Stop and think about your first year of teaching. What was it like? Was it positive or negative? Why? What do you wish you would have had for support your first year? by Stacey Fischels

2025-08-04 18:07:13 UTC

My first year of teaching I was basically left on my own, so any kind of help would have been nice lol.

2025-08-04 18:07:16 UTC

My first year was exciting, a constant learning process, and scary. I did not have a mentor and relied on my 5th grade team to teach me the ropes. It was positive but I would have loved a mentor to help.

2025-08-04 18:07:32 UTC

It was positive and negative. Wish I had more help with running small groups and managing behavior during that time.

2025-08-04 18:07:35 UTC

My first year of teaching was amazing! It was super positive and I had all the supports that I needed to succeed. My mentor was wonderful and so helpful (shoutout Katie Berry)!

2025-08-04 18:07:36 UTC

It was overwhelming and chaotic, but it helped shape me into the teacher I am today and for that, I am grateful! My team was so supportive and positive, I felt very welcomed.

2025-08-04 18:07:39 UTC

My first year was so positive.

Positive- having a supportive mentor and administrators to help answer all of my questions.

Negative- learning how to schedule all of my students was a learning curve, not necessarily a negative, just something to adjust!

2025-08-04 18:07:41 UTC

My first year was exciting but chaotic! There were great days, bad days, and just normal days. Back then, I wish there was a curriculum coach BUT in came soon after which I used during my 2nd year and was the best thing EVER!!!!!

2025-08-04 18:07:56 UTC

My first year of teaching was very hard. I feel like it was a tough group of students and I feel like my classroom management was not great at all. Even though I had a mentor teacher, I wish I had the amount of support the new teachers currently have.

2025-08-04 18:07:58 UTC

When I started there were lots of new staff, so that made it difficult, but we all leaned on each other. My coworkers were so supportive and helpful.

2025-08-04 18:08:13 UTC

My first year was difficult with balancing responsibility and being a team leader with still getting to know my role/ district. Having a mentor to be able to reach out to and having support was huge :)

2025-08-04 18:08:32 UTC

I was nervous and excited. Had a ton of goals and things I wanted to do. Probably didn't get through half, and that was ok. Overall, it wasa very positive year (or I wouldn't have kept teaching haha).

2025-08-04 18:08:48 UTC

My first year was good. I learned something new every day. I wish I would have had more direction and support in creating and collecting essential data and using that to drive instruction. It took a lot of trial and error. We were all working together on creating data collection documents for effective teaching.

2025-08-04 18:10:12 UTC

My biggest challenge was building my self-confidence in what I was doing. It was overwhelming and I felt like I had no business being left with a room full of kids. I really relied on my mentor who was super supportive. I was hesitant to ask for more support with a few tough students because I wanted to seem like I had it all together!

2025-08-04 18:10:53 UTC

My first year in SD81 was overwhelming with learning all the new technology. It definitely was a year of trial and error. I truly enjoyed the support of my mentor and her willingness to build a relationship with me.