Three Common Mistakes to Avoid as a New Teacher

New teachers come across a myriad of difficulties during their first year in the classroom. No matter how thorough the teacher preparation program a teacher goes through prior to obtaining a teaching position, mistakes will be made. Here are three common mistakes new teachers make that can be avoided.


Get Adequate Rest as a New Teacher
Often new teachers live and breathe teaching and planning and one common pitfall is to not get adequate rest. Getting enough sleep is one of the key factors in helping new teachers remain healthy. A solid night’s sleep is one important aspect of rest for a new teacher, but mental rest is equally important.

To get mental rest, teachers need to find a way to stop thinking about school. While this may seem simple on the surface, in fact, new teachers are so consumed with the importance of their student’s education and have difficulty leaving it behind even for a short period of time. New teachers need to find at least one person in their life that can make the purposeful effort to bring the conversation away from school and students.

Try New Ideas but Don’t Over Do It
New teachers are the recipients of a plethora of good ideas. Attempting to use these ideas in the classroom makes teachers better at what they do. There is a limit to how many new ideas should be put into place in the classroom, though. The line should be drawn at the point where one idea works well.

So for example, if a teacher attempts one new idea for how to choose students to answer questions and it works wonderfully, attempt a new idea the very next day is not necessarily the best strategy. Keeping new ideas in a journal or teacher idea book is a much better way to handle new information so that when one idea does not work with a particular group of students, the teacher has a handful of ideas to pull out and attempt.

Befriending Students Will Backfire on a Teacher
A teacher is many things in the classroom, but friend should not be one of them. Teachers can be confidant and counselor, but not a buddy. Teachers need to remain in charge of the classroom at all times, which requires that they not become equals with the students. Friends are equals and becoming friends can result in discipline problems further down the road.

It is important that new teachers work to develop a relationship with students that include trust and respect, but the students should always remember that they answer to the teacher and must obey the rules. New teachers need to find the balance between developing a rapport with students and remaining their superior in the classroom.

There is a huge learning curve for new teachers entering the classroom for the first time. While many mistakes will be unavoidable and good lessons for the teacher to learn from, others can be avoided. Learning how to get adequate rest, collect new ideas appropriately and develop an appropriate rapport with students will help new teachers avoid three common mistakes during their first year.

Source: Suite 101.com http://www.suite101.com/content/three-common-mistakes-to-avoid-as-a-new-teacher-a289860#ixzz1G5mJi9NI