1. How to maintain my sanity around 75 twelve and thirteen year olds
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| After my first day of school |
I have learned that I can't let the small stuff bother me. I can't flip out every time someone flips a water bottle or taps a pen, even if I want to. I choose my battles everyday with these kids and I make minute by minute calls. I might not even make the same calls everyday.
To be a teacher, you've got to figure out your way to maintain your mental health, whether that's exercise, a hobby, or even a nap after work. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
2. How to multi-task
This is one of my favorite new "teacher skills." I can now simultaneously give a lecture, classroom manage, keep my eye on the most ornery of students, drink my coffee, and sign a pass for a kid to use the bathroom.
This skill translates to all of my life. I now feel like I can do 50 things at once (even though I often find that this isn't true.)
To be a teacher, you've got to keep your mind working 90 miles a minutes all the while making sure you are making sense to your kids and keeping behavior problems to a minimum.
3. How to hold/time my bladder
This might be TMI, but I give no cares.
This is a skill I never really knew I needed. I now know (out of necessity) how much liquid I can drink between the beginning of the day and second period, from second period to third, and from third to the end of the day. If I decide one day to go rogue from this routine, I will grow to regret it.
Extra hydration IS NOT WORTH IT!
(Okay, that might not be accurate, but whatever.)
To be a teacher, one must master the art of the bladder. It is very important to your survival.
4. How much of a Drama Queen I used to be
"OMG, MY BFF, WHO IS TOTALLY NOT MY BFF ANYMORE, JUST TALKED TO MY EX-BOYFRIEND AT LUNCH. HOW COULD SHE BETRAY ME LIKE THAT."
okay, so this is a dramatic retelling, but seriously middle schoolers are so full of drama. They're constantly dating someone new, fighting about it, breaking up,having their little hearts broken, and then starting the cycle all over again.
It's ridiculous, but it really makes you hold a mirror up to your own life, especially when you were their age. I look at these kids around me and I remember what it was like. And (time for honesty here) I remember in 6th grade crying over a boy who didn't want to ride the bus home with me after a school field trip.
I remember how EVERYTHING feels like it's a big deal, even when it isn't.
To be a teacher, it's important that you don't lose track of what you were like at that age. It's important to sympathize with what they're going through, even if it isn't a big deal to you.
5. How vital personal space is
I write this one a little sarcastically, but personal space is so important when being in a classroom. I'm all up for hugs, high-fives, and fist bumps, but you do not need to stand 6 inches away from me to greet me at the door. I don't need 5 of your surrounding me in a tight circle asking me about the assignment. Our ears work from 2 feet away just as well.
I often jokingly say, "I hate being touched." I actually say it so much that the kids chastise each other for touching me repeating, "she hates being touched." I must maintain my sanity, so you must back away.
6. How important relationships with students are
When I was in college getting my education degree, they kept insisting that the most important aspect of our jobs as educators would be the relationship we built with our students. I can testify to that over and over again.
Truth be told, I don't have the strongest classroom management strategies. I've tried tips and tricks from all over the recesses of the internet, but it still isn't anywhere near perfect. The best aspect of my classroom management is the relationship I have with a kid. I can pull any of my 75 kids into the hallway, look them in the eye, and say, "You know I care about you, but you also know I care about everyone in here. You can't act like that." They will almost always agree with the fact that I care about them and even if they don't get it together, they always know it isn't because I just "don't like them."
One of the most rewarding parts of my job is working with the "bad kids." These are kids that would never come to a teacher to tell them what is going on in another class, at home, or with their friends, but sometimes they will come to me. That's one of the times I feel most validated as a teacher.
I like being a teacher students can come to to feel heard, important, and loved.
7. How to rely on others for support
I am NOT a person who likes to ask for help, especially when it feels like I'm admitting I can't do something. I have always been independent and head-strong so it's an uncomfortable situation to be in when I have to look at someone and say, "I don't know what to do, I need your help."
My first two weeks of teaching went a lot like that. Every time a new situation would arise and I wouldn't know what to do,, I would have to look at my co-workers, principal, or advisor and just admit I had no idea what to do. I've cried over having to contact parents or for mishandling a situation in the room. All along the way every one of my team members has been there for me reassuring me that there was no mistake I could make that they hadn't made and that it would all be okay.
To be a teacher means you must be a team player. You have to have the mindset that you can rely on others to make life easier.
8. How much love I have for "my kids"
You know what they say, "kids will never care about what you know, till they know how much you care."
This is the best part of being a teacher. My heart has grown 3 sizes (enter The Grinch reference here) since knowing these little suckers. I love each of them, no matter how difficult, needy, or silly they are. Each of them has a special place in my heart. I don't know if this is because I'm a new teacher, but I don't ever want this feeling to go away.
I can't lie, I have my good days and bad days with them, but after I've had enough time to calm down and talk it out, I always go back the next day ready to make progress. I honestly think that's what is important, being willing to try harder with them the next day. Kids see that, they can tell if you're genuine or not, and if you genuinely love them, they will most likely respond to that.
9. How I still have no idea what I'm doing
Okay, so this post may sound like I actually know something about teaching, but trust me, it's a lie. I know 1% of the 99% of things you need to know. Every single day I find something I should or shouldn't be doing. Each day I walk in not knowing what to expect or how I will deal with it when it arises.
Being in the classroom for half a year so far has taught me more than I ever thought I would know, but I can only imagine what I will say I know in 20 or 30 years.
It's been one of the most rewarding 4 months of my life and I'm so glad I have many more years to come.
-S
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| My classroom on the first day of school |
