For Brand New Teachers starting their Career

byJamesNewton

271 followers

2 years ago

The First Days as a Brand-New Teacher

I know that these can be quite unnerving for many entering the world of teaching for the first time. It can be quite like being thrown into the proverbial lion's den!

All the lectures on educational theories citing the teachings of Piaget, Vygotsky and 'how best to encouraging cognitive development in students' seem very distant when you enter a classroom for the first time.

This can be particularly so when, as a 'teacher-in-training' you have observed, as part of your own training those veteran teachers who are seemingly effortless in the control of their students and responding to the dynamic environment of their classroom.

So, in this post I want to give you all some very practical guidance that will help you in those very early days in your career.

It really is 'all smoke and mirrors...'

They (the students) don't know what you don't know...

Or another way to put it is that as students come pouring into your classroom for the very first time, they don't know you and the level of skills you may (or may not) have. They will then very quickly establish that understanding depending on what they see and hear from you!

First impressions count!

This puts into sharp focus the need for you to be well prepared.... in advance... so that any anticipated questions from the students will not throw you off your 'equilibrium' which is to project total confidence in your teaching abilities. This means that upon entry the students gain an impression that they are entering the domain of someone who clearly has anticipated their needs!

Specifically, this means that you have put up clearly, for all to see, the learning goals for the day. That if you have any handouts for them, you have sufficient copies for the class (plus 10%) for the everyone. Also...If you are projecting information for the class to follow, you have it queued ready to go AND you have personally viewed what you are showing from the back of the class - to ensure its legibility! The same equally applies to any information you may have written on a white board!

In addition to the learning goals being clearly displayed, make sure any 'special instructions' you want to enforce are equally visible (example: no calculators, no cell phones out [good luck with that one!!], no food or drinks etc.).

Doing this will reduce the number of 'negative instructions' you have to give.

Be familiar with pre-existing school wide protocols (example: a '10 / 10 rule' meaning no students to leave a classroom 10 until 10 minutes have been spent in class and no students to leave a classroom in the last 10 minutes of class). As you show familiarity with these school wide rules students will tend to accredit you with the same authority as they do the veteran teachers at the school.

As you start so will you continue

Setting the 'tone' at the beginning of your classes goes a long way to the behaviors you can expect throughout your class period.

How you introduce yourself to your class will also assist any subsequent student behaviors, where you are aiming for your class time to be 90% student engagement : 10% management.

Good preparation will make you feel more confident which will be transmitted to the students that are looking to you for their instruction and guidance.

You may well be introduced to your classes by the departmental head who.... hopefully will not introduce you as a NEW or STUDENT teacher which I have seen inevitably sets new teachers up for challenges to establishing their 'presence' in a classroom than is justified.

Remember !

What really matters a LOT in the classroom is not just what instructions you give but HOW you give them!

Most communication is NON - verbal (up to 93% according to some research) and 38% of verbal communication is made up of the tonal quality of what is being said.

That is why I said before that a lot of classroom management is 'smoke and mirrors' and emphasize again it the manner in which an instruction is given that determines whether it will be followed.

The more confident you appear to be will convey a great deal of authority to students which means that you will have to spend far less time in correcting 'off task' behaviors and more time on honing your communication skills.

Managing interruptions to your giving verbal instructions

It is important to always maintain a projection of being 'in charge' at the beginning of class; students expect it so don't let them think otherwise!

So be sure to project your voice if you are standing at the front of the class, although it is - in my view - better to walk amongst the students. Invariably, when you are addressing a class at the beginning of a lesson a student will raise a hand to ask a question, or sometimes even verbally interject a comment for any reason that seems very important to them at the time.

When I face such a potential disruption to giving instructions, such as "I forgot my textbook!" or "I need a pencil!!" I find that stating to the assembled class "I will deal with any questions at the end" and continue my verbal delivery to the class.

In his classic book, 'The Craft of the Classroom' the author, a veteran teacher called Michael Marland goes into a great deal of the behaviors good teachers use to enable them to have great classroom management. I personally found his guidance excellent when, in my own early years of teaching in an 'inner city school' there was an immediate need to exercise control of your classroom.

Marland's book is based on his experience in UK schools which I found equally applicable in the U.S. (Hence students are called 'pupils' and principals are called 'headmaster')

However, in the USA I found that equally practical, in the same manner, is the training called ENVoY (Educational Non verbal Yardsticks)by Michael Grinder which again offers guidance to teachers on Classroom Management. This peaks to the non-verbal communication and the influence of posture and tonal expression in a classroom.

I consider the advice or techniques given by these two authors while extremely simple are also very effective. They include where to stand in a class, how to alter the tone of your voice to gain attention from the students, how to move around the classroom to convey, almost sublimely, to students, your authority as teacher as you move to manage your 'craft' as an educator.