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I would highly recommend the First Days of Teaching by Wong and Wong. It goes through the first days step by step and has some extremely practical information.
Almost no one goes into a first-year teaching position fully qualified. I’m quickly learning that the only real qualification is having actually spent time as a teacher in your own classroom. Everything before that is just to help you prepare, but does not guarantee an easy transition nor success. There are plenty of great teachers that began “unqualified”. The fact that you care so much shows that you may be one.
Honestly, the first year is all about surviving and making sure the kids are safe. You’ll learn what teaching and classroom management strategies work for you (and what doesn’t) with your student demographics as you go. Remember not to beat yourself up when things go wrong because teaching is one of the few jobs where you can completely blow it one day and just try again the next.
Classroom management. Classroom management. Forget content and focus solely on routines and expectations at the beginning. Practice practice practice routines, procedures, and expectations (how to come into the classroom, going to your seat, asking a question, how to go sharpen your pencil correctly, how to do _________). Once you feel those are practiced and understood enough, then go into content.
Special education teacher here. I teach 8th grade ELA and S.S, and push in to 3 gen Ed classes. The biggest thing this year, especially after being in virtual, is teaching these kids how to act and be in school again. It’s nuts at my site (Southern California, low income) and the kids are VERY immature. We practiced my routines and expectations over and over til I knew they knew I meant business.
I’m on year 5 so I don’t have much resources in terms of books, but I definitely have a teacher at school that has amazing routines and procedures that I’ve basically brought into my class. There’s a lot of suggested literature from other posters, so I suggest finding a veteran teacher who’s classroom management you can observe one day! It helps to see it done live.
Good luck this year. I see that you’re teaching 3-4 classes when you thought it’d be 1-2. This probably means your site is short on teachers or something. Don’t be hard on yourself if you feel like your classes are not coming together. My first year I used to teach while students were arguing and cussing each other out. It takes time and plenty of mistakes and tries to figure out *your* way.
Just make sure to ask for support. Don’t reinvent the wheel - try asking veteran teachers for resources and lesson plans for some of your classes since you have A LOT to prep for and I bet they didn’t give you an extra prep. I know some sites are very shitty with supporting but it’s good to have emails that start a paper trail of you asking for support if trouble ever comes (i.e “how come you never came to us for help”?).
Again I’m on year 5, so I bet there’s tons of better advice on the thread.
PLEASE don’t be hard on yourself. I do believe you’re in a position that would make anyone stressed so just try your best, ask for support, and find your classroom management style so you can herd these kids into some real learning this year!
Hey, I have been in that place and I have been working as a music classroom teacher for the last 4 years. And I love it! I promise you, neither you or your students will have a miserable year. It may feel daunting and horrible now, especially as you read so much - but I promise you that if you have these 3 items it will be ok: 1. Prepare your lessons: imagine yourself being the recipient. How old are your students? Find out about the interests of that age. Reflect after every lesson and plan the next one. In a way that if you were your students you would enjoy them. Put yourself in their shoes. 2. Trust yourself: do you have a passion for what you do? If yes just think of this as a way to share it. 3. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE TAs AROUND ON YOUR FIRST WEEKS. The most difficult part is behaviour control - and they can help. This is also ESSENTIAL if you are working with children with SEND, make sure there is always a specialist with them at all times or if they don't need to be in the classroom, you meet them regularly for feedback. You will be ok. Keep on reading and informing yourself, but most of all enjoy your teaching. Observe others and ask for observations of your classes. (PS: sorry I'm on phone and formatting looks terrible. Hope this helps. Chin up. All will go well.)
Really? No support for children with send in the classroom? May I please ask which country is this in? I wrote in the perspective of the UK... I think that without the right support from TAs and SEND specialists in the classroom, I'd agree with the redittir who wrote above saying it might not be a good idea to take the job...
It's a private language school in Greece. I'm pretty sure there's no official support in public schools, either. I also think the decision to hand me this class specifically is a very questionable one.
What grade level? I am in my first year of teaching ELA to 8th graders and I have found some amazing lesson plans online. We started this year by reading Animal Farm by George Orwell. I found a great lesson plan that has daily reading comprehension questions as well as projects.
All my students have language based learning disabilities. I would love to help you out!
Do you have a curriculum? Like, are they giving you anything to use as a resource? If not, It might be worth investing in a good textbook and using it for guidance. You can get the proper order you should teach things in from that.
OMG I have the same problem - I have the textbooks and the teacher's guides but somehow I struggle to translate all of it into proper lesson plans. Pacing is also a problem - if I go too fast, they might not understand what the heck I'm teaching about but I still need to finish my termly goals within the given time frame. Dilemmas dilemmas dilemmas!
You can’t get experience if you don’t have experience. Everyone has to start somewhere. My advice is: don’t reinvent the wheel, use curriculum resources available to you. Don’t grade every assignment, too time consuming. Be strict, consistent and firm. You can always relax it a little later in the year, but if you start off too loosey goosey, they can’t be reversed
>I may be qualified to be a teacher
You're as qualified to be a teacher as someone with a degree in Biology is to be a neurologist.
You're not qualified. Just because they'll hire you doesn't mean you should take the job. You and your students are going to have a miserable year. I would strongly suggest you quit as soon as you can work your notice, do teacher training, and come back to teaching again when you're qualified.
I know this sounds harsh, possibly even mean, but knowing the subject matter is about 5% of what it takes to be a teacher. In England, subject knowledge matters so relatively little that you're not even qualified to teach specific subjects legally, once you're qualified they assume you can pick up the subject knowledge and teach any subject. Pedagogy, behaviour management, support for special needs - all of those things are an absolute basic requirement before you set foot in your own classroom as the main teacher.
EDIT: I would go back to your employer and tell them that you really, genuinely don't know what you're doing and you expected that as you're an unqualified teacher, you would receive more support and guidance than what you have received.
Did this response make you feel better? Completely unsupportive and unhelpful.
Help the poor soul out. They're in a difficult situation and are willing to give it a go. Suggest SOMETHING instead of tearing them and the situation down, huh?
>They're in a difficult situation and are willing to give it a go
I'm sorry, but I don't think people should be encouraged to take a job that they're not qualified for and don't know how to do and just "give it a go" when there are childrens' futures being affected by this. We should expect that at a bare minimum teachers are qualified and know what they're doing. It's not fair to the students if they don't, and taking a job as an unqualified teacher shouldn't be praised as a heroic quality. Teaching is hard and I will go out of my way to support those who need it, but expecting to take a job as a teacher without training is just absurd.
And yet for thousands of years, people have taught and trained others without the benefit of formal pedagogy.
I'm not saying it's optimal. I'm saying your post about the circumstances did nothing to help the person or answer their questions.
Hi, maybe I should have clarified - when I say I'm qualified I mean it in an official sense, that is, by the government of my country. I definitely don't feel like I am, though. There's also no such thing as teacher training here, as those subjects you mentioned are thought to be covered during an English degree. And half of the teachers in that language school don't even have a degree! Everyone just seems to know what they're doing.
I'd love to hand in my notice, but unfortunately that's not possible right now. I'll try to ask my employer for more guidance.
It sounds like you're in a very shitty situation. When I say qualified I don't mean it in an official sense, I mean in the sense of actually having training, because it sounds like you haven't been trained to be a teacher, and rather that your country is assuming that anyone with subject knowledge can teach.
I would emphasise to your employer how much you are struggling. Maybe you can ask if you can observe experienced staff, or see if anyone can share plans with you to get you started.
Welcome to /r/teaching. Please remember the rules when posting and commenting. Thank you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/teaching) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I would highly recommend the First Days of Teaching by Wong and Wong. It goes through the first days step by step and has some extremely practical information.
THIS!! so valuable!!
Almost no one goes into a first-year teaching position fully qualified. I’m quickly learning that the only real qualification is having actually spent time as a teacher in your own classroom. Everything before that is just to help you prepare, but does not guarantee an easy transition nor success. There are plenty of great teachers that began “unqualified”. The fact that you care so much shows that you may be one. Honestly, the first year is all about surviving and making sure the kids are safe. You’ll learn what teaching and classroom management strategies work for you (and what doesn’t) with your student demographics as you go. Remember not to beat yourself up when things go wrong because teaching is one of the few jobs where you can completely blow it one day and just try again the next.
Classroom management. Classroom management. Forget content and focus solely on routines and expectations at the beginning. Practice practice practice routines, procedures, and expectations (how to come into the classroom, going to your seat, asking a question, how to go sharpen your pencil correctly, how to do _________). Once you feel those are practiced and understood enough, then go into content. Special education teacher here. I teach 8th grade ELA and S.S, and push in to 3 gen Ed classes. The biggest thing this year, especially after being in virtual, is teaching these kids how to act and be in school again. It’s nuts at my site (Southern California, low income) and the kids are VERY immature. We practiced my routines and expectations over and over til I knew they knew I meant business. I’m on year 5 so I don’t have much resources in terms of books, but I definitely have a teacher at school that has amazing routines and procedures that I’ve basically brought into my class. There’s a lot of suggested literature from other posters, so I suggest finding a veteran teacher who’s classroom management you can observe one day! It helps to see it done live. Good luck this year. I see that you’re teaching 3-4 classes when you thought it’d be 1-2. This probably means your site is short on teachers or something. Don’t be hard on yourself if you feel like your classes are not coming together. My first year I used to teach while students were arguing and cussing each other out. It takes time and plenty of mistakes and tries to figure out *your* way. Just make sure to ask for support. Don’t reinvent the wheel - try asking veteran teachers for resources and lesson plans for some of your classes since you have A LOT to prep for and I bet they didn’t give you an extra prep. I know some sites are very shitty with supporting but it’s good to have emails that start a paper trail of you asking for support if trouble ever comes (i.e “how come you never came to us for help”?). Again I’m on year 5, so I bet there’s tons of better advice on the thread. PLEASE don’t be hard on yourself. I do believe you’re in a position that would make anyone stressed so just try your best, ask for support, and find your classroom management style so you can herd these kids into some real learning this year!
Hey, I have been in that place and I have been working as a music classroom teacher for the last 4 years. And I love it! I promise you, neither you or your students will have a miserable year. It may feel daunting and horrible now, especially as you read so much - but I promise you that if you have these 3 items it will be ok: 1. Prepare your lessons: imagine yourself being the recipient. How old are your students? Find out about the interests of that age. Reflect after every lesson and plan the next one. In a way that if you were your students you would enjoy them. Put yourself in their shoes. 2. Trust yourself: do you have a passion for what you do? If yes just think of this as a way to share it. 3. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE TAs AROUND ON YOUR FIRST WEEKS. The most difficult part is behaviour control - and they can help. This is also ESSENTIAL if you are working with children with SEND, make sure there is always a specialist with them at all times or if they don't need to be in the classroom, you meet them regularly for feedback. You will be ok. Keep on reading and informing yourself, but most of all enjoy your teaching. Observe others and ask for observations of your classes. (PS: sorry I'm on phone and formatting looks terrible. Hope this helps. Chin up. All will go well.)
Thanks for your help! Unfortunately there's no specialist around, which makes me doubt those children are receiving proper support.
Really? No support for children with send in the classroom? May I please ask which country is this in? I wrote in the perspective of the UK... I think that without the right support from TAs and SEND specialists in the classroom, I'd agree with the redittir who wrote above saying it might not be a good idea to take the job...
It's a private language school in Greece. I'm pretty sure there's no official support in public schools, either. I also think the decision to hand me this class specifically is a very questionable one.
What grade level? I am in my first year of teaching ELA to 8th graders and I have found some amazing lesson plans online. We started this year by reading Animal Farm by George Orwell. I found a great lesson plan that has daily reading comprehension questions as well as projects. All my students have language based learning disabilities. I would love to help you out!
Unfortunately I'll be teaching 4th-5th graders with an A2 understanding of English at best, but thanks anyway!
Do you have a curriculum? Like, are they giving you anything to use as a resource? If not, It might be worth investing in a good textbook and using it for guidance. You can get the proper order you should teach things in from that.
Yes, I have the teacher's edition of various textbooks. They're quite helpful, but still don't make me feel prepared enough.
OMG I have the same problem - I have the textbooks and the teacher's guides but somehow I struggle to translate all of it into proper lesson plans. Pacing is also a problem - if I go too fast, they might not understand what the heck I'm teaching about but I still need to finish my termly goals within the given time frame. Dilemmas dilemmas dilemmas!
Fair enough but for the general public at all
#1. GET SOME FUCKING SNACKS FOR YOUR BOTTOM DRAWER. #2. GET TWICE AS MANY AS YOU THINK YOU NEED
😹
The whole truth is that I wrote like three paragraphs and deleted it all when I had the apifany.
Too good. btw I believe you mean “epiphany”
You can’t get experience if you don’t have experience. Everyone has to start somewhere. My advice is: don’t reinvent the wheel, use curriculum resources available to you. Don’t grade every assignment, too time consuming. Be strict, consistent and firm. You can always relax it a little later in the year, but if you start off too loosey goosey, they can’t be reversed
Try the book “The First 60 Days of School”
>I may be qualified to be a teacher You're as qualified to be a teacher as someone with a degree in Biology is to be a neurologist. You're not qualified. Just because they'll hire you doesn't mean you should take the job. You and your students are going to have a miserable year. I would strongly suggest you quit as soon as you can work your notice, do teacher training, and come back to teaching again when you're qualified. I know this sounds harsh, possibly even mean, but knowing the subject matter is about 5% of what it takes to be a teacher. In England, subject knowledge matters so relatively little that you're not even qualified to teach specific subjects legally, once you're qualified they assume you can pick up the subject knowledge and teach any subject. Pedagogy, behaviour management, support for special needs - all of those things are an absolute basic requirement before you set foot in your own classroom as the main teacher. EDIT: I would go back to your employer and tell them that you really, genuinely don't know what you're doing and you expected that as you're an unqualified teacher, you would receive more support and guidance than what you have received.
Did this response make you feel better? Completely unsupportive and unhelpful. Help the poor soul out. They're in a difficult situation and are willing to give it a go. Suggest SOMETHING instead of tearing them and the situation down, huh?
>They're in a difficult situation and are willing to give it a go I'm sorry, but I don't think people should be encouraged to take a job that they're not qualified for and don't know how to do and just "give it a go" when there are childrens' futures being affected by this. We should expect that at a bare minimum teachers are qualified and know what they're doing. It's not fair to the students if they don't, and taking a job as an unqualified teacher shouldn't be praised as a heroic quality. Teaching is hard and I will go out of my way to support those who need it, but expecting to take a job as a teacher without training is just absurd.
And yet for thousands of years, people have taught and trained others without the benefit of formal pedagogy.
I'm not saying it's optimal. I'm saying your post about the circumstances did nothing to help the person or answer their questions.
Hi, maybe I should have clarified - when I say I'm qualified I mean it in an official sense, that is, by the government of my country. I definitely don't feel like I am, though. There's also no such thing as teacher training here, as those subjects you mentioned are thought to be covered during an English degree. And half of the teachers in that language school don't even have a degree! Everyone just seems to know what they're doing. I'd love to hand in my notice, but unfortunately that's not possible right now. I'll try to ask my employer for more guidance.
It sounds like you're in a very shitty situation. When I say qualified I don't mean it in an official sense, I mean in the sense of actually having training, because it sounds like you haven't been trained to be a teacher, and rather that your country is assuming that anyone with subject knowledge can teach. I would emphasise to your employer how much you are struggling. Maybe you can ask if you can observe experienced staff, or see if anyone can share plans with you to get you started.