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7 Things I Wish I Knew My First Year of Teaching

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7 Things I Wish I Knew My First Year of Teaching

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Check out #1 & #4

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Alexis is a special education teacher and a Jacklyn of all trades. She enjoys traveling, writing, and playing the violin.

Teaching Is Rewarding and Challenging

When I took my first education class in college, I was given the following wisdom:

"You will put in late nights the first 2-3 years. You will want to quit. You will make a lot of mistakes"

It was true. The training I received as a teacher didn't really provide much substance except how to design curriculum, lessons, etc. It wasn't until I started subbing my junior year that I got real practical experiences. My practicums and student teaching would help me further still. That said, jumping into someone's class with their guidance is a lot easier than running your own classroom from day one.

The first classroom I stepped into was two months before the end of the school year. That said, I was able to jump in fairly easily and finished off the first year with a lot of positive change. My supervisor didn't hesitate to offer me a contract for the following school year. I finished that year, but with more challenges due to starting from the get-go and a very challenging caseload.

There were a lot of things I learned after my first year and in the following two years. I ended up hanging up my teaching hat at the end of this school year to pursue another avenue, but I look back on my teaching years as a great experience and time spent changing the lives of my students. Still, if I could go back, there are quite a few things I'd change!

1. Ask Questions-To Someone Who'll Answer Them

When you're a new teacher, absolutely ask questions! You don't know squat! Teaching is a collaborative job, and most schools will place new teachers with a mentor. Sadly, this isn't always the case, because the administration is not always supportive. When this occurs, don't sit back and try to figure it out, find other teachers in the school, ask other teachers you know or head to the internet for resources.

2. Teaching Is Trial and Error

When you walk into your first classroom, your training will not prepare you for everything. Actually, it'll prepare you for little in the grand scheme of things. You will make tons of mistakes. Rarely is anyone a good teacher their first year. Just remember not to be too hard on yourself and remember to communicate with others and ask for help!

Also, one I wanted to throw in is that every school is different. Sometimes you'll find yourself in a school that turns out to be a terrible fit, but there are thousands of wonderful schools out there. If one doesn't work or even if a grade level doesn't work out, 'trial' another. A wise mentor once told me that it's good for teachers to go to a new school every 1-2 years until they get experience and stick with one school. I didn't believe her at the time, but after a few years and schools, she is right!

3. Structure Is Critical (We're Talking About the Small Things Too!)

One mistake I made my first year was not having a good structure when it came to little things. Case in point, you should have set times students use the computer, class jobs, homework schedule, etc. Sure I had them all in place, but they weren't structured enough because I was new and therefore didn't know what I was doing in some regards.

Teachers should also have good visuals around the classroom (something I definitely did). This could be what students are learning, homework, agenda, etc.

Don't change the structure too often. If something isn't working out after a month, THEN change it. Remember trial and error is your friend when you first start teaching

4. You Have to Look Out for You

My mentor told me this, and I learned the hard way how true this is during the past school year. You can pull all the late-nighters you want, serve on every academic team, have students who excel in every academic area, but at what cost? Your sanity, relationships and health, that's what.

You have to establish a proper work-life balance from the beginning, otherwise, you'll fall apart, and everything else will suffer along with it. Seriously, a perfect lesson plan doesn't mean squat compared to your well-being!. If you need help doing this, learn to prioritize tasks or ask an experienced teacher for help. Yes, you will have an extra workload your first year, but it should NEVER impede your life, no matter what you believe or someone tries to tell you.

5. Classroom Management Takes Time

A common weakness amongst ALL first-year teachers is classroom management. There are so many components that go into this, that one paragraph isn't enough to justify it. Therefore I'll summarize it by saying that it takes years to get good at classroom management. You should have a good system in effect from day one (spend a week laying out expectations!) and use other teachers as a resource for developing yours.

Side note: Have a reward system in place!

6. Substitute Folders and Extra Work

I made a substitute folder, but I made the mistake of not having enough work. It is inevitable that you will get sick or need to call out. I had a family member pass away at the end of the school year and not having things prepared in advance (I should've, regardless) caused a lot of unnecessary stress and anxiety.

Subfolders and a folder for extra work when students finish early don't require much. Dedicate an afternoon/evening preparing five days worth of lessons early in the year. You will be very thankful that you did! Also making a fun folder for kids to get things out of for extra credit or 'post-test' isn't a bad idea either!

7. Check Your Email During the Day

During a teaching practicum my senior year of college, I got an email from my advisor stating they were coming. I didn't bother to check my email and was quite surprised to find her at the door, excited to see my lesson on time! I didn't do so well because I wasn't prepared for her arrival. If only I'd taken five minutes to check my email!

The sad thing is I've made that mistake more than once during my most recent year of teaching. You get caught up in a lesson and the next thing you know, you're late for an impromptu meeting!

It's a sad thing that teachers have to check their email so often. Especially when there is little transition time between classes or lessons, but establishing good classroom management and fluid lessons make it possible!

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7 Things I Wish I Knew My First Year of Teaching

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Alexis is a special education teacher and a Jacklyn of all trades. She enjoys traveling, writing, and playing the violin. When I took my first education class in college, I was given the following wisdom: "You will put in late nights the first 2-3 years. You will want to quit.

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Look at #1 & #2

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Congratulations! You made through college and student teaching. You aced the interview, and now you're off to begin your career in the classroom.

Then it dawns on you: "I'm on my own. What am I supposed to do now?"
That will not be the last time you ask yourself that question.
I would be lying if I said my first year was amazing. I would not be honest with you if I didn't describe the struggles I endured that year. I'm headed into my eighth year of teaching, and I still find myself asking the same thing: "What am I supposed to do now?"

There are a lot of things that college and student teaching don't prepare you for when you have your own classroom. Now, with seven years of teaching under my belt, I feel qualified enough to lend these 10 pieces of advice to all the first-year teachers out there.

1. Find the most positive, passionate staff members in the school and befriend them right away.

It doesn't matter what their position is, find them and cultivate a relationship with them. In my first year, my best friends were the school secretary, the bookkeeper, and the plant operator. No matter how my day was going, good or bad, I could always go to any of them and talk about whatever was going on. If I needed anything done in my room, a door unlocked, or a special piece of furniture, the plant operator helped me out.

(Of course, you need to be sure to thank those people. Donuts and pizza are cheap and delicious. Candy bars and chocolates go a long way in showing appreciation to those who help you along the way!)

I also found three other teachers who radiated passion for their subject. I grabbed onto them right away, and they are now three of my best friends. We are constantly challenging each other to be better than we were the day before. They have helped me grow and develop as a teacher, and I credit a lot of my success to my relationships with them.

Stay away from the Debbie Downers and the complainers, they'll just bring you down with them, and you'll run the risk of becoming cynical yourself.

2. Find out who the master teachers are and pick their brains.

It's your first year, and even though you may have an idea of what you want to happen in your room, understand that what you plan to do and what you end up doing may be two different things. Find those master teachers with experience under their belts, ask them how they manage their room and use their advice to adapt your teaching style.

Master teachers have been in the school environment for a while, and trust me when I tell you that your new school will have a completely different environment than the one you worked in as a student teacher. Take advantage of their knowledge and experience as you mold your teaching style to fit the needs of your students.

3. Develop your own genuine teaching style.

One of the most common mistakes I have noticed with new teachers, and one I made myself, is trying to teach in the same style as your cooperating teacher from your student teaching experience. Unfortunately, what worked for them won't always translate to a different set of kids in another school.

You cannot be anyone but yourself. I tried for much of my first year to convince myself that I had to be exactly like my cooperating teacher, and I bombed. It wasn't until three-quarters of the way through the year that I let go and started being myself. My students noticed, and I started getting the results I was looking for. (Bonus: said results gave me major momentum heading into my second year.)

Your teaching style should directly mirror your true personality. If you're a goof, be a goof; if you're quiet and reserved, be quiet and reserved! You can maintain order in your classroom (see below!) without changing your personality. It's exhausting to continually put on a facade, and kids will notice the difference.

4. Create an environment of positivity and a culture that values teamwork.

"You may very well be the only positive adult in a
student's life. Your room may be the only place a student
will feel safe, loved, wanted, and included."

You may very well be the only positive adult in a student's life. Your room may be the only place a student will feel safe, loved, wanted, and included. Work to create that welcoming environment immediately. I didn't discover this until my second year, and once I figured it out, things took off!

When I taught middle school, my first two days of the year were spent entirely on team building exercises, "getting to know you" icebreakers, and activities designed to foster positive self-esteem.

Once my students realized that I cared about them and began to feel like they were in a safe environment, the learning really began. Some teachers will tell you that you don't have time to do things like this, but you cannot afford NOT to do it. Every great teacher I know uses this strategy and it works.

Students will be less likely to act up and engage in tomfoolery if they know that:

1. their teacher cares for them,

2. they can make an academic mistake without fear of being put down, and

3. they have a history of success in that classroom.

Celebrate every little victory for the whole class. If you've been teaching a new concept and notice that something has finally clicked for your students, tell them how proud of them you are. Personally, I like to take a "victory lap" around the room, slapping high fives as I go. While this particular approach may not be the one for you, even the simplest bit of positive reinforcement will go a long way.

Celebrate every little victory for each individual kid as well. For some, verbal praise will do the trick, while other students will appreciate a comment on an assignment, a silent thumbs up, or even just a smile.

On the flip side, be consistent in your consequences. This is by far that hardest thing to do. You will not have a perfect class every day, and there will be times when you will have to deal with misbehavior. No matter who the student is, if you fail to follow through on your own guidelines, you will lose ALL credibility.

Finally, establishing protocols is important for classroom management. Outline a process for everything, and teach them to students on Day One. Whether it's how to enter the room, how to take attendance, how you begin class, how to get materials needed for the day, or how to leave the room, go over the process for each and keep practicing until things are running smoothly. Don't hesitate to revisit protocols throughout the year, especially after breaks.

6. Let your students get to know you.

"Your students have enough friends. What they need is a stable adult presence."

Let your students get to know you as a human being, but always be sure to draw a line in the sand letting them know that you are their teacher, not their friend. I literally tell that to them: "Listen y'all, I love you and I think you're awesome people, but I am not your friend, I am your teacher." This may be tough for them to hear at first, but they will respect it. Your students have enough friends. What they need is a stable adult presence.

After establishing these boundaries, it's fine to share a bit of information about your interests, pets, spouse, or kids. In my classroom, I play a game called "Who is Mr. Edwards" at the beginning of the year. It's a slideshow of multiple choice questions about me, and the kids love it. Their excitement when they get an answer correct is so funny! I also hang up posters that pertain to my interests. My students know that my favorite superhero is Superman and that I love baseball because of the posters on my classroom walls.

7. Don't be afraid to mess up.

Honesty time: your first year will be an incredibly trying time in your career. You may feel that you are an awful teacher (I certainly did), or you may feel like they should be paying the kids and not you. It's okay! Every teacher felt that way their first year and they are lying to you if they say otherwise. It's all about learning from and adapting to situations that can only come from experience. I'm eight years in, and I'm still learning tough lessons.

Believe me when I tell you that your first year will be one giant tough lesson, but if you seek out those positive people and master teachers I mentioned earlier, they will walk you through it and you will survive. You will come in for year two with much more confidence and better control of your room!

8. Control what you can control, and let the rest go!

You will never be in complete control, because you can't control what happens to your students before, during, or after school. You can only control how safe they feel in your room. You may have students who come in hungry, sad, angry, or all of the above. Remember that they are coming to school as the best they can possibly be that day. Understand that 95% of the time, students are reacting to things that are happening outside of your classroom. Just focus on teaching them as best you can no matter what baggage they bring with them.

Additionally, you cannot control how the school board or government decides they will treat teachers. Sometimes you may feel like a punching bag, or you may find that the local/state/federal budget is being balanced on the backs of teachers. Your job is to keep plugging away for your students.

9. Be organized and lesson plan like your life depends on it.

Kids know when you don't have a plan, and they will take advantage of your lack of preparation. Over-plan for every lesson, and ask experienced teachers what they have in their "toolbox" for when there's extra time in a class period or time block. (You can always turn to those team building games!)

Administrators will know if you are unprepared too. As a first year teacher, your lesson plans may under more scrutiny than they will be in later years, and you will most likely be observed more times than other teachers. That's the way it goes. Use those observations as another learning experience and work on developing rich, engaging lesson plans. TeacherVision is a great resource for creative lesson plans, take advantage of it!

Lastly...

10. Go save the world. Be naive and idealistic.

"Keep trying to reach every kid you can, because when you do, the feeling is indescribable."

You will have some teachers tell you that "You can't save every child," "You shouldn't be so naive," or "You shouldn't be so idealistic." Don't listen to them. Don't let other people's cynicism keep you from trying to do good in this world. Obviously, you should know going into this that you aren't going to save every kid, but if we aren't trying, what's the point?

It will be painful when a student you've been working with messes up, but it shouldn't deter you. Keep trying to reach every kid you can, because when you do, the feeling is indescribable. Sometimes the most successful ideas are the most creative or idealistic ones.

You've entered this profession because you have a passion for teaching young people, so stay passionate! No matter what anyone tells you, it is possible to stay passionate about teaching, even 30 years from now. I know this because I've talked with these passionate veteran teachers. They are the master teachers who remain naive and idealistic in their attempts to reach every child. Emulate these educators, and then you can someday impart these lessons to a first-year teacher.

I will be the first to admit that my first year was something of a trainwreck. While I experienced a lot of success, I experienced so many more failures. However, without those failures, I would never have become the teacher I am today. I needed to experience them, and I still don't have all the answers. After seven years, I still get lost from time to time. As long as you continue learning from your mistakes, your career will be a stellar one!

Check out TeacherVision's extensive collection of New Teacher Resources.

4 Mistakes New Teachers Make (and How to Avoid Them)

As a new teacher, your first year in the classroom can be fraught with doubt and worries: Do I know enough? Are students learning enough? How do I deal with behavior problems? The fear of making a mistake can be overwhelming.

To help you through those early days in the classroom, we asked successful, veteran teachers to share the top four mistakes they made as a new teacher along with their advice for how to avoid these missteps.

New Teacher Mistake #1: Not taking the time to get to know students

Research shows students perform better and have fewer behavioral problems in classrooms where teachers work to connect with them.

Kevin Parr, a fourth-grade teacher for the past 13 years, learned to connect with students early in his career. â€œOne of my biggest mistakes starting out was focusing too much on content and not enough on kids,â€ explains Parr.

"Often, children are trying to manage a life outside of
school that is unimaginable to many adults."

â€œThe danger in doing this is it can lead teachers into labeling kids for their perceived laziness or disinterest in the material when the root of the problem is factors outside of school. Often, children are trying to manage a life outside of school that is unimaginable to many adults.â€

His advice, " Get to know your students, and let your students get to know you.â€ Parr shares personal stories about his family and childhood, plays games with students at recess, and talks with them about their interests and hobbies.

He says building relationships helps students feel safe and supported and more willing to take risksâ€" which is necessary because, as he explains, â€œLearning is impossible without taking risks.â€
Featured TeacherVision Resource: Learning Students' Names Quickly
New Teacher Mistake #2: Failing to set classroom management expectations right away

When you create structure with classroom routines and provide a clear set of rules and expectations, your school day runs smoothly. Students know what to expect as well as what's expected of them.

On her first day as a teacher in 2009, Amanda Brooks used a PowerPoint presentation to introduce her fifth-grade students to the rules and procedures of her classroomâ€"a process she learned at a pre-school in-service given by Harry Wong, author of The First Days of School.

She and her students practiced everything from their morning routine to how to behave when a visitor enters the classroom. Brooks says this one step set the tone for her to have a great year with her students.

Brooks, who now teaches incoming teachers in her district how to manage their classrooms, says having procedures in place early on helped her focus on teaching and enjoying her career, instead of worrying about behavior issues.
Featured TeacherVision Resource: Classroom Management Strategies
New Teacher Mistake #3: Forgetting that students need to actively participate in learning

Michael Fisher taught for 13 years before becoming an education consultant in 2008. Early in his first year as a teacher, he realized he was so focused on avoiding behavior problems and keeping students on task that he wasn't involving students in learning.

In an early lesson on potential and kinetic energy, for example, Fisher's students watched a video about roller coasters and completed a worksheet. When tested at the end of the week, half the students failed the test.

"What happened was I didn't teach them anything. They weren't engaged," explains Fisher.

"It was the difference between a ripple in a puddle and
a tidal wave. The change was so significant, it underscored the fact that I needed to be a better planner of these
discovery-level modelling type moments."

The next year, Fisher let students construct makeshift roller coasters with clear tubing and weighted balls. Without mentioning potential and kinetic energy at first, he asked students to test out different scenarios and see what happens when they create a short hill or a high hill and use a metal ball versus a wooden ball.

Fisher says once students were involved, their learning went through the roof. "It was the difference between a ripple in a puddle and a tidal wave. The change was so significant, it underscored the fact that I needed to be a better planner of these discovery-level modelling type moments."
Featured TeacherVision Resource: The Basics of Centers
New Teacher Mistake #4: Not taking advantage of online and offline support

Failing to create a professional learning network is a major mistake Fisher sees new teachers make in his role as an education consultant. Whether you use Twitter chats like #hacklearning, Instagram or blogs (like TeacherVision), Fisher says these tools can provide new teachers with personalized professional development.

Creating connections with colleagues in your school is also helpful. Ask if your school or district has a professional learning community or mentoring program or simply reach out to teachers in your grade-level. Whatever you do, don't try to operate as an island.

As Fisher explains, "I think it's hurtful for teachers to hold themselves up in their rooms and not let anything else in, new experiences, new ways of doing things, new methodologies. If you're not willing to share and give and receive, are you doing what's best for kids?"
TeacherVision has resources to support you through your first year as a teacher and beyond. Visit our New Teacher Resources for tools, activities, lesson plans and advice designed specifically for you.
Dear First Year Teacher: You Are Amazing

You are incredible. You may not know it yet, but you have made the decision to forever change the lives of thousands of tiny humans (or not so tiny, depending on which grade). This is not something to take lightly - if it was an easy job, schools would be full of passionate and motivated teachers. Regardless, you now have the responsibility to give your very best every day, and to give even more the next day. As you embark on this journey, you may find yourself second-guessing your choice, feeling overworked and undervalued, and in need of a major vacation. You are entitled to all of these emotions. While you feel these things, though, don't forget to also feel and recognize the following:

There Is No One Like You

There are many different types of teachers - think about all of those that you have encountered throughout your educational career. No matter how much those teachers and experiences may have shaped you, you are now your own brand of amazing in the classroom. Take what you have learned, embody the likeness of those before you, and make it even better. You are here because you are meant to be, and you now have the chance to impact others in the same way that those who came before you made an impact on you.

You Are Enough

Whenever you start to doubt yourself or compare yourself to others, look inward. Trust your instincts. If you do this, you will always teach the best way you know how.

Feeling like you aren't doing enough? That's more common than you think. There will always be something you think you should improve or change, and that is what makes you so fantastic. Think about your favorite teacher - he or she felt the same things you are feeling now, but as a student, is that what you noticed? No. You are harder on yourself than any student will be. You are more than enough as you are.

You Are Changing Lives

Are you aware of just how much influence you have when you stand at the front of the room every day? You get to choose the type of experience you provide for your students. You get to choose how they remember school and the way it made them feel when they reflect on it 20 years from now.

In what other profession can you say you have the power to do something so enormous that you change the course and path of 25+ students every year for your entire career?

You can be someone's safe space, their coach, cheerleader, form of structure, and even guardian angel. You will wear many hats, and you will excel in every one of them. To be so many things to so many people is power not to be taken lightly, but to be relished with pride and honor.

You Are Loved

It may not always show on your students' faces or in their actions, but you are loved beyond measure. You will spend more time with these students each school year than most parents will with their own children. There will be times when you have to be hard on them, and it won't be easy, especially when you feel that you have broken the bridge between you and them. There will be times where you have to build up your students, almost obsessively so, and your efforts won't feel valued. There will be times where you will put a smile on your face when all you want to do is cry. You will face all of these moments, constantly, and each time they will make you second-guess yourself. The fact of the matter is, these students will love each of these versions of you - either in the moment, or much later down the road. Showing you care comes in many forms. Try to remember that it is the same for your students. So, no matter how hard your day has been, or how many difficult decisions you had to make, remember that you are loved.

You will feel many emotions as an educator, and you will continue to feel them no matter how many years you put in or how much experience you get. The most important thing to remember is that all of these emotions are what make you a phenomenal teacher. Continue to push yourself, and make yourself better, but don't let the ups and downs deter you from the bigger picture: You are doing just fine. In fact, you are doing amazing. You are here because you are meant to be - you have power, you are loved, you are life-changing, you are one of a kind, and you can do this.

A letter from a 6th-year teacher

It is a strange time to begin the teaching journey because all those veteran teachers around you have also become, in many senses, new teachers. All of us are re-learning how best to serve our students, how to plan and re-plan and how to adapt to a whole new environment. Use this to your advantage. Ask for help and seek experienced teacher's advice, but also know that we are all going to be facing the same challenges and navigating new territory together! You also come with a perspective that does not rely on the practices and traditions that many of us have become comfortable with. You can provide new ideas and are more adaptable than we, who have been teaching longer, might be!

If you're feeling anything like me, the most stressful part of going back is being able to imagine what it will look like. My school leaders have gone from an in-person plan to hybrid, as well as planning for an inevitable return to remote learning. I've had time to think about each option and will share my own tips, as well as tips from others. As you read them, start to imagine yourself in the classroom (virtual or physical) with your new students. I'll break it down into the 3 possibilities for the 2020-2021 school year.

In Person Teaching & Learning

1. Capitalize On Team Building

I'm going to say this for every section. The benefit of being in person is that students can more easily connect with one another. Take advantage of this time and prioritize team building. These are the skills students need and want to practice, and it will help you get to know your class better. Whether you are teaching elementary, middle or high school, community building is going to be the most important thing you do this year. Ask the returning teachers what types of structures your school already has in place for team building, for example, morning meetings.

2. Scaffold Remote Learning Practices While You're In the Classroom

Unfortunately, it seems as though remote learning will be an inevitable reality at some point this school year. Use your time in person to help scaffold the transition back so you and your students feel prepared. If you are going online and using a platform like Google Classroom, incorporate Google Classroom use and assignments into your in person days. The more practice students have with the resources that will be used remotely, the more time you are creating for high quality learning.

3. Set Aside Time to Talk About the "Why"

Being in person means that there will also be lots of new guidelines and safety precautions. Set aside time to let students ask questions and understand the reason for all guidelines (old or new). This will help students buy into the expectations and it will give them a space to express their concerns, confusions and anxieties. This is not a typical school year, so there is no reason you need to pretend it is. If you don't know a reason why for something, be honest and then follow up by asking your administration, leaders, or a fellow teacher help you with the why.

Hybrid Teaching & Learning

1. Capitalize on Team Building During Time Together

I'm not kidding, I'll say this every time. There is nothing more important this year than building community among your class. The sense of belongingness that comes with being a part of a team will help you and your class face the many challenges that come with a year of learning and a year during a pandemic. When you are in person, designate time and structures that focus on team building.

2. Build Community Across Pods and Groups

Many hybrid plans involve splitting students up. The challenge here is going from two classes to having four different classes. Brainstorm ways (or research because you don't need to reinvent the wheel) to bring remote students and in person students together. You could do this virtually, or through letters and notes. But it's important for students to feel like they belong and are moving forward together this year.

3. Scaffold Independent Work for Asynchronous Learning/Remote Learning

Many hybrid plans also involve students completing work independently during their remote days. Whether they will be doing work virtually or on paper, scaffold this process. Even for high-schoolers, it is helpful to have a plan and steps that will provide students with structure and support when they are on their own. For your planning, it may also be helpful to follow the same format when students are remote. For example, remote days are always a mini-independent project or a research day. That way both you and students know what to expect and you can focus on refining skills, rather than coming up with something new every day or week.

Remote Teaching & Learning

1. Start with Team Building

Have I mentioned how important team building is? Remote team building poses distinct challenges. If your students are equipped with computers and reliable technology then having virtual team building sessions is a great way to start. There are many ideas online from companies who have done virtual team building in the past. If your students are without technology, the next best thing is writing letters, postcards and making each other small gifts. If you're able to organize a safe outdoor meeting once a week or month, that can also provide an opportunity for students to be with each other. No matter what, keep community building on the top of your priority list. It will be what students remember far more than what they were able to accomplish in math class.

2. Designate Time for One on One or Small Group Check-ins

Check-ins can be by phone, video, or even stopping by 6 feet away (depending on how small or geographically close your school community is). Remote learning takes away many of the important pieces of in person learning, like seeing your students each day and recognizing when there might be something going on outside of school. Check-ins (hopefully weekly or more if you feel comfortable) can provide a space where students can share how they are doing, ask for help or just talk with you. Of course, it will take time to build relationships with students, so ease into these check-ins and don't take it personally when students don't want to share. If your check-ins are consistent then students will know they can rely on the meeting and rely on you.

3. Have an End of Day Ritual

This is key. When you are remote, you are probably in your own home and the line between work and home is gone. Still, you can redraw that line by creating an end of day ritual to mark the end of school. This can be a walk, making yourself a cup of tea, calling a friend, anything that will help you transition from working to being home and relaxing. This is especially hard during the first year of teaching. I remember staying at school far too late and trying to plan every single thing. You will need discipline to make this happen, and it's helpful to have someone who will hold you accountable to your plan to stop working. Trust me, teachers can work forever, but you'll never feel like you're done. Set a time and step away. You'll still do just fine!

Advice for Every Option

1. Get to Know Your Co-workers

This will be more challenging this year because it's not as easy to go to a restaurant after school on Friday or have teacher get-togethers. If you can, make time to hang out with your co-workers or ask to set aside a "coffee date" to ask for advice and learn more about the school. Just like your class needs to feel a sense of belongingness, you do too! It is so much better when you have teammates helping you face all of the challenges that teaching will bring this year. Still, try to avoid teacher gossip. That can break down a sense of belongingness and pit others against each other. Focus on building strong relationships!

2. Make Time for You

I probably should not have put this second because this is so important. I'm sure you've heard that you can't pour from an empty cup. It's true. This year is going to exhaust you in ways you never could have predicted. Again, it's going to take discipline at first, but you need to set aside time for you. Hang out with friends on the weekdays, give yourself a spa day or "vacation" day. You will need this to be the best version of yourself for your students and your school. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

3. Do Not Reinvent the Wheel

You've probably heard this phrase before too, at least I hope you have. Do not reinvent the wheel. There are curricula and resources that teachers have created before you. It's okay to rely on those while you get a better sense of what and how you want to teach. You can still be critical of the resources you're using and work to ensure that a diverse group of experiences and voices are represented, but that does not mean you have to make everything yourself.

Lots of things are going to be different this year, not just for you. Some things will probably be the same as my first year teacher. You'll be too hard on yourself at times, and you'll feel like you're failing. Maybe you are, but just like we teach our students, failing is a necessary part of learning. You will also never forget your first class. So, take a deep breath and get ready for a wild ride. You're going to do incredible things, whether it feels like it or not and we're going to make it through together.

Author Bios:

Chris Edwards is an elementary music teacher who enjoys spending as much time as possible with his wife and daughter. Read more of his teaching insights over at Music Man of Steel.

Wendy McMahon

Wendy McMahon is an education technology writer who has been working and writing in the edtech field for more than 15 years. She currently writes for EdSurge, EdTech Magazine and Pearson. She holds a Journalism Degree from the University of King's College.

Olivia Bechtel
TeacherVision Advisory Board Member Olivia Bechtel is a first grade teacher in Westerville, Ohio who loves implementing engaging, innovative lessons to inspire her students. In her free time she enjoys spending time with her husband, son, and two dogs.
Mikaela Prego

Mikaela Prego is an elementary educator from Massachusetts. She spent the last 3 years teaching 4th grade in Colorado, now she is back teaching in Massachusetts. Her favorite subjects to teach are math, science and social studies and she is a huge fan of putting the students in charge of as much of their learning as possible.

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We gathered our top articles of new teacher advice to create this ultimate guide. Each section provides real-world advice from REAL teachers. They've faced the same challenges you may be facing and have included their tips and tricks to make your life as a new teacher a little easier.

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10 Things I Wish I Knew My First Year of Teaching

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10 Things I Wish I Knew My First Year of Teaching

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A realist's point of view. Look at #8.

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10 Things I Wish I Knew My First Year Of Teaching

by Terry Heick

My first year of teaching was a blur.

At the time, it didn't feel like a blur. It felt a joyous, adrenaline-fueled rush of lessons, meetings, and new relationships. But in hindsight, it was definitely a blur. And now, years later, I can see a few simple tweaks would've gone a long way.

1. Prioritize-and then prioritize again.

You can't do it all. You can't save everyone. You can't change the world, your school, department, or even (the entirety of) your classroom in one year.

If I'd have known that, I'd have started with what I absolutely had to get done, and worked backwards from there.

2. It's not your classroom.

It felt like my classroom. Name on the doorway, students coming to my room, my name on the rotation for bus duty, district walkthroughs holding me accountable.

Philosophically, it was really more the classroom for the students, but even that isn't entirely correct. It's really the state or district's classroom. At the end of the day, in lieu of all of your training, development, and instincts, your job-or my job, rather-was to implement the school and district's policies to the best of my ability while leading the students to mastery of the national standards.

Not endearing, but true.

That doesn't mean you can't-or aren't expected to-do all that you can to provide a compelling and progressive learning experience for your students, but if pursuit of that started to collide with school and district "non-negotiables"-as it often did-that perspective would've helped.

It wouldn't have dismissed me from personal or professional accountability, but it'd have helped me internalize that friction much more fluidly.

3. Students won't always remember the content, but many will never forget how you made them feel.

One day, you'll just be the blurry face in an adult's memory. They'll likely not remember how a poet used symbolism to establish a harsh tone in a poem, and they may not remember you, but they'll never forget how you made them feel about themselves.

4. Get cozy with the school custodians, secretary, librarian.

You'll need them.

5. Longer hours isn't sustainable.

Change your habits and workflow instead. But you couldn't have convinced me. All the teachers I saw lugged papers and gradebooks with them everywhere, so I thought I had to as well. Silly me.

6. Student behavior is a product.

Classroom management is more about the design of learning experiences than it is behavior. I was given several trainings in the school "classroom management system," but didn't understand that "behavior" was almost always a product of the way I designed learning experiences mixed with my relationship with the students.

That'd have been nice to know.

7. Don't get sucked into doing too much outside of your class.

But if you feel the need to be involved, do so with both feet. I did the best I could with Academic Team my first year of teaching, but in reality, the students deserved ten times the support I gave them.

8. Help other teachers.

Because you're going to need them. So much is beyond your control, and it is your relationship with your colleagues that will sustain you when you're behind or confused. I focused so much on curriculum, instruction, and the students themselves that I neglected this part.

If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.

9. Reaching students emotionally matters. A lot.

Relationships start with being authentic to students and helping them to feel understood-not respect, clear rules, and seating arrangements. Yay for having things completely backwards!

10. Literacy is everything for academic performance.

If students struggle reading and writing, everything else is a challenge.
10 Things I Wish I Knew My First Year Of Teaching; image attribution flickr user britishcouncilesignapore

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10 Things I Wish I Knew My First Year Of Teaching - TeachThought

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Read 12 Rules Of Great Teaching December 31, 2018 Want To Become A Better Teacher? Try Slowing Down January 1, 2019 10 Things I Wish I Knew My First Year Of Teaching by Terry Heick My first year of teaching was a blur. At the time, it didn't feel like a blur.

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WA based professional learning provider

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Australia's leading and largest organisation to support aspiring teachers.

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Educational Computing Association of Western Australia

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Educational Computing Association of Western Australia

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2018's STEM Learning Conference is centered around the 'how to' of STEM. The focus is on STEM in the classroom by giving teachers and school leaders ideas that will help them implement their own school's STEM initiatives and stimulating thinking and discussions about the importance of STEM to our futures.

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5 Lessons I Learned My First Year of Teaching

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5 Lessons I Learned My First Year of Teaching

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Check out #3

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In my first year as a teacher, there were times when I felt like nothing I was doing worked.

Sometimes I wanted to leave the classroom and never go back. There were some times when students talked back, or ignored me altogether. And there were others when students seemed not to care about class at all - no matter how much I wanted them to, or how much I cared.

I have since learned strategies that can help manage students, build a supportive class culture, and promote healthy relationships. Here are a few things I understand now that I wish I had known then.

1. Building a class culture takes time.

I was told very sternly that the way I managed my class on the first day of school would determine my success (or failure) for the rest of the year. That was a terrifying thought, and it haunted me for weeks leading up to the first day of class. It made sense, too. I knew that children would form impressions about me within the first few minutes of meeting me, as would I of them. I knew that I had to show them I was in charge.

On the first day of school, I used all of the management strategies I had learned, expecting perfect results. I came into class with (what I hoped was) apparent confidence, and I was firm in my statements about expectations. Rather than conveying a presence of toughness, however, I felt that my students knew I was faking it. And if a given technique didn't work the first time, I was afraid to retry it later - to me, that just emphasized my utter failure. When I saw children being mean to each other, I felt as though I had set myself up to fail for the rest of the year, and the first day of school had not even come to an end yet.

Over time, I learned to be more patient with myself as well as the students. Everyone needs time and space to learn and to practice new skills. With consistency and persistence, a teacher can gradually release control as students internalize classroom routines. With patience, whole-group lessons can turn into small-group work and personalized instruction. It was difficult for me to accept this at first, but learning is supposed to look messy in the first days (or even weeks) of school.

While it's not something I did in my first year, I now find that daily reflection is crucial - not only so I can revise things that do not work, but also so I can acknowledge and continue to implement the things that do. Class dynamics, I learned, are fluid; they're certain to change over time. I often use teambuilding games to allow students the opportunity to form connections, work together, and establish boundaries. Ultimately, a teacher can influence, support, and manage, but that teacher cannot control the decisions that students make. I don't see my job as teaching routines anymore, but as teaching children.

2. Sometimes, the best lessons are improvised (a little, at least).

I was so excited for my first reading lesson in front of a third-grade class. I had a detailed lesson plan in hand, down to the minute. I rehearsed it beforehand and learned the script. I was ready for my debut performance.

What I didn't anticipate when I was practicing for the show was the audience. For some reason, I felt a sense of shock when the children sat down in front of me. When I was preparing, the focus was all on myself - I was the star of the show.

Well, the children decided differently.

Some of them were visibly bored after the first few minutes of what I thought was a fascinating reading, "Spiders" by Gail Gibbons. As I pushed on, I knew that I had lost the interest of most of the kids. By the end of the lesson, it felt like my rehearsal again - I was all alone.

What I didn't realize then is that being prepared does not mean being inflexible. On the contrary, teachers should have the right preparation in place to enable flexibility: a learning objective, the content of the lesson, and the physical materials needed for class.

One year later, I taught another lesson about "Spiders." This time, I started with a story of how I once saw my grandmother catch a spider by its leg with her bare hands, and how I'd feared them ever since. (As it happens, the story popped into my head moments before the lesson - I was organically thinking about the topic at hand.) I asked the children if they had ever felt that way, and many of them could relate. After the lesson, I had the class make pamphlets to show what they had learned. I left room for them to insert their own ideas and questions, and they were actively involved in the learning process.

I still view all of my lessons as performances, but my goals are different now than when I started. Preparation provides me with structure and support, but when the time comes, the audience is what the performance is all about.

3. Seek feedback from peers and administrators.

Initially, I was certainly not the kind of teacher who popped into the principal's office for a chat. During my first year (and since), I often felt like I had more to do than I had the time and energy for. The administration did not seem overly concerned with what I was doing, and I preferred things that way. The common way to take out frustrations was by venting with other first-year teachers who had plenty of their own overwhelming concerns to share. Although we were supposed to be able to accept and implement feedback we received, we were all the happier if the dreaded feedback never came.

Now, I wish that I had sought out help and advice when I needed it - not just from administrators, but from other, more experienced teachers I trusted. Just because support was not readily available did not mean I couldn't get it.

Let a supervisor know you're eager to observe other teachers. I learned unexpected teaching tricks by doing this, even though it wasn't a designated part of my schedule or job. I now find that speaking with more experienced teachers about dealing with specific, difficult situations is very helpful.

If going into another classroom presents a logistical nightmare, there are many online tools that can help facilitate professional development for first-year teachers. Blogs like Edutech for Teachers can also offer ongoing support outside of the immediate school network, and so can Noodle.

In addition, I now use a self-evaluation strategy to help me prepare for a feedback session with a supervisor or administrator: SWOT, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This enables me to reflect on what I bring to a given situation, as well as what the environment that I am placed in can offer. Identifying personal strengths and weaknesses and separating these from the environmental supports and demands of the job can provide a way to prepare for conversations about professional growth and to alleviate fears about receiving feedback. Check out more information about the SWOT technique, and complete your own Personal SWOT Analysis.

I now know that a growth mindset is key in staying optimistic and solution-oriented throughout the school year. When you make your needs known and take the first step in initiating conversations about the supports that you require, you will be well on your way to feeling connected and supported, both by the school community and outside networks.

4. Go "under the wave."

I was leading my first class meeting. This was a time when students got together to acknowledge each other, discuss problems, and come up with solutions. The class was participating and following along, until one child burst out with a rude comment about another student. I responded by reprimanding the student who had made the comment, a public reaction that set him off even more. The class meeting was disrupted, and I could not find a way to bring back the calm energy that had existed before. By pushing back and arguing with one student, I had made the conflict worse (and derailed the whole class in the process).

Since then, I have adopted a new mindset that has tremendously helped me in preventing escalation of conflicts among and with students. In a teacher training session, education consultant Rick Smith explained that it is important for a teacher not to react with frustration when a student is aggressive. He uses the analogy of a wave on the ocean. If you face it head-on and try to push, it'll topple you over. If you choose instead to dive under it, the wave's energy will stick to its own path, but you'll emerge on the other side unscathed.

An experience in a second-grade class brought this analogy to life for me. One student, who happened to look a lot younger than his classmates, raised his hand to ask a question. His accent was heavy, and he was difficult to understand. The rest of the class, including the other teacher sitting at her desk, laughed at him. I felt angry and hurt, but took a deep breath before speaking. Instead of retaliating with a knee-jerk response, I let the weight of the moment crash, as if it was a wave breaking on the shore. After an uncomfortable silence, I acknowledged the student's courage and began a conversation about compassion with the class. Going "under the wave" allowed me to overcome a challenging situation and not get dragged down by it, as I had in my first year of teaching.

Another strength of this approach to classroom management is that not all issues can or should be addressed directly in the moment. Delaying a consequence is a strategy that can save a lot of hurt feelings, especially in situations where the teacher and the student are both frustrated.

5. Children won't learn from you if they don't like you.

"You know, kids don't learn from people they don't like," said Rita Pierson, a teacher with 40 years of experience, in a TED talk called "Every Child Needs a Champion". As I look back on my first year "in the trenches," I vividly remember a student who rebelled against learning.

This boy was one of the most advanced readers in my class, proudly flying through the Harry Potter series as if he had a broomstick of his own. He made funny sounds as he read to himself, and I could almost see the story light up in his eyes. From the way he confidently walked into the classroom and organized his materials every day, I could tell he was a leader. I observed those qualities in him and smiled to myself.

He was at times, however, defiant. This frustrated me more than when any of the other students in the class misbehaved. I felt like he was acting up to spite me, and the more I confronted him, the more he refused to follow my directions. I could tell that he no longer liked me by his blank stares and silent protests. He began to do the opposite of what I asked, and it became a game I could not win.

I wish I had known then that relationship-building in the classroom comes first. I didn't put enough effort into making this boy feel liked, respected, and understood; he reciprocated, in turn, and our interactions felt like a battle I had initiated and perpetuated by harping on the student's misbehaviors time and time again. The best-case outcome of this battle, lest we forget, would be me winning an argument with an 8-year-old.

I know now to prioritize relationships with all of my students. A rule that I try to live by, especially for the students who are tougher to connect with, is to make three positive acknowledgments for every one corrective comment. Without positive reinforcement, students who are noncompliant or defiant are likely to become increasingly troublesome in class.

In a poignant presentation at the 2015 Boston Book Festival, educator and author Vanessa Rodriguez showed that according to brain science, learning in a classroom is a human interaction. Understanding a child's existing knowledge and emotion state, for example, should take precedence over teaching as a mechanical transfer of knowledge. The more accurate and nuanced a teacher's theory of mind is with regard to every learner, the more effective the instruction will be.

I make it a point as a teacher - before any other learning can happen - to convince my students that I enjoy spending time with each and every one of them. (The actor in me picks up the slack in cases in which that is not always entirely true.) A classroom full of healthy relationships makes everyone in it happier - and more inclined to learn.

Looking for a supportive environment for your child? Check out the Noodle school search, and take a look at this checklist of 10 things to consider when choosing a school .

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5 Lessons I Learned My First Year Teaching

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In my first year as a teacher, there were times when I felt like nothing I was doing worked. Sometimes I wanted to leave the classroom and never go back. There were some times when students talked back, or ignored me altogether.

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TMWA is for Western Australian educators keen to connect, collaborate and inspire each other through teacher driven professional learning.

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Link to their membership website

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Remove the isolation out of relief teaching and save $$$ at the same time. Join the Relief Teacher Association and get all your Professional Development hours to complete at your own pace, for one low price.

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How to Find a Mentor in 10 Not So Easy Steps

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How to Find a Mentor in 10 Not So Easy Steps

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Whilst this article is not based in the field of education, the principles still apply.

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Most people misunderstand mentoring - I certainly did. For the longest time, I said I wanted a mentor but didn't understand what that even meant. That is, until someone pulled me aside, invested in me, and taught me what a mentor really was.

I see a lot of young people approaching mentoring the wrong way.

They ask a leader they admire to mentor them, forcing the person into an awkward position in which she feels bad for saying "no" or obligated to say "yes." But this is not how mentoring works.

Common misconceptions of mentoring

I have a passion to see that change. There is a lot of misunderstanding about how mentoring works, including how to begin a relationship with a mentor. Here are some of them:

Mentoring is about me.

I need to wait for a mentor to find me.

Being mentored is more passive than active.

I need to ask someone to mentor me up-front.

Face it: Everything you know about mentoring may be wrong. It's time to start seeking out a mentor the right way. In finding a mentor, there are 10 important steps I've found that usually work:

1. Find someone you want to be like

Don't just find someone who has a job you want or a platform that you covet.

Find someone that is like you, someone with a similar set of strengths and skills you want to emulate. Otherwise, you'll just end up frustrated.

Spend some time finding the right person. In fact, have several candidates before committing to a single mentor.

2. Study the person

Follow his blog. Get to know people who know him.

If you don't know the person well, see if he is really like his public persona projects.

Make sure you understand his strengths and weaknesses. Set your expectations realistically.

3. Make the "ask"

Don't ask for the person to "be your mentor" right off the bat. That's a big ask. Far too big for the first meeting.

Rather, ask for an initial meeting - something informal, over coffee maybe. Keep it less than an hour.

Come with questions that you're prepared to ask, but let the conversation flow relationally. (Note: the formality really depends on the potential mentor's communication style - something you should be aware of before the initial meeting.)

When in doubt about when to make the ask, just go for it. (That's what I do, and it usually works.)

4. Evaluate the fruit

After meeting, do you want to spend more time with this person?

Did she begin the meeting by encouraging you or telling you what to do? Did she ask questions, or wait to provide answers?

Did you leave the meeting feeling better about yourself? Was a connection made? If not, feel free to let the relationship go and seek out someone else, instead. You don't have time to waste on a self-centered tyrant.

If it went well, then immediately put together a follow-up plan.

5. Follow up after the meeting

This is not like dating. It's okay to appear overly ambitious. You want this person to know that you're serious.

It's appropriate to follow up immediately, thanking your prospective mentor for her time.

A good way to do this is via email or other form of passive communication, so that you don't appear overbearing or waste the person's time.

This is also a good time to mention that you'd like to do it again. If she reciprocates, offer to get something on the calendar. (You may need to suggest a time.)

Make sure that it feels relaxed and not contrived. You're still vetting each other at this point.

6. Let the relationship evolve organically

We sometimes place too high of expectations on mentoring. We want to give it a name, because it gives us a sense of status and importance. But really it's just a relationship.

Mentoring is organic. It's healthy to let it grow like any other relationship - over time and based on mutual respect and trust.

Don't force it. That will kill a potential mentoring relationship faster than anything. Give it time; it needs to grow.

7. Don't check out when you feel challenged

I was recently speaking with a friend who's mentored a number of young men over the years. He said the saddest part about what he does is that a lot of guys check out whenever he challenges them.

It will happen. You'll get to a point where your mentor will feel comfortable enough to call you out. And what you do next is crucial to your growth.

Remember: this is what you signed up for. Don't wimp out when it gets tough; this is where the really good stuff happens.

8. Press into relationship

Don't wait for the mentor to initiate. Learn how to manage up. Persevere. Ask for more of your mentor without demanding it.

This doesn't bother him (at least, it shouldn't). It honors him. It shouldn't be a big deal to ask this person to coffee or lunch, outside of your normal meeting time.

If a mentor can't be a friend, then he's probably not a mentor. Finding ways to solidify the bond you've created will only strengthen the relationship.

9. Ask your mentor for feedback

Feedback can be hard, but it's good. As your relationship with your mentor progresses, this will be the #1 way you grow. It will be a highlight for the both of you.

While asking for feedback may initially feel weird, eventually it will become almost second-nature. You will find yourself thirsting for those words you used to fear.

Similarly, a good mentor will treat these times with great care and sensitivity.

10. Commit to the process

You can't be mentored in a summer. That's an internship. Mentoring takes real time and real work.

In order for it to be a real mentorship, you have to commit to the relationship. Come hell or high water, you're going to make it work.

Then, you will begin to understand what it means to be a student, a disciple, a protege.

Do you have a mentor? How did you find him or her? Share your mentoring experience in the comments.

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How to Find (and Keep) a Mentor in 10 Not-So-Easy Steps

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Most people misunderstand mentoring - I certainly did. For the longest time, I said I wanted a mentor but didn't understand what that even meant. That is, until someone pulled me aside, invested in me, and taught me what a mentor really was. I see a lot of young people approaching mentoring the wrong way.

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A handbook for graduate teachers from the Department of Education.

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Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2018). Initial teacher education data report 2018.

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12 Ways Teachers Can Build Their Own resilience

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12 Ways Teachers Can Build Their Own resilience

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Podcast  - NB Skip to 5.43 to get to the start of the interview.

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Listen to my interview with Elena Aguilar (transcript):
Sponsored by simpleshow videomaker and Screencast-O-Matic

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.

When talking about a profession that loses 50 percent of its workforce in the first five years of their careers, it would be an understatement to say teaching is challenging. It traps us in small rooms with an unpredictable assortment of personalities, energies, and needs. It forces us to make hundreds of small, exhausting decisions every day. And over and over again, it puts us in predicaments that test our confidence, wear out our patience, and break our hearts. You can learn all the techniques, plan outstanding lessons, and set up a water-tight classroom management system, but to do this work and stick with it long enough to get good at it, you need a level of emotional resilience most other jobs will never require.

And at this particular moment in history, teaching may be harder than ever. Systems have been put in place that make the work seem almost impossible, and the powers that be seem to be rooting against our success. A lot can be done to change that, to make the challenges of teaching more satisfying and less...soul-sucking, but on most days it can seem like those changes are pretty far outside of our sphere of influence. Finding the courage and energy to push for change despite how hard it is? That requires resilience, too.

And our teacher training never prepares us, never teaches us exactly how to develop that resilience. In fact, in my own training, the topic of my emotional state as a teacher never came up once.

The good news is that we now have a resource that focuses entirely on the topic of teacher resilience. In her book, Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Teachers, instructional coach Elena Aguilar walks us through twelve habits that teachers can develop to strengthen their emotional resilience. The book and its companion workbook are organized around a year-long calendar; Aguilar recommends that teachers work through the book slowly.

"The workbook has over 365 exercises, many of which you'll probably want to repeat more than once," she says. "Ideally people will be engaging in this learning with friends and colleagues so that they can have the kinds of conversations that will make this learning really sink in and stick."

Let's take a peek at the 12 habits now. My hope is that in getting a better understanding of the factors that contribute to emotional resilience, you'll see areas that you can improve for yourself, and this in turn will allow you to not only stick with this incredibly important work, but find new ways to effect change, inspire others, and thrive.

12 Habits that Build Resilience

In the book, Aguilar explains how developing each of these habits contributes to resilience. She recommends focusing on a different habit each month, taking the whole month to learn about, reflect on, and develop practices that strengthen that habit. Below each habit is the month Aguilar suggests as an ideal time to focus on it: This is based on a typical American school calendar, where the school year starts around August/September and ends around May/June. If your calendar is different, you may want to make adjustments accordingly.

1. Know Yourself

Suggested month: June

Taking the time to reflect on and get clear about your values, your preferences, your skills and aptitudes, and your sociopolitical identity can help you develop a strong sense of purpose. This makes you more likely to respond to difficult situations in ways that are consistent with that purpose. "Being really anchored in your purpose," Aguilar explains, "being really clear about what you want to be doing in life, helps you deal with challenges and setbacks."

2. Understand Emotions

Suggested month: July

Emotions "can be tremendous resources and sources of energy," Aguilar says. They key is figuring out "how to have healthier relationships with them, how to understand them, name them, accept them, and then work with them." During this month, Aguilar has teachers examine the way emotions influence our thinking (and vice-versa) and how to work with them, instead of against them.

She's especially interested in how we deal with anger. "There have been times when I've acted from anger, and it hasn't been productive," she says. "And there are other times when I figured out how to use my anger as a fuel and as energy, how to act from a place of kindness and compassion, but not suppress my anger."

3. Tell Empowering Stories

Suggested month: August

"The space where we can have the greatest impact on our resilience is between a thing that happens and how we interpret and make sense of that thing," Aguilar says. That interpretation takes the form of a story we tell ourselves.

"So for example, a student rolls her eyes at you. That's the thing that happens," she says. "How you make sense of and interpret that event is precisely the point where either your resilience can be drained or filled, because you could interpret her eye rolling as This student doesn't respect me, or you can interpret that event as, This is very typical behavior from 12-year-olds, and I'm going to move on to the next part of the lesson. In that moment, if we can hone our ability to expand that space between what happens and how we respond and how we interpret it, we have so much more power then to cultivate our resilience."

4. Build Community

Suggested month: September

If we develop habits that nurture relationships with our colleagues, students, parents, and administrators, we strengthen our resilience. "There's actually medical research saying that isolation is more dangerous to your physical health than smoking," Aguilar says. "Teaching can be such a lonely experience, and I think anything that we can do to begin cementing those connections will just help us so much when things get rough." The beginning of a school year is an ideal time to start, and by putting relationship-building habits in place early, that community can be a source of strength all year long.

5. Be Here Now

Suggested month: October

"Learning how to be in the present moment without judging it can help us to experience acceptance. It helps us to have clear-headedness so that we can make choices in our responses." Developing habits of mindfulness, where we focus on what is happening right now without judgment, can help us to circumvent a "triggered" reaction to daily challenges and instead respond calmly and thoughtfully. Daily meditation or even brief moments of focusing on our breath can help us hit that "pause button" and bring ourselves to that place of calm.

6. Take Care of Yourself

Suggested month: November

"It's really hard to build community or to cultivate compassion or be a learner-some of the other habits-when you're just sick, when you're worn out," Aguilar says. So this month, she recommends focusing on the habits of physical self-care, digging into the reasons why teachers so often fall short in this area. "I think people know what to do," she says. "We know we should be eating more leafy greens and exercising more and so on, but why is it so hard?" Uncovering those reasons can help with developing habits that work.

7. Focus on the Bright Spots

Suggested month: December

During this month, Aguilar guides teachers to practice giving more attention to what is working, rather than what's not. "Our brains have a negativity bias," she explains, "so everything that is challenging, that is potentially a threat, appears really vividly and clearly to us, because of the way our brains are wired, and so one of the skills that we need to hone is the ability to see all the things that are going well or even just okay."

In the classroom, for example, we can prompt ourselves to regularly notice students who are paying attention and on-task, rather than giving all our attention to the few students who aren't. By developing this habit, we increase our sense of empowerment, which in turn builds greater resilience.

8. Cultivate Compassion

Suggested month: January

When we practice compassionate thinking for others and ourselves, we become better equipped to handle difficult situations. "Cultivating compassion, broadening our perspective on how we see a situation, helps us to empathize with others, to see the long view, to take ourselves out of the drama of the moment," Aguilar says. So when students misbehave, a colleague is short with us, or a parent challenges one of our decisions, being in the habit of viewing these situations through the lens of compassion can help you not take that behavior personally, which leads to smarter, less reactive decision-making.

9. Be a Learner

Suggested month: February

"Resilient people are curious," Aguilar says. "Resilient people experience a challenge and turn around and say, Wow. That was really hard. That pushed me to my limits. What can I learn from that? Just that question alone immediately propels you into a place of being able to build your resilience." So this month, teachers are encouraged to reflect on who they are as learners, to better understand the stages of the learning process, and to practice seeing challenges as invitations to curiosity.

10. Play and Create

Suggested month: March

One tool for building resilience that is easy to overlook is the habit of play. "I think it's a human right to be creative, to create, enjoy, and appreciate art," Aguilar says. "Playing and creating can unlock inner resources for dealing with stress, for solving problems...it can help us see different things and find different approaches to tackle challenges." This month-which may hit right around spring break-teachers are encouraged to build regular periods of play and creation into their daily lives.

11. Ride the Waves of Change

Suggested month: April

The end of the school year inevitably brings all kinds of changes; some of these can completely throw us off track if we're not prepared for them. Aguilar recommends teachers spend this month looking at "how we can harness our energies to manage those changes and also direct our energy to the places that we can make the biggest difference." This practice includes slowing down, facing and dealing with fear, and mindfully evaluating situations to determine which responses will have the most impact.

12. Celebrate and Appreciate

Suggested month: May

As the school year winds down, we have lots of opportunities to celebrate our own accomplishments and those of our students and colleagues. This month, teachers are encouraged to develop daily habits of gratitude and to carry those habits throughout the year. "Even in the hardest moments," she says, "if we can shift into a stance of appreciation, we can build our resilience."

Build the Habits Over a Year

The best way to make all 12 of these habits stick is to work through them slowly, over the course of a year. Even better, do it with a group of committed colleagues.

To support you in that journey, Elena Aguilar is offering several resources:

The Onward Workbook is the companion to the book and contains 365 daily exercises aligned with the monthly habits.

The Onward website at onwardthebook.com offers downloadable mediations, printables, a self-assessment and related blog posts and videos.

The Onward Facebook page will offer private groups for each of the 12 habits, so you can study and practice that habit within a larger community.

Come back for more.
Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined-come on in!

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12 Ways Teachers Can Build their Own Resilience

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Listen to my interview with Elena Aguilar (transcript): Sponsored by simpleshow videomaker and Screencast-O-Matic This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.

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Programs for new graduates.

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graduate teachers; graduate teacher professional learning program; ;for new and graduate teachers;department of education;education;beginning teachers;promotional

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For New and Graduate Teachers - Leadership Institute - The Department of Education

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Supporting graduate teachers in their first two years of teaching and teachers new to public education.

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Orientation & Faith Story and Witness

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Ongoing renewal provides opportunities for staff to continue developing their understanding of the nature and objectives of Catholic education. It is required for all staff, every five years once the initial Accreditation status has been achieved.

Who is Ongoing Renewal for?

All those who have completed Accreditation.

What is required?

Accreditation to Work in a Catholic School is to be renewed every five years by completing the following hours of approved professional development:

0.4 FTE or less. A total of five hours faith formation and/or knowledge component.

0.4 FTE to 0.7 FTE. A total of ten hours faith formation and/or knowledge component.

0.7 FTE to 1.0 FTE. A total of 15 hours faith formation and/or knowledge component.

Accreditation to Teach in a Catholic School or Accreditation to Teach Religious Education is to be renewed every five years by completing the following hours of approved professional development:

0.4 FTE or less. ten hours ongoing renewal, with a minimum five hours from the knowledge component.

0.4 FTE to 0.7 FTE. 20 hours ongoing renewal, with a minimum ten hours from the knowledge component.

0.7 FTE to 1.0 FTE. 30 hours ongoing renewal, with a minimum 15 hours from the knowledge component.

It is the responsibility of individual staff members to know when their Accreditation expires and to keep documentation demonstrating their progress towards completion of the required hours. Once a staff member has completed the required hours to renew their Accreditation, they must forward copies of proof of their hours to Catholic Education Western Australia to request that their Accreditation certificate be renewed.

For any approved, school-based in-service, it is the Principal's responsibility to print and issue the proforma certificates to those teachers who attended the in-service. Catholic Education Western Australia will provide certificates for any office-based courses.

Staff members on leave without pay can extend their Ongoing Renewal period by the amount of time they are on leave. The same applies to staff who are not working in the Catholic education system in WA for a period of time.

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Explore Careers Work with us Teaching Roles Non-Teaching Rural and Remote Opportunities FAQ Career Opportunities Principalships Job Search Aboriginal Staff Professional Development Accreditation Professional Learning Staff appointed to a position within Catholic education in Western Australia need to gain an understanding of the Gospel as it is transmitted through the Catholic Church, in order to...

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Association of Independent Schools of WA

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Association of Independent Schools of WA

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Clarke, S. (2018). Facebook Mentoring and Early Childhood Teachers: The Controversy in Virtual Professional Identity. Routledge.

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Facebook Mentoring and Early Childhood Teachers

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This volume explores concepts of mentoring, leadership and issues faced by early childhood teachers. Foregrounded against inadequate leadership and mentoring training in this sector, this book looks at how mentoring is exercised through Facebook. Mentoring through Facebook provokes a strong sense of freedom in terms of speech and influence.

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by Holly Bennett - University of Melbourne

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Teachers are waking from a blissful, five-week holiday away from noisy kids and teenage angst. And while many are preparing for another year of lesson plans, marking and parent-teacher interviews, new teachers on fixed-term and casual contracts face worrying uncertainty about their career.

With Australian Education Union Victoria research showing 65 per cent of new teachers are on short-term contracts, experts warn Victorian schools risk losing talented teachers to other professions.

Now, research published in the Australian Journal of Education by Dr Terry Bowles and Ms Jessica Arnup, from the the University of Melbourne's Graduate School of Education, reveals that up to 50 per cent of teachers resign within their first five years of teaching.

A lack of job security is causing many early-career teachers to consider other professions. Picture: Pixabay

This high attrition rate comes as no surprise after an analysis of the career paths of more than 40 beginning teachers found job security, or lack thereof, is a major factor in whether beginning teachers enjoyed their job and stayed in the profession.

"While research shows that 90 per cent of beginning teachers prefer to undertake full-time teaching positions, this type of job security isn't a reality,'' says Dr Bowles. "Over half of all graduates accept contract work or casual relief teaching."

COMMITMENT IMBALANCE

This unspoken 'try before you buy' policy has left some graduate teachers feeling used and dissatisfied.

"A teacher's job can seem never-ending, with new data revealing teachers work at least 15 hours of unpaid, and often thankless, overtime each week," says Dr Bowles.

Four ways to unlock the potential of Australian students

"Many young teachers quit because they are overwhelmed by the work cycle and responsibilities. They thought they were entering a profession that would provide them with long-term security, but instead find themselves bouncing around from one short-term contract to another, constantly feeling like they have to prove themselves."

RESILIENCE AND LACK OF SUPPORT

While seven out of 10 new teachers said their work was negatively affected by the stress and effort of reapplying for their current or new jobs, Dr Bowles says not enough is being done to support teachers.

"Mentoring from qualified and committed colleagues is vital for beginning teachers, but early career teachers often report a lack of support from the school administration and colleagues, with 70 per cent having to find their own informal support."

When it comes to job satisfaction, strain caused by teaching unmotivated students, dealing with difficult behaviour, coping with change, being evaluated by others (parents, colleagues, students) and completing administration and management tasks are known triggers.

In their research Dr Bowles found resilience and job satisfaction played a significant role in determining intention to leave teaching.

"Teachers who are resilient may be able to cope better with the stressors and poor working conditions intrinsic to teaching," he says.

In order to avoid teacher ' burnout', Dr Bowles urges schools to help teachers increase their resilience through increased school support and stress/resilience programs.

"Developing higher levels of resilience will allow teachers to bounce back quickly from set-backs, have more confidence in their ability, reduce impact of stress and hopefully work to improve teachers' job satisfaction."

ONGOING IMPACTS

The consequences of prematurely losing teachers from the profession are high, warns Dr Bowles.

Changing the shape of teaching

" With demand for teachers on the rise, this ongoing retention issue is greatly reducing school effectiveness as more resources are devoted to the recruitment and selection process," he says.

"Students suffer from high staff turnover with the loss of intellectual and cultural capital in the form of departing teachers, as well as the inability to build strong relationships, which helps nurture academic outcomes."

CHANGE IS NEEDED

Australian Education Union Victorian Branch President Meredith Peace recently called for change, saying the current contract system is broken.

"Victorian schools are forced to offer contract positions because the State Government does not provide enough funding certainty for principals to make long-term, informed decisions about the resourcing of student programs," she says.

"Victoria cannot become a leader in education if we don't attract and then retain our early career teachers."

Dr Bowles agrees. "There are few issues more critical than education. The system is losing substantial numbers of talented teachers, something the nation can ill afford to lose. It's time to invest in the future and reduce the number of teachers on contracts."

Ms Jessica Arnup was a research assistant at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, when this work was done. She is now a school psychologist at St Francis Xavier College.
Banner Image: Shutterstock

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Associate Professor Terry BowlesEducational and Developmental Psychology, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne

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Teachers are waking from a blissful, five-week holiday away from noisy kids and teenage angst. And while many are preparing for another year of lesson plans, marking and parent-teacher interviews, new teachers on fixed-term and casual contracts face worrying uncertainty about their career.

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McGrath-Champ, S., Wilson, R., Stacey, M., & Fitzgerald, S. (2018). Understanding Work in Schools: The Foundations of Teaching and Learning.

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Deakin University. (2018). Understanding the importance of workplace wellbeing. Retrieved from https://this.deakin.edu.au/career/understanding-the-importance-of-workplace-wellbeing

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It can be a little daunting to consider that over a lifetime, up to 80,000 hours will be spent at work.

Because work plays such a significant role in our lives, it's important to recognise its impact on mental health and wellbeing.

If your workplace isn't your 'happy place', that's a big chunk of life desperately waiting for 5pm - and Fridays - to roll around. And it's a scenario that's likely to make you feel trapped and miserable way beyond Monday morning.

Dr Amanda Allisey is a senior lecturer and researcher in Deakin Business School's Department of Management and one of her key research areas is improving mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.

With degrees in psychology and a PhD in organisational behaviour, she says that when we're happy and healthy at work there's spill-over benefits into other domains in life - and it also enables an organisation to thrive.

'When employees enjoy a happy, healthy work environment, you start seeing exciting innovations in business. It's the difference between an organisation that's simply functioning and an organisation that's capable of making huge leaps. It really comes down to the people who are working within it.'

Dr Allisey's research in mental health has always been at the organisational level and she believes there are wide-ranging benefits from adapting workplace structures and systems to facilitate a healthy environment.

'Employees are not just employees - they are also people in our communities. They are our siblings, our parents, our neighbours. So if we can make organisations healthy, then I believe we can help make communities healthy. And that leads to a healthy environment where everyone can flourish,' she explains.

'When employees enjoy a happy, healthy work environment, you start seeing exciting innovations in business.'
Dr Amanda Allisey,
Deakin University

While most people juggle varying degrees of stress in their home and work lives, she says the tipping point - between mental health and mental illness - can occur when an individual's protecting buffers start to crumble.

'Generally it's when someone's resources - either personal or at work - are not adequate enough to deal with the demands that are being placed on them. Often, this is around the issue of finding the right balance or dealing with demands to do more with less.'

She adds that the prevalence of 21st century mobile technology can further skew the equilibrium.

'For example, if the culture of your workplace encourages responses to late-night emails then you're not going to turn up to work at 8am feeling refreshed. That's when an organisation needs to look at how they can remove - or at least mitigate - risks to stress and mental health.'

Prevention strategies are also easier to implement when there is a stronger connection between employer and employees.

'When managers take the time to get to know their staff, then they're usually aware of what stresses they're dealing with. And this makes the early adoption of risk-reduction strategies much easier. We've also found that a good primary prevention strategy is to making sure employees have strong knowledge of why their job is important.'

Thankfully, over the past 30 years, the importance of mental wellbeing in the work environment has slowly gained recognition and Dr Allisey says there's been a shift in employment expectations.

'If you ask someone today why they want a particular job, or want to work for a certain organisation, the answer isn't just "because it pays well". It's more about the meaningfulness of the work, or having the opportunity to do something you really love. It's about tapping into what people care about - and contributing to a sense of wellbeing.'

She explains that the groundswell of interest into workplace wellbeing stems from employers now recognising the impact it has on an organisation.

'They realise that the organisation's ability to be innovative relies on the people working for it. We've moved from the industrial era where progression was marked by technological or automated leaps. Now we're looking at the value of knowledge-intensive workers and more than ever before, an organisation's resources are its human resources - and that's making a big difference to the way organisations think. It's realising that they need to look after the people who work for them because the biggest rewards are when employees feel good about their job and are able to fulfil their highest potential.'
Find out more about research being conducted in the Deakin Business School.
Tell us what you think

Does your employer promote workplace wellbeing?

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Understanding the importance of workplace wellbeing | this.

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It can be a little daunting to consider that over a lifetime, up to 80,000 hours will be spent at work. Because work plays such a significant role in our lives, it's important to recognise its impact on mental health and wellbeing.

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Updated February 03, 2016 20:22:17

Australia is losing hundreds of teaching graduates each year because a shortage of jobs and resources means they cannot finish their qualifications.

Figures obtained from the New South Wales Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards show 521 trainee teachers in 2015 failed requirements of a new national accreditation system mainly because they could not find sufficient work within a three- to five-year period.

Those teachers then become ineligible to teach without restarting a new degree.

It means since 2010 at least $130 million in taxpayers' money could have been spent at universities to train graduates whose degrees had gone to waste.

Since 2010, NSW lost almost 3,000 teachers from its books, and the numbers have been rising.

Casual and part-time teachers have said a major problem is the glut of teachers on the market, especially in particular teaching fields.

Latest figures suggest up to 40 per cent of teacher graduates are not able to find work within four months of graduation.

It means many trainee teachers are unable to satisfy the requirements to work 160 to 180 days within a three- to five-year period.

Many also work as casual teachers meaning they never get the opportunity to prepare documentation like lesson plans or take part in professional development, which form a major part of the accreditation requirements.

Under the scheme, teachers are granted provisional accreditation to teach after they leave university.

If they work part-time or casual they then have five years to gain full accreditation.

Teachers working full-time have three years to meet the requirements.

If they do not, they essentially fall off the Government's books and can no longer apply for registration to teach in public or private schools without re-starting a degree.

Schools have 'very little incentive' to help

Steve Elliot, of North Curl Curl, lost his accreditation last year and said a major problem was a lack of support from schools, which did not have sufficient resources.

Mr Elliott retrained to become a high school social sciences teacher after careers as an accountant and computer programmer.

Now aged 64, he had enough skills to gain lots of casual work but said he never got the chance to prepare a lesson plan and therefore could not fulfil accreditation requirements.

"If you did get work, schools had very little incentive to provide the help that you needed to get a certificate of accreditation, let alone suffer the expense of sending you on professional development courses," he said.

I'm really angry especially with universities because the universities are the ones pushing the line 'come and do a teaching degree and you'll get a job'. They must know that's false.

Steve Elliot, teaching graduate

Mr Elliot plans to retire now but will do so with HECS debt.

His son Jake is also about to time out of the profession.

"He thought he'd become an art teacher. It's only when he got out of university that he realised that the spiel they gave him is total trash and there's no jobs for art teachers. None," Mr Elliot said.

"The casual work was so intermittent he couldn't live on it so it he went out and got other work.

"He's got a very large HECS debt but that degree and post-grad degree are totally wasted."

The Board of Studies said people like Mr Elliott were eligible to apply for extensions or could apply for a two-year reaccreditation, something Mr Elliott said was only available in very particular circumstances.

Mr Elliot said universities should shoulder some of the blame.

"I'm really angry especially with universities because the universities are the ones pushing the line 'come and do a teaching degree and you'll get a job'. They must know that's false," he said.

New South Wales Secondary Principals Council president Lila Mularczyk said most schools were supportive of teachers trying to get accreditation.

"It's more difficult but not insurmountable for casual teachers," she said.

"Both schools and the system are working to absolutely progress that.

"I do think the size of the school does change the capacity to do that."

Government says it won't compromise on quality

A spokesman for the NSW Board of Studies said the requirements were about teacher quality.

"It is essential for students that all teachers - casual, temporary or full time - meet the Proficient Teacher standards within a reasonable period," he said.

He said the requirements had been in force since 2004 and said the supervision requirements should not be onerous for schools.

"Even casual teachers should have a supervisor to support them," the spokesman said.

"This is a reasonable expectation of schools and school systems."

Topics: education, university-and-further-education, work, government-and-politics, federal-government, parliament, federal---state-issues, australia

First posted February 03, 2016 16:18:43

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Teaching job shortage leaves graduates unable to complete qualifications

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Updated February 03, 2016 20:22:17 Australia is losing hundreds of teaching graduates each year because a shortage of jobs and resources means they cannot finish their qualifications. Figures obtained from the New South Wales Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards show 521 trainee teachers in 2015 failed requirements of a new national accreditation system mainly because they could not find sufficient work within a three- to five-year period.

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Schuck, S., Aubusson, P., Buchanan, J., Varadharajan, M., & Burke, P. F. (2018). The experiences of early career teachers: New initiatives and old problems. Professional Development in Education, 44(2), 209-221.

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Dyment, J. E., & Downing, J. (2018). Online initial teacher education students' perceptions of using web conferences to support professional conversations. Australian Journal of Teacher Education (Online), 43(4), 68.

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Fitchett, P. G., McCarthy, C. J., Lambert, R. G., & Boyle, L. (2018). An examination of US first-year teachers’ risk for occupational stress: associations with professional preparation and occupational health. Teachers and Teaching, 24(2), 99-118.

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Buchanan, J., Prescott, A., Schuck, S., Aubusson, P., Burke, P., & Louviere, J. (2013). Teacher Retention and Attrition: Views of Early Career Teachers. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 38(3), n3.

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Schuck, S. (2009). Getting help from the outside: Developing a support network for beginning teachers. The Journal of Educational Enquiry, 4(1).

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Book your spot for this year's Relief Teacher Conference 2018!

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Get 5 hours of accredited PD and a chance to network. Don't miss out! Coming to Sydney, Brisbane and Perth in Term 4 2018...

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Mathematical Association of Western Australia (MAWA)

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The Mathematical Association of Western Australia (MAWA) Inc.,

is a not-for-profit organisation whose goal is to improve mathematics education across the state.

Originating as a teacher professional association in 1958, MAWA has grown into a vibrant organisation that provides support for anyone with an interest in mathematics including teachers, parents and students.
Our Executive talks about MAWA on YouTube

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Home - Mathematical Association of Western Australia (MAWA)

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The Mathematical Association of Western Australia (MAWA) Inc., is a not-for-profit organisation whose goal is to improve mathematics education across the state. Originating as a teacher professional association in 1958, MAWA has grown into a vibrant organisation that provides support for anyone with an interest in mathematics including teachers, parents and students.

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Mathematics PL

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50 of the best?

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By TeachThought Staff

Which are the best education accounts on twitter to follow?

Well, that depends on how you define 'best.' Education is a constantly evolving organism, with individual humans and institutions making up the cells and organs that keep it running.

Whether you agree with what the following leaders and leading resources included, they still exert influence over the education industry. Give them a follow and use them to discover even more names and faces currently shaping schools across the world.

We're going to update this list in a couple of ways, mainly to add educators worth following. We also may remove or replace certain accounts. Sometimes teachers stop tweeting, superintendents retire, or PhDs move on. Also, new voices often emerge that deserve a seat at the table.

We may also increase the list to 100, and we'll be adding descriptions and other social media info for certain accounts so that you can 'find' them elsewhere, as well as an image with the names.

For now, here are-in our mind-50 of the best education accounts on twitter. Depending on our leanings one day-ed reform, tech, equity, etc.-this list could've been much different.

Note: While we tried to include the 'best follows' in education, we also wanted to create the 'best list'-that is, a single collection that you could go through and follow everyone from and end up with a stronger, more critically-leaning and ranging set of education leaders and voices.

In other words, let's say that for whatever reason, the majority of the 'best' accounts in education on twitter are, because of the nature of twitter, dominated by education technology evangelists.

Rather than allow #edtech to dominate the list, we chose to pass on some outstanding accounts in one 'twitter genre' to help ensure our list, as a whole, reflected critical thinking, innovation, vision, and learning future content because that's what TeachThought is all about.
50 Of The Best Education Accounts On Twitter TeachThought Terry Heick TeachThought Professional Development Drew Perkins George Couros Diane Ravitch Vicki Davis Dr. Anael Alston Alex Corbitt Dr. Baron Davis Todd Finley The Edvocate Christopher Emdin Audrey Watters Steven Anderson Sylvia Duckworth MindShiftKQED Jackie Gerstein Calvin Mackie Sylvia Tolisano Larry Ferlazzo Alice Keeler Tom D'Amico Kaseena Jackson Justin Tarte Scott McLeod Kevin Corbett Ken Robinson Robert Jackson Pedro Noguera Rachelle Poth Mark Barnes Robert Marzano Tom Vander Ark Nasima Riazat Ernest Morrell Elizabeth Green Ryan Schaaf David E Kirkland Eric Sheninger Shelly Sanchez image attribution Flickr user sylviaduckwirth; 50 Of The Best Education Accounts On Twitter

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50 Of The Best Education Accounts On Twitter

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By TeachThought Staff Which are the best education accounts on twitter to follow? Well, that depends on how you define 'best.' Education is a constantly evolving organism, with individual humans and institutions making up the cells and organs that keep it running.