Thread: I got hired, advice please..

Plan to need to adjust your plans. Take your vitamins. Set aside at LEAST 30 minutes a day for JUST you. Start an exercise program now and stick with it. Designate your own mentor (not one that was assigned to you) who is a positive person. Avoid the people who do little else but complain.

The teacher's lounge is a gateway to hell. STAY OUT OF THERE!

Go to any and all professional development offered during the year. Sit near the front, ask questions, take notes. Sort through what is usable and what is nonsense and choose something to try.

Don't try to do everything you learned in college/teacher prep programs, etc. during the first year. It simply isn't feasible.

When something isn't working, change it!

Never, EVER say anything derogatory to a student. Your words of encouragement may be the only ones they hear all day.

Decide ASAP what your rules and procedures will be. Learn them, know them, and know how you will react when someone 'forgets' to follow them.

I recommend Harry Wong's "The First Days of School". Read it now, then read it again in a few weeks. Read it a third time before school starts, then keep it on your bookshelf as a guide. When things aren't working, it is a great source of ideas.

Continue posting here at TF. There has never been and will never be a better group of teachers to talk to than there is here!

Hi, I just wanted to say thanks for your words of wisdom! I am trying to be as positive thinking as possible, and I do hope to stay that way. I will certainly try to avoid any negative thinking as it can't help me. As for the workshops, I do plan to attend as many as possible as I have a lot to learn. Again, thanks. Your words are encouraging!

Decide ASAP what your rules and procedures will be. Learn them, know them, and know how you will react when someone 'forgets' to follow them.

I recommend Harry Wong's "The First Days of School". Read it now, then read it again in a few weeks. Read it a third time before school starts, then keep it on your bookshelf as a guide. When things aren't working, it is a great source of ideas.

I quite concur. MM's advice is good, take it.

Wow! Congratulations!

I must also give a little advice. I'm just coming to the end of my first term teaching

* Figure out what the discipline system is and stick to it. KNow the levels of people to go to and for what.
* Be a B***H at the start. Apparently the discipline problems I am facing now are because I was "too nice" at the start of the term. Mind you, I thought I was mean...
* Set classroom expectatoins from the start and stick to them. Ie Everyone must line up outsid ebefore the come in, there will always be a DO NOW and everyone when they come in must sit and do the DO NOW. At the end, everyone must wait behind their chair until allowed to leave.
* Be prepared for how stupid the students are. I STILL have problems believeing that some of the questions are genuine. ie "Miss, do we copy down this bit (where it says copy dwn)" and "Are we meant to put this into our english book?" (I am so tempted to say put it in the maths book!)
* Learn names as fast as you are able.
* Be prepared that every meeting/assembly/concert/generic school time waster will be held during your Year 9 English class - which you only see three times a week anyways...

And have fun!

You must be so excited! Congratulations again!

t to be worn out in January because that's a looooong stretch until Spring Break (which I'm on now -- yay!)

*If possible, stagger essay assignments so they're not due all at the same time. I teach six classes -- two different grade levels and a Creative Writing class -- and I somehow kept getting over 100 pieces of writing to grade at once!! Bad idea...

*Don't let the negativity of some veteran teachers get you down. You'll come in with all this energy and enthusiasm that many of them lost years ago. Don't let them chip away at it! There are usually a few veteran teachers who are still positive about their profession -- seek them out and get your advice from them.

*Avoiding the teacher's lounge can be a good idea, but if there's a spot where you can get away from the students for a while -- do it! Sometimes you need a few minutes away to preserve your sanity!

*Get ready to repeat yourself a million times, because even when you think students are listening -- they aren't. Try to anticipate their questions about assignments and make things as clear as possible. Keep a space on the board where you write all assignments, upcoming tests and quizzes and due dates. They'll pretend they didn't know about something, and you can always point to the board that they never read but know they're supposed to!

I hope I didn't sound too negative. As you can tell, I'm a bit worn out from the year. Notice, however, that I'm hanging out on a teacher message board even on my Spring Break. Even with all the stress, I love teaching and I think it's absolutely worth it.

Good luck to you and congratulations on your new position!! This board is great for advice and new ideas, so stick around and let us know how you're doing!!

Lisa

Remember they are kids and by definition are not mature, and make stupid decisions at times.

You all are a great help. I'm thankful for every word of advice and encouragement. I will probably call on you many times when I do begin in the fall.

congrats!

i just got offered a job today too! i am excited and somewhat nervous, similar feelings you expressed, etc.

thanks for the advice posted. i will keep this site in mind through my first year

best of luck!

I agree that as a new teacher, you should do your best to come off as VERY STERN and unwaveringly mean for at least the first month. Not nasty, but not giving in to student requests, even as convincing as they may be. The girls will have "female problems" as many times as they feel necessary to get a hall pass to get out of the room (at least that gets used on me a lot), and they will constantly "feel sick" and "need" to go to the nurse, bathroom, etc, and so on. Be a real a-hole about it for at least 4 weeks and they will eventually just stop asking you Truth is, they didn't really need to go that much in the first place. This gets worse and worse as the year goes on, so don't slack up too much. I'd rather be known as the a-hole than as the "cool guy" with whom you can get away with anything.

As far as actual teaching, just know your material well before you get to class. Have your handouts ready, have read everything and decided some places you want to stop and make notes about what you want to discuss. The teacher's edition books are usually very good about facilitating this, so you really don't have to be a complete expert just yet. You can get there within a couple of years if you continue to teach the same level, though

Good luck!

-ZTX