Whoever said that becoming a teacher meant learning new things every single day for the rest of your life was certainly not wrong. Since starting teaching, I have probably learnt more about the profession, about how children learn, and about myself than I have learnt in all of my years of study. Teaching can sometimes be frustrating because there isn’t a one-size fits all handbook that someone can give you in order to make you the best teacher ever. Most of the things you learn are from daily experiences inside your classroom. So, without further ado, here is what I have learnt so far as a teacher:
- You have to trust yourself
Yep, it’s a classic! And while it might sound silly, you really do have to learn how to trust yourself as a teacher. You are the one making decisions and making choices for you and your classes, so you have to trust that you are making the right ones. It’s also key to note that making the right decisions or choices do not necessarily mean the right ones in the grand scheme of things. You might change your mind later or someone might inform you that you should have done things differently. But know that in the moment, you were making the right decision for you based upon what you knew and the resources that were available to you.
- Lesson planning takes years at the start
I knew that lesson planning would take a while, but little did I know just how long it would take me at the beginning of my career. It felt like decades had gone by, by the time I had finished one unit, or worse, one session! This was partly because I was unsure of how to go about creating a good unit but equally because I didn’t follow advice number 1 and I doubted all of my decisions. No, my lessons weren’t perfect, and they still aren’t, but it’s only through making mistakes that we learn after all! It’s important to factor in a good chunk of time to prepare your lessons so that you can plan them properly, rather than assuming that it will take you one day and realising you don’t have enough time.
- Beautiful worksheets do not equal beautiful results…
Part of the reason my lesson planning took, and takes, so long is because I’ve fallen into the Pinterest trap of trying to make aesthetically pleasing worksheets and PowerPoints. Whilst I really love spending hours making it all look nice for my kids, the reality is that it often doesn’t necessarily make them more motivated to work… I usually find that the pretty worksheets and slides are more for me than for my classes! So don’t spend your life deciding between a mint green or a pale-yellow background for your ombre WordArt, as I’m here to tell you that the most important thing is to actually have the resources made with effective learning strategies behind them!
- …and pretty stationery does not equal more motivation!
I love stationery. Like really love stationery. But most days my pastel highlighters, flower post-it notes, and Tombow brush pens are simply not enough to motivate me to get to work. Sometimes, the thought of having to make my own notes look pretty can be off-putting! I’ve definitely learnt that it’s more efficient to have a single Bic black pen and a blank piece of paper to work with than the entirety of Ryman’s Stationery.
- Not everything is your fault
As teachers, we often blame ourselves for everything that goes wrong during our lessons. Whilst we certainly do, and can, play a part in how things play out, sometimes it really isn’t our fault. I don’t think it’s actually ever entirely our fault, anyway. With teaching, success is based on everyone working together and unfortunately, you can’t just rely on yourself to make it all go to plan. When situations do happen, it’s important to relax, re-evaluate, and reflect on what went wrong and on the things that you can control. This has definitely been a big one for me as I often feel like everything I do is wrong and that the slightest mistake is all my fault. But it’s simply not true, and this kind of thinking will only end up doing more harm than good.
- You have a team for a reason
There are people around you at school for a reason, so use them! Don’t be afraid of asking for help or for advice and make sure to check in with other teachers to make sure communication is strong within the team. I’m often too shy to ask other people for help, but recently I’ve been really making the effort of speaking to the other teachers at my school and it turns out that some of them are struggling just as much as I am. This has not only helped me feel a bit better about my classes, but it has also created a sense of solidarity between us that we can now use to find solutions for some of our kids!
- Your classes appreciate you more than you know
This one has not been an easy thing for me to learn. My classes are difficult, sometimes practically impossible, to work with. And yet, they show me how much they appreciate me all the time. This can actually be more frustrating as it’s difficult to understand why, if they like you so much, they don’t behave properly! But knowing that they appreciate you and that they need you more than they can express is key as it allows you to build on that to form a good relationship with your pupils. Sometimes this is all that’s needed in order to sort out behaviour problems. Children are still growing and maturing so often they don’t know how to show others how they are really feeling or, more often yet, how to decode their own feelings. You play an important role in their lives and it’s crucial to keep that in mind even when it feels like they just want to make your life hell!
I could probably go on for much longer with all of the things I have learnt whilst teaching as the list really is never-ending! This is what is so great, and so challenging, about teaching. You will forever be a student in a way and with time, you will only learn more and more things. I don’t think you ever stop learning as a teacher which is why it is such a great job to have and evolve in.
Let me know what things you have learnt from teaching in the comments!