This will be my 12th year teaching high school ELA, and you could say I’ve learned a few things that I wished I knew going into year one. One thing is clear about 12 years: there are going to be fun and easy years and there are going to be hard and challenging years. And I honestly can’t say why they vary so much sometimes. The key is to hold on and set a goal for yourself to thrive at something new, challenge your students in a new way, and keep the faith that you are a teacher for a reason.
In no particular order, here are my top tips for staying cool, calm, and collected as you start your teaching journey!
- Don’t make a seating chart for the first week of school. This way you can investigate who sits by whom and if that’s a good thing or a distraction. Plus, you look like that cool teacher who doesn’t give seating charts. ;)
- Building relationships is the most important thing in the first month of school–talk to students, ask them about their pets or families, and show them your pets and family. Have them write a personal narrative or a short essay, explaining one of their core beliefs. Write comments on the essays, making connections or validating their thoughts. Students will do almost any work for you if they know who you are and they feel seen.
- Be a little silly - don’t take everything so seriously. Find a niche that you thrive in and keep that up. For example, I give each student a sticker every Friday - I call it Sticker Fri-Yay! Why? Because it’s silly and yes, even high schoolers love stickers.
- Create strong relationships with the people who run the building such as the office secretaries, bookkeepers, custodians, and food personnel. Although you might not work closely with them every day, they know how things work and can help you in a pinch quickly.
- Grading doesn’t have to be done immediately. If you run out of planning time at school, decide what other time you have to complete it inside school hours (tomorrow’s plan period, contract hours before or after school, etc). As teachers, we accept we will have to work at home sometimes, but you should not feel obligated to prioritize school over your personal commitments.
- Keep substitute plans to a simple, minimum level of effort because the more effort you put into them, the less your students will get done without you there.
- If you need a mental health day, take it. If you’re not at your best, the students won’t be either.
- Set boundaries and stay consistent. Whether it is a rule, procedure, or allowing students to eat in your classroom at lunch, know your boundaries and stick to them. Students thrive on consistency.
- Share exemplary student work whenever possible. Students love to be praised for work well-done, and struggling students like to see a good example of where their work should be. (Always ask student permission before you share.)
- If you make a mistake or an assumption, apologize appropriately. Just because we are adults and an authority figure to these students, when you’re wrong, admit it and apologize. This creates an understanding that students are equal to adults in a world that oftentimes doesn’t see it that way.
Jennifer Epping is a high school English and journalism teacher in Des Moines, Iowa. She has a passion for reading, writing, and making lame jokes to her students just to see them laugh or roll their eyes. She just concluded her ninth year teaching. Epping graduated from Iowa State University with a BS in journalism and mass communication (2010) and BA in English Education (2013). She attended New York University’s Summer Publishing Institute (2010), and spent some time in children’s book publishing in New York.
