Teaching is a demanding profession, but it can be a very rewarding one. In few professions do you actually have the power to change people’s lives. New teachers often come into the profession with a desire to help, knowledge about their specific field, but very little information about how a school really works. By following these five suggestions, you can avoid many of the new teachers' pitfalls.

Get to Know Your Students before They Are Your Students

Many new teachers make the mistake of waiting until their students walk into the classroom to get to know them. By that time, the students have the advantage. They already know three things about you: your name, the fact that you are new, and that you don’t even know their names. In many cases, that is all the information the students need to make a terrible first year for their teacher. Unfortunately, if you start on the wrong foot in the classroom, it is difficult to recover your balance before the end of the year.

The first thing you need to do is make sure you know your students. Each child has a permanent record with his/her picture in it. These records are usually housed in the main office or in the counselor’s office. Look at the pictures, take time to skim the folders, and make notes about your students. Pay special attention should to any type of handicaps, allergies, or challenging behaviors. You also may want to make note of their last standardized test scores, since this is one way you will be held accountable as a teacher. Also listed on the folder is last year’s teacher. If you have questions, go to the previous teacher. Don’t wait for the children to fill out information cards, go ahead and write down phone numbers and put them in a place you can easily access them. If you are teaching elementary school, make nameplates and stick them on the desks. With every grade, check with last year’s teachers before making out your seating chart. A seating chart helps to put you in control of your classroom. Never begin the year by letting students select where they want to sit. Later in the year, you can change the seating arrangement or give them choices as a reward for good behavior, but the seating chart is essential in maintaining control of your classroom.

Along with knowing your individual students, it is also good to be familiar with the age you are teaching. Each developmental age has its own set of interests and challenges. A kindergarten student is much different from a third grade student, even though they are both in elementary school. A 10th grade high school student is much different from a senior. If you don’t have children of your own, try volunteering at your church or at a community center. Learn the vocabulary, the fades, and the fears of the age group you will be teaching. Talk to the counselor to get ideas. Search on-line for articles about your age group. Then, include some of what you have learned in the way you decorate your room or in some of your lesson plans. If you are a teacher who takes an interest in what your students like, you will notice they respond to you much more positively. A second grade student learns verbs much better if you relate the lesson to Scooby-Doo than if you teach the lesson straight from the textbook.

Take Time to Learn Your Environment

If you don’t want to look “new,” invest a little time before pre-planning to scope out your environment. Pre-planning is usually the week before school starts, but typically, it is filled with meetings and activities, such as open house. Don’t assume that you will get much accomplished during this time.

Instead, come into work a couple of days in advance. Walk around the school. Find out the location of key places: the faculty bathroom, the student bathrooms, the lunchroom, the office, the counselor’s office, and the gym. If you are going to send students to these different places, you need to know where they are. In addition, if the secretary doesn’t look too frazzled, you may want to ask if you could get your teacher handbook. Actually, take time to read the handbook. Pay special attention to the dress code section, the daily schedule, and the school discipline policy. You may want to begin learning different teachers' names and find certain teachers' rooms--like the lead teacher and your mentor. As a new teacher, you will probably be assigned a mentor. A mentor is a more experienced teacher who can help answer your questions. A lead teacher can play many different roles, depending on the school, but usually, this person turns in all the important paperwork; therefore, it is essential you know where her room is.

If you are able to get your keys early, go ahead and set up your room. Hint: Arrange your room for your students’ learning, not necessarily for your comfort. Put up posters that will help them with the key concepts they have to learn. Make sure there is enough room between rows so that they or you don’t trip. Make a place for backpacks and early finishers. Early finishers are those students who will often finish their assignments in half the time it takes others. Make a little corner of special activities for them. If there is room, make a place for conferencing with students. If you are teaching elementary school, you may want a reading corner, a listening center, or an activity table.

Collaborate Whenever Possible

Beginning teachers often make the mistake of isolating themselves from their peers. It is easy to do. Teachers are very busy people. As a teacher, you will arrive early in the morning, teach your classes, grade your papers, prepare for the next day, and if you are lucky, go home. When you’re new, you don’t have anything prepared ahead of time, so often you spend lunch trying to catch up. When you are tempted to close your door to get work done, think about this riddle. How many teachers does it take to create a lesson plan? If all of you are teaching the same story, you may want to work together to plan. Even if you teach differently, the plans will include the same basics. Soon you will find that collaboration does not take away from your creativity and individuality; it gives you time to develop and enhance it.

Most elementary schools have grade level planning. Take advantage of it. Dividing the work makes sense. You can modify after you get the basics. If you are in high school or middle school, find a buddy. Usually, people have strengths and weaknesses. If you write well, find someone who doesn’t. Offer to do the writing part of the plans, if they make the copies and staple the papers. You will find that not only will you have extra time because you are doing one-half or one-fourth of the work; you also will begin to develop some connections and possibly some friendships.

Finally, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Teachers are busy, but most of them are caring. They understand that as a new teacher, there are things you just don’t know. Most of them will help if they are asked.

Know Your Technology

Think you could escape technology by going into teaching? Wrong! Think you don’t need computer skills because you are teaching math? Wrong again. There is not a discipline in teaching that doesn’t use technology. Know how to use a computer, especially the following programs: Word, Excel, and Power Point. Also, be comfortable surfing the web.

Don’t have a computer? Your library probably does. Don’t know how to use these programs? Learn. Your local technical school or community college probably offers a variety of computer courses. If you don’t want to go back to school, you can take courses on-line from your home or, with permission from your principal, from your school. At the very least, get on the computer and learn by trial and error, or get a peer teacher to give you some mini-lessons after school. You might even try asking your administrators for help. They are always looking for needs related to staff development.

Whatever you need to do, do it. Why you may ask? For several very important reasons:

• You need to know technology so you can keep up with your students.
• Technology gives you access to countless resources, including lesson plans, puzzle makers, educational games, and educational tutorials.
• Technology saves you time.
• Technology saves you file space.
• Practice for many of the tests the students must pass is on-line.

Don’t Ignore the Staff

If I had to rank these five suggestions, this would be suggestion number 1. Don’t ignore the very people who feed you, call a sub on the days you are sick, clean up the throw up in your room, and empty the trash cans. If you choose to ignore them, do not be surprised when your French fries are cold, the secretary can’t find a sub, and the janitor disappears when everyone in your room has the flu. Every veteran teacher knows that these people actually run the school. Make an effort to speak to them. It doesn’t matter if you are busy, so are they. In fact, I would challenge anyone to find a busier person than a top-notch school secretary. Don’t forget them at Christmas. Mark Secretaries' Week on your school calendar.

Many of these suggestions are things that you have to do on your own time. However, as a teacher just completing my 20th year, I can tell you that sacrificing a little time in the summer can really pay off during the school year.