School is just around the corner!

How to Go through New School Year with Jitters

Are you a new teacher? Congratulations!


Are you ready for the (one of the) most important jobs? Feeling excited? Anxious? You have so much to learn, your professional practice growth is endless. BUT, you need to develop resilience. Are you ready to become more resilient? It takes time, support, and learning.


Having a fantastic year is something that a lot of people do not think is possible during their first year, despite being hopeful. You have gone through years of education and you thought you were ready. Once you are in front of the class, you may feel your legs start to buckle. You are suddenly confused about what you have to do- you become shy!

Do You Need a Coach Immediately?
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You may be thinking to yourself, “Why do I need a new coach immediately?” You may not realize it yet but everyone needs a mentor or a coach. Improvement does not happen alone.

You have dreamed of becoming a teacher since you were young and now that you are finally here. Are you ready for the hiccups? There will be many! A coach is there to help shape a hiccup into a learning opportunity.

There are various teacher programs that are available that will allow you to get to know more about your subject plus the various things that you can do to make your subject appealing to your new students. Your students might be sizing you up but you do not have to show them that you are scared. You are an authoritative figure and you need to maintain that. A coach will give you effective strategies to get through the awkward beginning, develop relationships, and grow as an aspiring teacher.

How Will You Know if a Coach is Good?

Is having a good coach important? Of course, it is! The best coaches will plant the seed for you to grow. You will go through a lot of challenges especially in your first year. There will be moments you want OUT. I never want to see a good teacher leave the profession because of the wrong reasons  A coach will guide you, support you, and gently push you along. They will remind you that everything is going to be all right. A coach will be able to help you pour out all of your thoughts and feelings about teaching. You will not be judged.

Take note that a good coach will show you how everything is done instead of just telling you. The coach will only tell you things if you are asking for their advice. If you do not need their advice, then they would just listen to you. They are there to develop an action plan of growth and support based on your needs RIGHT NOW.


Some Things You Will Learn from Your Coach

There are various things that will be beneficial for you as you learn more from your coach:

● You will learn how to become respectful towards others.
One of the mistakes that teachers make is they start to believe that they are better than the rest. They feel that they are even better than their students. One of the things that you should realize is this: you are always a student. Even if you are with students, you are bound to learn a thing or two from them. This is something that your coach will teach you about.

● You will learn how to listen.
This is another thing that you will learn more about when you start having a coach. You will realize that listening is sometimes more important than talking if you want to learn more. When you listen to what other people are telling you, you will be able to formulate new ideas. For example, you may be teaching in class and you feel that your students are bored. Get to know more about them. Listen to the things that they want. There is a very big chance that you can think of creative ways to make learning much more fun.

● You will start to embrace challenges.
One of the things that new teachers are scared about are the challenges that will be faced. It is normal that you are going to feel a bit challenged about the things that you have to do. It is all part of the things that will make you feel a bit scared. It is normal to feel scared but challenges should make you stronger and not break you. Your coach will make sure that you will not get broken. It is okay to feel down from time to time because of the challenges but the moment that you are able to go through the challenge, you will realize that you are a much stronger teacher because of these challenges.

● It will help you become more empathic.
What is empathy? It is having the ability to put yourself in the position of another person. A lot of teachers need empathy in order to become effective. There are some teachers who do things that literally change the lives of the students that they meet. There are also some teachers who do not care at all. Would you like to become a part of the first group or the second group of teachers? You want to become part of the first group.

A proper coach will teach you these things and a lot more tricks to help you survive your first year as a teacher.

Some More Helpful Tips

You already know the great effect of having positive coaches by your side to provide the help that you need. There are still other helpful tips that will help you survive your first year and the corresponding years of teaching.

■ Have a vision of yourself as a teacher.

You can think about all the things that made some of your previous teachers your favorites. What activities did they do before that truly made you have fun in class? You can make a variation of that and offer that to your students. Remember your teaching goals!!!

■ Understand that all of your students are different.

You cannot expect that all of your students will become high achievers. Being a good teacher is important so that your students will learn but they can all learn at their own pace. They also have their own styles that will help them learn more about the subject that you are teaching. You are not recommended to compare one student to another. It will be unfair. 

■ Gain more insight about your students.

There are moments when you can learn more about your students when you do home visits. This is ideal if your school recommends it or if it is allowed. Get outside with your students! Play game. Learn something awesome each student brings to the community and something ridiculous. 

■ Take care of your body.'

You want to be a good teacher, this is understandable. Remember that you should do this not to the extent that you will already be neglecting your health. There are different things that you have to remember doing:

■ Sleep
■ Rest
■ Eat Well
■ Exercise

Do not be one of those teachers who would say, “When was the last time that I tried to do some cardio exercises?” You are not supposed to neglect yourself in order to make your students happy. You need to be healthy so that you can teach more students for a long time. You have a lot of test papers to grade but it does not mean that you have to forego sleep. You need to sleep and rest well.

● Take note of the simple successes that you get in the classroom.

It is your first year, after all. You are entitled to it. You can truly enjoy the fact that one of your students who used to do badly is now having higher marks. You should remember that one of your students who used to forget his book all the time is now making an effort to read the pages that you have required him to read. You should also be proud of your very own accomplishments like the fact that you were able to eat lunch with the rest of your teachers or that you were able to meet up with your coach for advice. You can celebrate at the end of the day when you know that your lesson plan is done. It can be an even bigger celebration if you have created a lesson plan that will be valuable for the whole week.

Let Go of the Stress

Teaching is going to be hard work. You need to be prepared for that. You will be overwhelmed during your first year but this is something that you will learn as time passes by. Why do you have to allow yourself to live your life based on just being a teacher? Being a teacher is your profession but it does not mean that it has to be your life.

There is a life beyond teaching! A coach will help you find balance.  

Take A Day Off

Everyone deserves to get a day off! Catch up with your friends and tell them funny stories and your experiences. Use your weekend well and make use of those days.

You ought to remember that your first year will be complicated! Teaching is a practice. How do you get better at a sport? You hire a coach and play with your friends with more experience. The same goes for teaching!  ​