The Challenges of a New Teacher
HTH 212
February 18,2009
School Reform Reflection
The Challenges of a New Teacher
It is amazing to me the changes I have seen within the district within my short 4-year teaching career. When I first started teaching, I was given the key to my room, a good luck and that was about it. I entered into a mess. The room was dirty and there were almost no books to be found. I was completely lost. I quickly discovered that although I was working with nice teachers no one was very eager to really lend a hand to the new teacher. So, I did my best and learned as I went. I know that my story is not uncommon for new teachers and it is something that I don’t really understand. Isn’t the goal of a school to produce high performing students? Wouldn’t setting up programs to help new teachers take away some of these struggles? I think it would be great if a more experienced teacher in a similar position was paid extra to work with a new teacher. I don’t mean writing pages of lesson plans but bouncing ideas off of each other, sharing projects, and helping cope with behavior issues. These meetings would not have to be very long or formal but if I had someone I knew that I could turn to I am sure that it would have given me piece of mind.
As I continued my teaching journey and became more comfortable and confident in my position, I started to ask more questions. I couldn’t understand how I was supposed to make sure my ENTIRE class was reading at grade level in a second language without proper resources. When the budget was cut our French resource teacher was lost. Our diverse student population includes students on IEPs and students with behavior and emotional problems. I was told the best that we can do would be to give the students support in English. My quick response was, “But I don’t teach in English!” If their parents don’t speak French how will these students reach grade level standards? How can we take away these precious resources from our students? I often talk to veteran teachers who speak of days were there were full time aides in primary classrooms. I believe that this should be a standard practice again. Another way to help elevate some of the stress would be to have an extra reading teacher to travel from class to class to help with guided reading groups. If this reading teacher existed, low readers could receive extra support in their class setting to help to reach goals and not continue to fall behind each year.
My most current battle is testing. Until this year I didn’t really think too much about tests because, they didn’t start until second grade. This year, although we don’t have state tests to give, we have plenty of district tests. We are required to give the students literacy and math benchmark tests three times a year. These tests come with a test booklet and scan-tran sheet. My 6-year-old students are expected to read the test, find the answer, and then transfer that answer onto a separate sheet of paper. Each time I give these tests I tell my kids it’s “a special paper” we have to do and just to try their best. Without fail about half way through a couple of students are in tears. It breaks my heart to watch them struggle with the format and to know that we are being judged on these results. I understand the need to hold students accountable but couldn’t we create an assessment that was more grade level appropriate? Because I spend the entire day with the students I usually know what they can and cannot do without giving them a paper test. Why are my observations not good enough anymore? Why don’t we trust our teachers?
I am hoping that my next five years of teaching will be filled with exciting changes in the right direction.
February 18,2009
School Reform Reflection
The Challenges of a New Teacher
It is amazing to me the changes I have seen within the district within my short 4-year teaching career. When I first started teaching, I was given the key to my room, a good luck and that was about it. I entered into a mess. The room was dirty and there were almost no books to be found. I was completely lost. I quickly discovered that although I was working with nice teachers no one was very eager to really lend a hand to the new teacher. So, I did my best and learned as I went. I know that my story is not uncommon for new teachers and it is something that I don’t really understand. Isn’t the goal of a school to produce high performing students? Wouldn’t setting up programs to help new teachers take away some of these struggles? I think it would be great if a more experienced teacher in a similar position was paid extra to work with a new teacher. I don’t mean writing pages of lesson plans but bouncing ideas off of each other, sharing projects, and helping cope with behavior issues. These meetings would not have to be very long or formal but if I had someone I knew that I could turn to I am sure that it would have given me piece of mind.
As I continued my teaching journey and became more comfortable and confident in my position, I started to ask more questions. I couldn’t understand how I was supposed to make sure my ENTIRE class was reading at grade level in a second language without proper resources. When the budget was cut our French resource teacher was lost. Our diverse student population includes students on IEPs and students with behavior and emotional problems. I was told the best that we can do would be to give the students support in English. My quick response was, “But I don’t teach in English!” If their parents don’t speak French how will these students reach grade level standards? How can we take away these precious resources from our students? I often talk to veteran teachers who speak of days were there were full time aides in primary classrooms. I believe that this should be a standard practice again. Another way to help elevate some of the stress would be to have an extra reading teacher to travel from class to class to help with guided reading groups. If this reading teacher existed, low readers could receive extra support in their class setting to help to reach goals and not continue to fall behind each year.
My most current battle is testing. Until this year I didn’t really think too much about tests because, they didn’t start until second grade. This year, although we don’t have state tests to give, we have plenty of district tests. We are required to give the students literacy and math benchmark tests three times a year. These tests come with a test booklet and scan-tran sheet. My 6-year-old students are expected to read the test, find the answer, and then transfer that answer onto a separate sheet of paper. Each time I give these tests I tell my kids it’s “a special paper” we have to do and just to try their best. Without fail about half way through a couple of students are in tears. It breaks my heart to watch them struggle with the format and to know that we are being judged on these results. I understand the need to hold students accountable but couldn’t we create an assessment that was more grade level appropriate? Because I spend the entire day with the students I usually know what they can and cannot do without giving them a paper test. Why are my observations not good enough anymore? Why don’t we trust our teachers?
I am hoping that my next five years of teaching will be filled with exciting changes in the right direction.
