As a first year teacher you might be fresh out of college and ready to start teaching right away. You’re probably with the times as far as computers go and what is the current trend of technology. You’ll have a leg up when you start teaching because you can keep things “cool” by involving the latest trends into your lessons and examples. If you’re entering the teaching scene a little later in life, you’ll want to take a crash course on what’s hot right now, so you’ll be able to connect with your students and you won’t seem like such a dinosaur to them. If your students think you’re behind the times, they will lose some respect for you and think you can’t relate. Here’s a few tips to keep you current.
Keep up with the latest computer and technology trends. If your students are buzzing about the latest gadget from Apple, or the most popular website of the month, you’ll want to already have heard about it. This way if they try to include you in the conversation you will look like you live on the same planet as they do. You can still be the adult, by taking an adult stance on issues like cyber-bullying, but you should already know about things like that and be able to opine on them.
Keep up with the latest celebrity gossip. It may sound frivolous and you may not think it’s worth the time to keep yourself updated, but you’ll seem like you live under a rock if you don’t know what latest scandals the top celebrities are involved in. Really this information doesn’t matter, and doesn’t have any bearing on you as a teacher. But if the scandal is really juicy your students will be talking about it, and you should be aware of what it involves and be ready to offer your opinion on the matter. If the scandal is of a serious nature, you’ll want to provide an adult’s point of view and show them that what the celebrity did was wrong.
Keep up with local and national sporting events. Sports rule in many communities and even though you might be of the nerd variety when it comes to athletics, you’ll still want to be in the know of any games that are coming up. If other faculty or students approach you and ask if you’re going to a game, and you claim ignorance, they will wonder what your place is in the community, and view you as outside of their circle. In your first year you don’t want to be outside of too many circles. It’s a great idea to carve your own path out of life, but you won’t win any good graces by not knowing about the homecoming game.