Many districts wrapped up the school year this past week. For those who just finished their first year in a new role, a new subject, a new grade level, a new school district…I see you.
Being new is an amazing opportunity and an exhausting one. When I look back at my first day on the job to now, I’m reminded of how hard and exciting it is to be new.
I remember texting a friend from my previous district during the summer retreat with my new team because I missed the comfort of those I knew well and with whom I had built strong relationships. She said, “Don’t worry. I doubt anyone there will be as awful to you as I was on your first day.”
I wrote about this at that time, but I want to come back to it. While I won’t get into the comical story of why that is true, what I do want to say is that this comment reminded me that we cannot compare our first day in anything to our last day in something else.
This is an important reminder whether we are learning to do something new or simply learning new people or a new place. Anything worth building takes time. Anything worth building takes time, energy, and daily dedication.
I don’t know everyone in my new district as well I would like at this point, but I know many more people than I did on my first day. While I’m not as successful or as competent as I would like to be at the end of my first year in this role, I’ve learned quite a bit a bit, and I know more of what is needed and not needed moving forward.
No matter what we do, new or not, time will pass anyway. And the more that time passes, the easier it is to forget about how it felt to be new or how it felt to be a beginner.
So, as someone fresh on the heels of being new and a beginner, I thought I might shed some light on what may be helpful. As you on board new staff over the summer, here are a few thoughts on how to make people feel special and supported.
- Intentional Transitions: During that first opening day, it’s easy for people to feel lost or like we are on the outside looking in. Don’t just share the schedule for the day, assign someone to stick with us throughout the day, so we don’t have to stress about where to go or whether we are known and belong.
- Gear: It may sound silly but one small way to signal belonging is to help us look like part of the team. If there is a school t-shirt, many of us would love to be able to wear it on our first day. It also takes the stress out of dedicating what to wear. 🙂
- Check on Us: Throughout the year, plan moments to check in to hear how we are doing. If there is something coming up that will be new to us for the first time, a spirit week, parade, pep rally, any tradition really, go out of your way to share details that might not be readily apparent to those of us who have never experienced it in the past.
- Be Human: It’s easy for those of us who are new to feel pressure to be perfect and not make mistakes. We want to start strong, but it’s unrealistic for us to believe that we won’t mess up sooner than later. The sooner you show that you are still figuring it out too and just a person like the rest of us, the sooner this can be normalized for those of us who are new. For more on my lifelong battle with perfectionism, checkout Legacy of Learning.
- Be a Connector: Go out of your way to introduce us to people and help us find common ground with others, so we can start to build a sense of community. Help us learn names, correct spellings, and pronunciations, anything that will help us feel confident enough to approach people on our own in the future.
What are some strategies that you use to support new staff? How we treat people when they are new and when they leave us, says a lot about our culture. What culture are you trying to create?
MEGHAN LAWSON 
Leave a comment