Things a First-Year Teacher Should Know (That I Didn't)

I'll admit that this list is a little US-centric. Teachers in other countries may still benefit from reading the list, though.

1. Yes, you really should buy the 1-gross pack of pencils. You probably don't think you'll end up giving out 144 pencils by the end of the school year, but pencils have a remarkable ability to disappear from students' bags. You may even need to order a second gross.


2. If you use poster tack or removable mounting squares, buy at least 10 packs for the school year. No, I am not kidding. Don't get the cheapo brand either; it dries out too quickly. 10 packs of Scotch or Blue-Tac. Trust me on this. If it's too much, then you can use the other packages next year, but if you don't have enough adhesive, you WILL run out of ways to hang up posters and student work long before you run out of wall space.


3. Make your behavioral expectations clear on the first day of school. Yes, even high schoolers sometimes need the reminder that you DO expect them to sit in their desks and use their inside voices. If you screw this up, it will take most of the school year to regain control of your class, and that's a lot of good educational time wasted.


4. If you're a math teacher, never assume that the school has enough calculators, protractors, or compasses to go around, sight unseen. You may have to use up most of your government stipend buying these tools in bulk.


5. Do not assume that these supplies will be safe with your department head over the summer unless you bring them directly to the department head and see them put the supplies away yourself. Why, yes, I did return supplies to my department head's classroom while she was out, only for them to be stolen over the summer, before I learned this lesson! Learn from my mistakes.


6. Find out about printer paper before school starts. I use, on average, three of the big boxes of paper in a school year. Not three reams--three boxes of 10 reams each. Worksheets, tests, etc. add up fast. You need to know if and when the school district is supplying you paper, and if they're not, you need to buy a lot of paper, before school starts. If you want colored paper, Office Depot sells a cheaper brand than AstroBright. Buy a ream of it, and rest secure in the knowledge that you now have plenty for this year and the next.


7. Teachers Pay Teachers has a free section. Freebies are a great way to figure out what authors on TPT you want to actually buy stuff from, and some of them stand on their own pretty well. For example, Hello Fonts from Hello Literacy is at the top of the free section and is definitely worth downloading for all grade levels. You never know when a homemade handout or poster will need that special touch.


8. If your district uses SchoolWallet, don't wait--sign up as soon as you can, and order as much as you can manage through that route. It lets you order stuff directly to your school and takes the money straight from your stipend so you don't have to worry about buying supplies with your own money and submitting receipts for reimbursement.


9. Don't call security on a Black student for behavior that you wouldn't call security over in a white student. That said, don't be afraid to call security if you need to. There's always one or two kids in one of your classes who refuse to respond to anything less.


10. Send a welcome email to all students and parents on the first day of school. Require all students to turn in up-to-date parental contact information so you can get hold of parents easily. Make it a participation grade! Sometimes people's phone numbers or email addresses change and they forget to inform the office.


11. Alcohol wipes or hand sanitizer are not a substitute for regular tissues. Make sure you have both. You can have students bring them in as school supplies, or you can buy them in bulk, or maybe your district supplies one or the other, but have both.


12. Always have an activity ready for a substitute teacher to hand out in case you get sick. Make it something that students can do on their own with minimal help, because depending on what subject you teach, the sub may not be able to help them.


13. Don't come to work sick. Not only is there a chance of spreading whatever you've got to the students, but you really cannot teach or manage your classroom as effectively when you're under the weather. Take the day off, arrange for a sub, and get the rest you need.


14. Yes, math teachers, your students did probably forget everything they learned about math last year. Have posters up reminding them of the stuff they were supposed to learn in the previous class, so they can refer to them often. Always assume your students have never seen a lesson before, even if you know darn well it was in the state standards for 3 different classes that they've definitely already taken.


15. You'd be surprised how much one good bulletin board can do to make your students feel welcomed and cared-about. It doesn't need to be fancy and expensive; it just needs to brighten up the room and provide a place to show off student projects.


16. I don't care what subject you teach--you need at least one project each quarter that is in some way artistic. STEAM is the buzzword nowadays: science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics. Creating is what makes us feel human; that's why the arts are also called the humanities.


17. If you're afraid of being corrected or embarrassed, teaching is not the profession for you. Let your students know that mistakes are okay, not just by telling them, but by example.


18. Teach your students how to look up information in the textbook. Teach your students how to organize and write good notes. Teach your students how to study. These "soft skills" often aren't explicitly taught, even though students need them. You don't want anybody to fall behind because "nobody ever told me."


19. There's a difference between teaching all the content that will be on the test and "teaching to the test." You can make this stuff interesting. Believe in yourself, and your students are more likely to believe in you. Enthusiasm can be contagious, even in jaded teenagers.


20. Make absolutely, positively sure that you talk to other teachers during the first week of school! They have insights and resources that can help you. You do not have to come up with everything alone, and nobody is expecting you to. Make friends with people in your department, especially if they teach the exact same classes you do. This is not optional.


21. Yes, you will need the whole planning period for planning. It seems like a lot of time, but it's really not.