Over the past few months, I keep having the same experience in which a colleague will tell me something that I should have known from the beginning of the year.
For example, last month someone told me that during the 5th and 15th week grading periods I don’t need to assign grades to students; I only need to give warnings to those students who are in danger of failing. Oh well. I did more work than was necessary.
Last week, another teacher told me that I am supposed to use the computer system to take attendance within the first 15 minutes of class. Oops. Haven’t been doing that.
And today, I finally found out the password to the campus-wide wireless network. I found out that we had a wifi network on campus last month (it doesn’t broadcast its SSID), but didn’t find out the password until today. But now… WOO HOO!!! I have access to the internets from anywhere on campus.
I still need to figure out how to read my monthly pay stub. It’s really confusing.
No wonder teachers feel so discombobulated during their first years. They are acquiring all sorts of important information that someone, for one reason or another, neglects to tell them.
Adventures in Teaching 
I felt the same way in Tanzania. My first year if I was, say, running low on chalk, I’d set aside an afternoon to track down whoever had the key to the supply room. My second year I was 10 times as efficient just because I knew the system.
were you assigned a mentor teacher? many schools & districts (in fact, all of the schools districts I’ve taught in/observed) have some sort of program to help new teachers with the super steep learning curve, even if it’s as basic as a teaching buddy. elect your own if you have to. i was given a great go-to mentor my 1st year for nuts & bolts stuff AND i elected another teacher i admired for more teaching related stuff.
and you’re right, Teachers don’t talk to each other enough. it’s one of the reasons why an imporatant part of the research we do necessarily alters the work of teaching – we need evidence documenting what it really takes for equitable outcomes.
go here and download the first pdf. it’s a great piece:
http://tinyurl.com/yzgay8j
Glad u get wi-fi now. Must say that my principal told all of us to take attendance in the first five mins of class. You tell me how to do that with you rowdy alg I students. Sometimes I never even have my own thoughts in those classes.