Whether you’ve been back for a few weeks, or just a day or two — you did it!
You made it out of bed at an ungodly hour, rocked a fresh first-day outfit, and presented your Teacher Self to a new crop of kids.
You’re taking attendance, writing those first parent e-mails, planning lessons, doing lunch duty, attending meetings, assigning first homeworks, and collecting first homeworks.
Maybe you’re teaching a brand-new course this year, or taking on a new responsibility as coach or advisor, too.
Through all of this, you’re delivering instruction to multiple groups of differently abled, very distractible kids.
So, please remember — it’s OK if…
1. You don’t know most of your students’ names yet.
2. It takes you a full five minutes to remember old students’ names when they say hello in the hallway.
It’ll come to me…
3. Your desk is already a mess of papers.
100% authentic piles of grading
4. You didn’t have time to make that perfect bulletin board / seating chart / welcome letter like you’d planned to do.
I’ve never made a bulletin board this pretty. Ever.
5. You already had to change a lesson because the copier was jammed or occupied.
Sad sight for sore eyes
6. You already had to change a lesson because the computer / projector / DVD player / TV / internet didn’t work.
“Hey, who here is good at TV stuff?”
7. You forgot to turn off your phone during class.
8. You forgot to go to the bathroom, even when you had a minute.
Should’ve gone during prep!
9. Your perfect “first days” lesson was not the raging success you’d envisioned.
10. You haven’t had time to catch up properly with your colleagues because of all the work that needs to be done.
11. You’re already grading or playing on your phone during the first full faculty meeting. (Do as I say, not as I do…)
Official story: teachers don’t have friends or use Facebook.
12. Your second-day outfit was not as polished as your first-day outfit. (Soon, you’ll be proud to have made it to school with matching socks!)
13. You didn’t have time to make lunch and/or dinner.
School lunch it is…
14. You didn’t have time to make that doctor’s appointment.
15. You’re already falling asleep on the couch when you get home!
It’s OK to be dog-tired!
Remember, teachers do heroic things, but you’re still human!
Rinse and repeat if you’re a first-year teacher.
Also: what would you add to this list?
Those Who Teach 
You have been visited or observed by an administrator because soon they will be too busy to ever come into your room.
Ha! Good one. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
That’s wonderful! Re-blogging for all my teaching friends who are feeling guilty about not being perfect.
Reblogged this on suburbanprincessteacher and commented:
Great words of advice for teachers who aren’t “perfect”!
Thanks so much for this! I think teachers need to be reminded that they don’t have to be — and can’t be — perfect on a regular basis.
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