Helpful Hints in Hindsight:
What the Early Career <math> Teacher Needs to Know
Shelby Aaberg
2015 Nebraska Teacher of the Year
Scottsbluff High School
@ShelbyAaberg
saaberg@sbps.net
http://mathleticism.net
Wayne State College
March 5, 2015
About Me
• Wife Laura, Daughter Allison,
baby boy on the way
• 2015 Nebraska TOY
• National Board Certified
• 2013 PAEMST Finalist
• 1st Vice President, NATM
• Math Dept. Chair, SHS
• SHS Sprints Coach
• 11th year as a math teacher
• Adjunct graduate instructor at
UNL
• AP Calc AB, AP Stats, Precalc/Trig,
MTPS, Offsemester Alg 1
• I love all my kids.
I have done some cool stuff in my career already.
I have hung out with some of the top minds in our field.
I have learned from the best. No, really, THE best.
Objectives
• Examine early-career suggestions from selected
2015 STOYs (State Teachers of the Year).
• Consider how to utilize your colleagues as
resources.
• Discuss meaningful classroom technology use.
• Answer the question, “When will I ever use this?”
Turn to Your Neighbor
What suggestions do you anticipate the STOYs will have
for early career teachers?
2015 State Teachers of the Year
Kathy Thirkell
2015 Colorado Teacher
of the Year
Carla Jackson
2015 Lousiana Teacher of
the Year
“My best advice is that building relationships
and connecting with your students is way more
important/powerful than any content or
instructional strategy. Kids may not always
remember a specific science unit or math
strategy, but they will definitely remember
feeling valued and important. I got to share this
point when I spoke at our Governor's Education
Summit yesterday and it went along with these
pics...”
Kathy Thirkell
2015 Colorado
Teacher of the Year
• Best wishes in your adventures.
• Be prepared to be a member of the most influential
profession in the world.
• Henry Brooks Adams states, “A teacher affects eternity;
he can never tell where his influence stops.”
• As teachers we have the awesome responsibility to make
the difference in the life of a child each and every day.
• Be prepared to offer these children the best of who you
are every day for they deserve nothing but the best.
• Be prepared to be a lifelong learner.
“Google Drive helps make doing transparent
...so get a handle on technology”
“I always encourage pre-service teachers when observing
teachers to ask the practicing teacher to ‘call their shots.’
I tell them to ask for 5 things before the lesson to look for, or
to ask for the teacher to call attention to an action before
they do it
Often young teachers are observing yet have no idea what
to look for, the small things that we all do to manage our
classroom can be hard to spot if you don't know what to
look for.
I got this idea from Practice Perfect by Doug Lemov.”
“I wish I’d been shown how to make healthy
decisions with regards to school budgeting.
What to ask for, prioritizing purchases, that sort
of thing.
No one ever really did that in the end. I learned
by making some uncomfortable mistakes!”
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Parent communication from day one.
Meet with the custodians and bookkeeper immediately.
Being a special needs class, I made sure the custodians knew I would try to handle any
issues myself before reaching out to them since they are such a busy crew. They truly
appreciated me coming to them directly and introducing myself. They also know how
much I value them.
I wanted to be on the same page with our bookkeeper about our class budget, so I made
that face to face contact early. The bookkeeper is the nucleus at our school and you
want to gain his/her respect early.
Attend campus events! You will have a chance to interact with other teachers and staff
and have an opportunity to ask questions in a comfortable environment. Many times,
the "newbies" are asked to host a club or help with sports. I was asked to be over Special
Olympics and it changed my life.
Don't overcommit to impress, but find something you can fully commit yourself to and
enjoy doing.
Include your own family and friends in school events. Go to a play together, attend a
tennis match, volunteer for a charity walk/run and include family and school. You don't
have to feel like you are neglecting your own family/friends by being a part of your
school family. Enjoy them together!
Carla Jackson
2015 Lousiana
Teacher of the Year
• “I think one of the most important things is forming a great relationship with
your students and really getting to know as much as you can from them.
• Kids come to school with a lot of baggage sometimes and teachers need to
be cognizant of their mind sets sometimes. Meet their family and call home
about positive things as much as possible. Parents don't hear enough
positives from teachers. Usually phone calls home are because there was a
problem.
• New teachers make these great lesson plans and then when teaching they
use those plans like it's the Bible. Know that what you plan may not always
work out that way. You may need to change the path to get to your end goal
and that's OK. It's not about checking things off your lesson plan each day
and thinking that's how you know you did a good job. It's ok to take more
time than you thought. Make your instruction meaningful.
• Ask for help. Ask to observe others.
• Take the time needed at the beginning of the year to establish routines and
procedures. Classroom management is #1.
• Keep a journal...reflections...stories about your kids...after 22 years it's hard
to remember those inspirational stories.
1. Ask your students for critical feedback and use it. They see you teach
everyday and they know what is working and what is not
working. Share with them how you have applied their feedback to
making change that impacts their learning.
2. Be okay with risk-taking. Just because we may not know something,
or we are not experts, does not mean that we should keep students
from learning about it. Take a risk and recognize that your students may
know more about something than you do and that is ok.
3. Just like mentioned above...find a mentor that truly wants to help
you grow as a professional, but that they also want to learn from
you. Remember that we always can learn from anyone. I truly believe
we all are the teachers we are today because of the teachers we have
worked with.
• Open up to observation/evaluation and
eagerly accept feedback.
• I wish I would have had my students evaluate
me each year.
“As a first year teacher, I remember I always kept
to myself. I thought my lesson delivery strategies
were spot on. After observing other teachers, I
learned that there was much room for
improvement. This is when I really started to
grow as an educator. My advice is to learn from
your colleagues. Do not self contain yourself in
your four walls.”
2015 National Teacher of the Year Finalist
“I wish I had written something daily (nothing long
but just documented significant moments or my
reflections) since that first day. Not sure that's a
strategy or even helpful, but I wish I had my own
written teaching and learning history. ”
2015 National Teacher of the Year Finalist
“I wish I would’ve been encouraged to call parents
early so I could establish a positive relationship,
and I wish I’d known it was okay to go to a mentor
teacher of my own choosing (not necessarily the
one assigned to me) to get help and support.”
Objectives
• Examine early-career suggestions from selected
2015 STOYs (State Teachers of the Year).
• Consider how to utilize your colleagues as
resources.
• Discuss meaningful classroom technology use.
• Answer the question, “When will I ever use this?”
Turn to Your Neighbor
How do you plan to use your
colleagues as resources?
Everything is Cool…
When You’re Part of a Team
1. Is group work fair?
2. Are we taught group dynamics in teacher preparation?
3. Should we be expected to spontaneously cooperate?
Some Things We Do at My School
• Department Socials
• PLC (Professional
Learning Community)
meetings are teacher led
• Cross-Observation
• Instructional Rounds
• Common Assessments
• Data Analysis
Seeking Colleagues Outside School Walls
PLN (Professional Learning
Network) via Twitter
#nebedchat,
Wednesdays, 8-9 pm CST
#noycechat,
Sundays, 7-8 pm CST
Teaching Channel
www.teachingchannel.org
TED Talks
Ken Robinson,
How Schools Kill Creativity
Simon Sinek,
Twitter Tutorial for Teachers
https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=P8nCl_Db-QI&app=desktop
How Great Leaders Inspire Action
Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe
Objectives
• Examine early-career suggestions from selected
2015 STOYs (State Teachers of the Year).
• Consider how to utilize your colleagues as
resources.
• Discuss meaningful classroom technology use.
• Answer the question, “When will I ever use this?”
Turn to Your Neighbor
How do you plan to use technology in your classroom?
Blogging
A great way to record your own professional growth
Community Involvement
Communication with Stakeholders
www.faketicketgenerator.com
Social Justice
http://ncase.me/polygons/
Student Input on Community Safety
Constructing Physical Models of a Problem/Solution
Compare and Contrast Software Packages
http://mathleticism.net/?p=1360
Objectives
• Examine early-career suggestions from selected
2015 STOYs (State Teachers of the Year).
• Consider how to utilize your colleagues as
resources.
• Discuss meaningful classroom technology use.
• Answer the question, “When will I ever use this?”
Turn to Your Neighbor
How do you react to the question
“When will I ever use this?”
Get Out of Your Classroom. Learn From Your Peers.
In Conclusion
Great teaching, like leadership, requires sacrifice for others.
Let me be a resource for you
as you start your teaching career.
Thank you for your attention. I’ll take some questions.