Dear First Year Teacher Me,

"It gets better" was the mantra that wiser, more experienced teachers kept telling me my first year, and the one that I kept telling myself because there are a lot of things about the first year of teaching that are absolutely miserable, especially for the 23 year old that I was. I jumped into life as an "adult" who was suddenly responsible to make decisions for and about lots of others' lives. I also made a lot of mistakes. And my poor students, I'm just glad to know that they made it in spite of me. This is my first year in a new role in education, and in a lot of ways it's like being a first year teacher all over again, but at least now I have the experience of being in the classroom to rely on. So, to my first year teacher self, here's a letter:

Dear First Year Teacher Me,

Congratulations on getting your first teaching job! I know you have a tough time deciding whether or not this is really what you wanted to do, but instead of spending so much time thinking you made the wrong decision, just be happy with the choice and keep working at it until the mood strikes you to do something else.

I definitely don't regret how much time you spent coaching because that was a wonderful way to forge relationships with your students, but perhaps you don't have to coach three seasons a year. Keep enjoying running with your athletes like you do. You'll have so many wonderful memories of the times they made you laugh and made you mad, and made you laugh and be mad at the same time.

Spend more time learning from your peers. You're a bit arrogant if I do say so myself. You don't know how to be a great teacher yet, but some of the people you're working with really do. Have them come observe you and give you candid feedback and don't take it personally. Observe their classes, watch them teach. Tammy and Lisa really have a style of teaching that you'll eventually fall into to, so learn from them while you can, especially before Tammy moves away.

Oh, and try to take on more of a laid-back attitude about getting your work done. You don't have to ruin your whole weekend thinking about everything that has to be done by Monday morning. Eventually you'll learn that it will get done, and if it doesn't, then you'll figure out a way to adjust.

Teach your students what you love. It'll be a lot more fun. Don't keep that Greek Mythology class because it's not what you love. Trade it out for American Lit like others are offering you. And keep teaching every American Lit book you can get a hold of. Have your students do more fun projects and play more games.

You've done a lot of things right, and you're going to end up being a really good teacher. You just have to know that the first few years are tough. Like I mean crying from exhaustion and frustration hard. But it gets better.

Life is sort of like this every time we try something new, isn't it? But the best thing is, even if we're new at it, it's not the first time we've done something totally unfamiliar, and so we have experience to lean on. So to any new teachers out there, keep learning from yourself and from your peers and especially from your students.