Advice for New Teachers

I recently had a former student contact me because she is becoming a high school sociology teacher.  As a new teacher, I shared the following advice:

Be real  not ideal - First and foremost,  know this is a journey.  Do not expect yourself to be perfect.  And, know that your situation will change - there will be advantages and difficulties because you are a student teacher and because you are young that will change as you become a regular teacher and older.   I think good teachers will recognized these for what they are and therefore embrace the advantages and adjust for the challenges as you develop.

Connect - The most important thing that you can do is connect with your students.  If they see you as caring about them and genuinely interested in them as individuals, they will learn better from you and invest in your teaching.  Learn their names. Take an interest in who they are.  Show you care. Offer them opportunity to give you feedback.  Greet students when they walk in. 

Make your class authentic - the best teachers I know are not just masters of their subject, but they created an authentic class.  If you remember my class, I used the bell and "fired up, ready to go?"  Some people might call it a schtick or see it as theatrical, but students will be more excited and interested when they know that they are coming to your own unique place. This might take time to figure out what works for you, but I think it is important and should not be neglected for simply teaching based on pedagogy in books.

Don't take yourself or class too seriously or personally - Despite your best efforts, Students may not ty or appear to not care - 99% of the time, this is because of something going on in their own life.  You can try to reach them, but ultimately, don't beat yourself up about it. And often times, I have thought that things were not going well, but I persevered and devoted myself to it.  When the end of the year came, I expected very negative feedback from students, but I have almost always had more positive feedback than negative.  So, sometimes you need to keep devoting yourself and doing what you believe in even if at the time it feels like students don't care.  You will be surprised at how many of them are moved by your teaching even though they don't show it at the time. A great teacher I worked with used to say that as teachers, "we are planting shade trees that we will never sit under."