What a Charter School Principal at a Middle School Wishes They Had Known Before Entering the Education Industry
Alma, a charter school principal and administrator, wishes someone had advised her early in her career to focus on "the basics," like classroom management and effective lesson delivery, rather than trying to implement every new educational trend at once. This advice, shared with first-year teachers, emphasizes the importance of self-compassion and a gradual learning curve, acknowledging that "the first two years, you're just learning how to teach."
Overcoming Challenges, Resilience, Motivation, Achieving Goals, Hard Truths
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Alma Zepeda
Charter School Principal and Administrator
Middle School
Yale College 2012
Johns Hopkins School of Education, MS in Elementary Education, 2015
Political Science, American Studies
Education
Operations and Project Management
International Student, Took Out Loans
Video Highlights
1. It takes time to master teaching; don't try to do everything at once. Focus on the fundamentals in your first years, such as classroom management and basic lesson planning.
2. It's okay to fail and make mistakes as a new teacher. Learning from these experiences is part of the growth process.
3. Experienced teachers can implement several new techniques at once, but new teachers need to focus on mastering the basics first before experimenting with new trends in education.
Transcript
What have you learned about this role that you wish someone would have told you before you entered the industry?
I wish someone had told me that I'm not going to be able to save the world in a year. I even tell my first-year teachers not to bite off more than they can chew.
You're going to get better as you go and you practice. But I think there's this mindset, specifically in the first year of teaching, where you want to do everything. You want to implement all the best practices you learned in school, or that you've heard about.
You want to try every new trend in education, but you cannot do it all. A 20-year veteran might be able to try three different new techniques within the first semester, but a first-year teacher cannot.
I wish someone had just stopped me and said, "Let's just get the basics." All we want you to be able to do is manage your classroom with 30 kids and teach a 60-minute lesson. Include an objective at the beginning and an exit ticket at the end.
I think I would have given myself a lot more grace and forgiveness in the process as I struggled in year one and year two. It's not atypical for high-performing people to struggle with new things. Teaching is by no means easy.
I wish it were more accepted that as a first and second-year teacher, you're going to fail often. But you're going to learn from each of those moments, and you're going to grow. By the time you're a third-year teacher, you'll be able to start experimenting a little more and crafting the type of teacher you want to be.
But really, for the first two years, you're just learning. Even if you went to school or got a degree in teaching, you're still going to spend the first two years just learning how to teach and how to be in front of a classroom.
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