The first year of teaching is a lot like meeting your significant other’s family during the holidays. You’re stressed, have some nervous excitement, and want to impress. All while remaining as holly jolly as you can be.
But unlike meeting your SO’s family for the first time, your first year of teaching is about more than surviving. Your first year as a teacher is about building habits, trying new methods, and learning from your mistakes. But remember: what’s more important than trying everything is doing a few things well. You’ll have an entire career to try out the niche craft you saw while doomscrolling Pinterest.
Whether you’re a new teacher or here to find tips for a friend, we have collected our best tips for new teachers. Nothing prepares you for the first day quite like a deep breath and a good sense of humor. Stick around to learn from our phased and equity-minded guide for new educators.
The first pillar of a successful first year is building relationships and classroom culture. Decades of research report that positive student-teacher relationships are associated with improved outcomes in student behavior, classroom engagement, and academic achievement. These positive relationships build up the teacher as well, leading to a greater sense of well-being for educators.
The second pillar for success is clear routines and consistent planning habits. Finding what works for you may look different than what worked for your favorite professor. Regardless, routines are critical for both teachers and students. If you’re looking for somewhere to start, check out our top 20 social-emotional learning activities that you can incorporate into your day-to-day.
The third pillar may surprise you, and lean in close while I tell you: this one has nothing to do with your students. Around 90% of teachers report having moderate to extremely severe levels of stress. Look me in the eye when I tell you this (or rather look me in the computer screen). You don’t have to do everything all the time for everyone. If you can’t function, your classroom can’t function. Protect your mindset and practice sustainable self-care. Take a walk. Actually take your lunch break. Touch some grass. Whatever brings you some peace of mind, incorporate it into your routine.
In the first weeks, focus on the basics. Co-create classroom norms like attention getters with your students. Together, you’ll discover what works best for your class (and that may look different each year). Set up classroom routines and learn student names. I don’t know about you, but every time someone calls me by the wrong name, I feel just a little less important to them. One of the top ways to strengthen student relationships is through remembering their names and using them often. It’s a small win that can take you a long way.
By mid-semester, seek to deepen relationships, both with students and with fellow faculty. Organize that teacher white elephant party you’ve always wanted to do. Spend your lunch time with the librarian and gab about your latest read. Connect with families as well: find ways to regularly communicate with parents about what’s new in the classroom, the school, and their child’s education. This could be a weekly newsletter or personal check-ins once a month. When parents see that you care, they trust you more. You might even highlight a classroom project during Education Week to celebrate what students are learning.
As you progress into the year, also seek to refine assessment practices. Different subjects may require different types of assessments, but there is never any harm in some trial and error! Read more about our take on different types of assessments here.
The classroom culture can make or break your students’ experiences, even your own experience. Co-design class expectations with students can provide them with a sense of empowerment, and they may be even more invested if they’ve had a hand in creating it. Consider even creating a shared mission with your students that can set the tone for behavior, effort, and culture.
A classroom should always be a place where students belong, so seek out rituals and community-building activities that give students a voice. For example, try incorporating student-led learning into the classroom.
Whether your class routines are attention getters or silly ways to end the day, they should be anchored in trust and consistency. Students thrive with consistent routines.
Organize your classroom environment to promote flow, clarity, and safety. Label sections and supplies clearly so students can be independent and gather materials themselves. Be intentional with how you group seats so students can find that sweet spot of the growth zone.
As a teacher, planning is your best friend. Focus on being sustainable with your planning rhythms. Weekly planning should focus on your main objectives for the week (introduce the big science project, finish the latest math unit, or finally track down who stole all your dry-erase markers). Meanwhile, daily planning can be a quick 10-15 minute check-in with yourself where you reflect on what went well yesterday, what could’ve gone better, and what you need to do today to achieve your main goals.
While planning and prepping lessons, align them with standards while staying flexible. And if you need help, check out our standards-based Missions to remove the stress!
If planning is your best friend, then feedback is your quirky sidekick. Use feedback from students and peers in formal and informal ways. Ask students what they thought of this unit’s project, or ask a peer what they thought of your classroom management. Any feedback, including self-reflections, is critical in guiding your adjustments.
Strong communication is more than just a nice-to-have. Rather, it’s the foundation of a thriving classroom. Start by being transparent in your communication with students. Be honest about your expectations, routines, and even your own thinking processes. Constantly seek feedback through exit tickets, check-ins, or even passing conversations. Students will be more invested when they feel heard.
Families are essential, too. Build trust early on by consistently reaching out. This doesn’t require you make an hour-long phone call to each parent every week, but short updates over the school district’s communication platform or email can go a long way.
Within your school building, collaboration is your superpower. Every school community is different. What works in San Diego might look different from a rural district in Maine, but the core ideas still apply. Co-planning with colleagues, sharing resources, and swapping stories will save you significant time and energy. No one thrives in isolation, and there’s a good chance a seasoned teacher has solved the current problem you’re facing. And don’t forget administrators. Be direct and honest about what you need, whether classroom support or professional development. When communication flows across all these relationships, you build a network that uplifts both you and your students.
Every great person has a mentor. Harry Potter had Dumbledore, Spiderman had Tony Stark (RIP), and Bilbo had Gandolf. This is more than a hallmark of the hero’s journey. Great teachers have great mentors also (or two…or three). Seek mentors formally and informally – whether it’s an assigned mentor, the veteran teacher next door, or your tech-savvy colleague who has a shortcut for everything. Mentors help you see your blind spots, avoid burnout, and celebrate those small wins you might overlook.
Beyond the school, tap into professional learning communities, teacher groups, and even online forums. Whether you thrive through a doomscroll of TeacherTok or surround yourself with fellow teachers for happy hour, educators can share ideas and encourage you.
Lean into the collaboration, which is a powerful form of professional growth. Teaching is a profession built on collaboration. Peer observations, co-teaching, and shared planning time can all help you see your subjects in a new way. Even watching another teacher in action for only ten minutes can change how you approach instruction. Teaching is a one-man job, but it’s also a communal craft. The more you engage with your teaching community, the faster and more confidently you’ll grow.
Your mindset is one of your most valuable teaching tools. You need to put effort into it, and that partly comes from maintaining an identity outside of school. Go to trivia night. Keep up your hobbies. Take a rest without guilt. A grounded teacher is a resilient teacher. Don’t let lesson planning or grading student work overshadow your well-being.
With lesson plans and assessment designs, routines and classroom management, embrace growth over perfection. Normalize mistakes and setbacks as learning opportunities. Each challenge should be seen as a learning experience, not a failure. Modeling this behavior for your students will help them understand that they can bounce back from their mistakes as well. Remember, your lessons don’t have to be perfect; they just need to be intentional. Small improvements matter just as much as the big breakthroughs.
Try out a reflection journal, either in your personal journal or as notes in your lesson plans, to take time to sit back and think about what’s working and what could be better. These habits can help you pause, recalibrate, and carry forward what works. With that mindset, every week becomes an opportunity to grow your craft with confidence and compassion.
Begin your teaching journey with a small set of core practices. Do you start your day with meditation? Do you create your weekly plan on Monday mornings? Do you give a dramatic sigh before opening your email inbox? Whatever your core practices are, make them part of your routine.
Once you feel settled in your foundation, layer in new strategies. Incorporate a new way to do a lesson or add a fun activity to your classroom routine. Experiment with more advanced practices whenever you feel ready.
You may know this by now, but not all teacher advice is created equal. Advice to not smile until Christmas? That’s a little outdated. Maybe skip it this year. Save your cynicism for when your students have lost the hundredth glue stick this week.
Possibly you’ve heard that the best teachers are involved in everything. But truthfully, the best teachers are the ones who are focused on their students. Resist the urge to overcommit to everything or reinvent yourself all at once. You don’t have to be the world’s best teacher-soccer coach-party planning committee member-hall monitor all in the course of a year. Remember, your job is to grow as a teacher and help students grow, not to carry the entire school on your shoulders.
However, this is like a pendulum. Don’t go far into mega-participation, but also don’t swing the opposite way into self-isolation. Lean into collaboration and feedback. Connect with your fellow teachers to find what works in their classroom or what their favorite Mission is.
Success in any career is all about balance. So don’t overcommit yourself and don’t try to overhaul your entire curriculum in one weekend (that’s how villain origin stories begin).
Listen closely, friends, because this is the most important thing. We’re not telling you to do all of these things all at once. Rather, try a few practices immediately and see what sticks and what works. Take time to reflect regularly throughout the school year, either personally or with your fellow teachers. You can even share your favorite hacks to simplify your classroom that you learned from that you learned from your trusty friends at Mission.io.
We’re here to help simplify your life. That’s why our Missions are designed to take out the stress and bring back the engagement to learning. Sign up for a free trial today, and experience the awesomeness of a Mission-led classroom.