I was not prepared

The first time I got the keys to my classroom, was during workshop weekend. I felt like I had no time to set up my physical space with all the other things I had to do to get ready for the year (and new teachers have extra things to do). But what I didn't realize was that the physical space was the absolute least of my problems. About 85% of my student teaching experience was online, either fully or in a hybrid format. I knew the material. I knew resources. I knew how to make worksheets, rubrics, and how to grade fairly. What I was never taught how to do was manage a classroom. When school started in the fall, I knew that high expectations were a requirement for success, but due to distance learning, and my cooperating teacher often leaving me alone, I had no idea what it looked like to actually implement high expectations. Classroom management is the thing we are supposed to learn during student teaching, and I didn't. That caused many problems throughout my first year. No amount of classroom study makes up for real classroom experience.

A person's perspective is their reality. 

Think about your favorite movie. You love your favorite movie, and you probably have a lot of good things to say about it. Now, pretend your best friend thinks that your favorite movie is the worst movie ever made. You might disagree, but from their perspective, they're right. That's true with students, parents, and yourself. All people's perceptions are their reality. This is important when discussing anything with students. If a student thinks their assignment is stupid, or their behavior is acceptable, then the assignment is stupid and their behavior is acceptable until we explain our perspective and our reason why. We try to teach students to understand the perspectives of other people, but we need to do the same for them. Students are more motivated to do things (or not do undesirable things) when they understand the motive or the reason behind the assignment, rule, due date, etc. Explain everything, but also expect that sometimes perspectives won't match, and you as the teacher will have to do a little more work.

Set Boundaries

Eat your lunch. Keep your work email off your cell phone. Leave your laptop at school. Drink water. Take your sick days. Rest. Pick a night a week and do not stay late that day.

It is so easy to feel like we have to be working all the time as educators. But we don't need to, and we can't be. We need time to rest and restore in order to be present for our students.

Whatever boundaries look like for you, and whatever ones you really need to focus on, do. Set them and keep them.

Blue Jolly Ranchers are the best.

No cap. I personally think this opinion is incorrect, but have been outvoted by my wonderful students. There are not very many blue Jolly Ranchers in the bag, and they become a hot commodity. Use them well.

Praise and Kind Words . . .

. . . are just as important for adults as they are for students. Tell your colleagues you like their shoes or that their sweater looks nice. Compliment someone's haircut. Tell people you enjoy their conversation. Say hello to colleagues in the hall. If you hear about a cool lesson your colleague taught, ask them about it and share that students enjoyed it.

And, if you feel like you aren't being uplifted enough, pursue your options. Maybe ask your administration if they can provide insight into things you are doing well. Ask your colleagues. Ask your students (but beware, they might just criticize everything!). We need kind words. Give them and get them in return.

Teaching is hard

Of course we know this, but we don't really understand it until we are the ones in the classroom. Teaching is work. It's hard work. There will be days when you just don't just don't like it. Maybe you're exhausted and can't keep up with students. Maybe an idea you had didn't work in the classroom and now you have three minutes to figure out something to do for the next class. Maybe a student called you a mean name and ruined your day. Maybe you've just been feeling stuck and can't get back up.

Maybe, a student lost a loved one. They're suffering and you can do nothing to change the situation and little to help because grief hurts. Maybe you had a student try to take their own life, and you didn't know they were struggling. Maybe you have a student who you know could succeed if they just tried, but they don't do anything and you've done everything you could.

In my one year of experience, the days that feel the hardest are the days when you feel helpless, like you can't help the students no matter what you do. The reality is that we care about our students. So when someone can't be helped because life has taken a swing at them, those days feel the worst.

Teaching is the most rewarding job in the world

It's almost a cliché at this point. Teachers say it all the time. The job is so rewarding and that is why we do it. Almost every teacher I've ever had has said that, and the ones who didn't have left the profession. However, it is not something one can understand until they have experienced it. Sometimes teaching is rewarding in big ways, but I've found that most of the time it is rewarding in small ways that add up. It's rewarding when a "grouchy" student smiles at you. When a student says "hello" or compliments your shoes. When you get invited to their softball games or their choir concerts because they want to share that even with you.

I had no idea what it would feel like for a profession to be rewarding. Then I spent a year in the classroom, and I get it. This past year was hard. And yet, after all of the phone calls to my mom, venting sessions with my sister, and crying in the car on tough days, I wouldn't change it. Something about being in the classroom, surrounding by young people and their thoughts and opinion, fills you up. I would never trade all those hard days away, because the reward is so much greater when we have had challenges.