First Year Focus
by Jennifer Scully
Keeping an Open Mind During Your First Year
Many teachers feel overwhelmed by the many responsibilities to fulfill and skills to master. Remember that you are new at this, you can become more effective, and it’s part of your job to have a growth mindset for both yourself and your students (Dweck, 2010); in fact, “on average novice teachers show remarkable improvement in effectiveness over the first five years of their careers. (Atteberry, Loeb and Wyckoff, 2013)The only way to develop and maintain a growth mindset during your first year is to be a reflective practitioner and to keep an open mind about your own professional development. While you might feel more effective plowing through material and keeping your head above water, (you may be spending up to seventy hours a week on teaching responsibilities.--see Moir, 2011 to learn more about the phases of first-year teaching), look at the big picture and keep an open mind about how you can become a more effective teacher.
As Larrivee (2006) writes, “According to Dewey, reflective thinking requires continual evaluation of beliefs, assumptions and hypotheses against existing data and against other plausible interpretations of the data. Resulting decisions remain open to further scrutiny and reformulation."
Keeping an open mind is a small phrase found within a set of criteria for effective teaching used in New York City, the Danielson Framework. For some new teachers, open-mindedness will look like finding a trusted mentor and being open to critique and suggestion. For others, it might be keeping a journal to (honestly) track what works and does not work for them and/or their students. Whatever the particular format, keep an open mind about what does and does not work, then make it your own.
What Professionalism Might Look Like During Year 1:
- Service to Students: focusing on determining and meeting students’ needs. For example, if your ELLs are struggling to understand the concept of division, look for a new way of presenting the content, like creating a division game for students to play in school and at home with family. It may feel like wasting time, but in order to meet students’ needs, sometimes teachers need to notice that one approach is not working, step back and then try a different approach.
- Advocacy: honoring the contributions that “traditionally underserved” students make, both in your classroom and publicly. For instance, notice and discuss with colleagues your students’ success stories, not just their difficulties.
- Decision Making: participating in team and department activities (with a spirit of learning and contribution.) You might sit with your grade level team at lunch and ask them for their number one piece of advice for a new teacher. You may choose not to take it, but be sure to listen for what you can do with their suggestion. Can you tweak it to make it fit your personal theory of teaching and particular group of students? Take heart,teaching will not be new for long and most new teachers begin to feel better in January. (Moir, 2011)
References:
Atteberry, A., Loeb, S. and Wyckoff, J. (2013) Do First Impressions Matter? Improvement in Early Career Teacher Effectiveness. Downloaded 9-14-13 from http://auth.calder.commonspotcloud.com/publications/upload/wp90.pdf
Dweck, C. (2010) Mindsets and Equitable Education. Principal Leadership. Downloaded 9-14-13 from http://www.nassp.org/portals/0/content/61209.pdf
Danielson Framework for Teaching, Domain 4—Professional Responsibilities. Downloaded 9-14-13 from http://www.cssu.org/cms/lib5/VT01000775/Centricity/Domain/36/Domain4ProfessionalRes ponsibilities.pdf
Larrivee, B. (2006) An Educator’s Guide to Teacher Reflection. Downloaded 9-14-13 from http://cengagesites.com/academic/assets/sites/4004/Education%20Modules/gd%20to%20teach %20refl.pdf
Moir, E. (2011)Phases of First Year Teaching. Downloaded 9-14-13 from http://www.newteachercenter.org/blog/phases-first-year-teaching
Jennifer Scully started teaching ESL in 1992 and has worked with students from kindergarten to college. She works with New York City Teaching Fellows, graduate students in TESOL, and mainstream teachers to improve their practice with ELLs. She provides professional development in various settings but still works with elementary school ELLs to stay current
To contact Jennifer about this column, send an email to editor@dialogue.nystesol.org
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