I’m retiring this month and I recently shared six pieces of advice to my grandson, who is entering a teaching-credential program this summer.

Since that post appeared, I thought of a few other “pearls of wisdom” that he—and others—might find helpful:

• As the late longtime teacher Rita Pierson famously said, and which research has since backed up, students tend to learn more from teachers they like, so take that lesson to heart.

  You don’t need to be their friend, but you should be friendly. Ask about their lives, their days, their dreams. You’ll have a lot of students, but you can fit quite a few 20-second “question/answers” in your day.

  Show them that you care. If a student seems to be sad or distracted, you shouldn’t be a “trauma detective,” as Alex Shervin Venet puts it, but you can send them to the counselor. Make a point of trying to say each student’s name every day, since many may seldom hear it or only hear it when they’re in trouble.

  Inject humor whenever possible, poke fun at yourself, and be flexible. Perhaps have students complete a weekly Google Form about how they are doing and be sure to follow up on what they say.

  And, for God’s sake, ignore anyone who tells you “not to smile until Christmas.” It’s nonsensical on its face, and research doesn’t back it up.

• Learn from education studies, but keep in mind what education researcher Dylan Wiliam has said: “Everything works somewhere; nothing works everywhere.”

  When you have time, check out recent research on education and see what makes sense in your situation. For example, there are some studies that point to the value of greeting students by the door. More power to teachers who can pull it off, but I’d rather be in the front ensuring that students start work on the warm-up as soon as they sit down. I can still easily greet each student individually from the front in a cheerful and personalized manner.

• “Don’t sweat the small stuff.”

  Choose your battles—whether students bring a pencil or paper to class are definitely not ones worth fighting. Who knows why they didn’t bring them, and there’s definitely no guarantee punishment is going to “teach them responsibility.” I just have a box of golf pencils available for students to take.

  We have much bigger fish to fry ...

• Don’t take things personally.

  Students can be mean—jeez, they’re kids and often not in control of their emotions. That doesn’t mean you can’t tell them about how what they said or did made you feel, but get over it and move on. They likely won’t remember it the next day, and it’s best if you didn’t, either.

• When you observe other classes, either when you’re student-teaching or if you have time during your prep periods once you’re on the job, lead with inquiry, not with judgment.

  Come to think of it, that’s a good policy for relating to most people.

  Many new teachers feel like they are already experts in the field, since they’ve been students for 17 years.

  Not so fast.

  Being a teacher is an entirely different kettle of fish from being a student. Before you judge the actions of another teacher, just ask them—sincerely—what was their reasoning behind it. Context and experience mean a lot.

• Asking someone for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.

  Becoming a teacher generally requires a steep learning curve. The challenges you face are often ones your colleagues have dealt with in the past, and the vast majority will be more than happy to help you think things through.

  It’s far better to ask for advice at the first signs of trouble, instead of waiting until things get worse.

  Remember, your colleagues and administrators want you to succeed, and most will be more than willing to help. They’ll do it because they care—and also because it’s not in anyone’s self-interest for you to fail—losing a teacher hurts everyone.

If anyone, my grandson included, needs more new teacher advice, you can find about 20 previous posts on the topic here.

Let me know what additional advice you think you should be on this list. You can email me at lferlazzo@epe.org. You can also contact me on X at @Larryferlazzo or on Bluesky at @larryferlazzo.bsky.social.