Beginning Your career as a Teacher

Following a hectic year of teacher training, I was pumped to be starting my first day in the teaching profession and have classes of my own. During the summer I had prepared resources, played around with seating plans trying to formulate the most effective way of organising the children and created spreadsheets I had full intention of utilising throughout the year.

For some strange reason, I even asked my Dad to borrow a briefcase but I hadn’t prepared for the nickname that would follow in the coming weeks, taken from the inbetweeners! Walking confidently into the school with my briefcase swinging by my side lasted about a week before I reverted back to the much more acceptable backpack!

As my first day got closer, the nerves started to stew in my stomach and I hardly slept a wink that night. I wasn’t just nervous to meet the students, I was also concerned about how my colleagues would take to me.

Fortunately, there were no lessons until after lunch so I had time to compose myself before my first class. We had a staff meeting first thing and I found a spot on my own and listened intently to the plans for the year ahead. I’m normally a very confident individual but walking into a workplace where everyone seems to know each other was very daunting and I felt very uncomfortable approaching colleagues who were obviously very chummy.

(I) hid in the toilets for the remainder of the break!

After the meeting, I became insanely anxious. There was a large line for the coffee machine, so I joined the back of the queue and waited until it was my turn. I skulled down the coffee straight away and then hid in the toilets for the remainder of the break!

I skipped lunch to avoid having to talk to any other teachers and anxiously waited for my first ever class. They were probably as nervous as me as this was their first class too. As I welcomed them, I forgot my seating plan and had to frantically try and sort them into groups – it wasn’t a good start. I managed to bumble my way through an hour’s teaching but it wasn’t the high standard I expected of myself.

The first day in a new school can be an incredibly daunting task and I believe working as a CRT can be extremely beneficial to progressing as a teacher. The issues I faced are dealt with every day and can only improve your confidence.

If you’re starting a new position in 2016, best of luck and make sure you go in with a positive attitude with both staff and students.