CHAPTER 14
What Can the New
Teacher Expect?
Collin College
EDUC 1301
Welcome
Chapter 14 – What Can the New Teacher
Expect?
I.
II.
A.
B.
C.
Culture Shock
Principals & Other Administrators
Suggestions for a Good Start
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 The
school milieu: The shock of the
familiar
 Administrators: A mixed bag
 Peers: A mixed blessing
 Students: Friends or fiends?
 Instruction: So much to learn
 Parents: Allies with different agendas
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 You
only think you know “School”
 Completely new situation from the
“Other Side of the Desk”
 Full-time teaching AND brand new-job
 Not unlike the feelings of new immigrants
 You Know You’re In Trouble When…” (p462)
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 Think
of a time when you may have
experienced culture shock, and try to
remember, in as much detail as possible,
how it made you feel.
 Dei you experience any sense of
disorientation or depression during your
initial months at college? Which
strategies did you find helpful in getting
oriented?
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 Official
leaders
 Helpers
 Policymakers
 Crisis managers
 Facilitators
 Reward dispensers
 Judges
 Buffers
 Sacrificial lambs
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 In
pairs, read silently either Steve
Mellonwood or Victoria Klarfeld case
studies (one reading each)
 Answer Case Questions
• Has your past experiences with administrators
left you with particular attitudes or perceptions?
What are they?
• As a new teacher, what do you hope most to
receive from an administrator?
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 Advice
on dealing with specialized
problems
 Arranging contact with specialists
 Demonstration lessons or special
presentations
 Focused feedback
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 Attitudes
toward students get much less
positive in first year of teaching
• Idealism during teacher training
• Forget realities of own childhood
• Just trying to survive first year
 Positive
•
attitudes return
Never reach same levels
 It
is easy to be brave from a safe
distance.
AESOP
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New teachers may have:
 Inexperience being in charge
• Unused to managing groups, giving orders
• May believe student misbehavior is teacher’s fault
 Difficulty
establishing correct social distance
• May hide insecurities by being too businesslike,
aloof
• If young, easy to be too friendly
 Never let students use your first name
 Risk of sexual attraction with older students/younger
teachers
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 Teach
your very best lesson.
 Establish class rules and procedures.
 “If you wish to know who a man is, place him
in authority.” Yugoslav Proverb
 Start learning and using students’ names.
 Be friendly but businesslike.
 Share with students your vision for the year
ahead.
 Establish procedures for communicating
with parents.
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

When in doubt, think.
Don’t look for love in the classroom
• Have you considered the issue of social distance between teacher and
students?






Deal with your authority problems before entering the
classroom
If you’re not organized, get organized.
Love thy school secretaries & custodians
Focus on learning
“High expectations are the key to everything.” Sam
Walton
Don’t get married two weeks before the start of your first
teaching job.
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 Avoid
being in a private space alone with a
student for ANY reason.
 Do
not give students your home or cell number,
or personal Facebook, Twitter, etc.
 Avoid
being in a car alone with a student.
 Carefully
log anything of a sexual nature that
occurs in your classroom and discuss with an
administrator.
 Avoid
speaking about sexual topics or using
sexually
charged language around students
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 Varying
perceptions
 Judgments on students
 Social class and experience
differences
 Overburdened parents
 The pain of change
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 Commit
for two years.
 Begin now.
 Keep a teaching journal.
 Have the proper frame of mind.
 Find a mentor.
 Make your students’ parents your allies.
 Take evaluation seriously.
 Do NOTHING else the first year
 Take care of yourself – Take All Your Sick Days
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See “Our Final Word” , page 487-488
Read all the green quotes in Chapter 14.
“I touch the future. I teach.” Christa McAuliffe
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