Sunday 9 March 2014

Kara-Dawn Moroz- 10 New Things Teacher Need to Succeed


10 Things New Teachers Need to Succeed

By: Robin Fogarty

            10 Things New Teachers Need to Succeed is written by Robin Fogarty, a retired school teacher who has received her doctorate in curriculum and human resource development (pg. xiii). From her work with multiple school teachers both experienced and new, she has come up with ten common themes that she believes each teacher needs in order to succeed.

#1- A Knowing Colleague as a Counsel: About the Policies, Practices, and Politics. Proactively seek out a colleague who knows the school inside and out so you feel comfortable asking them for advise on policies and practices of the school. Become friends with a leader, not a follower.

#2- A Place Called “My Room” for students to Grow, to Groom, and to Zoom. Try to create a safe learning environment that encourages learning and mistakes. Make the classroom your room as well as the children’s room. Create a place to call “my own.”

#3- A Method for Managing 1,500 Decisions on Your Seat and on Your Feet. If you are in a rush let common sense make the decision.  Later on take time to reflect and see what you could do differently next time.

#4- A Discipline Plan That Works on Paper and on Students. Use your best judgment but be consistent and flexible. Keep the consequences for one action the same for all students and follow through with the discipline every time. Be flexible by taking in to consideration home life and external factors for each child. If need be, ask for help from the principal, social worker or guidance councillor.

#5- A Standard Understanding of the Almighty Standards. It is impossible to get through the entire curriculum tackling one topic at a time. The trick is to overlap and cross different subject areas together, killing two birds with one stone.

#6- A Known Knowledge Base of Core Curriculum Content. Over the summer plan out a unit and get to know the content well before classes even begin. That way you know what to expect and you know where you want to go with your students.

#7- A Fail-Safe Lesson Design for Teachers to Teach and Learners to Learn. Scaffold. If you teach the students the necessary skills to perform a task, then they will be able to perform the lesson you are expecting them to, creating a fail-safe lesson. Teach skills, then the lesson.

#8- A Repertoire of Teaching Strategies: Different Strokes for Different Folks. Not everyone learns the same way so take time to learn the needs of each student. Also, present information in multiple different ways; visually, orally, hands- on etc.

#9- A Love Affair With Assessment: Rubrics Are Our New Best Friend. Share the rubrics and your expectations of the students work before the task is given. That way the students know what is expected of them. This allows both you and the students to be on the same page of the expectations of the assignment.

#10- A Winning Way With Parents: To Report, Relate, and Celebrate. Keep the parents in the know on their child’s learning progress. Send home weekly newspapers, make phone calls and ask for volunteers in the classroom. Phone calls home are not just for the misbehaviour, they are for the good behaviour as well. Take the time to let the parents know how well their children are doing in school.

Connections

            In general, I found that this book relates to our course and our overall theme of keeping yourself healthy and well balanced. The author implies that if you achieve all ten of her suggestions, you will succeed as a teacher. I think that the author is not just talking about achieving great teaching techniques, but rather a well-rounded educator that is able to handle any situation. If you are able to make good connections with colleagues, have a good relationship with parents, create a classroom that fosters growth and acceptance than I think mentally and emotionally you will become a more stable teacher. Creating many support systems within your school can help you relieve stress knowing that there are friends around you to help you when you are unsure where to go or what to do. Creating relationships is part of sustainability and I feel that relationship building was one of the underlying topics of this book.

Critique

            What I liked about the book was that it was an easy read. I wanted a handbook that I could grab and easily find what I needed. I did not want a book that took hours to sift through all of the information because I feel that as a first year teacher you do not have spare time to piece information together.  As a teacher, you need straight to the point facts and I think this book was just that. I also liked the organization of the book. It starts off by listing the suggestion, then explains what she means by it and ends with a section on how to achieve it in your school or classroom. Their suggestions are given to help new teachers have success in the educational field. It is organized for easy comprehension of the content being presented. I also liked how the author seems to be a reliable source. According to her autobiography she has been in the educational field for many years and has done her research before publishing this book. It is reassuring to know that she has experienced what it is like to be a first year teacher an d she is able to use her experience to help other teachers succeed.

            What I did not like about this book was that it was meant to be used as a book study more than a self-help book for teachers. Its content is based on new teachers but it was not made as a handbook, it was made to be discussed every week with other teachers. With that being said, it could be helpful to create a book study with other teachers, but it just was not what I was expecting from this book. I was also confused the first time I read through it because at the end of each chapter is has an activity and focus questions. I assumed that these activities were ones that we could use in our classrooms. It turns out that they are activities to do in your book study, not with the children. The activities relate to the chapter but are not ones that can be used in the classroom.

            In general this book did not really stick out for me. I was looking more for a handbook to have in the classroom that I could glance at every once and a while; not a book study. I agree that each successful teacher needs the ten things listed but I feel that having them on a list in the classroom is good enough; I do not need an entire book on them. I was looking for more ways to contain the madness in the classroom or deal with behaviour issues etc. From the title I thought that is what it would be about. The book just was not what I expected and I feel that there are better books out there for first year teachers.

 

Fogarty, R. (2007). 10 Things New Teachers Need to Succeed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

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