Choosing Joy: How New Teachers Can Start the New Year with Positivity and Intention

As the days get shorter and the back-to-school sales beckon, many families and educators turn their attention to the inevitable start of a new school year. Sometimes it can be overwhelming, especially if you are in the first five years of your teaching career.

In fact, multiple studies have shown that it is incredibly common for teachers within the first five years of their career to leave the profession, citing burnout and high stress levels. However, I have been in the classroom for almost 20 years, and I have learned there are many ways to protect your peace in order to find your stride in this profession.

So, here are five ways to start off a new school year that can help teachers within the first five years of the classroom feel positive, encouraged and ready to take on the challenges of a new school year.

This was a lesson that I wish someone had told me during my first few years in the classroom. Instead, as a new teacher, I was bombarded with different requests for my participation, and I felt like I had to say yes in order to prove myself as an educator. In my first five years, I was a cheerleading coach, class advisor, journalism editor, co-teacher, student council advisor, diversity committee representative … the list goes on.

Taking on all these different activities left me feeling like I was being pulled in a million directions and ultimately, I was left feeling like I was not really becoming an expert in anything. Once that realization became clear, I eventually began saying no to some activities and became focused on the two areas that brought me the most joy: student leadership and mentoring other teachers. If a request came in that didn’t align with one of those two areas of focus, I politely declined. I finally realized that the word “no” was a complete sentence.

One of the most fulfilling ways I have been able to remain in the classroom has to do with the collaboration I engage in with the teachers that I work with. For example, I make sure that I have at least one person in my department that I collaborate with on lesson plans, assessments and even day-to-day student management. Having one person in my corner from a curriculum standpoint means that I am able to bounce ideas off someone before an idea makes its way into our classroom.

If you teach in a district where you find yourself to be the only person in a department or teaching a certain class – fear not! The Internet is another place where I find valuable collaboration. Through several social media platforms, I am able to find teachers from across the country to share curriculum ideas or even see activities play out in real time in their own classrooms. Having so many examples of good teaching helps make lesson planning and classroom management so much easier.

Over the last five years, I have helped coordinate our student teacher program, and I have noticed a really troubling trend: Many new teachers believe that they HAVE to be perfect in order to be seen as “good teachers.” If they are not, they question their ability in the classroom, and in extreme cases have tried to drop out of their student teaching program because they feel like they are going to “fail.”

However, what I spend my time reminding them of is one simple fact: There. Are. No. Perfect. Teachers. In fact, what makes a teacher relatable is when they are not perfect! I remember one time when I fell completely flat on my face in front of a classroom of ninth graders – I thought I was going to lose control of the entire room. However, once my students stopped laughing (because of course – teenagers), they asked if I was OK, and we had a few minutes where we shared embarrassing stories about falling in front of people. Then, we simply moved on with the lesson, and it became a running joke between that class and I for the rest of the year.

This one took me a few years to understand, because the basic premise is this: Support in this profession is something that everyone needs, whether you are a veteran or a new teacher. Both types of teachers have something valuable to offer either way.

If you think that because you are a new teacher that you do not have much to give to the veteran teachers in your school, you really do! For example, many veteran teachers are not as savvy with new technology enhancements, and new teachers can help them with their digital knowledge.

Also, the trends of generation Alpha are definitely hard to explain (rizz anyone?), and if you are on the younger side of being a new teacher to the profession, you may be able to help veterans with the generation gap knowledge, and, frankly, we can all use support from everyone in the educator community.

At the end of the day, you are the expert in your classroom: a responsibility that is both a blessing and a curse. You have the power to literally affect a child’s day, month or even year depending on your role and your relationship. Therefore, it is important that any new teacher recognizes this privilege and uses this knowledge to make their year impactful and intentional to all the children you teach. You can choose joy for your students and yourself every single day. You can embrace the imperfect chaos and choose to show up with knowledge and confidence that you were hired for a reason. YOU are in a profession that makes a difference and impacts the next generation every single day. We are so glad that YOU are here.

2024-25 Michigan Teacher of the Year Kelley Cusmano is an English Language Arts teacher at Rochester High School in Rochester Community Schools and is in her 20th year of teaching.