Here in New York, and in much of the nation, children start school tomorrow. It’ll also be the first day ever for thousands of new teachers. Whether you came from a traditional teacher training program, Teach for America or another alternative certification program, it’s safe to say that not everything you need to know to be effective has been covered in class.
The website Gently Hew Stone published a list of 50 Things New Teachers Need To Know last month. While I don’t subscribe to all fifty, most are solid and it’s a good place to start. ”All staff development and teacher in service days exist to promote fads,” GHS notes somewhat cynically, but not inaccurately. “If you get to attend a really useful one every two years or so, count yourself lucky.” He’s also not a big fan of group work. “People who insist that students need practice cooperating and working with others are wrong,” he writes. “They need practice being focused and responsible. If you do give group work, please make sure that each individual has a specific product or element of the whole for which to be responsible and graded on.”
Catching Sparrows’ excellent advice includes buy good shoes and be kind to janitors. She also offers a badly needed counterweight to all the hero teacher movies that may have inspired you to join the ranks in the first place. “There will be at least one student for whom you do not make the difference,” she sagely observes.
Whatever the reason, that’s no reason for you not to pursue all options on behalf of that student. Here’s the second part of my statement: Sometimes you won’t be the one who makes the difference, but you are not solely responsible for the success and well-being of that student. If you have concerns about a student, but can’t seem to make a connection, consider advocating for the student by finding the people who can help. Don’t let the solitary nature of the job make you feel as though you are alone in the pursuit of helping a student who doesn’t seem to want you to help them. Someone else may be able to do that - and it’s not a failure on your part.
“The best trick, and it’s not much of a trick at all, is frequent home contact,” notes NYC Educator. ”It’s true that not all parents will be helpful, but I’ve found most of them to be. When kids know reports of their classroom behavior will reach their homes, they tend to save the acting out for your lazier colleagues—the ones who find it too inconvenient to call.”
If you’re fortunate enough to have a reasonable and supportive AP, God bless you. If not, like many teachers, you’ll just have to learn to take care of yourself. If you really like kids, if you really know your subject, and if you really want to teach, you’ll get the hang of it. But make those phone calls. The longer you do it, the more kids will know it, and the fewer calls you’ll have to make.
Ms. Cornelius at A Shrewdness of Apes weighs in thoughtfully on classroom management, supplies and staying healthy. Read what Jose Vilson has to say about discipline too. I’ll add my own piece of advice that I wish I’d received as a first-year teacher: sleep. Many times I would push myself to the point of exhaustion planning lessons, and then I would be frustrated and resentful the next day when my “perfect” lessons didn’t go well. Being a teacher is the hardest job in the world to do well, but if you have to choose between sleep and more time planning, choose sleep. Days that I was overplanned and under-rested invariably went badly; when I was well-rested, I was better able to handle whatever the day threw at me, even if I felt I was less than perfectly planned out.
In general, I would set the goal for any first year teacher to move from unconscious incompetence — not knowing what you do not know — to conscious incompetence — knowing what you don’t know. That forms the baseline for growth. I would also issue a warning to maintain a healthy skepticim of pedagogical orthodoxy. If student achievement corresponded with certaintly from experts about what’s best for children, there wouldn’t be an achievement gap.
In the end, I personally believe that becoming a good teacher has more in common with becoming a good writer that understanding the standards and practices of a profession. You become successful when you know your subject and find your voice. Best of luck finding yours.
I concur on the best practice being frequent home contact. I am unsure why it is not used as often as it could be. Perhaps there needs to be a class in the education undergraduate program called “How to Talk with Parents and Make Them Valuable Resources”. If a teacher starts the rapport early, there is very little that will ever be an issue. (Great blog by the way.)
At my new school, none of the teachers have phones in their classrooms, and there is no secluded office for us to make calls from. Since many calls tend to fall under confidential (discussing discipline, BIPs, IEPs, etc), it’s difficult to decide what to do. I’ve been told to use the phone in the tiny, overcrowded staff break room which also contains the lone copy machine on our wing (constantly in use), or my personal cell phone. Fine, except I don’t have one. I’ve only run across two students so far whose parents offered up email addresses.
I already tried to make one home phone call last week (first week of school). Not only were the phone numbers incorrect, they apparently had simply been pulled out of the directory. One was for a local medical center (the parent did not work there - I wonder if that wasn’t left as the emergency number), and one was for a Walgreens (parent had never worked there). That parent also left an email address, but the email was never responded to. (Generic Yahoo account.) Mailing letters is fine, except in cases where information about the student needs to be given immediately.
It’s not always a matter of convincing teachers to contact parents, or training them how to. I love to talk with parents, especially to heap praise on my students. Sometimes, it’s a matter of finding them, and I know that’s not always the parents’ fault.
Last year, at my old school, I had a parent tell me, “When she’s at school, she’s your problem. Don’t call me at home with problems about school.” Too often, though I would wish it otherwise, this is the path I have to take.
From one who has spent decades in the high school classroom, I applaud your sound advice to new teachers. Let me add that your last paragraph should be engraved on the portal to every teacher’s college.