Getting Off to a Good Start as a New Secondary Teacher

When we began our careers at the same high school, we cobbled together classroom ideas as an act of survival, leaning on each other and a few generous colleagues who shared their resources and hard-earned wisdom.  Nearly 30 years later, new teachers have a different struggle: muddling through what seems like a fire hose of ideas from teacher marketplaces, Google searches, and social media platforms, which to us seems more difficult than having less to sift through and fewer decisions to make. At the time, a scarcity of resources was our biggest challenge; in hindsight, access to these seven pieces of advice would have saved us time, energy, and a lot of trial and error.

Get Clear on Your Values

To plan more intentionally, anchor your classroom with values that cultivate relationships and deepen learning. To begin, circle 10 of your core teacher beliefs from Brené Brown’s values list. Explore these values more deeply through reflective questions that will allow you to identify five nonnegotiables to guide your students’ behavior and engagement. 

Then, invite students to cocreate classroom norms that will build community throughout the school year. For us, these values include trust, curiosity, and respect, since they support vulnerability and academic courage.

Channel the Influence of an Impactful Teacher

Teachers vary in their perspectives, methods, and teaching styles, yet, according to Heather C. Hill, a professor at Harvard‘s Graduate School of Education, effective teachers do “three key things: They establish strong, caring teacher-student relationships; challenge students to think, reason, and communicate their ideas; and convey subject matter accurately and clearly.”

Ask yourself: Who was this teacher for me? What specific actions did they take to make me consistently feel seen and respected, and motivated to learn? How can I channel their influence to inform my current teaching practice?

Learn Your School Culture

Although you likely have considerable creative control in your classroom, as you map out your year, be aware of your classroom’s unique context, and adapt your teaching practices to align with your school’s culture. Take inventory of your school’s guiding principles by considering these three key questions:  

• What is your district’s mission statement, and what keywords reveal its aspirations?
• Do your building-level administrators have nonnegotiables?  
• What are your department’s goals and initiatives, and how do you know? (Your past classroom observations and department meeting agendas could shed light.)

Consider your responses as you center your priorities in the classroom. For example, if your district’s mission statement prioritizes that students develop a “love of learning” (as both of our districts do), remember that part of your responsibility is to get to know your students and find ways to make the content relevant to their lives, so they can discover the joy in learning.

Think Beyond Delivering Content

Teaching is so much more than “covering” the curriculum. To actively engage students with your content, create the conditions for deep and meaningful discussion. As students are more willing to share ideas in psychologically safe, nonjudgmental spaces, prioritize building relationships with and between students. Keep sentence stems visible (on bulletin boards or laminated index cards) to foster conversation. Use the “Yes, and” improv approach to teach students how to acknowledge and build upon each other’s perspectives, igniting more productive whole class discussions.

At every opportunity, engage in and model abundant and specific feedback. Finally, since each classroom of students includes reluctant participants, model a growth mindset by reminding students that when they think they can’t do something, they likely have just not mastered the skill yet.

Establish and Protect Boundaries

Teaching can easily become a 24-hour-a-day job—emails to reply to, papers to grade, and students who schedule meetings during your lunch or prep time to discuss their grades or seek emotional support. There may be that one club that needs an adviser, or one more guidance counselor or parent who wants your input.

To thrive in this profession, create some space between your work responsibilities and your personal life so that you can rest, restore, and cultivate a full life outside of school. (These essential practices for creating boundaries might help.) One of our boundaries is setting a time limit on the work we complete at home and allowing progress rather than perfection to be enough. Yes, the essays may not all be graded after working for two hours, and presence and intentionality matter as much outside of the classroom as it does within.

Take Time to Pause

The rigid school schedule and the constant influx of queries can compromise a teacher’s ability to make decisions. Parent emails, administrative directives, and grade disputes may feel like they require a timely response; however, teachers experience sufficient decision fatigue even when they address only the most urgent moment-to-moment issues.

When you can, hit pause to decide if you would benefit from consulting with a colleague or simply give yourself process time. Identifying which matters can wait will ensure more-thoughtful responses.

Surround Yourself with Supportive Colleagues

From our experience, teacher effectiveness and well-being both improve when relationships with colleagues are valued as much as relationships with students. Having a trusted colleague to talk through challenging situations can give you confidence and clarity. We do this for each other: Sometimes we look for advice, sometimes reassurance, and we welcome a gentle redirect when our choices have missed the mark. 

Whether it’s your first year or you’ve been in the profession for decades, the demands can feel overwhelming. Remember that your superpower is your belief in your students’ ability to succeed, which has one of the greatest impacts on learning. Remind yourself that right now, you are having a meaningful impact on students’ lives. Remind yourself, you may be new, but you are enough.