I can very clearly remember my first year as a teacher in Far North Queensland in the early 1990’s. As it was so very far away from my home here in Toowoomba and such a very different community to what I was accustom to, it took me a great deal of time to settle in.
Thankfully, the class I had were beautiful (if not challenging) and I was very much able to throw myself into the teaching aspect of my life. I was also lucky to have a principal who made efforts to include me in the community in a variety of ways.
But it was very isolating and very lonely. I did not cope very well with this aspect of existence and struggled at times personally. For you, what are the key things that you can do to help you support yourself as a beginning teacher? What are your concerns? Share your ideas about what you think your first year will look like.
I think one of the key strategies you mentioned that will help support me as a beginning teacher is the psychological boundaries of working hours. I don’t see myself as a perfectionist as such but I do want to make sure I will do the best job I can, which has often meant going through many YouTube videos to ensure I have the content 100% in my head so that I can be prepared for any questions the students may ask.
I can see my first year being quite difficult as I establish my portfolio of lesson plans however I do feel it should get easier as the years go on. I do understand that I will likely teach different classes each year however often with maths and science the content is overlapping and just the difficulty changes.
I do know that even though teachers have “12 weeks holiday a year” that it is actually more like 4 weeks holiday a year like other jobs however knowing that every Easter and Christmas I will have time off with my family is comforting and something I think I will look forward to at the end of each term.
Hi Kathryn,
Your approach is a sound one. The holidays are wonderful, but my goodness they are totally needed for both the students and the teachers.