Top 5 Things I Wish I Had Known as a New Teacher

Top Five Things I Wish I Had Known As a New Teacher

(And it has nothing to do with Math or Reading) 

5.) The kids will know if you’re faking anything. They have an extra sense that works like an 11^th toe. The foundation of their trust in you depends on how firmly they can stand balanced on your words so there are no secrets. Don’t like teaching Science? They’ll know. They’ll hear the small wisp of a yawn that you sneak in behind the big, bulky Houghton Mifflin when you are certain they’re reading page 114 with their shoulder partner. Nope. They heard it. Even if you emerge from behind the book victoriously with a wide and toothy smile, too late. They know.

4.) They’re always watching. If you feel eyes on you while you sneak a bite of the apple on your desk, tomorrow you’ll have 12 more mystery apples waiting for you. Think they’re reading their books independently? Nope. Softly drop a 3 ounce paperclip and watch who barrels across the room over desks and bookshelves to pick it up for you.

3.) Build social skills into every day. You think Tanner knows how to handle it when Emma finds his pencil on the floor and then WRITES WITH IT? Nope. He doesn’t.

2.) They want to do hard things. They want to know the big words. They don’t want it watered down for them so it can seep into their brain like a secret, liquid formula that moves them onto the next grade level. They want to feel the success of completing something difficult and then look back and say Hey, look everyone. I did that. Trust them with the big stuff.

1.) They want to know that you’ll forgive them. If they fail at something that’s hard for them, will you love them anyways? If they have a bad day, will you put a calm hand on their arm and tell them to take a quick bathroom break to cool down or will you make their bad choice into a teachable moment with them standing red-faced at the center of your improptu lesson? Whatever you choose in that moment will either build walls between you or build a foundation for them to grow on. 

Don't let Meredith Grey stop you.

I was sitting down to type this blog late last night. My husband had resigned to his sinus infection and had crawled in bed by 9. My house was quiet, save for Meredith Grey who was somewhere in the background being profound. This is it! I told myself. I had a minute, a quiet minute and I was armed with a familiar itch to create something.

I want to be a blogger. There. I said it out loud. I spoke it into existence and now it’s another real thing that I have to feed and keep alive. I want to create writing that people read. I want someone to find themselves knee deep into my blog archives trying to find a post they remember from back in 2015 that said the thing about the thing. I want to maybe someday make money from it. I want part of my daily routine while my kids nap, to be sitting in an over-sized knit sweater, black leggings, dark-rimmed glasses and a pair of neutral-colored slouchy socks and have words flow from my fingertips like ribbons while I sit back and drink coffee like a middle-aged hipster. I want the things I say to mean something to someone.

As I sat there last night thinking about this giant, greasy tractor wheel of a task that I wanted to somehow heave into motion, I heard a voice again. Turns out, if you watch Grey’s Anatomy enough, your doubts and insecurities can be narrated to you in Meredith Grey’s steady and raspy voice. Weird, I know. She, true to form with her intentionally long pauses and purposeful fragments, reminded me of all of the writers who are better and more talented than me. People that I know. Writers who don’t need to ask SIRI how to spell words with too many syllables. Writers who can find a way to make the words slink and dance across the page like smooth, satin streamers compared to my familiar and stunted, tree trunk prose. She reminded me that thousands of blogs sit untouched and unread each year because, to be successful, you have to have something new to talk about, something original that people haven’t heard before. She reminded me that thousands of suburban housewives have cornered the market on Mommy Blogs and take far more appetizing photos of their innovative vegan dinner recipes than I could ever take of my dry Mac and Cheese and overcooked pork chops. Thanks Meredith Grey. I already know.  

          And then, I kid you not, for the first time in my life, I turned to my proverbial Meredith Grey.. which looked a lot like me staring at a wall.. and I slowly lifted my hand and flipped her off. And she shut up. I’ve now spoken this blog into existence. I’m going to keep it alive and feed it. Probably dry Mac and Cheese.   

What is something you've always wanted to do but your Meredith Grey told you you couldn't?