Recently, I came across a statement that transported me back to my first year of teaching. "Teaching has been a career in which the greatest challenges and most difficult responsibilities are faced by those with the least experience—a strange state of affairs indeed," state Carl D. Glickman, Stephen P. Gordon, and Jovita M. Ross-Gordon in their seminal book SuperVision and Instructional Leadership.
During my first year, I was one of the last teachers hired in a large, urban public school. I had no classroom; I received only the leftover textbooks from the resource closet (which didn't make up a full-class set); and my schedule was composed of whatever overflowed from other teachers' schedules. For example, I met five days a week with some classes, three days a week with others, and just once a week with one class. I considered leaving the profession often during that year. Unfortunately, I don't believe that my experience as a first-year teacher was unique. Is it any wonder, then, that such a high percentage of first-year teachers quit the profession?
Glickman, Gordon, and Ross-Gordon note that new teachers are often challenged with the most difficult work assignments, inadequate resources, and unclear expectations, while simultaneously experiencing reality shock. I was fortunate to find my way into a small school the following year that provided greater support for a new teacher like myself, but had I not, I imagine I would no longer be an educator.
I wish I had known during my first year that some of the most important aspects of teaching effectively are organization and the ability to break down the work for students who are struggling or extend it for those who are able to complete assignments with ease. I had not established a clear structure, nor was I regularly engagingall my students.
In addition to having better organization skills and an understanding of differentiated instruction, I would have benefited from having a mentor to guide me in developing plans for classroom, stress, and time management. At the time, I was unsure about what was acceptable classroom behavior since I hadn't been in a middle school classroom in close to a decade. I also wasn't sure how to address behaviors I knew were inappropriate. Had I observed effective teachers' classrooms or received coaching, these challenges might have been easier for me.
To address some of the many struggles new teachers experience in their first years of teaching, some schools have developed induction programs for new teachers, pairing them with highly effective veteran teachers, building time into their schedules for team planning and observing other classrooms, encouraging teachers to seek out off-site professional development to meet individual professional needs, and surveying new teachers throughout the year to assess their needs and the effectiveness of the program. I strongly believe these methods can improve both first-year teacher instruction and teacher retention rates.