Your first year of teaching will likely be full of trials and errors, as well as healthy doses of uncertainty and innocence. The following tips are meant to help guide you through some of the trickier aspects of teaching for the first time.

Establish Rules and Expectations

Veteran teachers know the importance of establishing rules and expectations for the classroom during the first week - and preferably the first day. Communicate the rules clearly, post them largely somewhere in the classroom and go over them several times. Initiate a discussion about each rule and get the students to respond to them or explain them in their own words. This will help to establish understanding and ownership of the rules.

Lesson Plan Preparation

You will feel calmer and enjoy your job much more if you're lesson plans are created well in advance. Plan your lessons a week or even a whole month ahead of time. Be certain to include a few extra activities with each lesson plan just in case you go through the daily lessons more quickly than you anticipated.

Adequate Teaching Supplies

Being well prepared also includes having the teaching supplies you need on hand. You may choose to manage this inventory by having your students contribute supplies to the whole classroom at the beginning of the year. However you decide to do it, keep your teacher supply closet well stocked with all the necessary materials to take you through each day's lesson. A monthly inventory check can help avoid the panic of lacking the proper materials to complete a lesson or project.

Work-Life Balance

It is easy for first year teachers to be so caught up with the duties of teaching that they forget to have a personal life. Obviously, this is not a pattern you want to develop.

You may work harder and put in longer hours refining your routine and your methods during the first year, but go easy on yourself. Choose classroom decorations and bulletin board sets that are easy to maintain, as well as being durable and reusable. High maintenance classroom décor is a prescription for teaching burnout.

If you can, involve students and parent volunteers as much as possible with classroom decorations and save your strength for well-planned lessons.

Substitute Set-up

Be prepared for the eventuality that you will miss a few days of school. Part of your summer prep work should include creating a folder or multiple folders with information for substitute teachers. This information should include your own tips for classroom procedures and a checklist for finding all the necessary materials and teaching supplies in the classroom. In addition, provide a list of approved classroom games and activities for substitute days, as well as a few different handouts that can take the place of regular instruction.

Be Available

It is very important that you make yourself available to parents who want to be involved in their child's education. Plan to come to school a few minutes early and leave a few minutes late so that you can chat with parents and respond to questions and concerns. If you are available via email, this is a great way to communicate with busy parents and may make your job easier; responding to emails can be done, within reason, at your convenience.

These first-year teaching tips are intended to highlight and simplify some of the more time-consuming aspects of your job so that you can focus more attention on your students and take less work home with you.

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