First year teacher and I feel like I am not doing a good job

[Anonymous]

I just started my first elementary teaching job in September. I teach 5 different grade levels and I have 6 classes each day. I get a planning period 3 days per week. I work my butt off but sometimes I just feel like I am trying to keep my head above water. I don't have enough time to really get into a lesson b/c the periods are no more than 40ish mins each. I try to make each minute count but it is so hard planning for so many grade levels. I can't do too much long term lesson planning b/c I don't know how far I will get into a lesson each day. So I tend to plan day by day mostly after school b/c I have no daily dedicated planning time. I know it will get easier each year b/c I will be familiar with the curriculum by then. Any words of advice?

[Anonymous]

I'm a former teacher and I totally know how you're feeling!

I find it HORRIBLE that you don't get a set planning period every day -- isn't it the "rule" that you get one per day? We certainly did.

Advice:

- If you're having trouble fitting full lessons in each time, you need to re-examine what you're planning - you might be thinking too big. This happens occasionally to every teacher, but shouldn't be happening all the time. You should be able to plan a lesson that 95% of the time can be completed within 40 minutes.

- Block plan your week and then settle down to plan more specifically at the end of the day.

- Don't be afraid to borrow from and observe teachers who've been in the game longer.

Most importantly of all, make sure you have support! Reach out to other teachers and the admins (if they are not pains in the neck as they sometimes are!).

I think it's just really early on in the year and you'll find your groove VERY soon. Hang in there -- the fact that you're worried about it means you are a good teacher and you'll turn into a GREAT teacher.

[Anonymous]

Thanks PP. Part of my position involves picking up my groups in their homerooms, walking them to my room and taking them back after our time is up. I teach 3 classes before lunch and 3 after lunch so I am running around all day. Good for my weight but not for my energy level. My union contract states that we get 3 planning periods per week and that's what I get. It wouldn't be so bad but the after school program uses my classroom so having quiet downtime after school to plan isn't really possible. I have always been too hard on myself and I am sure I am doing fine. I also have 2 kids and I don't want to ignore them all of the time. We all had off today and I spent more time planning for the rest of the week and it took forever. I haul all of my teacher's guides home in a rolling suitcase b/c I can only do so much planning after school with a room full of students. I might try going upstairs to the library with my teacher's guides just to sit in quiet.

[Anonymous]

My mom has taught for over 30 years and says it takes about 3 years to get your groove. Not that this is helpful but I think many new teachers feel the same way as you.

[Anonymous]

Former teacher here. Can you do the same theme of lesson for grades 1 - 2/3 and then for grades 3/4 - 5? Think on a theme - and then generate or find activities that are age appropriate that hit your standards or goals. So I assume you're a science or art or music teacher. If you want students to be able to understand Picasso or hurricanes or wind instruments, write down a list of potential activities you can do around that theme or topic, make sure each has an instructional goal, and then modify within that up or down for each grade level.

[Anonymous]

I think the PP has some good advice.

I am also a first year teacher in en elementary school in DC. I don't have kids though - hats off to you for balancing that.

I have found it extremely difficult to be a first year teacher - partially because I kill myself, moreso than many of my colleagues. I come in 2 hours before school starts and often stay 4 hours after school is over. It is exhausting. I think most people have no idea how insane teaching is for people who are really committed. It is very very hard. Know you are not along.

[Anonymous]

*alone

[Anonymous]

I teach ESL and I have a prescribed curriculum for each grade level. So I teach first grade, then fifth, then fourth, then kindergarten, then fifth again (thankfully I only have to plan once for both fifth grade groups) and then third. Thankfully, the curriculum is pretty straightforward and the teacher's guides are easy to follow for the most part. But most of the time, due to the running around here and there, I feel like a headless chicken The treadmill starts at 9am and doesn't stop until 3:30pm. I need to sit down more often while we read b/c my back has been hurting so much every night that I have to take Tylenol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom has taught for over 30 years and says it takes about 3 years to get your groove. Not that this is helpful but I think many new teachers feel the same way as you.

My principal told me this (3 years to feel like I knew what I was doing) and I found it to be very true. Hang in there! Has your district assigned you a mentor? If not, see if you can get one.

[Anonymous]

Yes, there is a mentor but I've never felt comfortable with her around. She spent the first few days at my school giving me WAY too much irrelevant info instead of important stuff. She is available if I have a question (I will email her) but I'd rather not have her hang around. The kids are distracted by her presence and I feel like she is judging me. I sit in a rocking chair when we read a story from our anthology books (as all of the other teachers I know from when I student taught) but she thinks I shouldn't be sitting down. Ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, there is a mentor but I've never felt comfortable with her around. She spent the first few days at my school giving me WAY too much irrelevant info instead of important stuff. She is available if I have a question (I will email her) but I'd rather not have her hang around. The kids are distracted by her presence and I feel like she is judging me. I sit in a rocking chair when we read a story from our anthology books (as all of the other teachers I know from when I student taught) but she thinks I shouldn't be sitting down. Ever.

See if you can find an unofficial mentor at your school that you get along with. Most teachers are happy to bounce ideas off each other. It sounds like you are a reading specialist or something else where there may not be others with the same position as you? See if there's a way to get in touch with others in your position at other schools.

The first year can be really tough. I don't even think you have to get to year 4 for things to get easier - even the 2nd year will be a million times easier. Good luck, OP! Do the best you can, don't beat yourself up, and get some rest.

[Anonymous]

to the former teachers:

When I read your advice to a struggling teacher, I question why you left.

Can you share your reasons? Were there certain obstacles you couldn't overcome, for example? Or did you decide that the money wasn't worth it once you had to factor in childcare costs? (I know that's the reason many of my colleagues opted out.)

just curious

I am in my 19th year - second career, btw - and I'm still hanging in there despite the many obstacles I face daily. But I do have a masters plus 30. So the money is more than enough to cover our morning care - and was enough to cover nanny costs when our kids were younger.

FWIW, husband teaches, too. So summers are easy, as we don't need childcare.

again, just curious

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:to the former teachers:

When I read your advice to a struggling teacher, I question why you left.

Can you share your reasons? Were there certain obstacles you couldn't overcome, for example? Or did you decide that the money wasn't worth it once you had to factor in childcare costs? (I know that's the reason many of my colleagues opted out.)

just curious

I am in my 19th year - second career, btw - and I'm still hanging in there despite the many obstacles I face daily. But I do have a masters plus 30. So the money is more than enough to cover our morning care - and was enough to cover nanny costs when our kids were younger.

FWIW, husband teaches, too. So summers are easy, as we don't need childcare.

again, just curious

I left to go back to graduate school and get a Ph.D. I liked many aspects of teaching, but found that other parts of the job were really tedious (grading, dealing with discipline issues, unhelpful parents, teaching to standardized tests, poor administrators at the building level, etc.) I taught high school in an urban environment so the amount of time devoted to discipline issues was really tiring. If I taught elementary school in the suburbs I might have felt differently. I now make less money teaching at the college level, but I have more freedom over my classroom and don't have to deal with students who don't want to be there. At the college level, if someone wants to fail that is their business not mine.

[Anonymous]

I'm a first year teacher, too (although I'm a college professor, so my kids are 20 years old) and feel similar to the OP . I'm finishing my lectures minutes before class. I feel like I'm doing a poor job, but colleagues have said, like a poster above, it takes 3 years to really get a course down.

[Anonymous]

I have always felt that it takes at least a year to feel fully competent in a new position, and when I was a university faculty member I felt it took more than one year. I would just encourage you to be gentle with yourself and make sure you meet your basic needs related to health, wellness, and emotional well being. I wish you the best of luck!