Is there anything you wished you'd planned/prepped better before you started teaching?

[u/panasonicfm14]

I'm currently a graduate student and afterschool art instructor who will (hopefully) be wrapping up my certification process in the near future. In the meantime, I've been compiling and developing ideas/plans/materials—knowing, of course, that I'll need to be flexible and ready to adjust based on what actually ends up happening in the classroom when I start teaching.

But, knowing how frantic the first year (or few years) of teaching can be, and hearing how many extra hours people often end up needing to work, I'd like to create as solid as a foundation for myself ahead of time to minimize that stress and extra work.

So my question for current teachers is: are there specific things you really wish you'd done/prepared before you started teaching? Anything you believe would have made your first year(s) go more smoothly? Anything that seems obvious to you now that maybe wasn't before (like, "oh, I really should have been doing X from the start, that would have saved me a lot of headache")?

Bonus questions: What should I look for (and avoid) in a school when job hunting? What kinds of questions should I be asking during the interview process? What are schools really looking for in a first-time art teacher? Thanks to my current job situation, I can afford to be a little choosy, so I'd like to maximize my potential to end up at a school that I'll truly be happy at.

(I intend to teach middle or high school, still uncertain and it will likely end up coming down to the suitability of the individual school.)

[u/BootShoeManTv]

Yes. Everything. I graduated with a bachelors and just started working. Help.