"Why Your First Lessons Might Flop: 5 Mistakes Every Novice Teacher Makes"

 

Introduction:

So you’ve planned the perfect lesson. You walk into class like a teaching superhero… and five minutes later, the students are confused, your slides won’t load, and someone’s eating glue in the back.

Welcome to the beautiful chaos of being a new teacher. 

Here are 5 rookie mistakes that can turn your perfect lesson into total classroom chaos.

1. Skipping the “Who Are These Creatures?” Step

The Mistake:

You spend hours making a Pinterest-worthy worksheet , pastel colors, cute fonts, sparkles… the works.

Then you give it to your class… and half of them stare like it’s written in ancient Greek.

Why? You didn’t bother to figure out how they actually learn.

The Fix:

Before diving into artsy materials and fancy slides, give your students a quick diagnostic quiz or activity. Find out: Are they visual? Do they need to move? Are they still learning the alphabet? Designing for the wrong level is like cooking a gourmet meal for someone who just wants 

2. Copy-Paste Lesson Plans… a Love Story Gone Wrong

The Mistake:

You borrow a lesson plan from another teacher. It looks perfect , smooth, organized, and full of fun activities. But when you try it with your class? Disaster. Crickets. Blank stares.

Why? Because your students aren’t their students.

The Fix:

Use other teachers’ lesson plans for inspiration, not duplication. Your class has its own quirks, levels, and attention spans (especially after lunch). Always tweak and adapt based on your learners. Think of it like a recipe , you don’t copy the chef, you season it to your own taste (and avoid a classroom meltdown).

3. Skipping the Warm-Up Like It’s Optional (It’s Not)

The Mistake:

You walk in, skip the hello, and jump straight into grammar like it’s a race.

Students? Still mentally at recess. Half asleep. Emotionally unavailable.

No warm-up = no attention = no learning.

The Fix:

Lead-ins and warm-ups are not “extra.” They’re the hook, the hype, the Netflix trailer before the movie. Students are excitement-driven creatures . If you don’t catch them in the first 5 minutes, you’ve lost them. So start with a game, a funny question, a meme , anything but “Open your books to page 4.”

4. Talking Too Much Like You’re the Star of the Show

The Mistake:

You explain… and explain… and then explain the explanation.

By the time you’re done, class is over and your students haven’t said a single word , but hey, you nailed your monologue!

Spoiler alert: you’re not the main character.

The Fix:

You’re the backup dancer. The real performers? The students.

The goal is to guide the learning, not dominate it. Ask questions, give tasks, let them struggle a bit  because if they’re not talking, they’re not learning. Save your Oscar-winning speech for the teacher’s lounge.

5. Turning the Lesson into a Buffet of Activities

The Mistake:

You plan 6 activities, 3 worksheets, 2 songs, and a backup Kahoot… for one lesson.

Then you look at the clock, realize you’re still on Activity One, and your students haven’t even finished writing the date.

The Fix:

Less is more. Plan enough , not everything. Your students aren’t machines; they’re slow writers, deep thinkers, or just easily distracted. Quality over quantity always wins. Teaching isn’t speed dating , it’s slow cooking.

Final Word:

As the old saying goes: Too many cooks spoil the broth , and in teaching, too many tasks spoil the lesson. So teach smart, keep it simple, and let your students do the cooking every now and then.