Recently I've been having a lot of people reach out to me who are either starting a masters program for teaching or are considering going down the path of becoming a teacher. I've been answering these questions happily because if I can help ease the stress at all I will happily help. I know that choosing a career is tough and scary! Believe me I said I was going to work for Nike and began my undergraduate degree in Apparel Design. Now 7 years later here I am with a Bachelors in Human Development and Family Science with a focus on Child Development and a Masters of Arts in teaching.
If you would have asked my 8 year old self where I would be at almost 25 you would have gotten the response: "I'm going to be the first teaching in Paris." Now as I aged and sadly had the devastating news broken to me that Paris was already civilized and had teachers my dreams changed and my occupations changed almost yearly. One thing stayed the same throughout all my changes though. I knew I loved working with children. So after two years of failed creations in my apparel design life I knew it was time for a change. I took on HDFS-Child Development happily and finally began to pass my classes (shocker, when you like what you're learning about you actually do a lot better).
Now onto you... you just realized like me you love children and think you might want to become a teacher! Congratulations! You're going to hear the infamous know-it-alls tell you that you wont make money, you'll be working for more hours than you think, you'll never see your life the same again. And let me tell you something..... this is sadly all true. But no good teacher ever came into the profession saying they wanted to become rich. No every teacher becomes a teacher because they want to make a difference in a child's life and be the change. Believe me when I say the best thing you can do is ignore all those people telling you you'll hate it. Now there will be day's throughout your path to becoming a teacher that you may say what the heck was I thinking and thats also completely normal.
Congrats! You're in the program!
First things first: Go buy a nice bottle of wine (or whatever your preference of drink is) and celebrate! This is a huge accomplishment! Now after you drink your wine and you wake up the next morning you're probably going to be freaking out, nervous, have those butterflies in your stomach but believe me thats normal and probably will not go away then entire time you're in your program!
Steps to take before class:
1) Go get a planner, wall calendar, set up your iCloud calendar, create your bullet journal pages. I can go on and on about different sources to use. But the point is set up a planner to keep all your dates organized! I personally used a planner, wall calendar, and iCloud calendar. But thats because I like to know exactly what I'm doing and when. One thing I can tell you, I know you'll want a planner with a lesson planner (you know to make you feel more like a teacher) but I don't suggest that because you'll be using this more for your own assignments than your lesson planning.
Planners I like:
Happy planner - I use this one! Find on Amazon, at Hobby Lobby, Joans, Walmart! AND it has the greatest inserts (budgets, teaching things, fitness, meal planning, etc. it also has so many sticker options to customize your pages!)
2) Find a way to organize and keep all your notes. This can be notebooks, one-note from Microsoft office, google docs, word, pages, etc. I like to use notebooks in class but I did learn towards the end of my program that transferring everything from paper into one-note helped me refer back to my notes!
3) Find a way to organize handouts for the term to have in class with you and then another organizational method for when you're saving these documents. I have a folder that I keep all handouts in for the entire term, this folder stays in my backpack so I can use it! I got a big 3-ring binder that I use to organize documents after the term that I think I might need to refer back to. I organized my binder by subject matter and put each piece of paper into a clear plastic sleeve so they don't get ruined. I used this folder,I put my syllabus to refer back to on the prongs and then the front pocket I put handouts the back pocket I put assignments. I also kept folders organized on my computer and google drive to keep all assignments and online resources.
4) Don't be afraid to reach out to your peers, professors, and other staff members. They are your absolute best resource. Your cohort I also can tell you are feeling the same as you. So make friends, go get a beer, have fun together. They are going to be having the same experiences as you. But seriously don't be afraid to ask questions. Your professors are there to help you become the best teacher you can be so use them!!!!
5) Talk to your cooperating teacher (CT), don't over commit to things you can't handle but also don't be afraid to take chances when they give you the opportunity! You're there to learn and they are there to help. Also don't be afraid to ask if you can try new things. I had the best opportunity to learn from three amazing teachers who all pushed me in ways that challenged not only my teaching skills but made me evaluate my own personal beliefs. I was truly blessed with who I was put with.
6) Take time for yourself. For me that was working at Dutch. I know it sounds weird that I worked to ease my mind but I actually loved being there and it was a time to just not think about all the work I had to do. For you it might be working out, yoga, hiking, personal days. Whatever it is make sure you incorporate it into your schedule.
7) Be prepared for more work than you've ever done before. I swear we had 1,000 pages of reading each week, at least 5 assignments due, and then you have to do your masters portfolio and edTPA (or a different licensure request). So get organized and complete assignments on time!
8) SAVE EVERYTHING! And I mean notes, handouts, lessons you create, pictures of your students doing assignments, pictures of you teaching, pictures of things you see in the classroom, flyers from events you go to! EVERYTHING. You can clean it out at the end of your program but you never know what you might want or need to reference later.
9) In your placement become familiar with the other staff! If the opportunity arrises for you to observe other classes take it! I had the chance to see a middle school camp day and it was so interesting to see the differences between 2nd grade and 7th grade! Invite your principle to observe your lessons, they might not have time to come mine didn't but he did thank me for reaching out.
10) The biggest piece of advice I can give you is even though you'll always feel like you're doing it wrong there is no event that will occur that you can't learn from. Journal, reflect, but most importantly appreciate all the wins and challenges that you go through because MAT programs are extremely difficult and getting in means you're one step closer to fulfilling your dreams.