DearAnxiousTeacher

Happy Holidays as we wrap up the 2025 year! As we end the month of December and march forward into the new year, consider the items below to set yourself up for a great second half. Having time off is a great time to get away from teaching all together. Spend time with your family and friends. Toward the end of your break reflect about change in your classroom. Think about your current class procedures. What is working? What isn't? Are all the students successful in their current seats? What do you like that you're doing? What is not working? I also recommend checking in with yourself: how do you feel about teaching? Do you have stress and anxiety? Consider January a restart and a refresh for your classroom.  I recommend the following for the January re-entrance in 2026.  Welcome students to the new year!  Change Seats Map out the remainder of your semester or quarter  Reteach Procedures Add New Procedures if necessary (nothing major)  Begin new content Consider...

  Hey friends! It's been a minute! Last year, I decided to transfer from my middle school to high school. I really like the idea of helping teens right before they graduate, and perhaps my impact could be even greater at this level. Funny though, students ask me questions: Why do I like to teach? Why would you want to work with teenagers who can be disrespectful? Why would you want to work here? After hearing these questions, sometimes they do make me question my resolve today. Why do we do what we do? Remember that your passion is to help people and make a difference. This is a service-oriented job. Maybe today you will just help one person in the classroom. If you succeed in helping that single person, today was a job well done. It’s an emotional job at times. You’re trying to teach students content that may or may not connect to real life. Our aim is to always relate the content to their lives, but how much can we alter and change our lessons to 100% relate? It’s impossible. Wha...

  Face it. Kids are tough. Kids come from all different backgrounds and experiences. You’re up in front of a room all by yourself. You think respect is automatic, but this isn’t 1965 anymore. How do you earn it? You might think. You earn respect through kindness, empathy, being an adult, and holding students accountable. Kindness : It gets a bad reputation. Students might think you’re an easy target. Kindness needs to be paired with boundaries. Let me tell you a few things about kindness though in the classroom. It can heal, ease tension, make learning more enjoyable, and pump positive vibes into your classroom. I’ve seen some of the most challenging students surrender and change due to kindness. Don’t let it fool you or overlook it. Discipline with kindness always. Students will take nothing personal if you do it in a loving, adult-like manner. Kindness is impactful, and every classroom should use this powerful tool. Does it mean you’re soft and pushover? No. Listen—you can be to...

  “Speak softly but carry a big stick” is a wonderful adage and something to live by in the classroom. Never yell, scream, get passive aggressive, lose your cool, and most of all, try not to be human! Joking. Listen, we all have those moments where we do it. Just don’t make it a habit and try President Teddy Roosevelt’s approach instead with your students. The big stick in the adage is the actionable events. Middle school and high school students after a while will tune out your pleas, empty threats, and view you as a weakling or fraud when it comes to discipline. It’s about love and accountability, and these actionable consequences serve as your discipline and teachable moments. Remember discipline means educating your students, not instilling the fear of the Lord into them. Recently one of my students was talking and then making eye contact with a girl during a really important reading exam. I warned the student once by using proximity and whispering to him at his desk to avoid d...

  September 2011 "I know I'm a ______ (insert expletive)! I'll fail you and you'll be coming right back to me in January. I told you already! It's called Assertive Discipline.” Like I care about your stupid book from 1972 . I thought. “First, you must write their names on the board when they are talking. Once you get to strike 3, yell, kick them out, and later call their home.” This summed up classroom discipline for me during student teaching. She kept it pretty simple. Why are you talking to them about their personal lives? You teach bell-to-bell. Now get in front of the classroom and start teaching.” This first experience had me sweating. It continued... "Why are you doing this? There are no jobs. Can you leave grad school and do something else? You're not going to help anybody." Should I leave? One of the reasons that kept me there was because of my fat 100,000 student loan that needed to be repaid. Did I really take out 100 grand to do this? Thi...

It’s your first year. Late nights, anxiety, stress, caffeine-induced insomnia, canceling dates, missing family events, and freaking out plays like a broken record in your mind. Rewind, rewind again, and hitting play with the same emotions over and over again. Hard to believe this--it gets better! Questioning your decision on the regular will take up a majority of your thoughts. God bless the person you’re dating during that first year because your relationship might get a little rocky. My wife wondered where my personality went during my first year. “I liked you so much better before you became a teacher” with an old lady's nagging, husky voice. Pretending to be a good teacher and acting like you know what you’re doing will prevail during this time period. Self-doubts will creep in and your confidence will be tested. From this experience, you will grow into the best version of yourself as a teacher. Don’t judge the field by the first year. It’s a huge transition including those lov...