People often mistakenly dismiss new teachers as being too inexperienced to hold value, which could not be further from the truth. Those who are newer to the profession bring numerous benefits to both students and colleagues: a fresh (and therefore less biased) mindset, technology expertise, and excellent relationship-building skills, among many other assets. With the halfway point in the year behind us, however, new teachers can often become discouraged about the elements of teaching that tend to require more years of experience. When we seek to support our newer colleagues, focusing on the areas below as a starting point for professional development can be helpful, provided that we accompany any advice with the proviso to not try and do everything all at once.
One of the first questions students ask when they walk into a room is, “What are we doing today?” Newer teachers often have the same question, especially because lesson planning in the early years of teaching tends to reflect a more “survival mode” approach of figuring out what is happening from one day to the next.
To make the process of planning easier, it helps to do the following:
While the legwork of teaching takes a lot of time and energy, the area of instruction that is usually most daunting for less experienced teachers happens in the minutes between the first and last bell. Aspiring to perfection is not a realistic or desirable goal in anyone’s first few years, but a few key rules of thumb can make the journey smoother:
Assessing where student progress lies is not a simple task. While teachers of any experience level can get mired in piles of grading, the problem tends to be more pervasive with newer teachers who are not certain about how much work to assign, and how much to assess. Generally, newer teachers err on the side of more is more and therefore wind up assigning an unmanageable amount of work to grade. To ease some of the workload, we can encourage the following approaches to assessment:
Ultimately, a good approach for any teacher (new or otherwise) is to prioritize formative assessment over summative, since shorter and more frequent checks for understanding tend to be more effective in gauging what students know.
Most teachers who think back to their first years in the classroom do not remember an easy time. Perhaps we felt inspired, energized, or excited about the work–but that doesn’t mean it was ever effortless. To compound matters, most rookie teachers do not have enough support in the form of mentorship or feedback, so they rely on colleagues to help them. To make a true difference in this second half of the school year, consider checking in with a colleague who could use a thought partner or a teaching friend. That is not to say that anyone should provide unsolicited advice; however, if someone does ask for it, we will be ready and available to provide some help.
Written by Miriam Plotinsky, Education World Contributing Writer
Miriam Plotinsky is an instructional specialist with Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, where she has taught and led for more than 20 years. She is the author of several education books with W.W. Norton and ASCD. She is also a National Board-Certified Teacher with additional certification in administration and supervision. She can be reached at www.miriamplotinsky.com or via Twitter: @MirPloMCPS