The school year has come to a close, which means I have completed my first year of teaching. I wanted to reflect while everything is still fresh and top of mind. So much happened this school year that I never want to forget.

I got hired for a 5th grade position.

My student teaching was in advanced kindergarten and I loved it. I always pictured myself teaching younger kids (K-2) and was looking for a position in that range to start my teaching career. Then, due to Covid, teaching positions were extremely limited. When I went to the Manatee County Schools job fair, there was one elementary position available. It was 3rd grade at Johnson K-8. I thought, “Ehhh 3rd grade is a little older than I wanted, but a job is a job.” When I was offered the position, I was told it could change to either 5th grade or kindergarten. I was so excited at the possibility of getting a kindergarten position and the school knew I liked the primary grades. Then I was told I would be in 5th grade. I freaked out a little bit about how big and scary these kids were going to be and how intimidating teaching an older grade with tough coursework was going to be. Then, I accepted the challenge. the one thing giving me any reassurance was that I absolutely loved my 5th grade teacher and being in 5th grade.

When the school year started, I quickly fell in love with 5th grade. The kids weren’t at all big or scary (a perk of being tall is that none of them were taller than me) and I was able to handle the material I was teaching. My students were so fun. I was able to joke around with them because they got my humor and understood sarcasm and I was also able to be very straight up with them and they could handle it. They became my 11-year-old BFFs almost instantly and we had the best year together. When asked what grade I wanted to teach next year, I didn’t hesitate at all to put 5th grade as my first choice. Kindergarten didn’t even make the list.

I became TikTok famous.

Another unexpected aspect of teaching 5th grade is that a lot of them have phones, which in turn means a lot of them have social media. They quickly found my TikTok account I’d made over the summer (@sammyraejohnson) and started following me. I had a few videos do pretty well and my account started growing. My kids celebrated every time a video of mine did well and were so excited the day I first had a video hit 1 million views. Then, one day I recorded myself reading a fake break-up letter that I “found” in the classroom to my kids. Ultimately, it’s signed “The American Colonists” and ties into a history lesson. I posted the video of me reading the letter (and the kids’ reactions in the background) on TikTok and the video currently has over 36.5 MILLION views and has led to almost 1 million followers. I now also make money off TikTok for the content I post.

As they often point out, I wouldn’t be TikTok famous if it weren’t for them. Almost every week, especially since we’re joined with a middle school, a student at the school would ask me if I’m “the TikTok teacher.” Sometimes I’d hear students talking about me to their friends as they walked past me saying, “It’s her!” So that’s fun!

I felt the utmost support from every direction.

I consider myself so grateful to have had such a smooth-sailing first year as a teacher. I know many first-year teachers are not as lucky. I felt so much support from my teaching team, my administration, and even my students. I lucked out with a great group of fellow 5th grade teachers and we all planned our lessons collaboratively. I never hesitated to go to them with any and every question I had being new. The administration at my school was so helpful and I knew I could turn to them for anything I needed. I never felt intimidated or “beneath” my principal and assistant principal and I am so grateful for that. I also felt so much support from my students, which I wasn’t expecting.

I am lucky enough to say that I only had a handful of bad days this school year and most of those were when they were trying to integrate a student from a self-contained behavioral classroom into my room. It was the hardest few days by far. Those were the only days I ever (privately) cried at school (aside from the last day when my kids left). My kids sensed how frustrated and upset I was and without me saying anything to them, they all tried to make my life easier in any way they could. They all behaved so well those few days and were so respectful and gracious with the situation. I am forever grateful that they had that empathy for me.

I changed my last name.

This might not seem huge, but I wanted to include it for anyone else who may be in my same situation next school year. I got married over winter break and was debating whether or not to change my name at school. I decided to just let my kids choose whether they wanted to call me Ms. Hyatt or Mrs. Johnson. That lasted the first day until lunch time when I was talking to another teacher who mentioned she got married in the same situation a few year prior. She gave me all the tips and tricks for how she switched her name in her classroom in less than a week. She told me to just not respond to my maiden name anymore and then pretty quickly they’ll start using your married name. That’s exactly what I did and it worked like a charm! My kids would even correct each other if one of them slipped up. In just a few days, I was officially Mrs. Johnson in their eyes.

I made friends.

It’s pretty much a crap shoot who you’re going to be working with, whether directly on a team or in the school as a whole. My advice to any new teacher (new to teaching or new to a school) is to just be as positive and outgoing as you can and try to make friends with everyone. Some will stick and others you’ll realize aren’t meant to be, but give everyone a shot. I made some really good friends this school year and I am so grateful for them. Trust me, it’s no fun talking about school stuff to your husband who doesn’t understand or, honestly, really care. It’s wayyy better to rant to your fellow teachers who have been there and done that.

I realized the importance of connecting with each student.

Everyone always says that connecting with your students is huge. I know that’s true, but this year showed me just how transformative finding something to connect with a student over can be. I made connections with students over baseball, college football (even though he doesn’t like the Gators), book series, TikTok, and even fishing. I had one student transfer into my class from e-learning midway through the year. He likes to challenge authority figures and the very first day he was in my class, he tested me. He said, “What’s your favorite kind of fish to catch?” I’m sure he thought he caught me off guard and I wouldn’t have an answer, but he thought incorrectly. I confidently responded, “Mahi. Want to see pictures of some I caught when I spent a month in the Keys fishing this summer? I’ll also show you the 75 lb. Wahoo my dad caught!” He was instantly impressed and decided I passed the test. Without that connection, he would’ve pushed back against me being “in charge,” but because I bonded with him over his favorite thing ever, he warmed up to me quickly and it lasted the rest of the school year.

I had the best group of students ever.

I attribute so much of this past year’s success to my 18 students. They were absolutely incredible – and while I may be biased, I had multiple administrators and fine arts teachers confirm how awesome my class was. I had the perfect balance of outgoing extroverts and more reserved introverts. The very first day of school one of my boys told me he was going to be the class clown. Turns out, I ended up having (at least) 3 class clowns. As crazy as it was, I wouldn’t trade any one of them for the world. I’m so fortunate that we were able to be in person all school year, even though I missed seeing their smiling faces behind their masks. I had unique relationships with each of my students and we rarely had to deal with drama between the kids. When we did, it was always resolved within a day or two and they were back to being best friends again. My students were (for the most part) respectful toward me and one another and that is huge in my book. The principal even noted what a great group of kids I had in my class one day and it made me feel so blessed to have each one of them in my class.

The last day of 5th grade sucks.

I think 5th grade may just be the hardest grade to have on the last day of school. We had our graduation the day before the last day of school and I was filled with so much pride for all the amazing things my kids have accomplished thus far and will accomplish in the future. The last day of school was relaxed and we had fun. At the very end of the day we went to recess until dismissal. I even expressed to my coworker that no one in my class had cried all day. Well, that changed the second the dismissal bell rang and a group of my kids surrounded me in the biggest group hug, completely unprompted. I instantly started sobbing, as did most of my kids. We built such a strong bond this year and none of us wanted to let that go. I wish I could keep these 18 kids forever, but I know they’re on to bigger and better things.

Fortunately, most of my kids are going to our joint middle school, so I’ll get to see them next year. However, I have a few going to different middle schools and those were the hardest to say good-bye to. A few kids thanked me for being the best teacher they’ve ever had and I lost it all over again. Those who are staying at our school next year told me they’re going to come see me every morning. I’m sure that won’t last, if it happens at all, but I already can’t wait to see them in the halls next year as big 6th graders.

I couldn’t have asked for a better first year of teaching. Honestly the only thing I’d really change would be not having to deal with a pandemic, but my kids handled even that so well. As sad as I am that my first year has come to an end, I’m excited for the summer and looking forward to another year in 5th grade. I’m nervous if my class next year will be able to live up to the high expectations this year’s class set, but I know we’ll figure each other out and become a family just like my class did this year. For now, I’m going to enjoy these 2 months off. Cheers to summer!