Technology @ School: An Internet Resource for Prospective Teachers

technology @ school

an internet resource for ProsPective teachers

The “Survival Guide for New Teachers” (available on the US Department of Education’s website) offers a “collection of reflections by award-winning first-year teachers.” Sections in this document advise you on how to work with veteran teachers, parents, and principals. The following is an excerpt from the introductory message:

What Does “Sink or Swim” Mean?

To start with, first-year teachers are still liable to be assigned the most challenging courses—the ones with a heavy developmental emphasis and students who need additional expertise to teach. Moreover, many new teachers receive little more than a quick orientation on school policies and procedures before they start their jobs. And there is often no time in the day— or week, for that matter—allotted for sitting down with colleagues to discuss pedagogical methods, daily dilemmas like time and classroom management, and coping strategies ….

Fortunately, some promising new initiatives are already under way. For example, 100 percent of the graduates of a program for first-year teachers from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas, have stayed on the job after five years of teaching. Meanwhile, the statewide retention rate is about 50 percent after five years, according to the university.

Texas’s Induction Year Program is designed to provide support and instruction to first-year teachers while getting them started toward master’s-level professional development. The program focuses on practical issues such as classroom management, communication skills, and discipline. Also, faculty members regularly visit participants’ classrooms to evaluate the teacher’s performance.

In addition to university teacher-preparation programs, school districts are doing more to make first-year teaching a success. Districts from Wilmington, Delaware, to Columbus, Ohio, to Omaha, Nebraska, have instituted induction programs for new teachers that include mentoring, peer assistance, and other forms of guidance and support.

You will also find headings for links to state departments of education. In addition to digesting the information and suggestions provided in these documents, you can discuss their meaning and implications with other prospective teachers or familiarize yourself with information on certification and assistance possibilities in your own or other states.

FOCUS Do you think your favorite teachers in high school were satisfied with their jobs? What do you think may have caused them occasional dissatisfaction? schools, but it also occurs even at some high-performing schools in locations where states or districts set high requirements for improved performance every year. Faculty in many schools wind up devoting much of the school year to preparing for tests and to emphasizing test-preparation materials in obtaining and using teaching resources, practices known collectively as “teaching to the test.” As we point out elsewhere in this book, this situation has raised controversial questions as to whether the standards movement facilitates or impedes improvements in student performance, as teachers narrow their instructional focus to the tested skills. Although some teachers report finding ways to provide engaging, quality instruction within frameworks that require continuous attention to the many learning objectives specified on state and district tests, even these teachers typically experience high-level stress as they learn to function effectively within such frameworks.32

Coping with Stress As you have seen, teaching has its difficult moments. Research also indicates that elementary and secondary teaching has become more stressful in recent years. In response, many professional organizations and school districts offer courses or workshops emphasizing coping techniques and other stress-reduction approaches.

Counselors point out that exercise, rest, hobbies, good nutrition, meditation or other relaxation techniques, vacations, and efficient scheduling of personal affairs can help individuals cope with high-stress jobs. You may also reduce stress if you participate in professional renewal activities or support groups, separate your job from your home life, and keep an open-minded attitude toward change. First-year teachers experience unique stress as they enter new teaching jobs. For this reason, professional organizations, school districts, and even the US Department of Education offer supportive programs. The Technology @ School box in this chapter describes one such effort.

32Stuart S. Yeh, “Limiting the Unintended Consequences of High-Stakes Testing,” Educational Policy Analysis Archives, October 28, 2005, available at http://epaa.asu.edu; “Testing the Joy Out of Education,” American Teacher (October 2008), available at www.aft.org; Michigan State University, “High-Stakes Testing, Lack of Voice Driving Teachers Out,” Science Daily, September 9, 2014, available at www.sciencedaily.com; and Amanda A. Fairbanks, “Will Test-Based Teacher Evaluations Derail the Common Core?” The Hechinger Report, January 8, 2015, available at www.hechingerreport.org.