1. Students are the Focus

“I’m the focus, I’m everything to students’ learning and the only one who knows what’s best for them. So, their success depends 100% on my teaching”. This is what I strongly believed in during my first year of teaching.

As a result, I was doing my best to provide clear instructions, answer all the time my students’ questions, and make sure they were all on task.

However, I found myself doing most, if not all the talking in the classroom, writing on the board more often than I was expecting, and answering most of my questions. There was no opportunity for my students to voice their ideas or make any choices that concern their learning. It was me who held control of everything.

I still remember my students’ enthusiasm and interest in taking part in their learning and I think to myself that I  could have made those classes more effective and captivating if I had known that my students are the focus, not me.

I could have explored the creative genius inside them and enjoyed together the light bulb moments. Those are learning moments for teachers and students. Because we learn from students only when we stand back and let their ideas and creativity flare.

It’s true that there should be certain teacher’s control. But, it’s not the kind of control where you’re the only leader of a learning journey while your student has no say in it and in the end, he’s labelled as a ‘failure’ or ‘successful’.

So, if you want to improve further your teaching and so enhance your students’ progress, focus on them. Learn about their needs, preferences, and expectations and take these into account. Also, listen to them and keep your eyes on how they’re learning.

Even if you’re provided with materials and good training or you think you master well the world of teaching, your students are everything. You need to think about them whenever you make any decisions. Because not what you consider effective may work well in practice.

2. Perfection does not exist

When you get hired, you feel so happy and proud of yourself. A job means a salary, new life and relationships, and most importantly an opportunity for professional and personal growth.

As a new teacher, you may get fired up by those emotions of happiness and excitement to do the job which can drive you towards seeking perfection.

That intention of looking for super interesting materials and activities and trying to do them all besides planning lessons and grading papers was the main reason why I felt so exhausted and overwhelmed from the first six months of teaching.

I was obsessed with the myth of ‘The PERFECT Teacher’. I wanted to be that kind of teacher who has an answer to every question, who does not make any mistakes and all students admire her.

Chasing that myth, I didn’t feel well and so my productivity waned. I had no more the same energy and enthusiasm in explaining and interacting with my students as before. I was barely pushing myself to finish off my lesson plan.

It was until then that I realized that seeking perfection is the first teacher’s enemy because it threatens our well-being and productivity. It makes us trapped in the illusion of doing everything right, thus negating any attempt to make mistakes. And when the unexpected arises, we stumble in front of our students and get frustrated.

This is what was happening to me when my ICT skills deceived me. My heart beat fast and I kept on pressing buttons and doing anything with that device just to escape the eyes of my students. And in the end, one of my students fixed the technical issue.

So, we don’t have to know everything and we can learn from our students.

I understand you’re new to teaching and you have plenty of energy and ideas to bring to this world. But avoid ‘doing all in the right way’. You’ll make mistakes, so reflect and learn from them to streamline. Besides, never get frustrated when things go unexpectedly. This is teaching!

3. The Lesson Plan is just a Guide

We need to plan for our lessons. But, teaching is not just about planning. There are times we need to improvise and make immediate decisions to respond to the situation at hand.

Besides, not all what we’ve planned will work with our students and we’ll reach what we expected. We need to be more flexible to direct students’ learning in the right way.

So, our plan is just a guide. It is not rigid. It can be molded by our students’ involvement (questions and interactions) in the classroom.

When I started teaching I didn’t know that. I was spending hours preparing my lesson plan and more hours revising or rather learning by heart every word there.

I was going through that plan, trying to do every task. And I often felt frustrated because I had no time to do them all.

My teaching was static. I was relying on the provided textbook and introducing the same type of activities. Change was something strange for me because I thought it required experience. So, I never dared to try one day.

It took me years to get more flexible and innovative in teaching after realizing that my excitement to do well started to fade away and my students were losing interest in my lessons.

So, even if you’re a new teacher, be flexible, take risks, and try new things. Observe and keep on reflecting on your teaching. Change develops out of your experience. You should give it a go from the start.

4. Uncertainties are to be embraced in teaching

I always say to my students that teaching is a mysterious world, expect the unexpected, and reflect to be more proactive.

During my first year of teaching, I was overthinking the unexpectedness. I was all the time, even after school, struggling with those fears of getting questions, and comments or facing an embarrassing situation that I had no idea how to handle.

Every day was for me a hard adventure full of fears and self-doubts, so I could not enjoy doing my job.

I wish I knew that those uncertainties are part of teaching because I’m stepping into the unknown. I should have accepted that I’m here to learn from my experience, I don’t know everything (and I can’t), but I’m able to support my students to learn.

So, instead of yielding to those fears, I could have reflected on my teaching and focused more on how I should improve.

I know that you may have such fears as a new teacher. But, don’t let them rule over you. You’ll feel more stressed. Embrace uncertainties. Take it easy instead of blaming yourself for not doing this and that. Learn from your experience, and from other educators, and trust yourself.

The more learning you gain the more you get spontaneous about teaching and develop the necessary tools to deal with the unexpected. This will make you feel more comfortable and enjoy those moments you spend with your students.

5. Others’ help is a must

New teachers need help. This is the truth that I was trying to ignore when I started teaching. I refused to seek my colleagues’ help because I was afraid of getting rejected or being laughed at. Also, I considered it a sign of weakness: ‘They may think I’m not good enough and they’ll tell others about it’.

During my first year of teaching, I had no other source of help. No mentor, a friend who is teaching, or any educators to network with. So, I found myself alone struggling with different issues (using materials, managing the classroom, etc.) while pretending to be fine with my new experience.

Though I needed my colleagues’ help, I never had the courage to ask them. Because what I cared about most was how they would see me. I was seeking perfection and ‘the Bad Teacher’ image really scared me.

Doing so, I missed a great learning opportunity which could have saved me a lot of time and energy. I knew well that because of my fear and negative thinking patterns I would never seek my colleagues’ help.

So, I decided to attend conferences overseas to meet and learn from other teachers. Since they were strange to me, I didn’t care about how they would react or think of me. I dared to ask them questions I could not utter to those working next door.

However, attending conferences has not only supported me to get answers to my questions but has also helped me shift my mindset as a teacher. I have learned that teaching is a learning process that is limitless and of different resources. We learn from our students, our colleagues, and other educators.

Therefore, never hesitate to ask for help. Even if you get rejected, look for other colleagues who can help. It’s worth it.

I made those mistakes in my first year of teaching, but I’ve learned a lot from them. Now after more than 15 years of experience, I feel that my love of teaching has grown more than any time before.

So, the beginning is always difficult. Yet, believe in yourself. You can make teaching an exciting learning experience that fuels your passion and energy to do well.