So you’ve decided to become a teacher. Congratulations! While the year (or more) ahead of you won’t be easy, it will be rewarding and eye-opening, and you’ll come out understanding what it truly means to be a teacher. A credential program doesn’t always feel the most straightforward, and there are so many what-ifs within the realm of student teaching. However, a bit of advice helps. Here are some of my best tips on how to succeed in a teaching credential program.

Some Background

I went through my teaching credential for Single Subject English Language Arts at SDSU two years ago. I’ve previously written about the application process and some important things to know. Although I did my credential in my hometown and even taught at my old high school, I still felt like I was jumping into the deep end. By the end of the year, however, I’d received the highest score in my cohort on my edTPA and quickly secured a job after graduation. That isn’t to say that I didn’t encounter my share of struggles throughout the year. However, by the end, I found a rhythm and felt like I understood the process to a good degree. I want to give you the keys that I learned to succeed in a teaching credential program so that you don’t have to struggle.

Success Tip #1: Be Prepared to Struggle

This isn’t meant to scare you. It’s just reality. A teaching credential program is a very new thing for most people. The work-life balance is a new thing. The tasks demanded of you are new. It makes sense that you’re going to have a hard time at first. In my opinion, most of a teaching credential program is like throwing you headfirst into the deep end to teach you how to swim.

So that’s why I say that you should be prepared to struggle if you want to succeed in a teaching credential program. Don’t be scared when you feel incredibly overwhelmed. Just know that everyone else feels the same way. It’s not a sign that you can’t handle the program. It’s not a reason for you to panic and quit or think that you’ll never succeed. Instead, it’s an opportunity for growth, and it’s something that will mostly get easier after the first month.

There will be emotional challenges for sure. Working with kids exposes you to a lot, and you’ll have days where you’ll feel that your heart is breaking. However, those days where you help someone and see that look on their face counteracts that a thousand percent. As one of my professors once said, it’s about finding your “why” and sticking to it throughout any struggle.

Success Tip #2: Dress for Success

Young teachers get a bad reputation. We’re often seen as unprofessional, and to be honest, a lot of people contribute to this reputation. Make sure that you are not one of these people. As I say below, you should treat every day like a job interview. When you go to pick your outfits, make sure that they match the level of the people around you or are even more professional. While you don’t want to be wearing a suit when others are wearing jeans, you should look like you take yourself seriously and want a job.

Additionally, it’s crucial to dress appropriately. I’ve seen so many young teachers and student teachers dress like they are going out with their friends–to the point where they might be dress coded themselves. A school setting might be more casual than a business setting, but it shouldn’t be that casual. Remember that you don’t want to draw any attention to yourself, but you do want your colleagues and students to respect you. This attitude will not only to help you succeed in a teaching credential program, but it will also prepare you for the real work world.

Success Tip #3: Treat Every Day Like a Job Interview

Student teaching is not a direct to job pipeline. You won’t necessarily get a job where you do your student teaching, and you’re not guaranteed a job at the end. You need to earn it. This is part of what it means to succeed in a teaching credential program. One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was to treat every day like a job interview. Act with professionalism. Seem like you want to be there. Compose yourself as though you’re an employee, or better yet, you’re showing up to an interview every day that you’re there. The education world is pretty small at the end of the day, and you want that to work in your favor.

Success Tip #4: Get Organized

If you don’t find a way to organize yourself during a credential program, you will sink. There’s so much going on. First, you have your own schoolwork. Let’s say that this is anywhere from three to six classes. Then you have your observations. After that, you have your own lesson planning for one or more classes. With that comes grading and student work. Later on in the year, you’ll have the edTPA. Beyond that, you have your own life. You need to stay organized.

It doesn’t matter how you get organized. Whether you’re a physical planner person or someone who breathes Google Calendar, you just need to find what works for you. Do yourself a favor and find it early, that way you don’t go through the struggle at the beginning of the year. I suggest making a separate binder, folder, or bag for student work to grade and ensuring you separate each assignment. Ask your guide teacher about their system, and make sure that your work doesn’t get mixed up with theirs. It might take a moment to get used to this, but it will be worth it once you find your process.

Success Tip #5: Understand Your Supervisor and Guide Teacher

Like with everything, you should know your audience. You will be reviewed primarily by your guide teacher and your supervisor. They will likely be the ones writing your recommendations. It will help you to foster these relationships (and to get good relationships) if you understand what they’re looking for. This doesn’t mean that you should completely change your style, but it should guide you in using common sense. For example, if your supervisor is super old fashioned, try to consider that when you’re being observed. If you know that your guide teacher prefers project based learning, try to apply that. This will make you more diversified, and it will also help to build rapport and show that you’re considering their ideas. By being thoughtful and making slight adjustments, you will succeed in a teaching credential program and stand out compared to your peers.

Success Tip #6: Save Everything

A professor once told me that “teaching is stealing.” While I don’t know if I agree with this 100%, it definitely is full of repurposing and collaborating to create better ideas and save time. With that being said, you might be creating materials in a guide teacher’s Google Drive or Canvas. Make sure that you also save your lesson plans to your own drive! Write down or ask for copies of what your guide teachers/department are doing. This will not only give you things (and models!) when you’re teaching, but it will also give you things to talk about in interviews. Trust me on this one. By saving activities and organizing them, you will save yourself so much time in the future. You will also succeed in a teaching credential program because you have a beautiful vault of lessons to reference.

Success Tip #7: Take Advantage of Observation

The entire point of having a guide teacher is to learn from them. Every program that I know of carves out some time in your day for you to observe your teacher. Don’t just use this time to work. It will be tempting, I know. However, save at least some of the period to see how your guide teacher does things. How do they structure their lessons? What do they do when students misbehave? How do they handle crisis? What works for them, and what doesn’t work so well? All of it is fair game, and it will help you to grow.

A pro tip from my old guide teacher: if you have the opportunity, sit in as many teachers’ classrooms as possible. You’ll be exposed to different teaching styles and you’ll make connections. It’s a win-win.

Success Tip #8: Seek Out Genuine Feedback

Some people are afraid of feedback. It makes sense. It can hurt to have your work criticized. However, when it’s coming from a good place and is constructive, this will help you to grow like nothing else. Your guide teacher is there to help you grow, as is your supervisor. A credential program is filled with a ton of reflection, but it’s only as useful as you make it. If you ignore the feedback and areas for improvement that your supervisor or guide teacher give you, or you don’t actually reflect, it won’t help you much in the long run. Additionally, it’s much easier to get that feedback in the very beginning and start with strong habits that will help you to succeed in a teaching credential program. This also makes it so much easier when you do your edTPA, as you’re not forcibly correcting habits last minute and/or not doing best practice. Because of this, I encourage you to not only listen to feedback that is given to you, but to also ask for feedback at every step!

Success Tip #9: Collaborate

You will be working with veteran teachers, new teachers, and everyone in between. Take advantage of their experience and collaborate. Share ideas and show that you are valuable. Understand how things like Professional Learning Communities work. Become a useful part of the department. Remember, this is the best way to learn, and it is also excellent preparation for next year, when you will be an actual teacher.

Success Tip #10: Get Involved

Again with the theme of treating every day like a job interview, you want to show that you want to be there. You’re trying to show everyone there that you would be an asset. Even if you don’t get hired at that site, people talk, and a network helps. Part of what it takes to succeed in a teaching credential program is being able to consider what comes after. Getting involved helps with this.

With that being said, make appearances at extra events. Go to football games or dances. Get face time with other employees (especially admin), students, and parents. Everyone wants someone who is an asset. Make sure that you are seen this way, not as someone who is doing the bare minimum. Besides, it means a lot to your students to see your at their events!

Success Tip #11: Do Not Be Your Students’ Friend

It is a notorious problem for young teachers and student teachers to try to be their students’ friend. Before you completely rule this out, know that it is tempting. Especially when you’re close in age to your students (i.e., you’re 21-23 and they’re 17), you understand them pretty well. If you have siblings that age, it can feel weird to have that kind of authority when you’re practically the same age. However, you’re not the same age, and you’re not there to be their friend. You can be relatable and compassionate and open to talking. You cannot be their friend as long as you are their teacher. If you want to succeed in a teaching credential program, you should learn this quickly.

Beyond opening the gates for a lack of professionalism and classroom management issues, this sets you up for an uncomfortable dynamic. Consider what might happen if you have to discipline a student who considers you their friend. They will feel betrayed and resent you. This makes for an icky situation. It’s best to avoid it from the start.

It really isn’t easy to find this balance. Especially if you’re young, they will immediately gravitate toward you as a friend. It’s about setting gentle boundaries from the beginning, which your guide teacher should help you with.

Success Tip #12: Focus on Classroom Management

Following what was said above, classroom management is incredibly important. You might be the most knowledgeable person in your subject area and you might create the best lesson plans, but it doesn’t matter if you can’t control your classroom. My guide teacher told me that the #1 reason why new teachers aren’t hired OR are fired is because they lack classroom management. If you want to succeed in a teaching credential program, you need to get this down as fast as possible.

There are a few ways to avoid this issue. First, simply put most of your effort there. Your guide teacher should be able to give you some tips and tricks, especially because they’re in the classroom with you and know the specific population of students. Second, create structure and consistency from the start. If students know what to expect and know that you will enforce consequences fairly and consistently, it will erase some problems. Third, please don’t fall into the trap of being their friend. I’ve said it, and I’ll say it again. You’ll skip so many problems. By being a bit stricter in the beginning, you’ll create that boundary. Finally, be adaptable and follow your gut. Usually, it will lead you in the right direction and help you to problem solve. This is incredibly valuable. Take advantage of it!

Success Tip #13: Network Early

You never know who knows someone who can get you a job. I’ve mentioned this a few times throughout this article, but you want to make yourself known. Ensure that people recognize you on campus (in a good way, not because you’re not a professional). Send cold emails to assistant principals or principals at other schools introducing yourself and giving some background so that you’re on their radar. Find ways to talk with department heads. Go to any district-wide professional development that you can.

Basically, if there’s a way to make your face known, do it. If you can have assistant principals at your current school come in and observe you, do it. It’s all about making connections and setting yourself up for after the credential program ends. Just make sure that you come off as genuine; nobody wants a snake.

Success Tip #14: Set Boundaries

You have a lot going on during a credential program. You have work schoolwork, your student teaching, and your edTPA. There’s also your personal life. It becomes a lot to balance. If you want to succeed in a teaching credential program, you need to be able to find that balance.

If you’re lucky, people respect your boundaries. However, often it takes a bit of negotiating. You have to explain to the people in your personal life everything that a credential program entails. If your guide teacher tries to push all of their work off on you, you need to navigate that as well. When your students see you as a friend, you need to gently correct that.

For many people, setting healthy boundaries is incredibly difficult. I think most people find it difficult, as we often want to please others. During a credential program, however, you need to find a way to set these boundaries and follow them, otherwise you will feel like you’re being drowned in the wishes of other people. Clear communication and honesty will save you so much time in the long run.

Success Tip #15: Start Early on the edTPA

The edTPA is a monster. It’s a compilation of teaching videos, reflections, work samples, feedback, research, and writing that you submit to actually get your credential. You pay, the people at Pearson review and score it, and if you pass, you’re recommended for a credential. In a certain way, it is the ultimate measure of whether or not you will succeed in a teaching credential program. However, it takes quite a bit of time to do. Consider that you’re still doing your credential program schoolwork and student teaching/grading at the same time. In my program, the schoolwork eased up around this time, but the student teaching increased, so there was a heavy workload.

It’s doable, but it is a lot of work. There are different submission dates for the edTPA. If I remember correctly, they’re about every three weeks. The advice we were given was to submit as early as possible so that we had time to retake in case we failed. Almost everybody I knew passed on the first try, but it was worth the peace of mind to submit it early. My planned submission date was March 24th. I started in mid-February, so I would say that I spent about 5-6 weeks working on it. Whatever you do, just make sure that you’re able to dedicate time to it and that you’re not rushing yourself.

Success Tip #16: Take Advantage of Any Sample edTPAs

In teaching, you learn how critical modelling is to student success. If you want to succeed in a teaching credential program, you should take this pedagogical knowledge and use it to your advantage. When you see an example and can learn from it, it really helps you. If you have access to any samples, whether this is through your credential program or you find authorized ones, take advantage of it. Study them and implement the things that received good feedback into your own. However, be extra careful that you do not copy or break the edTPA rules about receiving outside help. They are pretty struct, and it’s not worth risking your credential.

Success Tip #17: Finish All Requirements Early

There are various requirements to get credentialed. In California, you need a First Aid training and a Constitution test. I got these done in the first months of my credential program and didn’t think about them after. However, I would make sure that you are aware of what you will need to do early on. Get these things done ASAP. When you pass your edTPA (early!!!) and get recommended for your credential, make sure that you’re on top of that so that your application process doesn’t have any hiccups. Save yourself stress in the long run!

Success Tip #18: Start the Job Search in March/April

Continuing with the theme of starting early, I recommend making your account on Edjoin early. This is where a vast majority of teaching jobs are posted. You don’t need to actually be applying to jobs this early, as most of them seem to be posted in late May or June when teachers announce their retirement. However, it helps to get a head start and see what’s out there. Part of what it takes to succeed in a teaching credential program is knowing when to be ambitious and make the first move. Put your name out for some various positions. Get used to the application system and the requirements. Even if you’re not actively applying, just make sure that you’re looking and saving jobs to apply to later as they come up. The last thing that you want to do is to start applying in the middle of July after all of the jobs are taken. From what I’ve seen, most of the action seems to happen during the last weeks of May to the first two weeks of July. Give yourself all of the options possible.

Success Tip #19: Do Your Research

Before you go to a job interview or talk to someone who could get you a job, make sure you’re prepared. You don’t want to go in blind. You want to show them that you’ve looked into their school, you want the job, and you’d be a good fit. By casually dropping in these tidbits of information and catering your answers, you will make a much stronger impression than someone who hasn’t done their research.

Additionally, you want to know what you’re getting yourself into. Even during your student teaching, you should understand your context. What is the culture of your school and the surrounding area? How does it rank? What are the problems and strengths? Is there anything that can help you to know the kids better? Are there any dangers that you should be aware of? These are all important questions to not only succeed in a teaching credential program, but to also succeed as a teacher.

When you’re applying for jobs, you often just want something. However, it’s better to keep looking for jobs if it’s clear that a school has a very toxic culture or would not be a good fit. You deserve better than that, and if you’re not going to be a good teacher there, the kids deserve better than that. The idea is just to not go in blind and to do your research ahead of time.

Success Tip #20: Don’t Get Discouraged

I started out with how you will struggle. With that being said, don’t get discouraged. You might get burnt out throughout the program. Maybe there will be interviews that won’t go so well. There will be days where you just feel overwhelmed and want to quit.

Know that this is normal. Everyone I knew in my credential program felt like this. Teaching is emotional draining, and so are the edTPA and the job application process. Just know that it’s temporary and that you can overcome it. You went into teaching for a reason. Remember that reason and think about the difference you can make in the world!

A Final Word

A credential program is by no means easy. It can often feel like you will never succeed in a teaching credential program and like teaching is an impossible career. It might be difficult, but it is certainly not impossible. If you prepare early, conduct yourself with the utmost professionalism, and make use of every experience given to you, you’ll make the most of the credential program and set yourself up well for success. Is there anything else that you have seen that creates success? Let me know in the comments below.

Credit: Picture from UnSplash