8. The courage to teach starts here

The courage to teach starts here…

This we believe (NMSA, 2010)

*Leaders demonstrate courage and collaboration. Courageous & Collaborative Leaders

This we believe (NMSA, 2010) identifies sixteen characteristics that exist in exemplary middle schools. This blog addresses the eighth characteristic and is part of the section that addresses leadership and organization.

I have been on break for over ten days and am surprised at how nice it is to have a long break. It is a time to reflect and to think about the kids. It is also a time to think about how beginning teachers are just about to wind up their first semester, and how weary we all were in early December.

About a year ago, I was working in a local middle school and touched base with beginning teachers throughout the year. I had interviewed the teachers at the end of the school year to find out what had worked and what had not worked. What I found were teachers who looked back on their year and shared how much they learned. I wish I had interviewed them before the December break. I know they were tired.

Over this break, I reconnected with one of those teachers. I remember walking into her classroom in March and seeing that “she had won” (see the blog, “You will win,” dated November 1, 2015). As I reflected on how to encourage beginning teachers to stay the course, I shared the following with her and asked her to reflect on my thoughts. I shared, “ I feel like it is about courage: the courage to believe in yourself, the courage to seek and receive support and encouragement, and the courage to never give up on the kids who so desperately need teachers who care about them."

I asked if she would share ideas about how to help beginning teachers. She is in her second year, and loves her role as their teacher. Here are her words:

You are right, courage plays a big role in teaching. I really struggled with the idea of "failing" or being a "failure" which really drove me to work harder to do what it took to not only survive the rest of the year, but to enjoy it. I constantly told myself that I was not a failure; I never had been in other aspects of my life so I refused to accept that in teaching. I also reached out to some amazing teachers on my team and in my subject area, as well as an assistant principal who kind of took me under her wing to help out. 

As much as I was annoyed and aggravated by many of the students, I continually thought about them as being people outside of school. As a teacher, you have so much influence on kids as they spend so much of their time with you. They may not go home and think about you like you do them every night, but their behaviors, personalities, and curiosities are influenced by their experiences at school with you. You have that incredible impact on their lives and if you dwell on being miserable day after day, that rubs off on these kids who need anything but negative relationships. 

I really strived to not "just survive" the rest of the year, but to almost start over. I re-implemented classroom management and re-emphasized expectations to better myself for the next year, and to not give up on those kids. 

The most helpful thing for me was to reach out to other people for support because I not only found solutions and advice, but I realized that I wasn't the only person who had or was currently experiencing the same feelings. We often think that "no one would understand" or "there's nothing I can do now" which are so far from being true. 

I hope this helps, and hope you are doing well!

Karlee

I love her advice.

·      *Tell yourself every day that you are needed, that you are important, that you can do this.

·      *Re-implement and emphasize expectations, every day if necessary.

·      *Seek the insights and help of teammates and people who teach your subject.

·      *Enlist the help of an administrator.

·      *Never forget that these kids need you.

Advice

1)   If you are teaching an elective class, you must make friends with other teachers. If possible find other elective teachers in the district who will help. A mentor in another field is all well and good, but a teacher in your discipline has specific strategies and tools for creating a successful environment.

2)   When possible, use common team rules and ask teachers for help, especially team leaders. Many schools specify common rules and rewards (PBIS – Positive Behavior Intervention System); these structures are so helpful to elective teachers who sometimes must learn four or five different sets of team rules and procedures to provide consistency for children.

3)   When you get a few years of teaching under your belt, make it a point to support new teachers; reach out to them; give them your tricks and strategies. Listen to them; encourage them. Know that, as teachers, we have to develop our own strategies and routines that work for us; but it is our responsibility to share whatever we have with one another. Having someone to share ideas gives both parties a reason to celebrate and a soul to support.

4)   Colleges of education must find ways to support beginning teachers in their partner districts. One of our partner districts has one person responsible for all six middle schools. Another district has one person for the entire district.  There are few district level administrators to support beginning teachers; we must help. The more support beginning teachers receive, from as many angles as possible… the school, the district, partner universities, and specifically professors in the fields, the more likely beginning teachers will be successful and stay in teaching.

5)   It is everyone’s responsibility. If a beginning teacher feels isolated, feels alone, shame on all of us. Teaching is hard.

6)   The courage to teach starts here, in your heart; but it helps if you surround your heart with lots of collaboration and hope. (:

We have much to learn about how to help beginning teachers. We must find ways to support them at the beginning and throughout their first year, years, of teaching. Karlee teaches seventh-grade math in a rural school in western North Carolina.