Lessons from a Second Year Teacher

Year Two. There were seriously times during Year One that I was convinced that Year Two would never occur. Either I was going to die of stressful causes, or I would become a hermit and never leave my apartment again, or I would quit. Something was going to prevent me from making it to Year Two. In all honesty, my first year of full-time teaching ended in a fairly poor manner. I shed a few tears throughout the school year, but I literally sobbed during those final days. Circumstances were not so great. 

Thus, I was facing Year Two of teaching with a reasonable amount of dread. I was afraid that I would go back into the terrible hole of working for endless hours a week. At times last year, I was putting in nine hours a day at school and an additional seven a night, plus six hours on Saturday and four hours on Sunday between services... for weeks on end. The thought that I would have to go back to working insane hours terrified me. I physically, mentally, and emotionally could not do that again. (There were additional circumstances that contributed to my great dread.) 

Teacher in-service and the first two weeks of school this 2nd year were not encouraging. I actually told my husband that on my next day off I would be updating my resume and looking for a normal job. But I am pleased to tell you that things have gotten dramatically better. We are now finishing our fourth week of school, and I am alive!! I am not stressed out. I have spent no more than 55 hours a week working, and that is truly the best news ever! 

Here are a few things that I have learned during these first four weeks of Year Two:

1. Last year's individual experiences have little bearing on this year. The students have grown or changed. I have grown or changed. It is not even comparable. Each year will have its own learning curve. (For example, one of my classes had made massive strides to learn how to write a decent essay for my assessments. They were phenomenal essays by the end of the year. This year they came back and are worse than they were at the start of last year. Nothing was retained. I cannot expect that learned behavior from last year will be automatically be implemented this year, because that child is a year older and even more soundly a constantly changing teenager.) 
2. The hours do get better. I have shaved off some ten to twenty hours a week in just one month. 
3. Preparation transforms during the second year from frantically learning the curriculum to teaching specifically for that class. My 8th grade history class has an extremely different learning needs than last year's 8th grade history class. 
4. Many of the processes of the job (grading, recording grades, filing, creating lesson plans, using the school's educational program/Renweb) have become much easier. They feel natural this year, whereas last year many of those things felt like a struggle on week 1 and week 30. 
5. Apparently having a year under your belt means that the administration can load up your schedule with extra responsibilities. Those moments of free time where I was desperate to gather my thoughts or sit down are gone, but also not nearly as necessary. 
6. The students thinking they can use the relationship you spent the previous year building to their advantage. Whenever my students graduate from one of my history classes, they will probably end up in another one of my history classes. In a smaller school, I teach multiple classes and see the students for about four years throughout their high school career. They try to use the relationship that we developed last year to <try to> get permission to do things a "new student" would not be allowed to do. 
7. With #6 said, I do feel like I have the freedom to have a little more fun. I am not just trying to get through the material, teach the students, and prove myself as a teacher, now I am trying to teach specifically to those students. That means recognizing when they need a break from the monotony of a school day or (worse!) my history class, and utilizing the myriad of tools and ideas available to me. Yes that takes time and preparation, but I have it now, whereas last year I did not. 

So there are just a handful of things that I have learned this year. Hopefully my horror story at the beginning will not deter you from having an enjoyable and successful second year!