Teaching at any level is not easy. Most educators learn this quickly when they step into the classroom.
When I have graduate students who go on to teach, I can usually see early on that things are not going exactly the way they expected. I’ve often shared with them some insights I’ve gleaned over the years, which I think can help smooth some of those early rough patches.
These tips are not, unfortunately, profound or sage-like, but are just practical reminders that I wish I'd been told before stepping into the classroom the first time myself.
1. It Gets Easier As The Semester/Year Progresses
During the first few weeks of the school year, I get a familiar feeling: dread. The work starts to feel overwhelming; everything is happening at once, student papers are piling up, new submissions are coming in, and it's not uncommon for me to declare around mid-September that I’m overextended and to quote Joan Didion, “The center will not hold.”
Over time, however, I’ve realized that the school year ebbs and flows, and there’s more and less work at different points, and my classes tend to get easier while going along.
The same can be said for teaching in general: the first time you teach a given class is always the hardest. Realizing this helps offset the panic when it starts to set in.
2. It Won’t Be Like The Movies
If your view of teaching comes from Hollywood, you may have chosen the wrong profession. There won’t be any moments when the whole classroom starts slow clapping before bursting into wild applause, and students won’t gasp in amazement, not even as you share the magic of Shakespeare. Your thoughtful, entertaining, and arguably, award-worthy class lecture/activity/or discussion will be met with some complaints, general disinterest, and sometimes, open hostility.
If you’re a good teacher, you’ll keep attempting different strategies to connect with the students who are resistant, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get through to all of them, no matter how hard you try.
The good news, however, is that you will receive a slow clap of appreciation by the end of each class. The bad news is it will just be you applauding yourself while looking in the mirror.
3. Educators Talk About Work Like People Post on Social Media
While connecting with peers and having honest conversations can be an important part of learning the ropes as a teacher, don’t forget that sometimes conversations with fellow educators can be a little like scrolling through social media: Everyone else seems to be having a better summer and doing more than you.
That’s because on social media, we only share the positives, so you see the cute pictures of my kids smiling at the beach, not the nuclear-level meltdown that occurred when we tried to eat out afterward. A similar thing often occurs with educators and their reflections on teaching. The best teachers talk at conferences and share the finest moments from their teaching year, or even career. So, comparing your day-to-day experience in the classroom to what you hear and read about from others isn’t any healthier than comparing your life to the curated images you see on social media.
I’ve seen this firsthand when I’ve had the opportunity to observe many different instructors teaching the same English class—many of us struggled with the same aspects of the class, but these problems were rarely spoken about in meetings. Failure, and learning how to overcome it, is often a part of the teaching gig, and even though that’s acknowledged, it’s not always discussed as much as it could be.
4. The Easiest Time To Answer An Email Is Right Now
On a more granular level, if you teach in a setting where answering emails is part of the gig, it's time to develop an email answering system now.
I find that I’m most efficient when I answer emails as each one arrives. Even if it’s just to say, “I will check into this tomorrow and get back to you." But having some work-life balance is also important, so I try to cut off responding to emails by 6 or 7 p.m. each night, and then make sure to check my inbox and respond as my first task when I return to my desk the next day.
However you choose to handle emails, responding promptly and having some type of regular routine in place for handling communications is key, I’ve found.
5. You Will Have An Impact On Students
I had many influential teachers in my education, but I still find it difficult to admit or comprehend that I can be that influential teacher for others. But having taught for many years now, the evidence is hard to ignore. Students have talked years later about a piece of advice I gave them or gone on to use techniques they credit with having learned in my class.
To stay humble, I’m sure there are many other students who remember their class with me in a negative manner, and a great many more who have forgotten all about me and what I tried to teach them.
That all said, every single time a student has reached out after a few years, it has reminded me that the hard and sometimes frustrating work of teaching is worth it. As a new teacher, you won’t necessarily see or feel that in the first few weeks of teaching or even the first year, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be true.
