To commemorate the start of my second year of teaching, I thought I would reflect on what I learned from my first. Mostly I'm reflecting because I'm determined to make this year better and secondly, to help another first year teacher out there.

In no particular order here are 8 things I learned my first year of teaching.

You will be asked to do things for the sake of your students that are definitely not outlined in your contract.--As educators, we know that many obstacles must be overcome before learning can truly happen for a student. This might be providing food, clothes, a quiet place to rest or even a hair cut. Or to be more specific, fixing a bad haircut. One of my students realized during the middle of my class period that when he took his hat off he had missed a strip while cutting his hair with clippers the night before. Of course this crisis needed to be resolved. I told the student to put his hat back on, finish the assignment, and at the end of class we would figure out a solution. That solution came in the form of me finding a pair of scissors in my desk and trimming the long strip of missed hairs so that is was at best, much less noticeable while another student held a trash can for the loose hair to fall into. Luckily that has been the only emergency hair cut I've had to give. The point being is students basic needs must be met. Those basic needs will never be in the standards (see #6) and they won't be required in your contract. There won't be extra money to meet those needs and you can be a teacher that ignores them. But I promise you learning will not occur until they are met. It's the unwritten part of the job description, yet one of the most important part.

Build relationships with you students.--For multiple reasons, building relationships with your students is beneficial, yet it is still not part of our standards or the foundation of educational practice in the U.S. The two greatest benefits I saw, grew exponentially from the relationships I built. Those two benefits were 1.) More meaningful learning and experiences happened and 2.) Some students desperately needed to open up and receive help for issues that do not fall under our state standards. The effort I put into getting to know my students and who they are outside of my classroom allowed us to connect and make meaningful connections to the content we were studying. These connections made the learning meaningful and personal to the students. And these connections are not possible unless you take the time to truly get to know your students. Outside of the educational setting, you may be the only reliable adult they have in their lives. You may be the only person who checks up to make sure they have eaten that day, or that they have the right clothes for the current weather, or even the only adult to ask how they are doing each day.

Your kids will perform well for you during observations if you have built relationships with them.--Observations may seem scary at first, but the truth is you get used to them. You will prepare and even without explaining to the kids they will understand that the administrator is there to watch you. They will have your back. Without fail, every time last year my kiddos stepped up to the plate. They understand that I might be nervous or anxious, and they care. They care because I have built mutual relationships with them based on caring and respect. And just like I am there for them, they are there for me.

Seek out a mentor teacher. No matter what.--I hands down credit my mentor teacher for helping me make my first year of teaching as successful as it was. From helping me talk through lesson plans, to answering my hundreds of questions, ranging for curriculum and classroom management to how to get supplies or use the copy machine, she never tired of answering. Some schools may not have official mentor teacher programs for new hires. If that is the case, I can not stress enough how important it is that a new teacher asks the administration to assign one or to seek out a mentor who will agree to be there for you the whole year. Not only did my mentor teacher offer a wealth of knowledge from her own teaching experience, she also offered moral support. Many times during the year I felt like I was struggling and lost. My mentor was their to remind me that every teacher has had days like that and still has days like that and most importantly those days do not define you as a teacher.

Take your sick or personal days.--You will get sick. You will get tired. You will get stressed. Take your sick or personal days. I felt like I couldn't leave my classroom. Worrying about whether or not the guest teacher would get the lesson done or not was not reason as most might think. Actually, what it came down to was I felt guilty. I felt like I was letting down my students, co-teachers, and school. Looking back, I see how irrational these thoughts were. There will be times where pushing yourself to go to school is truly a detriment to your health. Taking a day off to rest and get well (mentally or physically) means that the next day you can come back and teach at your best, so take the sick day! And when you do, leave the work email alone and silence your phone. You need a break. Take it. You and your students will be better for it.

Don't let the standards get you down.--Standards will always come and go. When you finally get used to them, they will be changed. And changed by people who most likely have not spent years in the classroom. Standards have their place, but keep in mind that they don't cover everything we need to do in education. They don't always offer what is in the best interests of the students. Because of that, as teachers, we shouldn't live or die by them.

If you get sent to trainings, always ask if they offer credits for them.--This I learned from my mentor teacher, and I have tried to take advantage of it as much as I can. As new teachers, you're probably in the same boat as me, working full time with a lot of student loans left to go. You look longingly at that last column on the salary schedule and debate if going back to school with more loans would be worth it. Leaving that debate alone for now, another option is to take advantage of trainings that offer credit. If you're going to the training anyways, it's usually pretty easy to write the reflection paper and fill out the paper work to get some credits for. You may have to pay, but the price for the credit is heavily reduced. You might even be lucky enough to be in a district that offers tuition reimbursement. Last year I was able to get 4 graduate credits from trainings and my district reimbursed me for them. I'm inching my way towards that last column a little at a time.

Take a seat at the table and share your ideas!--If you are fresh out of an Ed program, it may seem intimidating to be surrounded by teachers with years and years of experience on you. Their experience is valuable and do ask them for advice. However, don't count yourself out. You are valuable too! Your courses covered the newest research, and it is worth sharing. What I found was, I brought new ideas to the table, and the veteran teachers used their expertise to help implement them into the classroom, so that they were successful. This is the power of collaboration. Go for it!

P.S Yes, I did stir my coffee with a pencil once last year. Desperation had set in. And for the record, it was brand new out of the package.

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8 Things I learned in my first year of teaching.

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