Lessons I Learned as First Year Teacher

1. Planning relieves stress.
• Provide fast-finisher projects for gifted and talented students.
• Calendar the entire school year in advance as much as possible including field trips and Art Club activities.
• Think about supplies and demonstrations ahead of time.
2. BE TOUGHER ON CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT!
• Post classroom rules.
• Establish Expectations.
• Hold students accountable especially with cleaning responsibilities and checked out materials.
3. BE ENTHUSIASTIC!
4. Change things up.
• Teenagers love humor.
5. Walk around while lecturing. Buy a remote your presentations.
6. Prepare better questions.
7. Grading is miserable, but procrastinating makes it worse. 
• I'm a biased grader. 
• I often care more about students' grades than they do. Spend less time giving written feedback.
8. Contact parents more.
9. Display more student artwork. Promote your program more.
10. Getting to know your students is important! Stay connected and personable.
11. I PROBABLY WORK TOO MUCH! I care a lot.
12. My school is amazing. I feel so blessed to work with great administration, colleagues, and students.