When school begins in the fall, we are likely to have on our team, in our grade level, or within our department one or more colleagues who are new to teaching. They will likely come with many hopes, dreams, ideas, and assumptions about teaching. Some of what they bring will serve them well and, in fact, they will certainly bring perspectives that can be useful to our practice.
However, new-to-teaching colleagues typically do not know what they do not know. Sometime in the early weeks or over the course of the year, one or more of these colleagues will almost certainly seek our advice to help them survive and succeed in their new profession. When this happens, there is much we might share based on our teaching experience and what we have learned as a result. Here are six insights to consider and build upon.
Remember that your success will be determined by what students learn, not necessarily by what and how you teach. The best prepared lesson is of little value it if does not result in the engagement of students. Having students sit quietly and listen has a limited life span. Think about what students will be doing and how each activity will add to their learning, and plan to enlist their energy, interest, and voice.
Use the design of learning experiences to minimize classroom management challenges. Classroom management challenges grow with disengagement and boredom. When students are engaged, they are less likely to behave in ways that require intervention or active management. When planning lessons, start with what you know about your students and what is likely to capture and hold their attention and build their learning. These insights can guide the way new content is presented, suggest how best to reinforce key information and skills, and build on past learning.
Be agile and ready to adjust. Plans will not go as envisioned, students will not always behave as predicted, and interruptions and distractions will happen. Your success and the success of your students will be determined more by how you respond to disruptions to your plans than by the quality of those plans. Stay loose, remain aware, and be ready to shift.
Enlist and empower your students as a team. Identifying a common enemy and shared goals invites students to commit and support each other. The enemy may be ignorance, absence of focus, lack of confidence and courage, or something else. Goals may range from building learning skills and becoming independent learners to excelling beyond expectations and growing more than students in other classes. Working together to become more than what others assume can be a powerful motivator.
Be the example you want students to follow. We want students to have respect, show enthusiasm, be caring, exhibit courage, demonstrate a strong work ethic, and engage in other prosocial behaviors. However, it is an unfortunate reality that too many students have few or no models in their lives from which to learn these important characteristics. In some cases, we may need to teach students what these behaviors are. However, our exhibiting these behaviors everyday will likely have the greatest influence on whether our students adopt, internalize, and consistently engage in them.
Help students to see your vision for what they can become. Your belief in their potential and confidence that they will succeed matters, as they do not always have the experience and maturity to see it on their own. Your inspiration, commitment, and confidence in them can lead students to perform at higher levels. It may take a while to see progress, so don’t give up.
Sharing these insights and others about teaching and learning can offer timely guidance and reassurance to our new colleagues. They can also be good reminders for us as we approach another year and plan for success with our students.
