Comments on: My advice to new teachers at the start of the school year

By: Brian, act sat tutor in columbus

Brian, act sat tutor in columbus — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 23:29:53 +0000

I enjoyed the post very much. I would suggest that perhaps rather than “be yourself”, it might be better to “know yourself”. I know, for example, that I am not exactly the most strict disciplinarian. This is due to my personality. As such, I found it helpful to frame things such that what I considered to be an overreaction was actually an appropriate reaction. Keep up the great writing!

By: Roy Dallmann

Roy Dallmann — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:23:42 +0000

Thank you so much for this post. As a student teacher facing his first practicum in 4 weeks, your advice means a ton. And after having delivered an absolutely atrocious sample lesson, #4 gave me my first feeling of calm since 10am. Thank you, I needed it.

By: dbarker

dbarker — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 12:47:38 +0000

Thanks, Tyson! I’ve considered that my tone might be a bit too casual for a professional blog but I guess that connects to my personality in the classroom. I could adopt a more formal tone in my writing and in my classroom but that wouldn’t feel authentic. So I’m glad it works!

It’s been a great first week. I hope things are going well for you too!

By: dbarker

dbarker — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 12:45:24 +0000

Thanks, Sher. I hope you have a great year!

By: Tyson

Tyson — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 12:35:38 +0000

I love the real world suggestions you give here and am totally in love with the natural expressiveness in your blog writing, Danika. I wonder what teacher persona I’ve taken on without knowing entirely. I have one friend who has a total teacher’s voice that’s so irritatingly fake (though she doesn’t realise it) that I can’t listen to her talk to students.

Any case, I hope you had a great first day back and hope it keeps up (though I’m sure it will). =)

By: Sher

Sher — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:01:32 +0000

Great post!

As a sub (supply) teacher for the past 6 years I still feel like everyday is the first day. Great advice for all of us still at the begining of our teaching journey.

Hope you have a great year!

Sher

By: dbarker

dbarker — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 22:14:37 +0000

Thanks Colin!

By: Colin Harris

Colin Harris — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 17:15:45 +0000

Sound advice for new and experienced teachers alike. I hope this post gets a lot of traffic this month.

By: dbarker

dbarker — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 13:56:30 +0000

First of all, thanks for visiting me at my new home! @Shannon: There are so many things I could think of to add but I was walking around the faculty of education at UWO last week and those were the main things that stuck out for me. Good luck with your orientation session.
@Akevy: I love your addition. Thanks!
@Diana: Well 15 years ago I think I would have had some very interesting advice for a first year teacher, mainly because I was still in high school. Wouldn’t it be cool if I could get in a time machine and go back and ask myself what advice I’d give? Actually that’s not cool at all. I mean, if I had a time machine I’m sure I could come up with much better uses. Seriously though, thanks for sharing your story. I bet a lot of people can relate to that experience.

By: Diana

Diana — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 18:22:23 +0000

Geez Danika, why didn’t you post that 15 years ago when I first began? ;> I started my first year of contract teaching by sharing a grade 4/5 class with another teacher (I was the teacher-librarian for the other 0.5 of my position). I tried very hard during those first few months to be “like her” so the class would have consistency between their morning and afternoon sessions but it wasn’t natural. Once I was more myself, it didn’t mean that problems disappeared (it actually caused some tension as students expressed their opinions on the different teaching styles) but it did mean one less thing to agonize over.