You may be told that your department does something called collaborative planning, in which teachers meet to plan ahead, share ideas, and make sure everyone is on the same page. Though many new teachers hear of this legend, the reality can be very different.

This question is simultaneously one of the touchiest cultural questions out there and one of the simplest to answer. It is also simultaneously part of a constantly-evolving dialogue and one where my answer hasn’t changed much since I first answered in in the FAQ section of See Me After Class: Advice for Teachers by Teachers.

You have likely heard a fellow teacher say something like this: “I have just one rule in my classroom: Respect.”

I’ve developed a few micro-rants about this statement—mostly for good reason.

Here’s one of the frequently asked questions that comes up when I speak to new teachers.

Q: Should I tell students this is my first time teaching?

A: No.

Q: Won’t they know anyway?

Readers of my novel, Adequate Yearly Progress, may notice a pattern when it comes to educators talking about their jobs in public. In the book, there are several scenes in which a teacher or principal tries to explain an educator’s point of view in the media, and it goes terribly wrong. Sometimes, the educator is simply shut out of the discussion and never gets heard at all. Other times, the situation turns into a complete disaster as a career educator ends up facing off with a public figure who doesn’t know much about education but sure seems to have a better sense of . . . something.