First Year of Teaching
The preparation begins!
You have signed your contract. You have received your subject and /or grade assignment. You have been assigned your room. Summer is here. You are now feeling it is now time to relax and take a break. The start of the school year is still far away. You are still enjoying the exhilaration of landing your first teaching job. However, if you relax too long, you are making a big mistake. The calendar slows down for no one and before you know it, school will be starting. Athletes will savor the victory or mourn the loss for one night. Preparation begins the next day for the new opponent. I don’t mean to paint the picture of your students being an opponent, but there are many similarities to game preparation.
By now, you should have a list of activities that you need to do before school starts. As the summer progresses, we will take a look at some of these.
One of the first and perhaps the most important activity you must do is to finalize you classroom management plan. You are not a student intern anymore taking over a veteran teacher’s class. In fact, someone was always there to bail you out of a situation if needed. Now we are talking about your own class with no safety net. Please understand that students want to be in a class that is well managed and well controlled by the teacher. You must arrive the first day with a well thought out management plan and be able to not only live with it but enforce it. It is suggested in much of today’s literature to involve the students in the development of this plan. The argument here is that by involving them, they will have an automatic buy-in. It is hard to argue with that. However, you must be skillful enough to navigate the class to incorporate your key components. The final outcome must embrace the elements of your plan. Be strong. Do not sacrifice what you believe is important. This is not a popularity contest. You are in charge. In both your words and actions, you must communicate this. Remember, many times, your body language speaks louder than your voice.
When I first started to hire teachers, I believed strongly that content knowledge was the key. You had to know your subject. As I evolved, I shifted to a belief that a teacher must possess impeccable pedagogical skills. Someone could always teach you the content. However, I ended my hiring career in a place where I believed that the most important quality you have to bring to the classroom is your ability to build relationships with students. It makes sense. Without a positive relationship, all of the powerful content you know or the powerful pedagogy that you possess will prove useless. Students will disengage before the first class period is over. And remember, once you lose your class, it is almost impossible to get it back. It is also important that you interact with students in a friendly manner. However, students do not need any more friends. I hope you see the difference. You are the adult. You are the professional. There is a firm line drawn. Do not cross it.
I would now run to the nearest bookstore and purchase Harry and Rosemary Wong’s book entitled The First Days of School, How To Be An Effective Teacher (I assure you I do not receive any compensation for making this recommendation). I believe it can serve as an important guide to help you organize your class. Those that are teaching secondary classes still need this type of organization. Internalize it at an age appropriate level. Do not assume the older students can do many of the things the Wongs suggest merely because of their age. The work emphasizes the development of routines and procedures for everything that goes on in the classroom (Wong, 2009) Not one thing should be taken for granted. In all likelihood, it may take several weeks of practicing these routines for them to be perfected. However, I assure the time you invest at the start of the school year will pay huge dividends throughout the year. Make a list of key routines. Such as:
- Entering and leaving the classroom
- Passing papers
- Going to the rest room
Finish creating our own list. It could be lengthy. I strongly suggest that you create a classroom book of frameworks that clearly describes a step by step procedure for every activity. I will share an important anecdote that may illustrate this point. As an experienced high school principal I got into a heated exchange with a valued and equally experienced teacher. This was a teacher that I respect who was part of my “team”. He contended that the teachers in our school did not know how to manage a traditional high school homeroom. He suggested that I had to tell them exactly what to do. I argued and assumed that every teacher, novices or veterans, knew how to complete this rote and mundane task. I was wrong. Once I presented the teachers a framework of how to conduct homeroom, taught them, and practiced with them, our problems in this area just about ceased. I took something for granted. Please do not make the same mistake that I did. You must practice every routine behavior until they become a habit.
Organization is the key to everything. Plan every minute. Wong (2009) insists upon having a script for the first day. This is an excellent idea. I would develop a script for everyday if possible. Practice these scripts. Give yourself adequate repetitions, game planning every possible scenario you can think of. That way you will be confident and secure.
Many veteran teachers reflect that one of the biggest mistakes made in their rookie year was not having enough material planned to fill the instructional time. The message here is to over plan with multiple backups. Never be caught “killing time”. Time is one of the only constants we have in education, and there is never enough of it.
I will close today’s article talking about four key points. I call these points my “Four E’s for Excellence” Let’s take a look at these points:
- Expectations-Go into every class with the highest expectations for your students. They will surprise you. Experienced teachers share that when they look back they did not think their students could accomplish what they could actually do. You can “win” every game.
- Enthusiasm-You must bring to your class everyday a personal enthusiasm for teaching and learning that will become contagious to the students. You are not allowed an off day. Fight through it. Students will mirror your enthusiasm for your subject, teaching and the most important thing, learning.
- Empowerment-Whenever possible give your students a voice in their class. They want to be heard. Find the right vehicle to let them be heard.
- Environment– This is perhaps the most difficult aspect to create. How can you create an environment in your class that communicates that serious teaching and learning goes on here? You see this all of the time, especially in middle schools where students many times travel as a block. Look at two teachers that share the same students. In one class, they are quite successful. In the other class, students do poorly and are out of control. What is the main variable? The teacher. I challenge you to create the milieu that once that child hits your doorway they are serious about learning.
I encourage you to start to accelerate your planning process. The start of school is just around the corner
References
Wong, Harry K. and Rosemary T. (2009) The First Days of School, How To Be an Effective Teacher. California: Harry K. Wong Publications
