I experienced many feelings being a first year science teacher – excited, challenged, exhausted, and creative. Your first year will be filled with many memorable moments – both ones you cherish and ones you will learn from. Remember, it’s ok to make mistakes.
I still remember my college professor telling our class, “Being a student teacher is a great learning opportunity, but when your door closes that first day of school and the classroom is yours, you’ll learn a lot more.” There are so many things about being a teacher you can only learn by doing them yourself. As I enter my 12th year teaching middle school science, here are 10 must-know tips I would tell myself on my first day of school.
Why is self-care the first tip for new teachers?
Teaching is rewarding but exhausting, and never more so than your first year. Prioritizing self-care isn't indulgent—it keeps you healthy enough to actually do the job. Take the sick days you need instead of dragging yourself in and wondering why your lessons fall flat when you've lost your voice.
Teachers often talk about self-care but I firmly believe that we should prioritize it. That is why I am listing it as tip #1. Teaching is rewarding, but it is exhausting. Both of those are especially true in your first year.
Before becoming a first year science teacher, I rarely got sick with anything. I distinctly remember feeling sick nearly my entire first year with a parade of illnesses. I remember finally getting over one cold to find that I had a sinus infection. When that cleared up, here came another cold.
I felt like I needed to fight through all these illnesses to be at school. I would come to school having lost my voice from my recent cold and wonder why my lesson plan didn’t go well that day. Well, the kids couldn’t hear me and it was even harder to get their attention.
I wish I had taken more days off to let myself get better faster. I couldn’t have taken off every single day I had a sniffle, but I could have given myself time to rest.
Tip #2: Drink Water
It sounds trivial, but teachers talk all day and easily forget their own needs. Chronic dehydration makes you feel worse and slows recovery when you're sick. Keep a water bottle on your desk, fill it every morning, and sip through each class period instead of gulping it all down at the end of the day.
As teachers, we spend a lot of our day talking. It’s easy to forget about our needs while we manage everyone else’s during the school day. I routinely let myself become dehydrated throughout the day. I would have to gulp down water at the end of the day.
Being chronically dehydrated made me feel even worse when I was sick as a first year science teacher. I think it made my body take longer to recover from the parade of viruses I experienced.
In time, I learned I need a bottle of water with me at all times during the day so I can slowly drink it throughout the day. Now, I have a water bottle on my desk that I fill each morning and slowly drink each class period. To get in the habit, I set amounts of water I needed to drink each class period. Now, I carry it around and sip water all day long while I am teaching.
How should new teachers reflect on lessons that bombed?
Every teacher has taught a lesson that flopped—we just don't talk about them. Take time to figure out what went wrong: unclear directions, a task too easy or too hard, or fuzzy expectations. Reflection isn't about beating yourself up; it's about growth. Often a minor tweak turns a failure into a success.
Reflection is an important part of learning how to teach. Every single teacher has taught a lesson that bombed. We don’t often talk about them to other teachers because it’s not our shining moment. However, you should take some time to reflect on why it went so poorly. Were the directions not clear? Was the task too easy? Too complicated? Or are classroom expectations not clear?
Take time to really think about your lesson and where it went wrong. This is not to make yourself feel bad – I’ve said before that, considering everything we are supposed to do, teaching is an impossible job. Use your reflection to grow. Sometimes, all it takes is a minor tweak to a lesson to go from a total failure to a huge success!
Tip #4: Don’t Overthink About Bad Lessons
Reflection matters, but don't let it curdle into dwelling. Bad lessons happen. Reflect on how to improve, then move on—there's no going back in time, and beating yourself up helps no one. Like athletes say, you need to have a short memory. That mindset applies just as well to a first year science teacher.
Going along with the last tip, don’t overthink about bad lessons. There will be bad lessons. Reflect on how to improve and move on. There is no going back in time. Beating yourself up over a bad lesson doesn’t help anyone. I’m a huge sports fan. A common saying for many athletes is, “you need to have a short memory.” I think this equally applies to a first year science teacher.
How can new teachers learn student names quickly?
Learning every name in the first week makes a huge difference, and it's worth making your top priority. Use a seating chart, ask students to pronounce tricky names and write them phonetically, and turn memorizing into a game your students are involved in. Practice a little each day while they work.
My main priority in the first week of school is to learn all my students’ names. With five classes, that is a tall task. But, it makes a huge difference. I tell my students how important it is to me and show them how I am taking on this challenge. I spend a bit of class time each day going around the class to practice while they work on activities. At the end of the first week, I go in order randomly around the class and say their names.
Here are some tips for how to do this:
- Make a seating chart with student names on it. Refer back to it throughout the first week so you can begin calling students by name.
- If you aren’t completely sure how to pronounce a name, ask the student to pronounce it the first time. Write it down phonetically if needed. Practice saying it several times.
- Show your students how you are challenging yourself to memorize all the names. Make it a game they are involved in.
- If students do not know each other, play a name game so they can learn other names as well.
Tip #6: Over-Plan Your Lessons
There's no fear like finishing your last activity with 15 minutes left on the clock. Always over-plan so you have something to fall back on—a content review activity, a game, or something you didn't get to in a previous class. Extra material is far easier to handle than dead time.
There is no fear in this world like a first year science teacher who finishes their last activity for a class period, looks at the clock, and sees 15 more minutes until the bell. I always over-plan my lessons so I have an activity to fall back on if there is extra time. It could be a content review activity or game. It could be an activity that I did not get to in a previous class (again, due to over-planning).
Why should a first year teacher find a mentor?
Teaching can be lonely—you're in your own room all day, and it's easy to blame yourself when a lesson goes poorly. Find an experienced teacher in your subject, at your school, in your district, or in an online group. Bounce ideas off them and share your concerns to gain perspective you don't have yet.
Teaching can be a lonely profession. You are in your own room all day long. Without the benefit of experience, it can be easy to blame yourself when a lesson goes poorly. I read once that teachers have to make more decisions each day than nearly any other profession. Again, this is part of why teaching is an impossible job.
Find another teacher (at your school, in your district, or even in an online group) that has experience in your subject area. Bounce ideas off of them. Share your frustrations or concerns. They can give you the perspective they have gained over time and that you will one day have.
Tip #8: Set Clear and Consistent Classroom Expectations
Make your life easier with easy-to-understand rules. Students won't always obey them, but they're even less likely to follow rules they don't understand. Clearly explain your expectations for entering the room and for class time, write them down somewhere, and give frequent reminders until the routines are established.
Being a first year science teacher can be exhausting. Make your life easier with this simple tip: have easy-to-understand rules for your classroom. While students will not always obey the rules, they will be even less likely to follow them if they don’t understand them. If you expect students to come into your room and sit down, clearly explain your expectation in the first few days of school. Give frequent reminders until they have the routine established.
I have a slide on my board that tells students 1) what to do to prepare for class (copy down homework or upcoming tests/quizzes, get out a specific assignment) and 2) our plan for the day. At the beginning of the year, I remind students about what to do as they enter the classroom. With time, I can give this reminder less frequently.
Clearly explain your expectations for class time and have them written down somewhere. If they are not allowed to talk while you are speaking, explain that. If they need to have their pencil sharpened before starting class, explain that. Whatever your expectations are, explain them and remind them frequently.
Tip #9: Have a Classroom Routine
Constantly giving instructions is one of the most tiring parts of the job. A predictable routine cuts down how often you repeat yourself, and when students know what to expect, they're less likely to cause disruptions. A consistent bellringer and a set way to review content both help build that routine.
Constantly giving instructions is one of the most tiring parts of my job. Having a routine can reduce the amount of times I repeat myself in a day. Plus, when students know what to expect, they are less likely to cause a disruption. You can read about my bellringer strategy here. I’ve also written about how to review content.
Tip #10: Take It One Day at a Time
This job is a marathon, not a sprint. Don't let one bad lesson get you down—failing is part of teaching when you make as many decisions as we do each day. Give yourself space to feel disappointed when something goes wrong, then use that time to reflect. You get to start fresh each day.
This job is a marathon – not a sprint. Don’t let one bad lesson get you down. While no one likes failing, it is part of being a teacher. It’s inevitable when you are making as many decisions as we do each day. Give yourself some space to feel disappointed when something goes wrong, but use that time to reflect. One great thing about teaching is that you can start fresh each day.