Required: Take a Chill Pill

One thing that you MUST NOT DO as a teacher is devote all your free time to your work. There's always something to do, whether it's organizing your week and resources or grading papers or calling parents... There's always something else that you could be doing as a teacher. Trying to steamroll through the work will just wipe you out and give you more work to deal with later. If you're a compulsive worker, schedule in some free time each night or week. Here are some suggestions:

-Save Friday nights for yourself: last year I went out to dinner and got catfish on Friday nights.
-Watch movies: This is my favorite thing right now. It helps me relax for a couple of hours; plus when I'm done watching a movie, I know I haven't been doing anything for a while so it helps motivate me to get work done..
-Find your network: Having a network of friends I can call and meet up with has been the best thing for my sanity, I kid you not.
-Get away: Go away on a day trip or for a few days, your choice. But getting away really helps clear your mind, and can help give you some perspective about what you're doing.
-Go to school events (especially [football] games): granted, this is supposed to be about how to relax outside of school, but if you go to more school events, you're creating a more positive connection to your school, where it's not just your really hard job, and you're making the idea of "school" a less stressful one).
-Discover you community: Where's the closest movie theater and how much is matinee? Is there an ice skating rink? When does the movie rental place close? What restaurants are within a 10-minute drive? Knowing information like this will make it easier for you to do something when you do want to relax, especially if these places are very close by.

Enjoy!

Required: Changing Districts

I had a really rough year for my first year of teaching. I knew the thing was going to be hell. I knew that I'd be telling 2nd years that they were right about how sucky it was and the types of conflicts and complications I'd encounter. But somewhere along the way it was supposed to get better, at least by, you know, May? Maybe? No. Didn't happen for me. I was overwhelmed from day one and didn't get a break until just about the last week of school. My principal was negative towards me, therefore I got no support for most of the year, especially when said principal's requests were directly related to the issues I was having with my students in my classroom.
Honestly, I felt cheated when my year didn't get any better (not even a little). I knew that I couldn't stand my principal, I had no reason to believe that our relationship would improve the following year, and with the number of teachers that I'd heard were considering leaving, there was no telling what classes I'd end up teaching. The best thing for me to do was to find a new school to teach at. So I didn't renew my contract in April (which was scary since I hadn't lined up a new job yet) and started looking for a new position. I finally found the right one in June and accepted the position at a level 4 school (that had just recently fallen from a level 5).
I was really excited and happy to be at my new school at the beginning of the year; I was doing great. I was working with an extremely supportive administration and in a school with many teachers that were looking out for me just because I was new and they wanted to help. But I was also feeling guilty. I was teaching at a school that I knew didn't need me as much as so many other schools did. I felt like I was betraying Teacher Corps by being where I was. Plus I'd hear the horrors about how my old school had gone from bad to worse, and I'd think about my students, feeling like I should be there with them... I was having all kinds of regret.
But soon enough, I realized what things that were most important: my ability to teach and the "healthy" supply of needy students. A number of my students are failing my class, probably about the same number of students that were failing my class last year in my old district. There are students in need of good instruction all over Mississippi, and definitely all over my high school. By switching schools all I did was put myself in a better situation to teach them. I may not be in a chaotic school but it needs me just the same.