Your first year of teaching is going to be challenging. You are new to this. It is to be expected. There is so much that we do as teachers. That first year you will learn all that, along with trying to make sure this group of students is prepared for the next year.

As I reflect on my first year of teaching, I think about everything I could’ve done better but I know in that moment, that I did the absolute best I could have done. And that truly is enough. These are just ten things that I wish I had changed to make my teaching experience easier.

Now, I will say that this list would have been completely different if I didn’t read the “First Days of School” by Harry Wong before I started teaching. This book literally saved me for so many reasons. This book opened my mind to classroom management and what I needed to do in my classroom. Now I definitely wasn’t perfect that year, but if I had not read this book, things would have been a lot worse. I highly recommend you check this book out HERE if you haven’t already. Read it before you start teaching, you will thank me later!

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So, here is the list of 10 things I wish I had done my first year of teaching. After reading this, make sure to check out my 15 tips for new teachers here.

1. Been more consistent. 

No matter what you do in the classroom, you NEED to be consistent. Be consistent with your expectations. Be consistent with your consequences. Your students will walk all over you if you are not consistent. How is it fair that one student gets in trouble for something and another student doesn’t? They start to notice and can tear you down. Your students notice everything and are just waiting for you to break your consistent stance on any issue.You want to be respected by your students so you can teach them to the best of your ability. Being consistent helps your students respect you.

2. Had a better management system and stuck to it.

For whatever reason, I thought that I didn’t need a super detailed management system to deal with behavior. I just thought I would have high expectations and students would follow them. Was I wrong. Students know how to push you to your limits and test you. By my second year, I had a detailed system to deal with behavior. I had steps to follow for consequences when students didn’t follow the rules and expectations. I saw a huge difference in student behavior. If you want to read more about this, click here.

3. Started the year harder.

When I started teaching, I wanted to be a good teacher and I wanted my students to like me. This meant that I treated the students nicely and they would be good for me because they liked me. This wasn’t exactly the case. I wish I would’ve started a little harder and called out bad behavior sooner. You may think students talking out a little at the beginning of the year isn’t a big deal at first, but when you can’t even teach a lesson a month in, it’s a huge deal. 

The harder you start out the better. You will naturally get softer as the year goes on, so start as hard as you can. This does not mean you shouldn’t smile until Christmas. That’s ridiculous. I’m just saying that you need to be aware that whatever you let slide is going to get worse. Make sure students know that you are serious and they are at school to learn. I did this my second year by explicitly teaching my expectations.

4. Said NO more often.

I know that we want to be nice teachers. But be careful what you let go on in your classroom. I have an extremely hard time saying no in general (I am still working on this). When a good student asks if they can finish up homework instead of doing the computer program everyone else is doing, just say no. I found my first year that one yes to a good student was essentially a yes for all students. This would have caused me less management problems if I had cut the request off with a simple no.

I thought saying no would make my students mad and not like me. But I quickly learned that they bounce back pretty quickly. Once you start saying yes, you have to be careful because everyone will want to do it. Think about what the student is asking and remember it is okay to say no.

5. Taught more of those “minor” subjects.

My first year of teaching, I worked so hard on teaching ELA and Math. Those are the most important subjects and they are what we are tested on, right? I realize these subjects are important, but I wish I had taken more time to teach other subjects better. I wish I had planned more art, science, social studies, etc. I feel like I was so overwhelmed during that first year, I was simply just trying to teach what I thought was the most important. But remember that all subjects are important and students need to be well rounded in their knowledge. I did teach these subjects during that first year, but I did not spend a lot of time trying to make my lessons more engaging and it showed. Just keep this in mind during your first year.

6. Planned out my year better.

I hate to admit this, but when I got to the end of my first year, my grade level partner and I sat down and checked off the standards that we taught during the year. I was shocked to see that I didn’t teach all the standards. I tried so hard to follow the curriculum for every subject I taught, how did I end up not even teaching all the standards?! I was so upset.

The next year, I took time to map out all my standards so I knew I would teach every standard of every subject. It took a little bit of time, but it was so worth it in the end. I realized that during the year, I might have taken too long on a standard that I should have moved on from. This way, I was just better prepared to teach everything the next year.

7. Accepted that I wouldn’t be perfect earlier.

I had very high expectations for myself. I thought I would be the best teacher at the school, my students would perform the best, and I would make every lesson engaging. This was never going to happen. It was a rough year that was definitely not perfect. I wish I had accepted this a lot sooner. I could’ve saved myself a lot of extra stress. 

Do the best you can in that moment and move on. You will always be better and you will always improve. But you do not have to be a perfect teacher.

8. Knew that it is okay to ask for help.

My first job was at a school that I hadn’t been to before. I wasn’t sure on where anything was or what was normally done at the school. I didn’t know what the school routine was or even how to get my students inside after recess. I tried to figure out everything by myself, but I realized I needed to ask for help. That entire year, I was constantly asking for help from other teachers and staff members. I needed to realize that I didn’t know everything and I honestly didn’t have time to figure it out myself. Ask for help!

9. Made a friend sooner.

By the end of the year, I made a great teacher friend in my grade level partner. We could plan together and help each other out with problems. This was someone that could encourage me when I was having a bad day and someone that would listen to me vent about the day. We worked really well together and I couldn’t imagine teaching without a friend. 

At the beginning of the year, I didn’t really think a teacher friend was that important. I wish I would’ve realized this sooner and made my friend sooner in the year. Having a friend at work really does help.

10. Had more confidence.

When it comes to teachers, you will have many different personalities at your school. Sometimes these teachers will have a lot of experience. You can learn a lot from these teachers! They know a lot about teaching and you can always ask for advice. Sometimes, though, there are teachers that aren’t so nice to you and think your “new” way of doing things isn’t right or isn’t worth the time. 

I wish I would’ve had a little more confidence when it came to the new ideas I was trying. If you think it will work in your classroom, then do it. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. Sometimes older teachers get stuck in their ways and don’t like change. Don’t let it discourage you. Stick with what you are doing if it works for you.

I hope these 10 things that I wish I had done differently my first year of teaching is helpful to you! Remember to check out our post on 15 tips for new teachers here.

Thank you for Continually Learning with us!

Kyle and Sarah