Dear All Chinese Teachers,
I am very glad to share this interesting article with all of you guys. I wish
every new teacher will survive in the first year and enjoy teaching students
every single day.
Jianlan Zhao
How To Succeed in Teaching By Really Trying.
School Administrators: As I am sure you are aware, hiring the best and brightest teachers
for our schools is one of the most important responsibilities we have. But, hiring good
people is really just the beginning. For our new, and often inexperienced teachers to be
successful, we need to devote a lot of time, energy, and patience to ensure that they reach
the potential you saw during the interview process. Below is a letter I have written to all
new teachers out there who are excited, anxious, and scared out of their minds to start the
school year.
Dear New Teachers,
Congratulations! You have survived the monotonous resume-writing and job application
process, the nerve-wracking interviews, the reference and background checks, and the
signing of a multitude of forms and papers. Now, you officially are a teacher! It is your
dream come true. So what are you going to do to start off on the right foot and have a
successful first year at your new school? Here is my top 10 list of ways to get you started
toward a successful first year.
1. Learn as much about your new school and the community as possible. Search the
internet, read local newspapers, and talk with people working in the area. Understand the
needs, issues, problems, and strengths of the community. (Actually, you should have
done this prior to interviewing, but if not, get going!)
2. Ask your principal or another administrator for a tour of the school. Don't be shy; ask
questions. Then, spend some time alone in your new classroom. Just sit for a while and
look around. Take pictures of the walls, furniture, technology, closets, shelves, and
anything else you see. After a while, force yourself to go home. You can only spend so
much time staring at blank walls and empty desks.
3. Start a list of questions, organized by the person who can best answer them (principal,
mentor, teammate, department chair, secretary, custodian, etc.). Continue to add to the
list and check off when you get answers.
4. Now start thinking of how you want to set up the room. Where will your desk go? How
should the students' desks be arranged to best meet your style of teaching and the needs
of the grade level? What should go on the walls - Teacher created stuff and/or student
created stuff? Once you are back in the room, play around with the furniture and try
different configurations (just don't scratch the newly waxed floors, it makes the
custodians angry). Picture yourself teaching from different areas of the room. Envision
students sitting in their desks. Where are they looking and what can they see? Ask
yourself, "Is the room designed for teacher-centered instruction or for student-centered
learning?"
5. In my opinion, you must have the classroom set up before you can focus on the lesson
planning. Once the room is ready, a big weight will be lifted from your shoulders. Then,
it will be time to dig into the curriculum. Start by collecting as many teaching materials
and curriculum guides as you can find. Also, try to meet with one or all of your new
teammates or your assigned mentor. Ask them questions related to teaching, but don't
focus only on you. Get to know them personally as well as professionally. Meeting for
coffee or lunch is a great way to get started.
6. For new elementary teachers, acquire a class list as soon as possible, and learn as much
as possible about all of them before school starts. Find out who are on IEPs or 504s, who
are in a gifted program, who are dealing with difficult issues at home, who are talented in
activities outside of school and so on. Read through the cumulative files, old report cards,
portfolios of work, and speak with other staff members. Most schools have some type of
directory that lists the classes from the year before. Find out who your students' teachers
were last year. Then, before the start of school, make a personal contact with each student.
Either call them all or send a personal note in the mail. Don't send a form letter, make it
personal in some way. Communicate with their parents, too!
7. For middle school or high school teachers, you probably will not be able to make a
personal contact with each student, but you certainly can learn about them in the same
manner as the elementary teachers.
8. As you start to plan for the first week of school, remember that your most important
job is to establish effective routines and procedures in your classroom. The routines you
set at the very beginning may stay all year, and negative or bad habits are very hard to
change after the first few weeks of school. Clearly articulate what you expect from your
students regarding their behavior, effort, work, and attitudes. Never assume that the
children know how to be respectful and behave in your class. Teach them exactly what
you expect, and then reteach and model it often, just like you would with an important
curricular concept.
9. As you plan specific lessons, don't attempt to plan too far ahead until you really know
your students and the curriculum. There will be a lot of adjusting and readjusting of
lessons at first, so it is OK to plan one day at a time for a while. You still need to see into
the future, and have goals for what you want to accomplish, but take the lesson planning
slowly. Make your lessons very detailed and specific, and clearly spell out your
objectives, guided and independent activities, and assessments just like you did in college.
Eventually, you will be able to write shorter plans and still know exactly what you need
to do, but it will take time and experience to get to that point. Finally, it never hurts to
over-plan. Be prepared in case the lesson goes faster than you expected, or you need
some back-up activities.
10. Finally - HAVE FUN! Be yourself, and let your students see you as a real person.
Share some personal experiences you have had, and let your students into certain areas of
your life that you are comfortable sharing with them (e.g. pets, family, hobbies, etc.).
They will respect and appreciate you more, and they will be more willing to share
themselves with you. Effective teaching is all about relationships. Build positive ones
with your students.
Teachers, be ready for the realization that your first year of teaching (or the first year in a
new school) will be nothing like your student teaching experiences. Accept that, be ready
for successes and failures, and continue to learn along with your students every day.
Remember, teaching is about "The Will and the Skill." Retain the will to be the best you
can be and work hard to develop the skills necessary to be successful in the most
important of professions.