First Year of Teaching

Everybody will tell you that it's by far your worst. I hope it can only get better from here, because there certainly are MANY challenges! Other veteran teachers are talking about how difficult one of our classes (grade-levels), and I'm glad to hear them saying it, because if they were all going to be like this, I'm not sure how long I could stick with this profession or in this particular geographic location.

There are so many classroom management and discipline issues that many days it feels as if I am disciplining more than I am teaching. That is extremely frustrating! I have to get my students proficient in the material enough to pass the high school exam to earn credit for the class, but we are moving more slowly than I would have imagined, and when I don't see them everyday and we have snow days or I'm gone, or they are gone, it takes so long to cover material. There is an over-abundance of stress!

My mentor teacher reminded me today that we need to remember and focus on the thought that we DO have students who are never behavior issues and who do want to learn. Hopefully by thinking about that, we will think more positively about the remainder of the school year.

Ah, there are good days, too, but this first year is definitely a challenge!