In this episode of "Bites of the Apple" with Kimberly Bolton, titled "Thriving in Your First Year of Teaching: Strategies for Newbie Educators," Kimberly, a seasoned educator turned mental health advocate and coach, provides invaluable insights for new teachers aiming to not just survive but thrive in their teaching careers. The episode, part of a four-part series for February 2024 on Building Emotional Strength in Education, focuses on mental health awareness for educators, dedicating this particular episode to new teachers who are still finding their way. Kimberly shares her own experience of starting as a teacher with minimal guidance, emphasizing the importance of building a strong support network. She offers four actionable tips for new teachers: 1. **Build a Support Network:** Encourages new teachers to seek out mentors and connect with seasoned educators to navigate the overwhelming aspects of teaching. 2. **Master Classroom Management:** Highlights the significance of establishing crystal-clear expectations, creating routines, and positively reinforcing good behavior. 3. **Prioritize Work-Life Balance:** Advocates for self-care and setting boundaries, urging teachers to ask for help and not attempt to do everything alone. 4. **Continuous Professional Development:** Emphasizes the value of ongoing learning, suggesting attending workshops, webinars, and seeking guidance from veteran teachers. Kimberly reminds new teachers to maintain a positive mindset, avoid toxic environments, and protect their well-being. The episode concludes with a call to action, encouraging teachers to reflect on their progress, seek support, and stay tuned for upcoming episodes. The overarching message is clear: New teachers matter, their journeys matter, and they are not alone on this empowering educational adventure. The podcast aims to inspire, motivate, and provide practical strategies for a successful teaching career.
"Thriving in Your First Year of Teaching: Strategies for Newbie Educators" episode of "Bites of the Apple" with Kimberly Bolton:
- **Introduction:**
- Kimberly introduces herself as a 20 plus year teacher and administrator turned mental health advocate and coach.
- The episode is part of a four-part series for February 2024 on Building Emotional Strength in Education, focusing on mental health awareness for educators.
- **Dedication to New Teachers:**
- Kimberly dedicates this episode to new teachers who are still navigating the challenges of their early years in education.
- Shares her own experience of starting as a teacher with minimal guidance.
- **Four Actionable Tips for New Teachers:**
1. **Build a Support Network:**
- Encourages new teachers to seek out mentors and connect with seasoned educators.
- Emphasizes the importance of filtering urgent and important tasks with the help of mentors.
2. **Master Classroom Management:**
- Highlights the significance of crystal-clear expectations, creating routines, and positively reinforcing good behavior.
- Advises on seeking help from mentor teachers and addressing disruptive behaviors effectively.
3. **Prioritize Work-Life Balance:**
- Advocates for self-care and setting boundaries.
- Suggests seeking assistance from mentor teachers, administrators, or parent volunteers to manage workload.
4. **Continuous Professional Development:**
- Stresses the value of ongoing learning and attending workshops, webinars, and other professional development opportunities.
- Encourages reflection on lessons and seeking guidance from seasoned teachers.
- **Maintaining a Positive Mindset:**
- Urges new teachers to stay positive and avoid toxic environments.
- Emphasizes the importance of seeking support and focusing on personal well-being.
- **Call to Action:**
- Encourages reflection on progress and seeking support when needed.
- Teases upcoming episodes in the series, particularly one on coping with school violence.
- **Closing:**
- Reminds teachers that they matter and are not alone on their educational journey.
- Encourages sharing the podcast, subscribing for notifications, and connecting on social media.
The episode provides practical advice and encouragement for new teachers, emphasizing the importance of building a support system, effective classroom management, work-life balance, continuous learning, and maintaining a positive mindset.
Hey there, teacher! Do you want 2024 to be your best year yet, but you are new to teaching and you have no idea how to prioritize? Well, tune in today for actionable strategies specifically for newbie teachers to help you thrive in your career. Hi, I'm Kimberly Bolton. I'm a 20 plus year teacher and administrator turned teacher mental health advocate and coach, and you can find me online at Kimberly Bolton. com. And this podcast is part of my super blog called Bites of the Apple. It's Bite sized Nuggets of Inspiration and Motivation for Stressed out Teachers. And today is number three of a four part series for February 2024 on Building Emotional Strength in Education. And all month long, our focus is on mental health awareness for educators. And this episode is dedicated to all of our new teachers who are still trying to figure things out. And maybe you're in the middle of your first year or very early on.
Now I will never forget my first year of teaching. All I got was a teacher's edition of my textbook and a room key. And that was it. I was told, Okay, here you go. Go teach. Now, I had the benefit of two really veteran teachers take me under their wings and I learned that change is evolutionary, not revolutionary. I'll never forget that. I learned so much from them. I definitely would not have survived my first year without them. And we're still friends almost 25 years later. I do want to mention that the point of your first year is to survive it. Your second year will be 100 percent different, I promise you. But if you're here in the middle of your first year right now, there's several key areas to focus on for a positive start in your teaching journey. So I have four actionable tips right now.
Number one, if you haven't done it yet, build a support network. Many districts and schools require new teachers to participate in some type of mentorship program or guided program. Or some kind of mentoring system. But even if yours doesn't, I encourage you to take the initiative and reach out to the seasoned veteran teachers either in your building or in your district and ask them for help. Seasoned veteran teachers can help you learn how to filter all the things coming at you. Right now, I get it that everything feels like house on fire when you're new. But your mentors will help you learn how to discern the urgent and the important from the unurgent and not important. I also want to encourage you to connect with the teachers on your grade level or in your content area so that you have peer collaborators too. And if you can't do it in your building, Do it in your district and ask your administrative team for help connecting with other teachers in other buildings. I want you to share ideas and strategies. Please don't try to do all this alone. It is way too much and way overwhelming.
Number two, I know it's February, but you gotta get your classroom management skills in place. I'm gonna encourage you to establish crystal clear expectations. If you haven't really done it yet, you need to do it now. If your system needs updating, do it now. It is much harder to teach your content if the students are not listening to you. And this is the one skill that really trips up newbie teachers. So I want you to think about all of your classroom rituals and routines. If you need to, Google classroom management strategies for help with pre planning for student behaviors. You can also use those mentor teachers from action item number one. They can help you too. Now, positive reinforcement works better than negative reinforcement. So, whatever you pay attention to will increase. In today's post COVID world, there definitely seems to be an increase in disrespectful behaviors. So I want you to plan on explicitly teaching what respect looks and sounds like, even if you're middle or high school. And practice, practice, practice. And don't be afraid to call parents. Go ahead and listen to last week's episode on tips for how to communicate with parents effectively. And if students just refuse to listen after several redirections, Definitely follow your school's procedures to have them removed from your classroom. Persistent disruptions are taking valuable class time away from the students who are there to learn.
Number three, definitely work life balance. You need to prioritize your self care. And it doesn't mean bubble baths and evening glasses of wine. It means boundaries. You need to protect your time and protect your energy. If your plate is overflowing, ask your mentor teachers for help with time management strategies or ask your admin team about what might be able to be removed from your plate. And if your school has a parent teacher association or a volunteer boosters or something like that, ask about getting a room parent volunteer to help you with some of the less important tasks that don't involve, working directly with students. They can help you with things like bulletin boards, organizing books, you know, cutting out things and getting things ready for a lesson. They're really valuable and they really can help you. And I also want you to let go of the idea of getting everything done. There is too much to do and there really is not enough hours in the day. If it is unimportant and not urgent. Go ahead and sing my favorite song. Let it go. Let it go. And last, but certainly not least, Go home at the end of your day. Do not stay until all hours of the evening. Your family needs you, your dog needs you, even your couch needs you.
And number four, continuous professional development. I want you to embrace learning opportunities. Teaching is the kind of profession that really takes like Three to five years to get your sea legs. Even if you come from a college of education, practical application professional development is different than theory from college. I want you to attend workshops, webinars, online topics, anything that you can get approved. And if you're working on getting your teaching certificate in your state, chances are you have a professional development program that is laid out for you already. And I want to encourage you to keep up with that. It's important to meet those deadlines on time. And at the very minimum, I want to encourage you to take a bit of your planning time and go and sit in a seasoned veteran teacher's classroom and watch them. I promise you, you will learn so much. The other thing to do is, after you have a lesson, take a minute to jot down what went well and what you might change if you taught this again next year. Reflect on that. These are invaluable notes for next year's you, and you will thank yourself for having done this this year.
So to summarize, our strategies for young teachers to help you thrive is number one, build your support network. Number two, get your classroom management system down solid. Number three, create solid routines for work life balance. And number four, seek out continuous professional development. Remember, I want you to keep a positive mindset here. Don't listen to the grumblers. If your teacher's lounge is toxic, find other ways to connect socially. Your mindset can make or break you. And remember that seeking support and focusing on your personal well being are essential for your success as a teacher. The teaching profession has Historically relied on the free labor of teachers. So please avoid falling into that trap. And protect yourself. Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries. That's the word to remember. Boundaries. Don't forget it. If you take one word away from this episode, it's boundaries.
So, here's your next steps. Questions. Who are your mentors? How often do you meet with them? How can you build your support network for the second half of this year? Are your classroom management systems strongly in place? Where could you use help? Who will you reach out to for that help? How can you sit in a veteran teacher's classroom and watch them teach?
And if you still have questions, or if you need more support, feel free to reach out to me at Kimberly at Kimberly Bolton. com. I really am happy to help you. So next week is our last week for our series in February on building your emotional strength, and I want you to stay tuned. We have upcoming our conversation on coping with school violence. That's a big deal.
So if you like what you hear, please share this with your friends. Subscribe to get notifications of new Bites of the Apple episodes delivered right to your inbox and follow me on your favorite social media platforms. Teachers, send me your favorite strategies that help you in your early years of teaching. I would love to highlight you in a future episode. Email me those at Kimberly at Kimberly Bolton. com.
And if you're overwhelmed, please, please, please contact me. I really am here to help you. I appreciate you and I thank you for listening in. And remember, you matter. Teaching matters. Your heart is your superpower, and I believe in you.