Dear New Teachers

Congratulations! Whether you’re a brand new teacher or you have a new assignment, whether you’re in a new building or you’re returning to the classroom, I wish you all the best.

Take attendance each day out loud. I wish I could take back the days when I just looked at the empty desks to mark down the absentees. I thought I was being efficient. Greet students each day by saying their names and acknowledging their presence:

I’m so glad you’re here.

How was your game yesterday?

Your hair looks great like that.

Thank you for being here.

On days when everyone is present, I add, “Today is perfect already because you’re all here.”

Do math every day, especially on the first day. The kind of math where your students talk in groups for at least 75% of the time. If your principal tells you not to, they are wrong.

If you have plans to ask students to share/write about what they did over the summer, I will just let you know that I dreaded that assignment as a student. My family really didn’t go anywhere; guess we couldn’t afford to. We went nowhere and did nothing. That’s hard to expand on.

Tell your students an everyday story. Did anything happen in the last 24 hours (or over the summer) that you’d want to share? Be spontaneous. Make it quick. How was your dinner? The drive in this morning? Something funny your child/partner had said? This is not something you force or make up. You either have something light to say or you don’t. Here’s mine: Last week I asked my husband to teach me how to dive into the lake from the dock. (No, I had never done this before. I kinda know how to swim, meaning I don’t really know how.) He demonstrated, talking me through the motion. My turn — I assumed the proper dive position — and before I could change my mind, I did a belly flop. He laughed hard and asked me to try again. So, I gave it another shot. And I did it! I perfected the belly flop in my second attempt! My tummy and face hurt from the impact. I’d never seen my husband laugh this hard. He told me I was a champ.

For the longest time I had only two rules to tell my students on the first day of school: 1) never give up, and 2) never tell an answer. I would also tell them where to go should we hear the fire alarm. And that was it. I don’t know what possesses us to inundate students’ first day with a soul-crushing list of rules and procedures. We still have the next 179 days to tell them whatever else we need to tell them.

You can measure the students’ enthusiasm for your class quantitatively: time how fast they arrive at your door the next day. :) What teachers do is really hard, and I hope you’ll reach out to people who have your back. Always make family and yourself a priority. The students and the lessons should bring you joy. If they don’t, I hope you’ve saved up to start a vineyard.

Let’s do this.

Fawn