The Top 10 Things New Teachers Don't Know...Yet

Ahhh...the perils er, joys of a new school year!  Each year, I have similar thoughts, fears, and sleepless nights, and despite the fact that I am now starting my 11th year, they hold on tight!  This year, we were fortunate to hire quite a few new teachers in our high school.  And most of them are new, new.  Like, right off the boat new.  So, as I tried to quell my anxious self, I began to think about these new teachers and how they are just now taking a step into the amazing world of teaching and all the things they don't know and will soon find out.  In order to help them, I've decided to make a list of the top 10 things that new teachers don't know...yet.

10. There is no exhaustion like the first week of school exhaustion.  You will be sore in places you didn't know you could be sore, like your eyelashes.  Your body will ache.  You will be hot and sticky from your non air-conditioned, windowless classroom.  If you make it to Friday, you will desire nothing more than to go home and face plant yourself into your bed at 5pm and perhaps stay there until Sunday. 

9. You will also lose your voice, or at least your throat will hurt.  Don't worry...time strengthens those vocal chords and you will be yelling like a champion teacher in no time.

8. You will experience things you never thought you would.  Even if you had an amazing student teaching experience that was rich and full, you will still have challenges, surprises, and obstacles that are new and shocking.

7. Speaking of student teaching, remember how busy you were?  Remember how it seemed like there was so much to do and never enough time?  Well, take that and multiply it by 100. Yes, student teaching is absolutely busy, but there were all sorts of things that magically got done and now YOU are the one that has to do them.  Things like setting up the gradebook or going to meetings or sifting through all the emails to find the ones that are REALLY important.

6. Oh, and speaking of emails, reply all is the devil.  Just wait. 

5. You will cry at some point.

4. Remember that copy machine that didn't seem so far away during the days before students got here?  Well, when you all of a sudden realize that you have 31 kids and only have 29 copies because new students were added between the time you printed off the list last night and this morning,  the copy machine is now 14,000 miles away.  I am not exaggerating.  And those heels that seemed fine when you put them on this morning, just don't cut it anymore.  

3. You will enjoy snow days as a teacher more than you EVER did as a student. EVER.

2. Your colleagues, especially the ones you hired in with, will understand you like no one does.  You are each in your own classroom but you are all fighting the same battle day in and day out and no one understands it like you do. The more senior teachers will be there to help and guide you, but you'll probably find yourself going to your peers more than your mentors.

1. At some point, you will lose your innocence, and your beliefs and mindset will be challenged. You may become disillusioned and frustrated with the profession. However, if you persevere through and try to find all the GOOD in education and amazing things going on, even among the struggles, you will succeed.  And you will have made it through your first year successfully...and hopefully have many, many more to come. 

A very warm welcome to our new Mountie hires at the high school!

Mountie Nation Opening Day

There's nothing like the teachers' first day back to start to really get excited about the upcoming school year.  And I'm sure it's like this in all districts, across all grade levels, throughout the entire country.  But I must say, no one does Opening Day quite like Mountie Nation.

I was hired at Northwest 10 years ago, and since the moment, it has always felt like home.  So much so, that I even told my principal that in my interview when asked why I wanted to come there.  In fact, it felt so much like home that I endured layoffs and pay cuts and hung through the toughest of times with Mountie Nation, despite the fact that others would tell me to get out.  And let me tell you, even though I have always been a proud supporter of my school, Mountie Nation is nothing like it was back when I was hired 10 years ago, and Opening Day is the perfect example.

When I first started, Opening Day was in a gym or a cafeteria.  There was an agenda, recognition of employees completing significant year milestones, introductions of new staff, and guest speakers. This is all still there, but now it is so much more.  Now, we walk into the First Church of the Nazarene for our Opening Day, and it is a sea of red and black.  There is music, and food, and SWAG, and videos, and posters, and signs, and balloons, and dancing, and socializing, and a ton of fun.  There is an energy in that room that is truly indescribable.  I mean honestly, I could try, but you wouldn’t be able to really grasp it unless you were there. At times, I am so struck by it all that it takes my breath a bit and causes me to get emotional. In fact, I had 2 separate interactions with newly hired teachers that just might give a little inkling to how unique it is.  Both of these teachers are new to our school but have been teaching in other districts for quite some time.  Both of them, separately, said something to me along the lines of, “this is unbelievable…this is not like anywhere else.” And it’s true.

Opening Day...this doesn't even give a slight idea of how awesome it is to be a part of.

4 years ago, we gained a superintendent who had a vision for Northwest.  He has a larger than life personality, and I think he wanted to make sure Northwest followed suit.  The day he came into our first Opening Day, he told us all to strive for greatness, and we have followed his lead and never looked back. In a time where it would be easy to look at all the negative things about education, our superintendent challenged us to create a positive culture, and so we followed his lead. We lift each other up, we support each other, and we are a team.  In fact, this is so important that he and our curriculum director spent a good couple hours just going over all the amazing things we have going on in our building and honoring and recognizing the incredible staff we have. And that’s everyone, from support staff, to teachers, to administrators.

Are we perfect? No.  Do we still have things we need to improve? Absolutely.  But, in a time where it is so tough to be in education, here I stand, ready to take on year 11, and I couldn’t be more excited.  I am so very grateful to be in a place where we are striving for greatness, where we have a positive culture, and where we are supported. I am so grateful to be a part of the greatness, a part of the Mountie Nation.

Being recognized for 10 years with my teaching friend Abby Tanner