I鈥檓 retiring this month and I recently shared six pieces of advice to my grandson, who is entering a teaching-credential program this summer.
Since that post appeared, I thought of a few other 鈥減earls of wisdom鈥� that he鈥攁nd others鈥攎ight find helpful:
As the late longtime teacher Rita Pierson famously said, and which has since backed up, students tend to learn more from teachers they like, so take that lesson to heart.
You don鈥檛 need to be their friend, but you should be friendly. Ask about their lives, their days, their dreams. You鈥檒l have a lot of students, but you can fit quite a few 20-second 鈥渜uestion/answers鈥� in your day.
Show them that you care. If a student seems to be sad or distracted, you shouldn鈥檛 be a 鈥渢rauma detective,鈥� as Alex Shervin Venet puts it, but you can send them to the counselor. Make a point of trying to say each student鈥檚 name every day, since many may seldom hear it or only hear it when they鈥檙e in trouble.
Inject humor whenever possible, poke fun at yourself, and be flexible. Perhaps have students complete a about how they are doing and be sure to follow up on what they say.
And, for God鈥檚 sake, ignore anyone who tells you 鈥渘ot to smile until Christmas.鈥� It鈥檚 nonsensical on its face, and doesn鈥檛 back it up.
Learn from education studies, but keep in mind what education researcher Dylan Wiliam has said: 鈥淓verything works somewhere; nothing works everywhere.鈥�
When you have time, check out recent research on education and see what makes sense in your situation. For example, there are some studies that point to the value of greeting students by the door. More power to teachers who can pull it off, but I鈥檇 rather be in the front ensuring that students start work on the warm-up as soon as they sit down. I can still easily greet each student individually from the front in a cheerful and personalized manner.
鈥淒on鈥檛 sweat the small stuff.鈥�
Choose your battles鈥攚hether students bring a pencil or paper to class are definitely not ones worth fighting. Who knows why they didn鈥檛 bring them, and there鈥檚 definitely no guarantee punishment is going to 鈥渢each them responsibility.鈥� I just have a box of golf pencils available for students to take.
We have much bigger fish to fry ...
Don鈥檛 take things personally.
Students can be mean鈥攋eez, they鈥檙e kids and often not in control of their emotions. That doesn鈥檛 mean you can鈥檛 tell them about how what they said or did made you feel, but get over it and move on. They likely won鈥檛 remember it the next day, and it鈥檚 best if you didn鈥檛, either.
When you observe other classes, either when you鈥檙e student-teaching or if you have time during your prep periods once you鈥檙e on the job, lead with inquiry, not with judgment.
Come to think of it, that鈥檚 a good policy for relating to most people.
Many new teachers feel like they are already experts in the field, since they鈥檝e been students for 17 years.
Not so fast.
Being a teacher is an entirely different kettle of fish from being a student. Before you judge the actions of another teacher, just ask them鈥攕incerely鈥攚hat was their reasoning behind it. Context and experience mean a lot.
Asking someone for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.
Becoming a teacher generally requires a steep learning curve. The challenges you face are often ones your colleagues have dealt with in the past, and the vast majority will be more than happy to help you think things through.
It鈥檚 far better to ask for advice at the first signs of trouble, instead of waiting until things get worse.
Remember, your colleagues and administrators want you to succeed, and most will be more than willing to help. They鈥檒l do it because they care鈥攁nd also because it鈥檚 not in anyone鈥檚 self-interest for you to fail鈥攍osing a teacher hurts everyone.
If anyone, my grandson included, needs more new teacher advice, you can find about 20 previous posts on the topic .
Let me know what additional advice you think you should be on this list. You can email me at lferlazzo@epe.org. You can also contact me on X at or on Bluesky at .
