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An Open Letter to a First Year Teacher from a Second Year Teacher: What I Wish I Had Known

July 25, 2017 by Inspired Together Teachers 1 Comment

Dear First Year Teacher,

Welcome to the first year of teaching. Have a blast. Your students and principal can’t wait to have a first year teacher full of energy and enthusiasm. Have fun and pay attention. The year is going to fly by. Keep a journal, blog or just take notes in your lesson planner because you are going to learn a lot. Here is what I wish someone had told me before I began my first year last August.

Try not to stress, and when you do feel stress somehow hide it from your students. Students and staff can sense stress and do not respond well to it. A teacher who has high energy and enthusiasm should balance that with a calm demeanor. Calm does not mean passive or lazy. Breath, walk away from tension, and take care of yourself. I am talking to you Type A, first year teacher. Do not be the first one in the building and the last one to leave at night. Go home, eat healthy, exercise, see your friends. Enjoy your life outside of school. It will make you a better teacher, I promise.

Focus on the students that are not behavior problems. Teachers and staff have a tendency to focus on the frequent flyers, the students who are acting out on a regular basis. Do not fall into that trap. Most students are wonderful: kind, hard-working, positive.

Speaking of focus, don’t put too much focus on students with academic problems and or parents who expect special accommodations for their student. Follow the IEP and accommodations plan but be aware of going above and beyond for only one student. Some parents scream for extra attention, help and communication with the teacher. Be careful, this is not always helpful to that particular student, or the other students in the room. Redirect your energies and pay attention to all of your students. The squeaky wheel should not always get the grease.

People can be mean. Don’t let this throw you off your game. Listen and learn from people who offer advice in a substantive and meaningful way. Otherwise, just tune the mean people out. Assume that their meanness will be counteracted by others in their life or the building.

On the other hand, when people give your criticism, and good teachers must have criticism, listen. Resist defensiveness and embrace curiosity. Remember: administrators, parents, teachers and students do not respond well to defensive behavior. Take a deep breath, put on your poker face and open yourself to criticism when it is given with good intentions.

Watch what works in your classroom and abandon what doesn’t even if your administrator, famous/successful teachers or professors say it is the best way to teach. Be a scientist in your own classroom and when you see evidence of growth: pounce. Take notes, look at data, listen to students, and repeat what you think is working.

Find a friend. Teachers don’t always welcome newcomers. Conversations with colleagues can be awkward, and you might feel like an outsider. Find the people in the building that are like you and make an effort to connect. Stop by their room for a chat or try to sit next to them during meetings. If your teacher’s lounge and lunchtime crowd gets negative, don’t join in. Be the positive teacher in the room.

Keep track of success and celebrate it with your students and yourself. Leave notes for yourself in your lesson plans when things go well and when they don’t. Praise students and yourself more and criticize less. Do not give students fake praise, but praise them for actual growth and achievement in all areas of school and life.

Be patient. Remember you have years to get better as a teacher, and students have many more years of school ahead of them. Do not think you need to help them climb the whole education mountain in one year. You are only supposed to lead them part of the way. They will make progress in your classroom and next year’s classroom and so on.

Some subjects are harder to teach than others. Don’t get discouraged. I teach ancient world history to sixth graders. I wish I had worried less about making it to a certain place in our textbook my first year and focused more on engagement, cooperative learning and critical thinking. My new goal is that my students are more open to the idea that our world is shaped by nearly all time periods, regions, religions, and ethnicities. Yet, somehow, the people of the world are more alike than different. The number zero was “invented” in at least two different completely disconnected civilizations at about the same time period and for different reasons. When my students discover that fact, I want them to say “wow!” That is a much easier goal to reach than hitting page 492 by June 1st.

Continue to love your students. This is not always easy, but it is essential to being a great teacher. Love them in the agape sense of love which to me means be present and open to their uniqueness in this world. Know their favorite sports teams, foods and how many siblings they have. Ask about their dance competitions, basketball tournaments and favorite video games. The more open you are to the person they are becoming the more they will surprise you with their capacity to grow academically and emotionally. Your classroom will pulsate with enthusiasm, engagement and energy if you keep an open heart.

And at the risk of repeating myself, have fun. At our end of the year class discussion, all my students talked about one thing they wished they had done differently in their 6th grade year. The answers ranged from not being so scared at the start of 6th grade, to reading more books in the beginning of the year, to reaching out to new classmates sooner. I said, “I wish I had had more fun with all of you.” Don’t make that mistake. You have worked hard to get your own classroom – now enjoy it.

Good luck and best wishes for a fantastic first year,

Heather Trees

Heather Trees is a TYT Tribe mentor and a sixth-grade teacher at Mazzuchelli Catholic Middle school In Dubuque, Iowa. She teaches social studies, religion, and language arts. Her greatest passion is inspiring a love of reading in all students. She believes there are no nonreaders just children who have not found their gateway book into a love of reading. Last year her 24 students read 437 books, many from her classroom library.

Teaching is a second career for Heather. She has a BA in theater and communications from Northwestern University and an MA in Journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern. Her first career was a television journalist and nightly news anchor at TV stations in Iowa and California. After taking time to stay home with her children, she began a career working with children in a school library, which led to her returning to school to get her teaching credential.

How to Impress your Principal During your First Year of Teaching

July 10, 2017 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

by Matt Wenthe, Middle School Principal, Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau School District

Believe it or not, your new boss was once in your shoes as a new teacher when he or she began in education. And principals can still relate to feeling overwhelmed – trust me. Like a good coach, principals really want their rookies to do well and will hopefully give them the resources and advice to develop their talents.

But what are the best ways to make a great impression during the first year? As a principal, I have seen some common elements from new teachers that go on to become master teachers.

Kindness Counts

If you are on a blind date, and your date showers you with compliments but is rude to the waiter, there should be plenty of red flags. Likewise, kindness counts as a teacher and principals often know more than just how you may treat them. Everyone on staff is part of a team and should be treated as equal colleagues – the custodian, the secretary, the teacher assistants, everyone.

Show your appreciation. A note, a quick email, or a thank you go a long way. Let your colleagues know that you value their contribution to your students’ success.

Be visible in the halls and greet students by name as they enter your room. Maintain discipline, but always make sure your students know that you care about them. Maya Angelou once said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Other people’s perceptions often filter their way back to the principal.

Attend Functions

It was once expected that teachers were at the majority of extra-curricular events, however, this has become less and less the norm. So when new teachers are at events, principals take note. Sometimes you can also make a little extra money working the game clock or chaperoning an event. Regardless, the kids and parents (and principals) notice that you care.

Display Great Work

When principals walk through the halls or pass through classrooms, they will note what is displayed. This is not only a great way to help promote students taking pride in their work, but also an easy way to do some great PR for your class.

Take pictures and share them with your principal for the school newsletter or web site. Frequently in education, we are too humble or modest and don’t do enough to showcase the great things taking place. Principals are always looking for good material to share with the school board and community. When you give examples, people take note.

Call Parents

There are times when email is fine, especially when you want to convey information. But when it involves emotion, a phone call is often a more effective tool for communication. This way you can have back and forth dialogue and can better communicate without emotional misperceptions.

Don’t just make the bad calls either. Parents love to hear they have raised a kid who does good things sometimes too.

And don’t be afraid to ask the parents’ advice on how a discipline problem can be addressed. Generally, parents will want to work with you and may have some insights that you may not have thought of.

Ask Questions

You are new – it’s no secret. No reasonable person expects flawlessness during your first year. Don’t be afraid to admit you don’t know something or would like to talk through a problem. As a principal, I am more concerned about the rookie teachers who act like they know it all and put up a façade of perfection.

With that said . . .

Remember that if it is important today, it will be important tomorrow.

Not every problem needs to be dealt with immediately. Take some time to process before you act.

For example, don’t respond to an upsetting email or a rude colleague’s comment when you are emotional. You can write when you are passionate, but don’t hit “send” until you have had time to process and be introspective about the big picture. And then remember the earlier advice about email being a good tool for information, but not so much for emotion.

Visit Other Rooms

You’re always going to feel busy, but giving up a prep period once or twice to become a better teacher will save you a ton of work in the long run. Ask principals what fellow teachers they would recommend to watch for ideas on some aspect you would like to improve upon (e.g. question and discussion techniques, pacing, managing classroom procedures). This shows a commitment to achieving excellence.

Know that You are Now a Professional

This isn’t just an hourly J-O-B like you may have had in the past. This isn’t an unpaid internship (a.k.a. student teaching). You are now in a career that is one of the most influential in the lives of others. And exceptional professionals in any career know that their work is not an 8:00-4:00 commitment. If you want to be more than average, if you want to impress, you need to know that there is no substitute for hard work. Principals know who puts in the time to make their classes great.

Matt Wenthe is the Middle School Principal at Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau School District in Wisconsin. He also serves as District Assessment Coordinator, Gifted and Talented Education Coordinator and
Summer School Director.

How to ACE Your Teaching Interview

June 1, 2017 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

Are you looking for a teaching position? This is high season for teacher recruitment. Experienced teachers are often looking to change grade levels or move to a different school. Some teachers are job hunting due to moving to a new city or even to a different part of the country. Beginning teachers fresh out of college are looking to land their first job.

Whether you are an experienced teacher or a beginner, you want to go into your teaching interview with the materials you need, the answers to interview questions prepared, and the confidence to show yourself in your best light.

We’ve been on the hiring end of the teaching interview process many times and have developed a checklist to help you shine in an interview.

Click below for access to our guide to navigating a successful interview:

If you are not looking for a teaching position, perhaps you know someone who is. Please feel free to forward this post to them.

Here’s to your interviewing success!

Best wishes,

My Unfair Request to the Teacher of my Middle Child

March 14, 2017 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

Dear Teacher of my Middle Child,

This morning as I raced my mini-van up to your school and practically threw my middle child out so she wouldn’t be late for first period, I yelled after her to have a great day. Then, as I was sitting in the backed up car line waiting to leave the school, the guilt set in and I uttered a short but heart-felt request to you. Of course you couldn’t hear me, but I want you to know what it is that I muttered to you with all of the desperation this overwhelmed mother could muster up. It wasn’t fair to ask, and I am sorry, but I asked you anyway. I hoped by some twist of fate, you knew just what I asked.

Although it is completely unfair to ask of you, dear teacher of my middle child, I hoped and prayed that you gave my “middle” some extra attention today. I know her hair had a huge uncombed snarl in the back (I noticed it too late as she was racing into the school building). And I know that she was wearing her older brother’s t-shirt which doesn’t fit her. I saw her getting dressed for school this morning, sort of. I was there but I was cleaning up the gallon of milk her little brother spilled on the floor. She walked through the kitchen with a hairbrush so I assumed she got the snarls out but at the time I was too busy to ask because I was loading her older sibling’s trombone into the car along with his two different bags for his two different after school events. In my defense, when I looked at her head-on as we climbed in the van, she really had brushed her hair. Well, at least the front of it.

The reason I have placed hope of her individual attention on you is because over the dinner table, almost nightly, she tells of the special things you do for her. She thinks she might just be your favorite because you notice things about her that others don’t. Based on the small amount of time I have had the opportunity to witness you interacting with the kids, I can tell they all feel that they are your favorite in one way or another. But to my middle child, who never gets to experience things first at home (Sibling #1 already did it) or who never gets to be the last to do something (I guiltily admit to taking more pictures of my third child as he engages in the last time we will do an Easter Egg hunt, go trick-or-treating, etc), you are her saving grace.

Even though you have heard a child figure out a math problem thousands of times before, the excitement you showed her yesterday when she solved that same problem was all she talked about on the drive home. And the way you told her she was a good friend when she helped a crying classmate? That was the last thing she told me as I tucked her into bed the other night. Please, don’t ever, ever, feel that your words and deeds go unnoticed.

I don’t know how you do it. I often feel that I can’t give her the attention she needs and she is only one of three for me at home. In your classroom she is one of many. But somehow, miraculously, you make her feel special and you take the time to notice the little things she does.

So, I’m sorry. It wasn’t fair of me to ask such a huge favor of you, to give her that extra attention she so craves, when you interact with so many students daily. I wouldn’t have asked it of you (silently in the car line) if I didn’t feel it was necessary. But somehow you heard my whispered request. Tonight, as I tucked my middle into bed, she once again whispered to me something you did today that let her know she was special to you.

Thank you for fulfilling my unfair request.

How to Really Know and Understand a Child

October 26, 2016 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

What does it mean to know and understand a child well? As educators, we want to think that we really know the children in our care. When we really know and understand the characteristics and traits that make up a personality we can more easily guide them and teach them. Children, like all people, are multilayered.

When you consider how well you know someone, consider the following:

Interests

What does a child like to do? What are their hobbies? Given free reign, how would they choose to spend their time? Knowing a child’s interests helps us to connect to them. A child’s interests are often keys to other skills and talents and preferences.

Skills and Talents

We all have skills and talents. Perhaps a child is good at drawing or soccer. Perhaps they are especially empathetic, kind or thoughtful. Maybe they express themselves well or show leadership. Understanding a child’s skills and talents means we can offer opportunities to build on those skills and help develop them.

Introversion versus Extroversion

Does the child gain energy from being in a group or seem to need to spend quiet time alone? Do they make quick and decisive decisions or prefer time to think and process? Are they easily bored and restless or able to entertain themselves for hours? Once you understand a child’s natural preferences, it is easier to help the child find the situations that give him or her the time and space they need to function well.

Learning Preferences

How does the child learn best? We all have different combinations of learning preferences, but often, particular preferences rise to the top. Does the child prefer to learn by touching and doing things? Are they particularly engaged when watching something or reading? Are they acute listeners, learning through songs or discussions? Do they learn best alone or in a group? Knowing how a child learns helps us to put learning in a context that is most helpful.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence refers to a person’s ability to understand and control their own emotions. More than intellect or academic training, emotional intelligence has been connected to career and life success. How does the child control frustration, anxiety or anger? Does the child show self-confidence, adaptability or innovation? Are they generally optimistic? Do they feel empathy and have appropriate communication skills? These are all skills that can be taught, and doing so often improves personal success.

Motivation

Motivation is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Some people are motivated by others. Some people are motivated by following rules and procedures. Competition is motivating to some, while others dislike competition. Some people are motivated by prizes or rewards, others are motivated by autonomy, creating and following their personal rules. Some people are motivated by authority, others rebel and become less motivated. Understanding how a child is motivated helps us to understand how to best work with a child.

Multiple Intelligences

Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner has determined that rather than one type of intelligence which connects to intellect and academic success, we all possess different combinations of varying types of intelligence. In Gardner’s theory, we each have some combination of the following intelligences:

Linguistic intelligence (the ability to think and use language well)

Logical-mathematical intelligence (the ability to calculate, quantify and carry out complex logical and mathematical propositions)

Spatial intelligence (the ability to think in three dimensional ways, navigate through space, and produce and decode visual or graphic information)

Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence (the ability to use our bodies and manipulate objects with precision)

Musical intelligence (the ability to understand and respond to melody, pitch, tone and rhythm)

Interpersonal intelligence (the ability to know, understand and work well with others)

Intrapersonal intelligence (the ability to know, plan and direct one’s own life)

Naturalistic intelligence (the ability to observe patterns in nature and identify and classify objects and systems)

Existential intelligence (the ability to understand and tackle deep questions about human existence and the meaning of life)

Working with our natural intelligences does not mean that we can’t work in other ways, but understanding our predilections will often helps us to find activities and careers that we are both good at and that we enjoy.

Knowing and understanding children well is the key to working successfully with them.

It pays to look at a child through various lenses, to understand who they really are, and to use that insight to forge successful relationships. Our goal should not be to make everyone the same, but to encourage children to be more of who they are and to learn to use their personal traits in positive ways in order to become their best selves.

How do you go about understanding a knowing a child well? We would love to hear your insight.

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