This is the Place! Adventures in Utah Studies : Advice to New Teachers

Advice to New Teachers!

The new year is upon us! With meeting with my new mentee, my brain has been overflowing with ideas to help survive the first year of teaching. I thought I would share my top five.

1. Ask Questions!

Don't be afraid to ask questions about school policies, classroom management, lesson ideas, how the copiers work, and more! Most teachers remember their first year and are willing to help you in any way. Don't be afraid to ask multiple people to- it helps to find someone who jives with your teaching style and methods.

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2. Practice enforcing your rules and procedures.

What are you doing to do when a student shouts out? Give them a reminder? What are you going to do if they do it again? What are you going to do if someone forgets a pencil? Do you have a teacher buddy to send students to for Think Time? This will help when you suddenly faced with a situation, and you know what you will say.

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3. Having a plan B.

What are you going to do if something in your lesson doesn't work? What if your lesson is too short? Having a backup plan helps when something goes wrong! Here are my go-to's :

Garbage Ball- I empty one of my trashcans, and I have a nerf basketball. Then I ask the students questions about what we are learning about. If they get it right, they get to make a shot. (Boys LOVE this game!) I tell the rules before hand, they can't shout out, they can't slam dunk, or try to block shots. They can shoot from the first line of my desk and anywhere else in my room. Sometimes I mix pop culture questions in with content questions.

Exit slips- I have some extra exit slips I have copied, and I pass those out. I have the students write the I can statement and rate themselves. Depending on time, I can have them draw a picture of what they learned.

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4. Go to the bathroom when you need to go!

Have a signal for the teacher next door or across the hall from you to keep an ear on you class while you take care of business. I was always afraid that my class would turn into chaos or blood would be spilled while I was gone. In my eleven years of teaching, that hasn't happened yet!