Advice to a New Teacher

I am of the belief that there is no substitute for experience when it comes to teaching. However, I was given advice from fellow teachers that has proven to be helpful that I would pass along. Some examples are:

• You're not their friend , referring to students, you' re their teacher. (It's a fine line, different for every teacher but the line needs to be there.)
  
• Don't get excited when a student gets excited. (If it's a discipline issue things will only escalate.)
• Teaching is a marathon not a sprint. (If you make a huge deal out of every bump in the road you encounter in teaching, you'll burn out.) This one is my favorite.

The only original advice I have is to be honest with yourself about why you want to get into teaching in the first place. If it's a job opportunity, you might want to reconsider. Even if you teach because you want to help young people. you need to be mature enough to know that you're helping them and that be the reward in itself because if you need the gratification of the students, parents, administration or anybody else regularly patting you on the back or stroking your ego you'll probably end up disillusioned about teaching.