By Dave Dein – February 10, 2026 thetrucker.com
Let’s talk about my early days as a teacher. Were there misconceptions on my part about what it meant to be an educator in my first year? Undeniably and unequivocally: Yes!
Unknowingly, I based everything I knew about teaching on the way I was taught (of course).
When I was growing up, my teachers constantly seemed prepared, organized, caring and — for the most part — happy. And why not? They only worked nine months out of the year, they took a holiday whenever someone sneezed, and their workdays ended by 3 p.m.
How perfect would this be? I envisioned myself playing a round of golf every day, with still plenty of time to make it home for dinner. “I got this! I want this! I need this!” I thought to myself.
My first year as an educator came at the elementary level, but the lessons I learned apply to any grade level (including adult education and CDL training for prospective truck drivers).
I started my career in education with absolutely no formal teacher-preparation education. I was a business major in college, and I was hired as a teacher on an emergency credential.
Immediately, I was thrown into the fire. It was a crash course in learning about lesson planning, differentiating instruction based on student needs, creating engaging and meaningful lessons, the meetings, the endless paperwork, the phone calls to parents … and did I mention the meetings? I had so many informal conflict-resolution meetings with students that I started to feel like Dr. Phil.
