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Professional Growth for New Teachers

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. 

Planning Hacks

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:

  1. Lean on veteran colleagues who have been teaching for longer and who are typically more than willing to share their materials, whether they are planning documents or classroom resources, such as slides or assignment templates. Reinventing the wheel is not necessary when the work has already been done, and when we have access to a teaching team.
  2. In the event that the work of colleagues is not as useful, there are a number of open-source curricula that are available online at no cost to aid with planning.  This comprehensive list from Edutopia provides resources across grades and content areas, as well as important advice about what to look for, such as strong alignment to state standards. 

Classroom Tips 

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:

  1. Do not engage in power struggles. Teachers who draw lines in the sand are rarely successful at fostering a collaborative classroom that reflects mutual respect and cooperation among all. 
  2. Set clear expectations, but also be flexible and open to ideas. Students need a classroom that has strong routines and structures; however, teachers must work with any challenges that crop up and be open to adjustments as needed.
  3. Focus on connecting with students. In her famed Ted Talk, educator Rita Pierson shares the viewpoint that kids do not learn from teachers they don’t like. While there might be exceptions to her belief, students generally learn more effectively from teachers that they feel connected to in classrooms that are psychologically safe. 

Assessment Advice

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:

  1. Know what to look for. While students often have many skills that could be stronger, we cannot fix everything at once. For each assignment, picking just one or two priorities to focus on streamlines the process of providing feedback toward improvement. 
  2. Do not grade everything. Just because work is submitted does not mean it has to be graded. Some assignments are meant to give teachers a holistic view of whether students understand a concept, such as an exit ticket or summarizer. Instead of putting a grade on everything students give us, be selective about where students might learn the most about their improvement from a grade.
  3. Elevate the role of feedback. More important than the grade itself is the information we give students about their progress toward learning targets, otherwise known as feedback. As I explain in this article, “Effective feedback protocols based on clear, student-friendly criteria demystify how success on any given assignment is defined.” If teachers make the criteria for success clear with each assignment, everyone is more likely to meet expectations that are easier to understand.

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