Let's dish! Today I am sharing with you the 10 teaching secrets to know before you begin this school year. These secrets will boost your confidence in teaching, and will help you become comfortable with your teaching skills.

It takes years to get comfortable teaching and hone your skills but with these 10 secrets, you’ll quickly master the tricky parts of teaching

I'm headed into my ninth year of teaching. It takes a while to get comfortable as a teacher, I know that it took me a few years, it's not to say that you can't get super comfortable the first year but there's a big learning curve from when you student taught and then completely doing it all on your own as a first year classroom teacher. There's some things that I've learned along the way and I wanted to share 10 things that I think will be super helpful for you as you start teaching.

You don’t have to have a classroom theme

The first thing I want to say is you do not have to have a classroom theme. My first year teaching, I was making a little bit under $35,000 a year. I was working on two master's degrees at once. I had no money for a theme. I had to use things that other people had left or could borrow. I did see other teachers having really cute themes and at times, I wanted a cute theme. I just knew that spending the money on that I didn't have to do that. Just know that and one really cool tip that you can take with you as you can have your students help you decorate the classroom, and then they're part of it. They feel like they are extra special because they helped you make their room which they spent a ton of time there. It's like their second home. Now that I’ve been teaching for a while, I buy things here and there and make my own theme using calm colors like these Cursive Alphabet Posters.

A number line is life changing for classroom management

A number line is life changing for classroom management. I had a really great host teacher when I student taught with and I learned that from day one but I've known other teachers that do not have a number line. Their line would be chaotic because the kids just kind of get in line wherever they want to they're fighting over who is first. You might have 25 kids behind you and you can't keep track of all of them when you're turning corners and they're like slapping each other doing silly stuff. Having a number line is key and you can even make it really easy and get name tags and then write numbers on them and just stick them to the floor. If you have tile flooring and you know somebody that's really good with a cricket, they can make the number line for you. If you have carpet, you can still find a way to do it. Older kids might not need the numbers to step on but my kindergarten through second grade teachers definitely do.

Instead of writing students’ names on everything, assign them a number

Instead of writing students' names on everything, assign them a number. This is helpful because then you don't have to rip name tags off all year and each year you can save time labeling classroom items. One of the ways I like to do this is on book tubs and keeping that number the same all year. You may still need to use name labels for kids in kindergarten and first grade especially if they're learning their names. These editable name tags are my favorite for desks and I use them in my fifth grade classroom but they work for any grade level. I also make name tag stickers for the first day of school and use them to label many of their personal items. You can grab the editable name tag stickers here. I’m also a big fan of purposeful name tag labels for pencil boxes. I did a whole blog post about that and why pencil box name tags are a game changer!

You don’t have to have 25 classroom jobs. Have one student be the teacher helper of the week.

You do not have to have 25 different classroom jobs so that everybody has their own classroom job. Spending just one week doing 1 job is not enough time for many of our students to master their tasks. A few years ago, I started having just one teacher helper for the week. They get to do every single job I need help with. I used to have a job for almost every student and it was such a management issue. I also have a suede chase lounger and the teacher helper gets to sit in the chair during Read to Self every day and that’s one of the perks of being my right hand person. This system really simplifies classroom jobs. You don't have to have a job chart when you have just one helper! If you enjoy managing all the jobs, then stick with that. I’ve just found the more simple I can make classroom jobs, the easier it is to manage.

Daily 5 is the easiest way to efficiently teach all your reading groups

If you’ve read any of my blog posts or seen my YouTube videos, then you know I LOVE Daily 5. It's one of the easiest ways to efficiently teach all your reading groups. If you're a new teacher and you didn't learn Daily Five when you were student teaching, get the book. It's pretty cheap on Amazon. It tells you how to do everything and I'm not kidding it will transform the way you manage your classroom. Your students will become so independent and you’ll become an amazing reading teacher.

Whole Brain Teaching engages students in their learning

Whole Brain Teaching helps engage your students all day. At first, Whole Brain Teaching can seem overwhelming. If you’re not familiar with WBT, there’s an amazing book that shows you how to do it. You’ve probably seen WBT modeled in a few ways, one of which being a call and response. I would encourage you to have different calls to your students and switch them up over time. So they don't get bored with them, make them fun and use silly voices. That’s just one piece though. My advice is don't feel like you have to do everything at once. You can definitely do little bits at a time and don't overwhelm yourself because in your first year teaching, you're going to feel like you want to try everything. Other teachers are going to give you suggestions all the time and it's going to get overwhelming. So don’t let other people overwhelm you and do little bits at a time.

Changing your call and answer with your students every few months so they don’t get bored

I just mentioned this, but with Whole Brain Teaching, changing your call to action every so often so your students don't get bored. You'll notice if you just stick with “Hey, class. Hey, yes.” It'll slowly start to wane in its excitement with them. I think one of the best things you can do is make it funny and make it silly.

If your school district has a teacher’s union be sure to join it

If your school district has a teachers union, then I'm going to encourage you to join it. I've had a few times where I needed the teachers union because of things that happened in my school at the time. The union was hands down one of the best investments I've ever made. You do have to pay out of pocket for it, but I'm telling you, it's worth every penny. I know there are some schools in the United States that don't have a teacher union and I'm sorry about that. If you have one join it and you’ll learn so much about the behind the scenes stuff that goes into schools and it helps give you a layer of protection if anything happens. So again, comment below if you'd like to hear any more stories about my experiences using the teacher union.

Classroom pets are a fun way to teach students responsibilities

Classroom pets are a fun way to teach responsibilities to your students. I even wrote this blog post all about simple classroom pet ideas. I'm a huge fan of having them even if you're not a pet person and in one of my videos, I talked about that I was not a pet person or so I thought. I realized how much my students enjoyed having class fish and a pet hamster and getting my own dog at home was a huge thing for me. All these things helped me realize I actually really love animals. I like to teach my students about animals every morning at morning meeting using these slides and how to care for pets. You can even start with just one fish if you just want to dip your toe in the water. Another great pet is a hamster because you can teach your students how to hold it and how to care for them too.

You don’t have to the most perfectly decorated room to be a good teacher

You don’t have to have a Pinterest perfect classroom to be a good teacher

Last but not least, you do not have to be a Pinterest perfect teacher to be an amazing teacher. I like things to look nice and neat too but what I learned over the years is the kids are coming to school to learn and to have consistency. They are not coming to sit on your amazing comfy couch that matches your beautiful calendar with your borders. All those things are great but when we have all of our walls completely covered from floor to ceiling with cute stuff that we saw on Pinterest, it overwhelms our kids that are overstimulated by too much on the walls. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm just trying to tell you that you don't have to have it all to be a great teacher. You just need to love your students and care about what you're teaching.

There you have it. 10 things that any new teacher going into teaching needs to know. Just remember that you’re doing a great job. Teaching is one of the hardest jobs there is!

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10 Teaching Secrets To Know Before You Begin This School Year