Teaching guru Barbara Blackburn shares her shortest MiddleWeb article ever – 435 words! New teachers (and their mentors) who want to explore her ideas in more depth can also browse our curated post Barbara Blackburn’s Best Advice for Beginning Teachers, with summaries and links to more than two dozen helpful articles.
By Barbara R. Blackburn
As a new school year approaches, I thought I’d do something a bit different. I began my publishing career writing books that were A to Z (Classroom Motivation, Classroom Instruction, Literacy, and the Principalship).
I’m returning to my roots to give this season’s new teachers a list of quick tips – 26, one for each letter of the alphabet.
26 Tips for Beginning Teachers
Achievement is more than a test score.
Build relationships first.
Connect with parents and families.
Discipline works best when it is respectful.
Encourage others around you.
Find teachers you can learn from.
Gather friends who will support you.
Helping students means determining what they need.
It’s all about learning, so keep your focus.
Join online groups to gather ideas.
Keep negativity to yourself.
Learn to work with your leadership team.
Motivation matters, to your students and to you.
Never let one student get you down.
Own your mistakes, learn from them, and move on.
Paperwork may not be fun, but it is necessary.
Quickly adapt when you need to.
Relationships that are negative should be avoided.
Savor the positive.
Take care of yourself.
Understand that you aren’t perfect.
Variety engages students.
Watch for small signs of trouble.
X-factor in teaching: your beliefs.
Yielding results takes time.
Zoom in regularly on the most important things.
A Final Note
Think of these A-Z tips as starting points – ideas that will help you launch and navigate your journey. Revisit them as needed throughout the year to help you focus and refocus. When you hit a rough patch, remember something a friend of mine told me: On your worst day, you are someone’s best hope.
I would actually say that on your worst day, on that very bad, no-good day when everything goes wrong, you are not just someone’s best hope – for some students, you are the only hope. Keep that in mind and keep going!
Dr. Barbara R. Blackburn, a “Top 10 Global Guru in Education,” is a bestselling author of over 30 books and a sought-after consultant. She was an award-winning professor at Winthrop University and has taught students of all ages. In addition to speaking at conferences worldwide, she regularly presents virtual and on-site workshops for teachers and administrators.
Barbara is the author of Scaffolding for Success (Routledge/Eye On Education, 2025) and many other books and articles about teaching and leadership. Visit her website and see some of her most popular MiddleWeb articles about effective teaching here.
