From One Educator to Another: Back-to-School Wisdom and Well-Wishes

“Collect positivity you receive from parents, administrators, colleagues, and especially from your students. Write down accolades, and take screenshots of glowing feedback and pictures of amazing projects and lightbulb moments. That way when you have a rough day, you can remind yourself of why you do what you do, and how amazing you are!”

“Know your students as individuals, and focus on student representation to create an inclusive classroom. Students are not going to remember the ecosystems lesson you taught on a Tuesday afternoon, but they are going to remember how loved and cared for they felt in your classroom. I always made sure to learn about my students’ traditions and beliefs, have a diverse classroom library, use student names in math word problems, and much more. I wish you the best of luck this school year!”

“Lean on and learn from your teacher friends—mine are forever my people. My best lessons (and conversations, and advice, and hugs) came from them. Also, you don’t need to buy more flair pens. Probably.”

“Above all else, remember to prioritize relationships. Your students are human beings with real feelings and emotions. They want and deserve to be seen, heard, valued, and encouraged to be themselves. I promise that if you work on your relationship with your students and get to know them, and let them get to know YOU, you will have a successful year. They will respect you and will work hard for you, and you will have built a safe place where they can take risks and see their own potential. Plus, isn’t it the best to just hang out and get to know the faces that sit in front of you everyday?”

“Set clear boundaries, and don’t be afraid to communicate them with your students, colleagues, and administration. It’s okay to say ‘no’ or ‘I cannot meet that goal but I can try to have it done by….’ Owning your schedule and capability models healthy boundaries, and can also empower others to do the same.”

“My advice is to prioritize sleep! When I recall my experience as a new teacher, I think of the countless hours spent prepping for class. I was always writing new lessons, or scouring the internet for materials that I could edit to fit my students’ needs. The process felt like it never ended. Now, in my content designer role, I keep that experience at the forefront of my mind. I’m motivated by the number of hours teachers spend crafting experiences that are just right for their students. At BrainPOP, we want to be a reliable resource that saves you precious time, so we hold our content to a high standard. We edit our work again and again (and again!) so that you don’t have to.”

“When I began teaching over 30 (yikes!) years ago, there were almost as many approaches to teaching as there were students. ‘Use this strategy, not that one. Don’t assign grades, assign grades.’ Everyone had an opinion–and shared it. They wanted to tell me the ‘how’ of teaching, but I wish someone had told me to just listen to my students. Instead of focusing on the latest and greatest teaching strategy, I wish I’d taken the time to truly listen to their stories and understand who they were. It wasn’t the ‘how’ they needed from me as much as the ‘why.’ Once they understood my ‘why’—that they mattered to me, that I cared about them—we discovered a path forward together.”

“Going back to school is always an adjustment. In times of stress and anxiety, remember the things that bring you joy. It could be a friend, a pet, a memory, or even a really great sandwich you ate once. Whatever that thing is, take a moment or two to breathe deeply and think about it. That feeling is just one small part of your joy. It lives in you and it’s always there when you need it. You can even share that joyful energy with others when they feel low to help boost them up. Joy is contagious.”