5 Simple Ways to Make It Through Your First Year

If you’re a first year teacher, congratulations: you are doing one of the hardest jobs in the world.

People who have never taught before have a hard time believing that this could be true. On the surface, it looks like we’re just having a blast hanging out with kids. What could be hard?!

But the emotional, physical, and mental toll that teaching takes on one person is something that you only understand if you’ve done it. I don’t even think that the average teacher prep program in a university exposes teachers to exactly how taxing the job is.

So, if you’re in the midst of your first year, and you’re feeling like you need someone to throw you a life preserver (and fast), I have five tips today that will help you survive your year!

Ask for Specific Help

I mentioned this last week, but new teachers are often completely overwhelmed with information. When a coach or admin, or even a well-meaning teammate asks you “what do you need help with?” as their way of ‘checking in’, it’s often a waste of everyone’s time.

Every day of this job is so new, and so full, that you can’t possibly know what you don’t know. You’re just surviving day-to-day, so to take a step back and make a decision about what you need help with just feels like one more thing to do.

What I suggest is that when things get tough, and you have a specific moment where you realize you need help with something (prepping for conferences, managing a behavior, responding to a parent, etc.) stop what you’re doing and write it down. Then, when you have time, go seek out someone who can help you and get specific help in that one thing. Don’t let your overwhelm pile up in your head so that when someone offers to help, you have no idea how to pluck one thing off of your list. Ask for help, one item at a time, as it occurs to you.

And, please don’t be shy about asking for help. Everyone in your building is stressed. If they are not going out of their way to stop and give you tips or walk you through every little procedure, it is not because they do not want to be more helpful. It’s just often very difficult for teachers (no matter the length of their career) to carve out the time to help one another. But, if you ask for help, I promise there is someone in your building who wants to help you. They just need to know how they can help you.

Place Firm Boundaries

I have a lot to say on this topic. There is a culture on the internet of ‘never working past your contracted time’. I’d like to offer a different perspective.

That is unrealistic and thoughtless to tell new teachers. I do not believe that you will fit everything squarely into your 7.5 hour contracted day, when you are spending 6.5-7 of those hours with students. I just don’t.

Now, fitting everything in on year 2 or 3, after you’re deeply learned the job and have systems and routines in place? Absolutely.

I was on my third year when I officially stopped staying late. I stopped taking things home. And my students’ data did not drop. But the learning curve was over, and I was able to crank things out at school in a fraction of the time.

But this is what I did during those first two years of learning how to be more efficient: I practically lived at school.

That is what I DON’T recommend. It made me hopelessly depressed that I had lost my life to my career.

So, when I say place firm boundaries around your time, I don’t necessarily mean that if you stay 2 hours after the kids leave catching up on plans and prep and grades that you are doing a bad job. I think that a lot of the teacher-tok or instagram culture around ‘leave right away’ can make all of us feel.

What I do recommend is setting a schedule for yourself and sticking to it so you don’t become a slave to it. Pick a day (or two) to come in early or stay late. Or pick one day of your weekend to work on a bunch of tasks. But, take at least one day of your weekend completely off. And, be disciplined about not staying late every night.

And, if staying late at all makes you feel overwhelmed and upset, make it your mission to stop as soon as possible. Create weekly routines for yourself that help you fit your prep, plans, and grades into your work week. I have a FREE course that will help you learn how to do that.

Be Realistic with How Long Tasks Take You

During your first year, I highly recommend timing yourself doing different tasks. Get a sense of how much time you are spending on different tasks so you know what you can fit into your planning time. Or, if you give yourself one afternoon to stay after work for 90 minutes, what can you actually get done? I was the queen of overloading my to-do list early in my career, and then mentally beating myself up for only getting a fraction of it done. But, I way underestimated how long things would take me.

This is your first time trying to write plans, communicate with parents, grade essays, etc. Everything is going to take you longer than it will a year from now, or even 6 months from now. So, be patient with yourself, and be realistic about what you can get done each week to stop yourself from feeling like a failure.

Be a Copycat

There is no shame in being a copycat during this season. Does your team lead have a small group planning template and routine that makes sense to you? Copy it! Ask her for a copy and if she minds if you do the same thing in your room. Did your math coach model a number talk for you, and you had never heard of number talks before, but you’re required to do them? Copy exactly what she did!

Eventually, you will get a feel for what works for you and what doesn’t. You will develop your own teaching style, your own routines, your own flair. But, that takes time (often one full year or two). So, as you are learning, take what is working from the people around you and try it their way.

Give Yourself a Full Year to Know How to Feel

This is a biggie. If you feel, right now, that you don’t like teaching, or that you can’t do a second year, I’m going to recommend that you hang on.

My first year, I was ready to quit by October. In January, I started actively applying for positions outside of the field of education. In February, I started interviewing. By March, I’d made it to the final round of interviews for a non-profit organization and they asked to speak to my current boss as a reference.

I chickened out and pulled myself out of the running. I felt too guilty about potentially quitting my job with only a couple of months left. So, I told myself that I’d finish the year and get serious about applying for something over the summer.

I went through that last quarter of the school year secretly believing that I wouldn’t do another year.

Until the last month of school arrived. And then the last day hit.

And when I tell you that the emotions run SO high during those last few weeks of school, I am not kidding. First, you feel so accomplished. You conquered something that was hard, and you made a difference. That is life-giving in and of itself. But, when the kids start really expressing how much the year meant to you and how they are so glad you didn’t give up on them…that’s the stuff dreams are made of.

I bawled my eyes out at the end of the last day. I was partially so proud of myself, and partially so proud of them. I couldn’t believe that we had stuck out 180 days together, and we’d call come out better for it. They were smarter, they were ready for the next grade, and I was ready to take a break and try it again the next year.

And everything everyone told me about the second year was true. It was far easier than the first.

If you make it to the last day, and none of those feelings hit you, then you know this job is not for you. But if you don’t make it to that finish line and experience what it feels like to cross it together with your kids, you’ll never know if you made the right choice for yourself. :)

I hope that these 5 ideas give you some peace and some encouragement to believe that you really CAN do this!