My Favorite Year in Teaching (Also a Difficult One)....and How It Can Be Yours TOO!

I had been four years in the teaching game when I was approached by my good teacher friend to join her team for the 2017-2018 school year. I loved her and my principal at the time who encouraged me to do it, as well, but I was SCARED. Why, you ask? Because I was going from my sweet, sweet little third-graders (well most of the time sweet lol) to HUGE and MATURE fifth graders. Now a two year jump doesn't seem like a big difference in adult years, but boy is it different in little people years lol. It also seemed much scarier in my head because I had never taught any grade level above third, so I was a bit intimidated, but I did it anyway. Lesson for those reading, challenge yourself to go into the unknown because it will make you stronger and you will be better for it! 

Now that year started out rocky because during pre-week, we found out A LOT of our teachers were being placed at other schools due to reasons I still don't understand. It was a district decision based on prior state test scores and the teachers who were moving were notified during pre-week.  They also would not be replaced. So BOOM, our team was down two teachers in a matter of days, which caused everyone a lot stress. 

That year also brought on many behavior challenges, a new curriculum to follow, and a whole new set of standards to teach that I had never taught before. But with those challenges and through the tears, as a team, we decided to have FUN. We brought hype music into our classrooms, implemented a house system across the grade level, which brought about pep rallies at lunch and standing on tables (the Ron Clark Academy inspired us...that's another blog post because of all of its amazing-ness), and super engaging lesson plans! We also made it a point to support each other, knowing none of us were experts, but willing to learn new strategies. For new and veteran teachers, the best teachers are not the ones who have been in the game the longest, have the best TPT resources all over their room, or the cutest classroom. The best teachers, regardless of whether you have all the things mentioned, are the ones who never stop learning and unconditionally treat others as professionals. Our profession is forever changing (a bit too much at times) and being stagnant is not going to help. We can all learn something new to try to implement in our classrooms. 

So to make it the best year of your life, do the following:

1) Find YOUR SUPPORT! It's impossible to do this job alone because teaching is hard. I could not have accomplished anything without mine! 

2) Be open to suggestions, and not just from administration. Suggestions to try something new can come from anyone!

3) Have FUN with your team and in your classroom! Dress up for spirit week together, plan a fun lesson to do together outside of the classroom, play Kids Bop in your class, dance down the hallway with your teacher friend just because. It'll give you something to look forward to and make the day go by a little easier.

4) Ask questions if you don't understand something and do your research. No one is expecting you to be perfect, but they are expecting you to learn in hopes of later becoming an expert. So if you don't know the answer, be honest, and ask for clarification. Then make sure to look up standards, resources, strategies, etc. Please bring something to the table because your voice DOES matter, my dears. 

5) Plan and organize to save your sanity and time. Of course, we plan as teachers. That's our job, but if you can make your life  a little easier to get something ready ahead of time, DO IT! Put those centers in bins the day before and have the STUDENTS place it back neatly. Set up the science experiment ahead of time so it runs smoothly and you're not stressed. Pre-organize the math manipulatives so you're not passing it out in the middle of the lesson. It's the little things the make the BIGGEST difference, it really is! 

HAPPY TEACHING!!