So I stayed, and a little while later we've been told that we're waiting to see if we get a project, but if we didn't they'd have to make us redundant and get shit money as they couldn't stay afloat. We were always a small team but we knew we weren't doing well anymore and heard rumours that the agency might disband, so I thought that while I've been wanting to move on for a while, I should stay and help instead of leaving and helping to its disbanding. Join our Facebook group WeAreTeachers-First Years! to connect with other new teachers, and learn more about how you can navigate your classroom and life.I was in a similar situation at my last job. Together we opened a few beers and raised a toast to the conclusion of a successful year. This time there were lots of other teachers there with me. On the last day of the school year I headed out to that porch again, snow replaced by flower blossoms and rustling leaves. I don’t look forward to writing a resignation at the end of my career. A clean slate, and something totally unique to work with. With a new group of students each fall, I get two things many of my friends in other professions don’t. When I finally drew the line, wrote a couple of kids up, called a couple of parents, people realized I was serious. Those who wanted to learn grew frustrated with the distractions. Kids spoke over me and disrupted my class. Teaching seniors who were just four years younger, I got pushed around a bit during the first semester. This may have been my most challenging lesson that first year. You need a healthy way to release all that pent up tension. Second, this job can be remarkably frustrating. I hiked and paddled and spend a lot of time outside. Instead of getting angry, I told him not to worry about it.
When he was suspended for 10 days in school, I spent my lunch with him trying to keep him current on our work. “Watch your back,” a student said to me through his teeth, “my brother and I are going to get you.” He was a kid from whom this was a viable threat. He was not the hugging type, and that moment got me through a lot of late nights grading bad essays. The first match he won, he signed the tennis ball and gave it to me with a hug. A student who was struggling academically and was a frequent flyer in the suspension room joined the team I was coaching. My favorite moment of that first year came on the tennis court. Get involved in things outside the classroom. When they see how passionate you are, even when you keep messing it up, they will respect you for it. Tell your students what you set out to do, and why you think it flopped. To expect success in the first year is flawed thinking. You are brand new to one of the most challenging and important jobs available. To new teachers struggling away, I would offer this advice.
Looking back, there are a few things that got me through that year. Here I spend my days helping kids decode the world around them, and speak out.
Each day I come to work in a profession that leaves me deeply fulfilled, a profession where I get to help kids navigate the swirling waters of adolescence find their own voice. Now, after nearly two decades in the classroom, I owe him a huge debt of gratitude. He told me he would not accept my resignation. He knew how seriously I took my responsibility to my students, how hard I took it when I failed to reach one of them or watched a lesson I had planned thud like a bird into a windowpane. He also saw a kid fresh out of college who was drowning in his newfound responsibility. Lucky for me, my supervisor saw a young kid who was made to be a teacher.
As much as I wanted it to, it did not feel celebratory. I printed it, signed it with a flourish, and grabbed another beer. I thanked my supervisor for all the support he had given me and explained that I had made a mistake. It was a cold day in January when I stomped out to my deck, pushed snow off of the chair, shoved a beer into the snow on top of the table, and began typing away at my laptop perched on my knees. Another first-year teacher had just walked away from the profession to open a bed and breakfast in Maine. Halfway through my first year of teaching, I wrote my resignation letter.
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