After a quarter century in the field of education, here are my top 15 things to tell new teachers at the start of the year:

In no particular order...

1. Save your sick days - great teachers come to school sick and spread germs! Not really, but they do save their sick days as much as possible. In a few years, when you decide to start a family, you should have enough days to go out with paid leave. Another reason to save your sick days as much as possible is early retirement. Some states allow you to retire sometimes up to two years early!  

2. If you are a new teacher, start by saving 50 dollars a month! It will add up! Contact your approved financial/retirement advisor for your district and start saving today. You won’t miss it. As you get a raise (not many in some states) add a little bit more to your savings. Start now.

3. Rest - if you do it right, you will be exhausted by Friday and the only thing you’ll want to do is crash on your couch. You can do something Saturday. We teachers make the worst Friday night dates – we are exhausted by then! 

4. Get ready for some tears – Teaching is rewarding but teaching is also really hard! Hang in there and talk to your mentor (they have been there). Look forward to Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break – but also look forward to coming back after each break. Your students need you!

5. You are the old person in the room now - you are not one of them, they don’t see you as one of them, your music is different than their music, their likes are different than your likes, they are going to test you just like you tested your teachers at the same age.

6. You are not their parent or guardian - be attentive, helpful and resourceful – establish great relationships with your students but remember that there are other adults in the building that can help students work through whatever issues they may be experiencing. 

• Do not cross any lines of inappropriateness with a student - every group of new teachers we tell this to just giggles and laughs, and they say things like, “…that would never happen to me” or “…yuck, that’s a middle school boy/girl - who would do that?” We tell you these things because it happens (just watch the news). You are going to form relationships with your students - but they need to remain PROFESSIONAL relationships.
• In an effort to “connect” with your students - you are going to be tempted to tell your students everything about you - BE CAREFUL how much you reveal. It is ok if most of your personal life remains personal. Make sure your Facebook page is set to private. Most districts nowadays prohibit establishing connections with your students on social media – it is for a reason. Information is power – be careful who you give your power to.

7. They are students – they are super smart – they are going to try to manipulate your time. They are going to try to distract you, they are going to “engage” you on conversations that sound educational, engaging, interesting - …you are going to feel like, “…wow, I’m everything and a bag of chips today” - they are really hanging on to every word I’m saying!” …Only to find out that they have manipulated you and distracted you into discussing topics that had NOTHING to do with your curriculum for that day. 

8. You are under the microscope - assume that your students go home and repeat everything you say. Middle and High School teachers – assume that your students will record you on their phones, especially if you go on rants, use foul language, or if you tolerate bad behaviors, arrive late, get easily distracted, or if you are doing something that you are not supposed to be doing during class - such as reviewing athletic films or doing other activities that do not reflect what you are being paid for at that moment. 

9. Plan ahead - success does not happen by chance – PLAN your lessons - learn to use an electronic lesson planning protocol. Plan your lessons and understand the connection to your students' homework. Similarly, plan your quizzes and tests and understand their connection to your lessons. Plan for higher order thinking questions (which do not happen by chance in the middle of your lesson). Plan for checks for understanding. Plan to avoid giving students worksheets. Bottom line - do not enter the room unprepared.

10.  Expect the unexpected - it will happen. It may not be today; it may not be tomorrow - but it will happen. 

11.  Continue to learn and continue to read - you chose a field where you have to keep up with educational research. 

12. Worksheets are a NO! Imagine if you were getting ready to board a flight and your pilot announces that he only did worksheets in pilot school. Or, imagine if your doctor tells you that he is very much looking forward to your surgery - ...he can't wait to try surgery in real life. You get the point.

13. AVOID looking for sympathy or empathy from your students - “…I’m sorry guys - I just had a hard night last night, it was epic!" "I need coffee ...we are just going to read quietly at our seat, ok?" "I have to run and make some copies.”  These are all examples of what not to say! Don’t share this type of stuff with your students. Remember that your students repeat everything at home. Be prepared to teach. Your efforts at establishing great working relationships with your parents may be jeopardized if they feel that you are not giving 100%.  

14. Do your thing - plan, teach, reflect, grade appropriately, motivate, guide, set your expectations, read your materials, be a dream-builder to your kids, connect with parents… YOU have the power (and responsibility) of influencing a few thousand lives in a career as an educator - and that is not counting coaching sports or clubs. 

15. Time management vs. Time mismanagement

• 5 minutes late to start your class, and 5 minutes early stop equate to 10 minutes per period or 40 minutes per day.
• 40 minutes per day equate to 200 minutes per week (that’s 3 hours and 20 minutes for those of you who don’t speak clock).
• 3 hours and 20 minutes per week equate to 800 minutes per month (13 hours and 20 minutes p/month). Or now in days, it equates to 1. 5 days p/month.
• 800 minutes per month equates to potentially 8,000 minutes p/year OR 133.3 hours OR 16.6 FULL DAYS of instruction. 

David Fonseca is an educator from North Carolina - Founding member of School Turnaround Associates.