you spend the summer preparing, that is only if you know you’re going to be an educator in a significant amount of time (when you land a position). Make good use of the teacher work days provided to educators before the start of the school year to plan and prepare as much as possible, and ask other educators for ideas and additional resources they may find beneficial.

Use Your Resources: You will hear many seasoned educators say ‘Don’t reinvent the wheel’. Meaning, if something is already done or if you can find it elsewhere, don’t spend valuable time recreating something already available. If you want to enhance it or tweak it a little to your liking for the benefit of your students, do it!

Lesson plans will be a good start for new teachers. While they can be a bit tedious to create at times, they will keep you on track and organized for the week and ongoing school year.

Confidence is Key: Being confident and knowing your content goes a long way as an educator. If you feel unprepared due to lack of preparation it will impact your confidence in the classroom which can negatively impact how you show up as a teacher. The best remedy for confidence in the classroom is to prepare and review your content frequently and hone in on new and emerging topics in your content to stay abreast and knowledgeable.

II. Create a Safe Classroom Environment: Creating a safe environment for your students simply means cultivating and maintaining an environment where students feel free and comfortable to express themselves, interact with their peers and teachers, learn to their fullest potential, and are physically safe. This is essential because the safer students feel the more likely they are to do well in your class.

Make genuine connections: Be yourself and allow students to be who they are. They can sense when things are not genuine. Students want to know that their teacher genuinely cares about their well-being and their success. The only way to show students that you care about them genuinely is to make personal connections with each of your students. A simple way to do this is to speak to each student as they enter the classroom and learn each student’s name, ask them if they prefer to be called by a nickname, make small conversations with them either personally or even in a group setting, and respect them as a person.

Bonding: During the first few days of school engage in ‘get to know me’ activities. Share details about yourself to help your students understand who you are and your background, and allow your students to share with the class things about themselves. I like activities that require students to get up and talk to a person who they don’t already know. You could have preselected questions that students must ask a number of their peers just to break the ice in a new environment. If you teach lower-grade elementary students you may want to do something that allows students to connect based on simple things such as colors, numbers, pets, siblings, favorite foods, or age. Secondary teachers can get a little bit more creative and ask students to engage in more detailed conversations such as: ‘If you could be a superhero what superpower would you have?’ The activity can be as serious or playful as you’d like, the goal is to make sure students are connecting and feeling comfortable with you and their peers.

Understand the Demographics of Your Students: It’s important to understand what type of students you’re working with and the challenges they may face outside of school. Understanding your student’s needs outside of the classroom will help you better address their needs within the classroom. As I mentioned previously, the county I worked in had a health issue of intrapersonal violence and abuse as well as poverty. Therefore I had to be considerate and put forth extra attention towards conflict management between students and their socio-emotional needs.

Group Seating: Group seating is a great technique to allow students to get to know their classmates better and eventually will benefit them academically. Typically, I seat my students 4-6 at a table or within a group to allow them to have peer resources to collaborate and complete their independent work. Be okay with allowing students to help each other better understand an assignment and work together, but turn in separate assignments unless it’s a group assignment of course. This will allow students to feel more comfortable and less isolated in class.

NO BULLYING Zone: Always enforce a NO bullying policy and correct students often if their actions are mimicking bullying behaviors. Perhaps it’s not intentional, but keep an ear and eye out for interactions that could seem like peer-to-peer harassment. Correct students when they’re wrong immediately and also check with your other student(s) to see if they’re okay. A simple ‘ Is Johnny bothering you?’ would suffice. Students are usually honest when they feel safe.

III. Classroom Management: As a lateral entry teacher, I struggled with classroom management when I started my first year. As a health educator, I simply wasn’t trained for the classroom. I expected to walk into the classroom and students were just going to follow directions, that is totally NOT the case. If you have the idea that your students are going to listen to you just because you’re the teacher, you’re wrong. With the help of a seasoned instructional assistant and time, I was able to develop the proper classroom management skills. Please know that without proper bonding, procedures, and expectations efficient classroom management will not be easy.

Set Clear Expectations: It’s YOUR house YOUR rules! Identify foundational rules you want students to follow. Feel free to use the school district rules and implement the school rules set by your Principals. To be more inclusive and to help students feel like they created their own rules, have a group discussion and ask students to chime in and share what they think it means. For example, if the rule is being respectful; students will say speaking nicely to their peers or being mindful of offensive language. For those of you who are going into elementary school, your rules will have to be a little more primary and you will have to demonstrate the rules. Remember, not all Kindergarteners are coming from daycare, therefore when you say line up, some of them will not have a clue what that means.

Create Structured Routines and Procedures: Students behave best when there is structure and consistency. Come up with a routine that allows students to stay on task. For instance in my classroom when students enter there is a bell ringer posted on the smartboard. I allow them about 10 minutes after the bell to finish up and then we will discuss the answer. Next, I will get into my lesson, followed by independent or group work. Closing out with a discussion or a mini-review session.

Avoid busy work, and allow students to work on meaningful assignments that require more time. Also, come up with a way to ensure that students are working, if they know you’ll check to see if they’re on tasks they are more likely to work and be accountable for their actions. Class discussions and reviews are a great way to hold everyone responsible. Also practice proximity and circulation techniques, periodically walk around, and monitor students, for those who are off task be sure to encourage them to stay on track, for those who are on task compliment their work and progress, and be sure to guide students who are completing assignments, but they are not fully comprehending the assignment based on the work you can see being produced.

Be Consistent and Fair: Consistency goes a long way in the classroom because students are aware of how their time will flow. Consistency and fairness also include treating ALL students in ALL classes the same. Students talk, and if they realize there is favoritism going on it could backfire and I can assure you they WILL call you out. For example, if you extend the deadline for a presentation for one class period, it’s best to extend the deadline for all classes.

Be Flexible: Oftentimes as educators, we have an idea of how we envision things to go. However, things are not always as we imagine them to be. Be open and allow marginal changes if needed such as changes to assignment instructions or turning a solo assignment to a partner or group assignment if students request. Flexibility is also required because things happen in the classroom that are completely out of your control. Being flexible is going to save you a lot of stress and help you work out quick and effective next steps utilizing your critical thinking skills.

Start Each Day Fresh: Each day you enter the classroom is a new day. Don’t bring yesterday’s problem into the new day. This is especially true for those students who may have misbehaved or been disrespectful previously. Treat them with kindness and respect the next day and avoid holding their wrongdoing against them. All students won’t like you, and you won’t like all of your students, but that’s okay, just be sure to continue to treat them with kindness anyway.

IV. Student Engagement and Participation: Naturally students are going to be a little reserved during the first few weeks of school, it’s a new environment, some of them may not know anyone, and honestly many of them are tired from staying up all night for the past 2 months. These factors are going to impact the level of enthusiasm and participation students are willing to display. However, there are ways to break the ice and get students engaged.

Expectation: Students openly participating and sharing in a new setting can be uncomfortable for them initially. However, to establish classroom procedures and cultivate a safe and inclusive classroom environment it may be necessary to require students to share with the whole group. Most students will participate, but you may have a few who may not feel comfortable sharing at first, give them time, when they become more comfortable they will likely be more willing to participate. Probing is encouraged to help students break out of their shells.

Name Drawing: Name drawing can be a great way to encourage student participation. It’s fair and students can expect to be called on at any moment which can keep them on task and actively engaged. Popsicle sticks or mini-index cards in a bag are good options.

Group Sharing: Group sharing is a great way to encourage participation because students can collaborate and come up with a collective answer to share with the rest of the class (think, pair, share). This can remove the pressure of students feeling like they’re under the spotlight and still allow everyone to participate in the discussion. This will also encourage students to share the responsibility and take turns volunteering their answers.

V. Set Students Up for Success: As an educator, it is imperative to predict and prepare for potential misconceptions when planning your lessons. This is why I always try to teach from a fundamental level of any subject and work my way up. Do your research and dig deeper into your content, just in case a very curious student has a question that requires more details.

Leveled Grouping: Leveled grouping arranges students in a way that allows them to rely on their peers for support during independent or group work. Sometimes students can explain a concept in a way that their peers can better understand. Once you have an idea about where each student is academically in your class you can rearrange their seats and group them in groups of four based on these levels: advanced, intermediate, and developing. Examples of how to arrange students could be:

(1)advanced (2) intermediate  (1) developing,

(2) advanced and (2) intermediate,

(2) advanced and (2) developing.

(3) advanced and (1) intermediate

(3) advanced and (1) developing

(3) intermediate and (1) developing

I arrange students as closely as possible with the first arrangement and in my experience, the developing student(s) will benefit greatly from this with appropriate work ethic. Try to avoid arranging students in a way that would add more pressure on certain students such as, 3 developing and 1 advanced student, and avoid placing all developing students together. Be sure to consider behavior and personality compatibility as well. For instance, having 4 shy intermediate students would be less effective, as they would likely communicate less than desirable. Of course, this leveled arrangement should only be known to teachers, students should be unaware of their rank because we want to preserve their confidence.

One-On-One Assistance: One-on-one assistance allows you to have a private conversation with the student about their needs and misconceptions about a topic, or even learn about something personal that could be impacting their learning experience. This is a great time to slow things down and help students understand concepts they may have misunderstood during whole group lectures.

Group Assistance: Group assistance is another way to help students in a small group setting. Try pulling small groups no bigger than 5 and review topics that students may not fully grasp. It would be appropriate to pull students who share the same level of understanding. For example, an English teacher would pull 4 students who are struggling with inferencing, and another group of 3 who need to practice finding the main idea. You could also pull advanced students who do not have any current misconceptions, just to stay unbiased.

Gauging: Gauging is a great way to anticipate what students may or may not know, as well as a great informal assessment. Approach topics as if students are unfamiliar with them, starting with the most foundational knowledge appropriate for your students. Students will forget concepts and information or assume they know more about a topic than they do. It’s nice to give a little refresher to help jog students’ memory about the topic, in my opinion, it is best to start from low to high, rather than starting high and going lower in knowledge. As you are planning your lessons each week, try to predict some misconceptions you think students may encounter. For example, I teach health science courses, if I teach about responding to an emergency and I want to teach about fainting, I would also mention in my instruction that syncope is also another term for fainting although commonly we say fainting.

Gauging as an informal assessment would ask students how comfortable they feel about a topic, before, during, or after a lesson. I like to use the thumps method, I will ask my students ‘How well do you know the signs of syncope’ to which they will respond by showing hand gestures with a thumbs up =  knowledgeable, thumbs in the middle = somewhat knowledgeable, and thumbs down = developing knowledge. I like to use this method after discussing a topic to know how to proceed with a review session, my next lesson, or if I should do one-on-one learning sessions with students to help them understand the topic better.

Every child deserves a champion—an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.

– Rita Pierson

Becoming a new teacher can be overwhelming at first. It seems like there are hundreds of things to do in order to prepare for the first day of school, if you’re lateral entry there are plenty of acronyms being used that you’ve never heard of, and there are many new faces that you’ll be meeting over the next few weeks. As a new teacher, adjusting to the demands of the start of the school year may be challenging, but don’t fret, things get much easier with experience. Keep going, and don’t allow the challenges you’re up against to discourage your love, passion, and thrill for education. Being an educator is rewarding and with time you’ll learn to adjust and find the best teaching style that is most comfortable for you. Keep an open mind and be flexible, as things can change the trajectory of your lesson at any time. The wifi could be down, there will be a fire drill in the middle of your lesson or test, classroom disruptions, or maybe even a visitor. Either way, my overall advice is don’t sweat the small stuff. Practice early on leaving WORK AT WORK! Limit how much time you spend working on school-related tasks at home, it can overwhelm and consume you if you’re not careful. I would also suggest leaving your issues from home AT HOME! Students come to school to learn from professionals who value what they do and who they impact, they want to feel safe, and like they matter, it can be rather difficult to provide the best learning environment if you're bringing personal life issues into the workplace. Take time off and address your needs without feeling guilty. Being a teacher is demanding and sometimes life is also. Taking care of yourself is the best way to ensure you can successfully care for your students.

All in all, I pray you have the best and most successful school year! If you’re a new teacher and have tried any of the methods I mentioned above, let me know how they turned out for you in the comments. If you’re a seasoned educator, what are some of your favorite best practices? I can’t wait to hear your experiences!

With Love,

Teyon Rakell