Worried I was too harsh on my preschool students. Please help me do better.
I recently started a new job as a preschool teacher at a daycare. I have no prior teaching experience. Yesterday was my second day as new teacher for a daycare. I was trained by shadowing another teacher on my first day. My second day, which was yesterday, I was supposed to be trained again. But the center became too busy so I basically was on my own the entire time for the first time, even though the director told me I can't be alone in the classroom yet until I finish my training. She came in to help a couple times whenever she wasn't busy. but I was still left alone to a class of 10-15 kids age 3 for the majority of the day. I honestly felt like it was irresponsible to leave me alone in the classroom for an extended amount of time knowing I have no teaching experience, especially with classroom management and did not finish my entire training. But anyways, I will go ahead and get to my main story. After a couple hours, I ended up putting a total of three students on time out because they were not following my instructions to stop running around the classroom, and not following safety instructions (hitting peers, pushing peers, knocking peers toys over, and throwing toys). I was also in the middle of cleaning up my classroom which included the mess those same students left from not following class rules, while also having to supervise all the students in my class, which was about 15 at the time. They were on time out for a couple minutes (until I finished picking up their mess and cleaning most of the classroom). The time out was not in a corner btw. I placed each of them in their own tables away from the play area and did not let them play with toys. After, I let them go back to playing and I made sure to explain to them what they did wrong. I honestly felt bad after doing it. One of the students has this puppy dog face, and the other was crying. I was just so stressed out and I did not have anybody to help or support me at the time. I might be being dramatic but I am now worried I ended up traumatizing them even though I just wanted them to stop so I can clean up and to prevent my other students from getting hurt. I really just want to learn from my actions so I can be a better teacher and a safe adult for a child. Is there any advice any professional can give me? I would greatly appreciate it. I feel like there is always room for me to grow.
Posted Nov 18, 2025, 11:19 PM UTC