Day 3 of #AprilBlogaDay asks for Advice to a first year me. I answered a similar prompt last year and my answer was “Be You.” I think this answer is still relevant today. Once I was my authentic self in the classroom as opposed to playing a “perceived” teacher role my first year changed dramatically.

Today, I would add to this advice that relationships matter. Take the time to build relationships with your students, your teacher colleagues, and other staff. My first year me started so focused on creating the best, possible lesson by focusing on the technical details and content, that I completely forgot who and where I was teaching. Ultimately we teach kids and work with people. That must always be our first priority. Teaching can be tremendously lonely within the four walls of a classroom if we choose not to focus on relationships.  In today’s connected world, there really is no excuse for not connected with others as professionals.  That doesn’t mean that every teacher should be on Twitter or have a blog or some other absolute, but rather that every educator must work to build relationships in a manner that is authentic to them.