Advice for New Teachers

Stephanie over at Teaching in Room 6 is linking up posts with helpful ideas for new teachers.  I thought I'd add in a couple of ideas, too! 

My first year of teaching began in the middle of the school year, fresh out of college.  Thankfully it was a first grade classroom, because I think if the students were older, they would have run all over me.  There were a lot of tears that year.  My tears, not theirs!  I was overwhelmed and felt like no one was helping me.  No one offered any advice, ideas, or suggestions.  No one came in and asked if I needed help.  BUT, I never asked for any help, either.  That was my biggest mistake.  It took a couple of years for my co-teachers and I to actually begin working together, but once we did, it was great.  I wish I had asked for help to begin with!  It would have saved me a lot of heartache. 

I did not want them to think I didn't know it all.  After all, I was fresh out of college.  I was supposed to know everything already, right? HA. HA. HA.  What a lie.  Do not lie to yourself!  College DOES NOT teach you what you need to know to teach.  It just doesn't.  You will only learn that from real-world experience.  I'm sorry, but it's true.  There are so many things they don't even cover in college!

So, my advice is this:

1. Don't let your pride get in the way.  If you need help, ask!

2. Don't expect perfection from yourself or anyone else.  Work hard, do your best, but give yourself  a break.  Not everything is going to go right every time.

3. Stay organized.  If you are a naturally organized person, like me, you might not have trouble with this.  If you are not naturally organized, I recommend researching some ways to stay organized.  It will help you so much!  To know where everything is and be able to put your hands on it right away will relieve a lot of stress.  I think most teachers probably start off the year organized, but staying that way all year is harder to do.  If you take 10 minutes each afternoon to clean up your room, put things away, get things out for the next day, etc., it will save you a few hairs on your head!

4. Start off the year with your routines and procedures.  And review them often!

5. Don't let teaching consume your life.  Take some time for yourself and your family.  Yes, you may have to work late many days, but plan days to not stay late, weekends to rest and relax, and holidays to spend focusing on something besides teaching.  You will need these breaks or you will burn out quickly!

I hope new teachers find this advice helpful.  If you are not a new teacher and have any advice to contribute, leave them in the comments! :)

I've been awarded!

I've gotten new followers, visitors, and potential friends through the Newbie Blog Hop!  So exciting!  And a few of those ladies have nominated me for some awards!

Jackie from Crazy Daze in First Grade , Donna from Working 5 to 9 , and Leslie from First Grade in the Kootenays nominated me for the One Lovely Blog award!  Thanks, ladies!

For this award, the guidelines are:
1. Follow the person who gave you the award. DONE!
2. Link back to the person that gave you the award. DONE!
3. Pass the award on to 15 people. 

The 15 bloggers I nominate for this award are:
1. First Grade Fairytales 
2. Diving Into Learning 
3. Maestra Bilingue
4. Kelly Teach
5. Delightfully Dunn
6. Write On, Fourth Grade!
7. Our Future Is Bright
8. My Silly Firsties
9. First-Graders from Outer Space
10. Fancy Free in Fourth
11. Fierce in Fourth
12. Ms. G. in Grade 3
13. That's So Second Grade
14. The School Potato
15. Moore News

Also, Kelly from First Grade Fairytales nominated me for the Liebster Blog award!  Thanks, Kelly!  For this award, the rules are:
1. Link back to the person who gave you the award. DONE!
2. Post the award to your blog. DONE!

3. Give the award to at least 5 bloggers with fewer than 200 followers.
I nominate:
Splish! Splash! Ms. Lander's Second Grade Class
Sweet Life of Second Grade
Diving Into Learning
Maestra Bilingue
First Grade in the Kootenays
4. Leave a comment on their blogs letting them know they have been nominated. DONE!

Holy smokes, it took me HOURS to hunt down blogs to nominate that hadn't already received the awards!  But now that it's done, it's done!  I have the three main newbie blogger awards and I really appreciate being nominated.  Thanks again, ladies!

Newbie Bloggers Blog Hop!

I just read over at Polka Dots and Pencils that a new blogger, Janis from Grade Three Is The Place For Me, is hosting a Newbie Bloggers Blog Hop linky party, so I thought I would join in! 

You only have to do 2 things to participate: 1) Answer the following 5 questions about yourself: 

1. what state you are in

2. your current teaching position

3. your teaching experience

4. when you started blogging

5. share a blogging tip/blogging resource

And 2) Link your post up below.  (It's the same link-up as Janis', which I didn't know at first!  Learned something new today!)  Easy, peasy!

So, here are my answers:

1. Alabama

2. 4th grade English, AL History, and Science teacher

3. 6.5 years in 1st grade; switching to 4th grade this year!

4. I just started blogging in June 2012!  I am very new to it, but having a ton of fun!

5. My favorite blogging resource is Pinterest!  Since I've only been posting about crafts and decorating that I've been doing for my new classroom so far, Pinterest has been my greatest resource.  It is also where I've gotten most, if not all, of my followers from!  They would see something I posted on Pinterest and come visit my blog to read more about it.  I love Pinterest!

If you come here via this link up, please leave a comment to let me know you were here! :)

Circle of Moms Teacher Mom Blog Contest

I have joined the Circle of Moms Teacher Mom Blog Contest!  Not that I think I'll come anywhere close to winning, but just to get my blog advertised more.  So if you've stopped by because of this contest, leave a comment to let me know you were here!  Welcome!  Click the badge below to vote for me! :)

 

Versatile Blogger Award!

I just received the Versatile Blogger Award from Rie @ Hip, Hop, Hurray! Tales of the Reading Rascals!  Thanks, Rie!!!

Rules for "The Versatile Blogger" Award:
1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Include a link to their site.
3. Include the award image in your post.
4. Give 7 random facts about yourself.
5. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award.
6. When nominating, include a link to their site.
7. Let other bloggers know they've been nominated.

 

7 Random Facts About Me:

1. I love criminal/forensic shows like Law & Order SVU, NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles, CSI, Criminal Minds, Rizzoli and Isles, and so on (yes, I stole this idea from Rie! lol).

2. I am left-handed.

3. I am very "persnickity" (a.k.a. OCD).

4. I love to craft! (that one's pretty obvious from my blog!)

5. I always have to know what time it is.  I have clocks in every room of my house, including bathrooms and the laundry room.

6. Even though I always have to know what time it is, it doesn't help me be on time.  I am almost always late everywhere I go!  (Even work--big NO NO!)

7. I HATE to cook.

 

I'm breaking the rules a little bit because I don't think I am familiar with 15 other teacher blogs yet (that are different from some of the ones already nominated).  Ones I love and follow (so far) can be found under my "Blog Shout-Outs" tab up at the top.

 

Thanks again, Rie!

 

New Freebie added

I just created a new freebie based on this pin on Pinterest.  Go to my Freebies page to check it out!  Here's what it looks like:

Leave me some comment love to let me know you were here! :)

Update to the "I'm Outta Here" board

If you've read the update to my "I'm Outta Here" board that I made yesterday (you can read the original post and the update added here), you know that I messed up that board with Gorilla Glue.  Here's a sample of the mess:

It was everywhere.  I was so mad.  I let it sit there for several days before I decided to do anything about it, because I knew it would not be an easy fix.  Today, I finally decided to tackle it.  After trying to cut away most of the seeped out glue with scissors and a knife, I was left with chipped paint and remnants of glue.  I didn't know what to do.  I decided to try to make borders around the frames that got messed up with ribbon, but wouldn't work well and would require a lot more gluing.  So I went with duct tape.  I had searched and searched for polka dot duct tape everywhere locally and couldn't find any.  I was frustrated by that because there are some projects I wanted to use it on.  But Saturday I scored at a Walmart about 30 minutes away.  I bought 4 rolls.  Then my husband told me today that he saw some at our local Walmart today. *sigh*  Of course.  It would happen that way.  Anyway....

After a while of dealing with it, this is what I came up with.  I added some polka dots to it, too, because I thought it was just too plain before.  So here's the finished product (minus the arrow to be added once I get it to school) :

So, what do you think of it now?