How I Survive Teaching High School In NYC

FTC: This is post is not sponsored. All thoughts and weird opinions are my own.

I am on the precipice of ending my ninth year of teaching this June and the longer I do this, the more times I hear the same question: "How do you do it? or "How do you survive?". 

The answer is as simple and complex as you'd expect it to be. After teaching for nine years you pick up a thing or ten on surviving with your sanity in tact. 

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How I Survive Teaching High School In NYC

I was one of the fortunate few in my graduating class to obtain a teaching job the school year following my May 2010 graduation. I was able to take my mentor teacher's long maternity leave. In what would turn out to be one of the luckiest pregnancy alignment of all time, allowed me to work for the entirety of the year uninterrupted by taking not one, but three subsequent maternity leaves. Needless to say my first year of teaching was not ideal, but it taught me a helluva a lot. I taught 9-12th grade, had over 300 different student names that I had to learn within days, and had to teach books I never even heard of, let alone read. 

My brother also was a student at that school, so I managed to avoid many many behavior management issues simply out of respect for him. (whew... thanks Jonathan). When I wasn't asked to return the following year because there simply weren't any spaces for me, I dusted off my resume and started looking for any place of employment (whether in education or not) that would allow me to keep paying off my student loans... because you know... debt! What would transpire from that is 5 years in a Title I high poverty school in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. An experience I wouldn't trade for the world. 

In my last three years of teaching, I have had the pleasure of teaching at a well known art school that differs greatly from the two previous schools I worked in. In experiencing a vast variety of diverse learners I've crafted some skills that I think are necessary if not crucially  vital to survive teaching in any environment, and any grade! But since the elementary and middle school teachers get so much love (as they should) and my high school fam are often ignored, this video is for them! This is exactly how I survive teaching high school in NYC ! 

How I Survive Teaching High School in NYC