In what ways can you relate to the information shared?
The article about the 5 stages a new teacher goes through especially hit home. When I read this article, it was like I went back in time to my first year of teaching, reliving each stage. I remember before the year started I was so excited. I had so many creative ideas. One of which, I planned on making a bingo game of sight words the kids needed to learn. I thought this would make a good activity for morning work. This anticipation stage was a rich time of creativity for me. Once the school year was underway, and I launched into my first full week of teaching things began to shift for me. I became overwhelmed with learning the curriculum and preparing lessons that were exciting and engaging for all the content areas. I didn't have time to make the materials for the creative ideas I had had at the start of the year. I had all I could do to keep up with the curriculum for 2nd grade. During this time I went into survival mode: eating, sleeping and breathing teaching. I was so consumed with teaching that I worked myself to the bone. I had unrealistic expectations for myself and not being able to live up to these expectations set me down into a spiral of disillusionment. During an assembly, I reached out to Maureen Kieffer, a veteran teacher. As the kids were engaged with the presenter, this gave me an opportunity to whisper to Maureen that I needed help. I told her that I was barely keeping my head above water. I explained my greatest stress was not knowing what assignments to grade and how to grade them. My eyes started to pool with tears as I asked Maureen if she could be my mentor. Maureen told me don't cry here and that she would help me. This partnership helped me enter the rejuvenation phase. I remember Maureen met with me on Saturdays to plan out our lessons and organize materials for the week. This guidance along with my sister, Kathleen, literally making meals to feed me gave me the strength to persevere to the end of the year. I remember being so relieved I had a school year under my belt. I knew that I would never have to repeat that first year. I was so excited to bring the lessons that I had learned into my 2nd year of teaching. That summer I spent in the reflection phase. I now knew what to prepare to have a successful school year.
In what ways do you think you can support a new teacher?
My first year of teaching was traumatic in some ways. However, going through this difficult time has made me compassionate for first year teachers and I want to do my part to lessen the load. The articles outlined some important traits that I mentor should have to build a strong mentor/mentee relationship. One such trait is the mentor should be a confidant not an evaluator. There is so much to learn in the first year of teaching and unfortunately much of the learning can only happen by living the experience. I remember a teacher friend once said, "You don't know what you don't know." This quote resonated with me and took on meaning when I reflected on my first year of teaching. It was hard to prepare ahead of time because I had no way of predicting what I didn't know. Therefore the wise adage: proper planning prevents poor performance was allusive to me. A mentor has lived the first year of teaching and has the experience to predict what the mentee doesn't know and will need to know. This revelation can help the mentee know what to plan for and to prioritize his/her energies towards practices that will make a difference. For all of this to happen though the mentor must impart his/her knowledge as a coach building the mentees skills and confidence. If the mentor takes the approach of evaluator this could shut down the learning and growth for the mentee. In order to grow one needs to feel safe in exposing his/her vulnerabilities. The mentor can then coach the mentee so these vulnerabilities become strengths.
Where do your strengths lie?
The areas that have become my strengths were initially my areas of weakness. It took a lot of thoughtful thinking, and hard work to turn what did not come naturally into a strength. For me classroom environment and management were areas that took tremendous time and effort to perfect. It's kind of funny that now I have the reputation of being an expert in these areas and teachers come to me for advice to improve their environment or management techniques. To build these weaknesses into strengths I spent time observing, reading, and asking questions of teachers who excelled in these areas. It's interesting that growth, improvement, building skills all comes back to having strong mentors. My achievements can be credited to those who have come before me and have generously taken the time to show me the way. I've learned that the success of teacher instruction and student learning starts with a well designed environment and management plan. I hope to impart, what I had to learn the hard way, a bit easier for a mentee.
The article about the 5 stages a new teacher goes through especially hit home. When I read this article, it was like I went back in time to my first year of teaching, reliving each stage. I remember before the year started I was so excited. I had so many creative ideas. One of which, I planned on making a bingo game of sight words the kids needed to learn. I thought this would make a good activity for morning work. This anticipation stage was a rich time of creativity for me. Once the school year was underway, and I launched into my first full week of teaching things began to shift for me. I became overwhelmed with learning the curriculum and preparing lessons that were exciting and engaging for all the content areas. I didn't have time to make the materials for the creative ideas I had had at the start of the year. I had all I could do to keep up with the curriculum for 2nd grade. During this time I went into survival mode: eating, sleeping and breathing teaching. I was so consumed with teaching that I worked myself to the bone. I had unrealistic expectations for myself and not being able to live up to these expectations set me down into a spiral of disillusionment. During an assembly, I reached out to Maureen Kieffer, a veteran teacher. As the kids were engaged with the presenter, this gave me an opportunity to whisper to Maureen that I needed help. I told her that I was barely keeping my head above water. I explained my greatest stress was not knowing what assignments to grade and how to grade them. My eyes started to pool with tears as I asked Maureen if she could be my mentor. Maureen told me don't cry here and that she would help me. This partnership helped me enter the rejuvenation phase. I remember Maureen met with me on Saturdays to plan out our lessons and organize materials for the week. This guidance along with my sister, Kathleen, literally making meals to feed me gave me the strength to persevere to the end of the year. I remember being so relieved I had a school year under my belt. I knew that I would never have to repeat that first year. I was so excited to bring the lessons that I had learned into my 2nd year of teaching. That summer I spent in the reflection phase. I now knew what to prepare to have a successful school year.
In what ways do you think you can support a new teacher?
My first year of teaching was traumatic in some ways. However, going through this difficult time has made me compassionate for first year teachers and I want to do my part to lessen the load. The articles outlined some important traits that I mentor should have to build a strong mentor/mentee relationship. One such trait is the mentor should be a confidant not an evaluator. There is so much to learn in the first year of teaching and unfortunately much of the learning can only happen by living the experience. I remember a teacher friend once said, "You don't know what you don't know." This quote resonated with me and took on meaning when I reflected on my first year of teaching. It was hard to prepare ahead of time because I had no way of predicting what I didn't know. Therefore the wise adage: proper planning prevents poor performance was allusive to me. A mentor has lived the first year of teaching and has the experience to predict what the mentee doesn't know and will need to know. This revelation can help the mentee know what to plan for and to prioritize his/her energies towards practices that will make a difference. For all of this to happen though the mentor must impart his/her knowledge as a coach building the mentees skills and confidence. If the mentor takes the approach of evaluator this could shut down the learning and growth for the mentee. In order to grow one needs to feel safe in exposing his/her vulnerabilities. The mentor can then coach the mentee so these vulnerabilities become strengths.
Where do your strengths lie?
The areas that have become my strengths were initially my areas of weakness. It took a lot of thoughtful thinking, and hard work to turn what did not come naturally into a strength. For me classroom environment and management were areas that took tremendous time and effort to perfect. It's kind of funny that now I have the reputation of being an expert in these areas and teachers come to me for advice to improve their environment or management techniques. To build these weaknesses into strengths I spent time observing, reading, and asking questions of teachers who excelled in these areas. It's interesting that growth, improvement, building skills all comes back to having strong mentors. My achievements can be credited to those who have come before me and have generously taken the time to show me the way. I've learned that the success of teacher instruction and student learning starts with a well designed environment and management plan. I hope to impart, what I had to learn the hard way, a bit easier for a mentee.