5 Tips for New Teachers

Finally! You’ve graduated from college and you’ve been given your first position as a math teacher…

Now that the stress of the job hunt is over you have an entirely new set of things to stress about. How to manage and teach your Geometry class full of students you’ve never met before. Literally everything about the new school year is just that… NEW!

Here are 5 tips for new teachers that I came up with for you…

1. Get to know them:
No, not your students! You need to immediately make friends with 3 specific people. They will make your life substantially easier as a new teacher

• The Janitor
• The Secretary
• The Librarian or Media Center Specialist

2. Dress the Part: Listen there is nothing wrong with being fashionable but if you are fresh out of college and 22 years old then don’t dress like it. You are already only a few years older than your students. My first year I was 22 and teaching 18 year olds AP Calculus. I didn’t wear to work what I wore out after work. If you are a male wearing a tie will go a long way. The better you dress naturally the more people respect you. It is just the way it is. 

3. Make a Friend:
You really need to find another teacher that has been there for some time and befriend them. Sure, you may be assigned a mentor but that doesn’t mean you will click with them. You need to find someone that cares enough to answer a question for you on a moments notice. Even if you think you won’t have problems… You will!

4. You probably don’t have kids:
Maybe you do maybe you don’t. However, you have to treat every student as though they are your own. Teach them the way you would want your own children taught. Sometimes it’s very difficult, trust me I know, but this will always make things better in the long run.

5. Your Homework:
You will feel as though you have tons of homework of your own to do. There are ways around this. Your budget as a first year teacher is tight. However, if you join something like the Math Teacher Coach Community you will not have any homework of your own. You will have all of those hours that most first year teachers have to spend planning to enjoy for yourself because all of your lessons, tests, and activities will be done for you.

If you want to learn more about this: Click Here.The bottom line is you do not need to re-invent the wheel. Many teachers before you have created excellent lessons. Why create your own when you can use theirs? That is a great way to remove and ENORMOUS amount of stress and time consumption from your first few years of teaching.