Amy Brown
Current Position: Chief Product Officer
District: Cobb County, GA, Glynn County, GA, Jefferson City, GA
Campus: Glynn Academy, Pope High School, Jefferson High School
Educator in: Georgia
Subject: High School Math
Time Period: 7 Years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Don’t be afraid to ask for help from veteran teachers at your school. Teachers love to collaborate and share resources.
Brent Alumbaugh
Current Position: Customer Success
District: Williamson County Schools (TN), Conroe ISD (TX), Bartow County Schools (GA)
Campus: Franklin High School, Oak Ridge High School, Woodland High School
Educator in: Tennessee, Texas, Georgia
Subject: AP Government, US History, World History, Special Education
Time Period: 20 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Make sure your district/school subscribes to Progress Learning…it will make your life a lot easier.
Becca Baker
Current Position: Training Manager
District: Allen ISD
Campus: Green Elementary
Educator in: Texas
Subject: 4th Grade Math & Science
Time Period: 9 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
This is a marathon, not a sprint! Take it all in stride this year. Above all, do what’s best for kids.
Elizabeth Buchanan
Current Position: Account Executive
District: Fulton County Schools and Gwinnett County Schools in Georgia
Campus: Esther Jackson Elementary (FCS) and Chesney Elementary (GCS)
Educator in: Georgia
Subject: 1st grade and 3rd grade
Time Period: 11 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Getting to know your students and showing them that you care will decrease the amount of time you spend on disciplinary issues in your classroom.
Dodie Carmichael
Current Position: Director of Implementation
District: Bellflower Unified School District
Campus: Mayfair High & Middle School
Educator in: California
Subject: 1st, 5th, 6th, and 7th grade English and World History
Time Period: 22 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
1. Ask questions, plan with your colleagues, and work with a mentor. 2. Spend the first two weeks teaching students to be in control of their own actions in a consistent classroom environment. 3. Have positive expectations, have fun, and don’t forget to bring your sense of humor.
Coral Ericson
Current Position: Content Marketing Specialist
District: El Dorado County Office of Education
Campus: Charter Home Study Academy
Educator in: California
Subject: Science
Time Period: 7 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Ask for help! Don’t isolate yourself, seek out mentorship from senior teachers.
James Fleming
Current Position: Vice President of Academics
District: Bellflower Unified School District
Campus: Mayfair Middle, High School & District Office
Educator in: California
Subject: Middle School Science, Assistant Principal, Director of Assessment, Accountability, and Research
Time Period: 16 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
The content isn’t the most important thing. Your first duty is to teach them to be kind and capable little humans. They may forget what a mitochondria does, but they’ll never forget how you make them feel.
Josh Fendley
Current Position: Academics Operations Manager
District: Garland ISD
Campus: Pearson Elementary
Educator in: Texas
Subject: Math
Time Period: 8 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Listen to your team leads and instructional coaches.
Heather Floyd
Current Position: Customer Success Manager
District: Gordon County Schools
Campus: W.L. Sw ain Elementary
Educator in: Georgia
Subject: 2nd and 5th Grade Teacher
Time Period: Approximately 4 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Find a mentor that you can trust, and be open to their advice.
Sarah Harvey
Current Position: Customer Success
District: Little Elm ISD
Campus: Cesar Chavez Elementary
Educator in: Texas
Subject: 4th grade math and science
Time Period: 29 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
You are amazing! Continue to learn as you grow as a teacher. You are doing very important work and influencing lives every day, so remember to take care of yourself, too. Keep your work and home life in balance.
Kanon Hess
Current Position: Account Executive
District: Lewisville
Campus: Camden Hill Montessori
Educator in: Texas
Subject: Montessori
Time Period: 4 Years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
It’s ok if you don’t get everything taught you had planned in the week. It’s important to make sure your students are learning at a pace that is right for them. It’s also important to Remind ourself that your classroom might be the only safe place for your student. Create an environment where every student feels safe, seen and appreciated. Their voices matter and it is our job to echo it into this world!
Lana Johnson
Current Position: Senior Academic Manager
District: Dickinson ISD, Bishop CISD, Driscoll ISD, Calallen ISD, Bastrop ISD
Campus: Education Service Center – Region 2
Educator in: Texas
Subject: Academic Math
Time Period: 31 Years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Relationships are the most important factor in learning. Care enough to connect with your students, to have high expectations, to follow-through, to reach to out to their parents, to find out why…why they are tired or late or angry…Teaching is one of the toughest jobs in the world, but it is also one of the most important and most rewarding! You DO make a difference!
Brett Kushner
Current Position: Enterprise Trainer
District: Hillsborough
Campus: SLAM Tampa
Educator in: Florida
Subject: 6th Grade ELA & Principal
Time Period: 7 Years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Be as planned and prepared as you can be, but it’s okay if things don’t go the way you want/expect them to go. Use every opportunity to improve your teaching practices by learning from mistakes and be open to feedback from those around you.
Trey Loker
Current Position: Senior Academic Manager
District: Harrisonburg City Public Schools
Campus: Waterman Elementary
Educator in: Virginia
Subject: Fifth Grade
Time Period: 18 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Show how much you care about each student. Let them know they are wanted in your classroom.
Mackenzie Maddox
Current Position: Onboarding Manager
District: Mesquite ISD
Campus: Tosch Elementary
Educator in: Texas & Arizona previously
Subject: 5th Grade Math and Science at Tosch in Mesquite ISD, prior to that 6th, 7th, and 8th grade math in Arizona in the Florence Unified School District.
Time Period: 4 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Building healthy and trustworthy relationships with your students is the key to class management and gaining respect from your students.
Rhonda McNamara
Current Position: Program Trainer
District: Hillsborough
Campus: SLAM! Tampa
Educator in: Florida
Subject: Math
Time Period: 13 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Building relationships with your students is key. Once you have that in place, everything else will follow.
Lauren Reavis
Current Position: Customer Success Manager
District: Celina Independent School District & Allen Independent School District
Campus: O’Dell Elementary & Green Elementary
Educator in: Texas
Subject: Math, Science, Social Studies
Time Period: 4 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Give yourself grace, ask all the questions and don’t be afraid to ask for & accept all the help you can get!
Kim Reiter
Current Position: Academic Manager
District: Lubbock, Richardson, Wylie
Campus: Parsons, Richland, Cox
Educator in: Texas
Subject: 3rd, 4th, 6th grade – Reading, Writing, Math
Time Period: 19 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Get to know the students on a personal level and make learning relevant to them.
Spring Renz
Current Position: Customer Success
District: Plano ISD & Anna ISD
Campus: Shepard Elementary & Rattan Elementary
Educator in: Texas
Subject: Kindergarten – 2nd grade
Time Period: 9 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Take everything one day at a time, ask for help and don’t be embarrassed by a mistake.
Melanie Sherman
Current Position: Senior Academic Manager
District: Grand Prairie ISD
Campus: South Grand Prairie, HS
Educator in: Texas
Subject: High School Sciences and CTE
Time Period: 5 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Remember that there is always tomorrow, not everything has to be done today.
Stephanie Sims
Current Position: Customer Success Manager
District: McKinney ISD
Campus: McGowen Elementary
Educator in: Texas
Subject: 2nd Grade
Time Period: 1 Year
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Find a Mentor!
Tony Spear
Current Position: Academic Manager
District: Plano ISD & Frisco ISD
Campus: Carpenter Middle School & Hunt Middle School
Educator in: Texas
Subject: U.S. History, World Geography/Cultures, Texas History, AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination)
Time Period: 12 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Always remember that you may be the only bright spot in a child’s life – take every opportunity to show every kid that you care.
Kirby Spivey
Current Position: Senior Academic Manager
District: Mitchell County (GA), Paulding County (GA), The Walker School in Marietta (GA)
Campus: Mitchell-Baker High School, East Paulding High School, The Walker School
Educator in: Georgia
Subject: Social Studies: AP World History, US History, AP Government, World History
Time Period: 17 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Keep at it, knowing your second year will be so much better.
Emily Swanson
Current Position: Mathematics Academic Manager
District: Los Angeles Unified School District
Campus: University High School, Venice High School
Educator in: California
Subject: Math and Computer Science
Time Period: 4 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
What’s your best advice for a first year teacher?” Focus on getting to know your students and building relationships. Remember that first year of teaching is really difficult for everyone and you‚Äôre not supposed to have everything figured out. Meet students where they are and find ways to build off of their various strengths that they bring to the classroom.
Alek Turner
Current Position: Community Engagement Specialist
District: Crandall ISD
Campus: W.A. Martin Elementary
Educator in: Texas
Subject: ESL Teacher and Instructional Coach
Time Period: 9 Years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
It’s ok if you don’t get everything taught you had planned in the week. It’s important to make sure your students are learning at a pace that is right for them. It’s also important to build relationships and make sure they know you always care.
Sharon Valeris
Current Position: Program Trainer
District: NYC Department of Education
Campus: PS 89 Elmhurst School
Educator in: New York
Subject: Special Education
Time Period: 13 Years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Day 1 – Classroom Management and Routines are key! Also, make friends with the school secretaries and custodians. They know everything about the school and you are going to need them often!
Felicia Zorn
Current Position: Vice President of Customer Success
District: Forsyth County Schools (GA), Gordon County Schools (GA), and Hamilton County Schools (TN)
Campus: Vickery Creek Middle, Ashworth Middle, East Lake Elementary
Educator in: Georgia & Tennessee
Subject: 8th ELA/Reading, 6th ELA/Reading, 4th Grade All Content
Time Period: 5 years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Don’t reinvent the wheel. There are lots of resources to help you lay a solid foundation. Each year, you can build on what you taught previously – add more detail, dive deeper into the standard, etc. Find a mentor and collaborator in and outside of your school. Take care of yourself and know that it is totally normal to experience a wide range of emotions day in and day out. Remember why you are there. You are making a difference!
Joanna Bennett
Current Position: Customer Success Manager
District: Celina ISD
Campus: Celina Middle School, O’Dell Elementary, Lykins Elementary
Educator in: Texas
Subject: 7th & 8th Grade ELAR & Elementary Digital Learning Specialist
Time Period: 12 Years
What is your best advice for a 1st year teacher?
Remember that it takes time to become an expert. Every teacher that you admire had a first year. Ask the questions, give yourself grace, and enjoy the gift of getting to wake up each day with the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of your students!