Chapter One: Becoming a Good Beginning Teacher

by April

Reading the concerns shared by beginning teachers in chapter one, I felt a sense of relief. I always think about the fact that there is no "easing in to our responsibilities" as the chapter mentioned. I worry that the kids in my class my first few years of teaching won't be getting the quality of education they might get with a seasoned teacher. I am always hard on myself in every aspect of my life and I know that I will be even harder on myself being a teacher because I realize what's at stake! On one hand I am very glad that research shows that quality teaching does matter because if it didn't, I might wonder "what's the point?". On the other hand, it reveals the weight of responsibility that rests on our shoulders as teachers. There are days when that challenge thrills me and days when it overwhelms me.

I thought the distinction between novice teachers and seasoned teachers was interesting. It says that beginning teachers ask, "How am I doing?" while experienced teachers ask, "How are the children doing?" I hope I can keep that in mind and maybe in the beginning be able to ask both.

It seems in the text (and from our classes as well) that there is an understanding that new teachers are still learning and won't get everything right. I wonder if there is that kind of understanding from principles and parents? When I first announced to friends that I was going to go back to school to teach, a parent said to me, "I don't envy you being a first year teacher. There is a first year teacher in my child's school this year and parents are really upset that their child is in her class."

I do like that the author says you can be an excellent beginning teacher. I'm sure we all hope to be that. The tips to start now, I thought were helpful: "...develop a repertoire of effective principles and practices for your first years of teaching so that some activities quickly become automatic....develop the habit of questioning and analyzing these accepted practices and your own teaching so you can solve new problems when they arise....look behind the effective techniques identified in research to ask: Why did this approach work with these students? What else might be as good or better?"