Things They Don't Tell You in College About Teaching

So, my first year of teaching can be summed up in just a few words. Overwhelming. Exhausting. A whirlwind. I had so many expectations as a starry-eyed graduate about what my first year was going to be like. I knew as an Agricultural Education teacher and FFA Advisor that I would be busy and overwhelmed a lot of the time, but I never imagined it would be for the same reasons I encountered this year.

I teach at a pretty impoverished, low-education school in a rural area. This I knew going in. My kids are not all destined to go to college. This I knew going in. Ag teachers are somehow a magnet for trying to connect with the lower performing kids of the school. This I knew going in.

But, what they didn’t tell me and I didn’t know was just how broken a public school’s educational system can truly be without the support of its parents and community. Don’t get me wrong, we talked about that in my college classes, but it is not something you can understand until you’re standing in the middle of a classroom on your second day, asking your kids about their future goals and someone says, “My plan is to collect.” Welfare, that is. At 15 years old, that was all some of my kids were seeing in their future. Talk about a punch in the stomach.

I have learned so much this year through the trials and tribulations, late nights, tears, and venting sessions with coworkers (who are amazing, by the way!). I have gone from literally feeling sick every day walking into school and tearing up on my drive home, to being a somewhat confident first year teacher that knows I have a lot to learn, and that this is, in fact, an okay thing.

So here is a list of things that I had yet to learn on graduation day. Funny, sometimes sad, always frustrating, but each a lesson none-the-less in what it has meant to be a first year teacher in this day and age.

1. Your first day, they are going to try to scare you. They will succeed. 

2. Your second day will be worse than your first.

3. By the third day you are trying to dry up your watery eyes when the bell rings for your first class, and at least hold them at bay until 3:15, when you can go out to your car and release the monster tidal wave that is your feelings.

4. Apathy will be your worst enemy. While you are fighting to maintain your passions and fears about your new job, there will be an overwhelming amount of kids who could not care a bit about why you’re standing up there and what you’re all about.

5. You will hit a low. A really, really low-low. And guess what… that’s normal!! (WHY did no one tell you that, by-gummit!? Why??) You will also have some really great high points that make the lows seem like they never happened.

7. School Improvement Days are a big fat waste of time, but you love them because you love your coworkers (And half days! And jeans!).

8. You will have a football player and a troubled kid get into a fist fight in your classroom. You will step between them to break them up, because that is your first instinct apparently.

9. They will actually stop because they both tell you they respect you. (whoa!)

10. You will be a counselor/bouncer/disciplinarian/mentor/shoulder 50% of the time, and a teacher the other 50%. It will both break your heart and fill it up at the same time.  

11. You will start referring to yourself as 42 years old when asked (because who cares to admit to their students that they are only three years older than some of them?), and your kids will believe you the entire year. Plastic surgery will be the #1 presumption. Magic will be #2.

12.     Days will drag, weeks will fly.

13.   You will say things like, “I’m down with you kids and your hip hop noise” and “I'm picking up what you're layin' down home skillet” a lot, just to make them think you are not as cool as you really are in real life (because let's face it... I'm awesome).   

14.    You will be asked if plants are poisonous to humans. You will explain calmly, and the student will still not understand.

15. You will have earthworms put on your desk on rainy days (not maliciously, just because you have some real stinkers in your 1^st hour class that like to make you squirm).  

16. You will be called a lot of names, have a lot of doors slammed, know the office extension by heart, and hear some colorful language that would make the 17-year-old you blush.

17. There will be a lot of funny moments and sayings that you should have written down to publish a book one day.

18.  You will talk more about the military than you ever dreamed, and answer a lot of questions from kids either wanting an escape or a real life career with awesome opportunities they can’t get from their small town.  You'll feel pretty important having answers to those questions. 

19.  Teenagers are like rollercoasters. One day you’re their favorite teacher and best friend, the next they are storming out of your room because you did something silly like ask them to put their phone away.

20.   Somehow, you know it will all be worth it on the last day of school when you’re sad to see your kids go.

There are so many stories, good and bad, that have become of this year. Most of the time I’m so busy getting through the day that I don’t stop and appreciate all the fun stuff that happened. I have had some awesome times with my FFA members, and especially loved teaching middle schoolers about agriculture and leadership. Hopefully sometime in the future I can go back to teaching a little more confident, a little wiser, and a little less challenged on a day-to-day basis. :)