Is this your first year teaching?  My journey into teaching was unusual at best. I went to interview to teach private flute lessons in a suburb of Houston, and ended up getting offered an elementary music job teaching PreK, Kindergarten, and First Grade music.   I interviewed on a Friday afternoon and school began on Monday.  I spent the weekend working in my classroom on bulletin boards and organizing instruments (instead of learning repertoire and writing lesson plans).  That first year, I often felt I was a day ahead of my students and worked hard to learn everything I could about teaching elementary music.  It was a fantastic, terrifying year in which I probably learned more than I taught, but I was so grateful for the opportunity to work in such a great school with phenomenal staff, students, and parents.

Now that I’m 22 years into my career, my perspective is very different.  I spend way more time on lesson planning and worry much less about bulletin boards.  I’d like to share some things I wish I could have told my first-year self back then.  Instead, I’ll share them with you!

Traditions

In any building you work in, there will traditions that are cherished by the staff and parent community.  It’s important to find out what those traditions are and work through a process of assimilating your ideas with the current traditions of the building.  Whenever I am assigned a new building, I request a meeting with the principal.  I ask about the traditions within the building.  Is there a school song?  What concerts are expected at each grade level?  Are the concerts during the evening or during the day?  Is there a budget for concerts?  Is there a budget for the music program?  What traditions are valued by the principal and parent community and what traditions may go by the wayside?

When I came to my current building, there were two traditional “concerts” each year.  One was a school holiday sing-a-long on the last day before December break, and the second was an hour-long recorder concert.  One was beloved, while the other was not.  I was able to offer some other ideas in replacement of the one without completely changing things without administrator input.  In time, I was also able to reshape the sing-a-long into something that truly honored the learning that was occurring in my room, while still providing enjoyment for all of our students, parents, and staff.  What you want to avoid is coming in a like a wrecking ball and doing your own thing.  No matter how well intended, administrators will see you as not being a team player or caring about the traditions established in their building.

Wash Your Hands

The best advice I got from my mentor teacher that first weekend was, “wash your hands after every class and be prepared to catch everything your students have.”  Never have there been truer words.  No matter how often I washed my hands, I got it ALL that first year.  It started on the first day when a little Kindergarten boy threw up all over me.  Stomach virus anyone?  I was sick more that first year than I had ever been my entire life.  Wash. Your. Hands.  Wash them after EVERY class.

And take care of yourself.  Get lots of sleep.  Go for a walk.  Work out at the gym.  Meditate.  Drink water, then drink some more.  Make your self care a priority each and every day.  I truly feel that teaching is a calling, but it’s so easy for it to become all consuming as well.  At the end of the day, no matter our passion for our students and the work, we must care for ourselves to be able to give our best to our students and our families.

It’s All About Relationships

We all know that we are supposed to make friends with the custodian and the school secretary on day one, right?  Yes?  I want to talk about working on relationships with a different group of people – your students! What no one tells you about in education programs is the power of relationships.  I used to jump right in to teaching on day one and hoped to learn about my kids as the year progressed.  Now I spend a lot of time at the beginning of the year building relationships with my students so that I can sustain a high level of teaching throughout the entire year. I know with the sheer number of students we teach how difficult that be.

So what do I mean, building relationships?  It’s the simple idea of connecting or noticing something about that child and then commenting on it.  “Hey Carson, I love that jersey you’re wearing!  Is that your favorite team?”  “Look at your beautiful braids Mya!  Did you just get your hair done?”  Relationships begin with a simple “noticing” of something about the child. I typically do it as I’m greeting kids in the hallways as they enter my classroom.  Then I follow up on it over the next few classes.  When students know you care, they are invested in you and your instruction.  Building relationships take time and won’t be an instant fix for classroom management, but it will be beneficial over time.

What advice would you have given yourself when you started your teaching career?  What do you think is the most important thing for new teachers to know?  Drop me a comment below!

Related Blog Posts