Written by John Andrius | 
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Starting the School Year - From a teacher's partner
I write not as a teacher but as the partner of one who says that she didn't let on to the students that it WAS her first year! Others of her peers got a hell of a time from the kids. It was already near the end of the school year by the time her students found out that she too was a "firstie" and they were astounded!
Also, don't be too quick to get on first name terms with students - a little distance can enhance control, but once that "edge" has been given away it can't easily be retrieved.
These are two "half fun, whole earnest" suggestions that I've heard ( and passed on ) time and again from experienced and successful teachers. They obviously relate to classroom management and survival. Don't forget that first year nerves happen to each of us each time we start at a new school - I've been to 3 schools in 16 years and experienced starting up nerves and related problems in each. Anyway the suggestions:
- Don't smile 'till Easter ( St Patricks Day, end of term one, etc. )
- If you've got a fifty minute lesson - plan an hours work! ( different way of saying be well prepared )
- Don't be creative in the first two/three weeks.
I know they sound draconian but they do work and give you survival time to learn the ins and outs of new kids/new place without having to worry about management strategies.