Challenges of a "First-Year" Teacher

For the past three years I was a full-time music educator in a public high school.  For a variety of reasons, including but not limited to budget constraints, my teaching position recently changed.  I am now split between two buildings and spend the majority of my day working at the middle school level.  The opening two weeks of school have given me a renewed sense of how difficult it is being a first-year teacher.  In this post I’ll share some of the challenges I’ve faced in my new role thus far.

New Surroundings:  Walking into a new building for the first time felt surreal.  I had grown so accustomed to knowing the familiar halls of my high school that I took it for granted.  I visited the middle school over the summer to meet my department chair and spent time in the building during our non-instructional first day.  One might think this would be enough to become somewhat acclimated to my new surroundings.  However, once classes began it was a whole new ballgame.  In many ways I felt like a sixth-grade student; a slightly anxious yet excited 34-year-old sixth-grade student. I’m not ashamed to admit that locating my classrooms during the first two days in less than three minutes was a little scary.  I felt my heart beat a little faster every time the bell rang and I had to ask for directions at almost every turn.  Even basic tasks like making photocopies, utilizing classroom projectors and finding the bathroom were intimidating.  

Workload:  Veteran teachers often forget how demanding the first year of teaching truly is.  In my new role, I’ve spent an average of 3-4 hours after school every day to keep up with my classes.  First-year teachers cannot opt to take the weekend off or leave work early on a whim, that luxury comes over time.  I’m a firm believer that teachers should consistently reflect on best practices and strive to improve pedagogy, but, I’d be lying if I said there weren’t a few units that I tend to teach the same way year in and year out.  New teachers have a responsibility to create innovative curricula and deliver new lessons 180 straight days.    

Fitting in:  The social aspect of working in a new building can also be stressful for a first-year teacher.  It’s intimidating to walk into a situation where everyone knows one another as the outsider.  On the first day of school I knew a total of four people.  Now that a few weeks have passed, I’ve begun friendships within my department and had the pleasure of attending a social committee event with new colleagues; but it was difficult.  The best advice I have for new teachers on the subject is to smile often and be yourself.

What challenges can you recall from your first year teaching?