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First Year Teacher Blues

November 22, 2019 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

While friends and family view November in oranges, reds, and yellows, new teachers may experience November as blue. Yes, blue. As in first-year teacher blues. “I think I’ve got the blues” or “I am feeling blue” are common sentiments for new teachers in November.

For all teachers, especially those in their first year of teaching, November is not all pumpkin spice lattes and long walks in the leaves. For teachers, November is crunch time.

By November, your students are comfortable with you. They are settled into routines, which might mean boredom or a need for more variety. They may react by showing negative behaviors.

By November, you have survived all the beginning of the year meetings. You’ve dealt with learning new curriculum, parent- teacher conferences, progress reports and report cards. It is a lot.

By November, you’ve settled into a rhythm of writing lesson plans, grading student papers, and writing I.E.P.’s. You are trying harder and harder to to stay organized as the demands on your time and energy increase.

By November, you see your friends first enjoying free time while you are home trying to catch up with your never-ending work.

By November, you are feeling exhausted. You begin to question whether you are in the field or whether you actually have what it takes to do this job.

Ellen Moir and the New Teacher Center followed thousands of teachers throughout their first years of teaching. Their research has shown that new teachers tend to go through a similar set of six phases in their first year of teaching.

According to their research (and our own observations and experience confirm it), the end of November through the end of December is the toughest time for new teachers. This is when new teachers hit rock bottom.

But…it is all uphill from here! If you are struggling, you are not alone. It will get better. Here is why:

New Teacher Center image of phases of first year teacher attitudes. — Image via Ellen Moir and New Teacher Center

Moir and the New Teacher Center describe the first-year teacher’s attitude toward teaching in these six easy to understand phases:

Anticipation: This phase starts in student teaching and generally carries new teachers into the first week of school. The excitement they feel, along with the sense of purpose and wanting to make a difference, are high. The new teacher’s idealism is praise-worthy but they may have romanticized teaching just a bit.

Survival: This phase begins in the first month of school. There is so much to learn, and not enough time to learn it in. Even if they had great teacher preparation, new teachers begin to feel overwhelmed with the commitment, amount of curriculum to learn, and the day-to-day tasks that seem all-consuming. Though overwhelmed, the new teacher still is optimistic and comes to work excited most days.

Disillusionment: This phase is the most disheartening and is the reason we are giving this reminder in November. Look at the graphic. This is when new teachers hit their lowest point. After about 6-8 weeks of strenuous teaching, new teachers begin to question their ability to teach and their commitment to teaching. Behavior management often becomes a focus, as do parent-teacher conferences, and nerves about a first formal evaluation.

At this point when the new teacher feels like there aren’t enough hours in a day to get everything done, friends and family may begin to express their concern that the new teacher is spending too much time on their work and not enough time on their personal lives. It can be a “blue” fall for new teachers, but hope is right around the corner.

Rejuvenation: Hooray for winter break! This short break gives new teachers time to catch up on their rest, relaxation, sleep, laughter, family and friends. There is also time for reflection on the first half of the year and additional time to think of improvements for the second half. The new teacher’s attitude about teaching slowly starts to rise again for the first few months after the much-needed break. The feelings of defeat slowly subside to productive energy.

Reflection: Near the end of the year, new teachers have a chance to reflect back upon the year. As they think ahead about the following year, they focus on what went well and what can be improved upon for next year. They begin to develop a new sense of relief, and their general feelings are those of energy and anticipation for the future.

These phases, experienced by thousands of new teachers, help to explain why November, which is full of brilliant fall colors can actually can seem “blue” for new teachers. But these phases also help us to see that the winter break will bring about a more hopeful spring.

November is a time of first-year teacher blues. Rock bottom blues. But it gets better. Remind yourself why you became a teacher. Read this post to inspire you.

Hang in there, new teachers. Your attitude will grow uphill from here. We promise.

We’ve got a new free guide for what to say to students to improve classroom motivation and management. Interested? Grab it below!

Amazing Teachers from Children’s Books

November 14, 2019 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

For the next couple of weeks we are sharing some of our favorite posts from the past. These are our “to good to miss” posts and we hope you will enjoy them!

There are some amazing teachers in children’s books. Could you use a little inspiration from some fabulous teachers to get you pumped up for the rest of the school year? How about a role model for handling difficult situations? Maybe you would love a guide to help you work with children with differing abilities, or a another teacher to help you devise a scheme to improve your classroom.

We’ve got you covered, between the pages of a children’s book that is. Here are our favorite superhero teachers from children’s books. In a world where teachers are often maligned and under appreciated, they are fun, clever, effective, and yes, even a little magical.

Who are these super teachers? We think you will see some old friends and make some new acquaintances.

Mr. Slinger in Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes

Mr. Slinger is cool. He is sharp as a tack and wears artistic shirts. His classroom includes a writing center called “The Lightbulb Lab… Where Great Ideas are Born.”

One day Lily comes to school excited about her new purple plastic purse that holds jangling coins and plays jaunty tunes. When she can’t stop sharing, Mr. Slinger takes her purse and puts it away until the end of the day. Lily writes Mr. Slinger a terrible letter. He handles it with grace and understanding. We love Mr. Slinger, who manages to be both firm and kind, and is not above joining in with a little dancing.

See also, music teacher Mrs. Twinkle in Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes.

Mr. Falker in Thank You Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco

Trisha is a fifth grader who struggles to read and suffers from taunting by the other children. Feeling stupid, she hides at recess, until the new teacher, Mr. Falker discovers her. Mr. Falker takes her under his tutelage and helps her to understand that she isn’t dumb. He recognizes her artistic talent and helps her to understand her value. With the help of many after school tutoring sessions, Mr. Falker teaches her to read and changes her life.

The last page? We dare you not to cry.

Mrs. Peterson in The Junkyard Wonders by Patricia Polacco

As if writing about one brilliant teacher wasn’t enough, Polacco gives us another amazing teacher in Mrs. Peterson. Mrs. Peterson is the teacher in a special education classroom known as “The Junkyard.” She recognizes the special gifts of her students and brings out the genius in them. She understands that a junkyard is a place with wondrous possibilities, and makes the students understand that they are full of potential.

Mrs. Peterson turns a class into a community of learners. They support each and work together in project based learning. Most importantly, she helps them to believe in themselves.

Miss Nelson in Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard

Miss Nelson is sweet and kind, but her class begins to take advantage of her good nature. One day she is absent, and there is a substitute- the mean and terrifying Miss Viola Swamp!

As the children experience the unforgiving Miss Swamp, they learn to appreciate Miss Nelson. But where is she? We’re not telling…but it involves a diabolical scheme!

Miss Frizzle in the Magic School Bus books by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degan

What’s not to love about Miss Frizzle? Science and history have never been more fun. What does Miss Frizzle have that makes her special? She has wild red hair, amazing clothes that relate to her lessons and of course…a magic school bus. The fabulous Frizz leads the students on outlandish field trips…to the solar system or through the inside of the human body. In later years she rocked ancient history, exploring Imperial China, ancient Egypt and a medieval castle.

We might never be as cool as the Frizz… but she inspires us to try to make learning come alive for our students.

Miss Agnes in The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill.

When a remote Alaskan village loses its teacher, the community wonders if school will be closed. In walks Miss Agnes, a skinny woman who wears pants and has “a little mileage on her. ”

Miss Agnes is a woman ahead of her time. She carts away the old, decrepit textbooks. She brings out art supplies and music. She connects with the children and their families, valuing their culture and knowledge. She individualizes lessons, teaching skills when the students are ready. She believes in the power of learning.

In the classroom of Miss Agnes, learning is meaningful, reading comes alive and people understand how knowledge can transform you.

Mrs. Granger in Frindle by Andrew Clements

Mrs. Granger is the teacher we all love to hate. She is strict. She is old-fashioned. She is unrelenting. Mrs. Granger has x-ray vision. And she loves the dictionary.

Nick is smart and rambunctious. He likes to liven things up and cause a little disturbance. When Nick discovers that we all have a role in changing language, he decides to test the idea by inventing the word “frindle, “a synonym for pen.

A battle between Nick and Mrs. Granger ensues. Who has the power to determine what words mean? The final lesson is worth waiting for.

Miss Edmunds in Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Miss Edmunds is different from everyone else at school. Some call her a hippie. Miss Edmunds is a free spirit who sings folk songs and plays guitar. She is the kind of music teacher who lets children try different instruments and sing with abandon.

Jess loves Miss Edmunds. She encourages his drawing talent and takes him to an art museum. More importantly, Jess feels safe with her. She understands him. She won’t crush his dreams or stifle his imagination. She is a kindred spirit for a soul who desperately needs one.

We all need a Miss Edmunds in or lives, someone who believes in us and sees our potential

Miss Stretchberry in Love That Dog by Sharon Creech

We never officially meet her

Miss Strechberry

We see her through the poetry of Jack

reluctant writer

Jack writes poems

Miss Stretchberry guides him

with a gentle hand

and no pressure

and Jack’s poems

shine.

see also Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech.

Madame Poitier from Sahara Special by Esmé Raji Codell

The new teacher, Madame Poitier, also known as Miss Pointy, is a breath of fresh air. She wears sparkly dragonfly barrettes, brings flowers and a red lamp to school, and teaches classes with names like “Time Travelers” and “Mad Scientists.” She teaches children to leave their troubles at the door and all of her rules begin with “yes.”

We think that Miss Pointy is a thinly veiled description of the author herself, known for the book she wrote about her first year of teaching Educating Esmé. That is a good thing, because Esmé is also one of our superheroes.

Who are your favorite teachers in children’s books? We hope you check out some of these amazing teachers from children’s books to inspire you!

Happy reading,

Please Don’t Scrap Your Classroom Library!

September 6, 2019 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

Do you have a classroom library? Do your students use it and love it?

Today I read the article Why I Scrapped My Classroom Library on the We Are Teachers website. You may have seen it, it is being widely shared on Facebook.

My reaction was instant and negative.

Just don’t do it!

The author, who goes by the name Captain Awesome (so no one will throw tomatoes at her when she posts this article?) is a seventh grade English teacher at an urban charter school for students who are refugees and immigrants.

She outlines the reasons she dropped her classroom library and describes what she is doing instead. I taught seventh grade English for many years and was a reading specialist in several districts. I can vouch for the fact that many other teachers and I experienced vastly different experiences than Ms. Awesome.

Classroom libraries can be a transformative tool that helps turn apathetic readers into readers.

Creating readers is crucially important because nothing, and I mean nothing, will help a student to become a better reader than actually reading. Give students guidance, time to read and choice in material and they will improve reading skill. And for those who care about such things, standardized test scores will also increase. I’ve have personally seen this success over and over and was able to increase student scores in an entire district by implementing a successful independent reading time.

The bottom line is that the more you read, the better you read.

Things didn’t work out that way for Captain Awesome. Her library was a mess of random books, pretty much anything anyone donated and old coverless, dog-eared books. It doesn’t sound enticing, and it turned out not to be. Her students would just grab a book off the shelf and pretended to read. They chose kindergarten books or books that were too difficult.

These negative results are not the fault of a classroom library. They are the result of a classroom library left to chance. These are the results of students left on their own to figure out what to read and a teacher who didn’t give the right kind of guidance.

Here is my response to Captain Awesome. Her original comments are shown in the headings:

It is impossible to keep track of books.

It’s true you need a system to organize and keep track of books. For years I wrote my name on the books and gave each student an index card and had them sign out the book by writing the title on the card. When they finished, or determined it was not the right book, they put it back on the shelf and crossed the name off the card. You do have to show the students how to replace the books and how to work the system. Yes, you have to remind them. Yes, you will likely lose a few books, but I found that I lost far fewer than I expected.

It doesn’t support choosing a book in the way that works for all my students.

Classes are diverse and one book doesn’t fit all. You need to have a variety of age appropriate books and consider the interests and reading levels of your students. Once that is in place, you need to know the books you have so that you can help students learn what they like and what is appropriate. Read sections of the books orally to grab their interest. Give book talks. Ask for recommendations from students and let them talk about the ones they like. A classroom library is just a bunch of books until a teacher brings it to life.

It discourages real reading.

I disagree. In fact, done well, classroom libraries encourage real reading. Real books, with real stories and interesting plots will motivate students to want to read. The teacher’s role is to model what good reading looks like and create a culture where students value reading. Then give them time to read and expect that they read.

It may seem like an impossible task, but it is not. I would encourage Captain Awesome to read Donalyn Miller’s The Book Whisperer and Nancie Atwell’s In The Middle: A Lifetime of Learning About Writing, Reading and Adolescents. Teachers of younger students who want to create readers should read The Daily Five: Fostering Literacy in the Elementary Grades.

Here is what Captain Awesome did after she got rid of her classroom library and my response:

She got rid of the sad, raggedy novels.

Good, who wants to read those?

She bought multiple copies of 35 different books including a variety of genres and reading levels.

For the same money, she could have bought several hundred new books, including books of a variety of genres and reading levels. She could have replaced the ratty old, donated and inappropriate titles with books the students would have actually liked to read.

She gave students interest inventories and assessed their reading levels.

Kudos. This is a good step. Knowing students’ interests and reading levels would have also helped independent reading time to be more productive. When you know students’ interests and reading levels, you can help them to choose appropriate books. Students often do need guidance, especially if they are not already real readers.

She formed small groups to read and discuss the novels.

I have nothing against this practice. In my world, this is called reading instruction. Reading teachers have been doing this since the dawn of time. Reading and discussing books in small groups can be very beneficial and is a great way to model and teach skills. It is not however, independent reading. Independent reading also builds skills such as fluency, independence, reading stamina and motivation. Unlike group instruction, independent reading also builds life-long readers.

She set expectations for reading.

Captain Awesome assigned students a certain number of pages to read each week. Students need to know what the expectations are. What were her expectations for their independent reading time when they chose books from the classroom library? Good independent reading programs also have built in expectations.

Students are talking about their books.

Students will talk about and share books they like. Did they have opportunity to talk about the books they read before? In a culture that values reading, the students and the teacher often discuss and share books with each other.

She is planning to spend some time reading aloud to students who are struggling.

I applaud this. She says, “I’m convinced that if I can draw them into the story, they’ll start reading it on their own.” They absolutely will! The same thing happens if you draw them into the books in your classroom library.

She chose “really great books” for her literature groups.

Why would you have really bad books in your classroom library? Why would you think they would want to read old, nasty looking, developmentally inappropriate books? Great books are the key to a successful reading program and a successful classroom library.

Final comments:

I hope that Captain Awesome has a great year and that her students love their literature circles. I hope they all find success and learn to love reading. And I hope that someday, she will take what she learned from her group reading experiment and apply it to a classroom library.

How many books will they read in literature circles in a year? 5? 8? How many books will they read if they also have the opportunity to read fun, interesting books that they chose? 20? 30? In good independent reading programs, teachers report having students who read 40 books a year!

The more you read, the better you read. I would stake my professional reputation on it.

What about you? Do you have a classroom library? Is it effective? Would you get rid of it? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

My best,

Michele