Maintaining Your Sanity
Your first year or two teaching Computer Science will be tough. I laughed, I cried, and I did not observe weekends. My love for teaching and for my students got me through the most difficult two years I have ever worked. I survived the teaching of five different courses, and you can, too. I hope this website and this page in particular are helpful in maintaining a reasonable work-life balance during your early years as a Computer Science teacher.
You may only be one day ahead of your students, and you may be teaching more courses than one teacher can possibly plan for. Hang in there! Follow the suggestions below and those made throughout this website.
Don't feel guilty about just following the textbook your first year.
Take good notes every day or week on what you want to improve or change when you teach it again next year.
Reduce your daily grading load, to allow you more time for planning and preparation. Do this by:
Have your classroom management plan in place.
Be sure students know what the day's activities are, when each activity is due, and what to do when they finish. Most students thrive when there is a consistent structure.
Let your personality shine through and build rapport with your students!
If the students know you care about them, care about computer science, and care about their success in computer science, your classroom and first year teaching Computer Science will be a success.
Find one colleague in your building and at least one Computer Science colleague to commiserate with.
Be sure that you find someone with a positive attitude who will lift your spirits and give you solid advice!
You may only be one day ahead of your students, and you may be teaching more courses than one teacher can possibly plan for. Hang in there! Follow the suggestions below and those made throughout this website.
Don't feel guilty about just following the textbook your first year.
Take good notes every day or week on what you want to improve or change when you teach it again next year.
Reduce your daily grading load, to allow you more time for planning and preparation. Do this by:
- screen grading
- using a simple rubric for grading
- focus grading on whether the student met the learning objectives; don't "nit-pick"
Have your classroom management plan in place.
Be sure students know what the day's activities are, when each activity is due, and what to do when they finish. Most students thrive when there is a consistent structure.
Let your personality shine through and build rapport with your students!
If the students know you care about them, care about computer science, and care about their success in computer science, your classroom and first year teaching Computer Science will be a success.
Find one colleague in your building and at least one Computer Science colleague to commiserate with.
Be sure that you find someone with a positive attitude who will lift your spirits and give you solid advice!
