New teachers say they’re frequently placed in troubled schools with hard-to teach students and get little support from administrators or colleagues. It’s worse for teachers who reach the classroom by alternate routes. In Lessons Learned, from Public Agenda and the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, new teachers in high-need secondary schools talk about their challenges. A first-year teacher says:
“Teachers have to go it alone, especially in the city. You cannot send a student out of your room. You have to deal with the behavior problem, and fill out forms … You’re kind of like an independent contractor. You’ve got to just manage your little society in the classroom.”Â
Public Agenda looked at teachers who came to the classroom through Teach for America, Troops to Teachers and The New Teachers Project as well as traditionally trained teachers.
my first day of teaching I heard a student make a threat of physical violence to another student. Prior to stepping foot in the classroom, I had two days of orientation the week before, but was luckier than my younger colleagues because I at least had experience at parenting.
I was hired literally the day before school was to start, got my keys to my classroom on my first day and was told to “go teach.” Nobody sat down with me or the other newbies at our school site to discuss any type of procedures, so when I heard this student make a threat to another student, I called him up to my desk, wrote him a pass with a brief explanation of the incident.
This student came back about 10 minutes later. As he entered my room, he handed me a paper and told me that the VP wanted me to have it. Our VP had highlighted the proper procedure for sending a student to the office for this type of infraction. It felt like a slap to me and I can only imagine what that student must have been thinking as he came back to my classroom. She didn’t even bother to staple it together or put it in an envelope.
I quickly learned that any type of support I thought I might receive as a new teacher was nil to none. It was a sink or swim situation. I strongly credit my parenting skills (knowing how to set limits, setting up appropriate consequences, following through, etc.) for getting me through my first two years (along with the occasional margarita).
I learned via the sink or swim method as well, and quickly learned to rely on no one for help. But I had no parenting skills when I started.
I had quite the opposite experience–my teaching skills, I think, made me a better parent.