Deciding what to wear for work used to make me anxious. Okay, it still does, but I’ve learned a few tricks to help me get through that morning routine in a breeze. Most of you know that I’m a high school teacher, but few of you know that I started teaching at the age of 21. I’m 25 now but I feel like my face has not changed and I still get the daily “Omg I thought you were a student!” reminders. Obviously, this has been a struggle for me. I don’t want to be seen as another student by anyone, much less the actual students I have to teach! Wouldn’t this make you anxious too?
I had a professor in college my senior year that voluntarily gave us tips on getting through our first year of teaching. Because most of the students in the class didn’t look a day older than 20, and were all planning on teaching secondary grade levels, she took it upon herself to specify some do’s and don’t’s when teaching older students. One of those tips included NOT dressing for your age. She must have taken an entire lecture day to talk about this, because she so passionately believed that the answer to getting respect from older students was to look much much older than them. Well, I’m here to say that’s quite wrong. Sure it helps to look old, but at the end of the day I’ve seen students run over teachers with grey hair without thinking twice about it. So, while dressing old and modest may give you a boost of confidence, it’s definitely not the answer to getting through the tough crowd of high school students.
As the years went by and I started to feel more comfortable with my discipline methods, I realized students don’t really care about what you wear. I mean this only in the sense of style. As a young professional, you need to understand that while you can wear what’s “in”, it is also imperative that you look professional while you’re at it.
It took me years to figure out what worked for me and how to rebel, if you will, with my work attire. I threw out the ugly slacks and cardigans that I had in a “work clothes” part of my closet and started wearing things I would wear on any other day of the week. While there is obviously nothing wrong with wearing slacks and cardigans (basically a teacher uniform), I just felt like it wasn’t for me. I hated wearing them.
the “ugly slacks”
currently…
There is obviously a dress code I have to follow and as long as I don’t wear spaghetti straps, jeans, leggings or skirts above my knee, anything in my closet is up for grabs. So, without further ado, these are a few things I consider when I get ready for work, or as I mentioned earlier, a few tricks:
Be your most comfortable self
You don’t need to overdress or wear something that makes you feel uncomfortable to look professional. Sometimes I wear sneakers to work because it feels right. When I get dressed in the morning, I think about comfort before anything else. If I’m in the mood to wear heels, I’ll wear them, but if I feel exhausted, I won’t even look at anything higher than a centimeter.
Be Bold
Don’t be afraid to be bold. This was actually a little difficult for me to accomplish, mainly because… eh em, my audience is high school students. I love wearing bold shoes or different patterns or things you might not find at a Banana Republic. More like non-traditional work attire. Sometimes this means I’ll wear a leather jacket on top of a dress (instead of a boring blazer), or add a faux fur vest to an otherwise boring outfit.
Do your Hair & makeup
Okay I can pretty much say that I’ve conducted some unofficial research on this. I’ve been told I look like a student a lot more when I don’t wear makeup or leave my hair in natural waives. Reason? probably because the majority of my female students do the same. So, with that being said, putting even a little bit of effort into your hair & makeup goes a long way. I don’t wear too much makeup (not even weekends), so I have found ways to look put together without having to put on a full face of makeup. A tinted moisturizer, mascara, and a little blush do the trick. Additionally, I figured out the perfect equation (timeframe) for washing my hair -ladies you know exactly what I’m talking about.
I did not think this post would be so long, but here we are! I hope this was informative and will help you even a little when you get ready for work. Details of my outfit are at the end of this post.
Blouse (old H&M) similar here | Plaid Pants | Sam Edelman Boots | Fossil Watch
as always, thank you for stopping by!
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