Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Teachers, please come in
Hi! I accepted an offer to teach English (10th grade and one class of 11th graders) and this will be my first year. I am also starting at the end of this month/early March.
I am beyond nervous as I really have no idea where to start preparing! I have read through the springboard they offered me and actually ordered a rush copy of a book, something about making the transition into a successful teacher from the non-education world (forgetting the title right now, verbatim).
I have a few friends teaching in other subjects at this school and the principal seems to really like me, since she offered me this job with no previous teaching experience. I plan to utilize every resource possible, but I also thought I would ask advice of the ladies on this board. If it helps, the school is a public "A" high school in Florida and the class is currently being taught by a reading coach. The preious teacher left for a non-educational opportunity.
I have to post and run but will check in at my ofice (where I have to give notice today) this afternoon. Any advice is welcome! TIA.
Re: Teachers, please come in
First of all congratulations on the job!!!!
Don't be afraid to ask questions of the other teachers and the adminstration. And ask multiple teachers the same question as they may handle things differently. Your prinicipal will usually be glad you asked instead of doing something uninformed.
I'm sure this goes without saying, but don't be the students' friend. Especially coming in mid-year, you have to set a tone. The students may have a mindset that they can walk all over a replacement teacher. And ignore all of the comparisons they make to the previous teacher, even if they hated him/her they will all of a sudden be nostalgic.
As for planning, don't be afraid to try your fresh, different ideas. My first year teaching I was afraid to try anything too much outside the box because it would be frowned upon, but I have grown to enjoy my job and it has become much easier since I have been doing things the way that it works for me.
Have fun! The first year is always the hardest. You'll never stop working or putting effort in, but that first year is like no other, but you'll enjoy it!
Thank Christieep. I am very nervous but excited, of course. I am going to do my best to make certain they take me seriously, and the principal advocates sort of a "draw the line" approach where if they are breaking a rule and won't stop do not argue with them just send them to admin. Is this common in your school? Disciplinary problems will be something I have never encountered before as I have just been in the business world until now. So I am sure this will take some time to learn on my end.
Can you tell me a little bit about how you grade?
Again, thanks for the help! Congrats on your pregnancy, too.
I teach science so take my ideas on grading for what they are worth. I do not envy all of the reading and grading English teachers do!
Everything is point based in my classroom, so the final grade it points earned/points available. I don't weight any grades, but tests, projects, and big labs are worth more points to begin with. Tests are always "scaled" to 100 points. With my freshmen I sometimes do completion grades on homework. I go over homework before I collect it, so before we discuss it I go around the class and put a stamp on the students' papers that completed their homework, these students get full credit. Students who complete it while we go over it or turn it in later still get some credit. I've been trying to get better at writing comments on papers, but sometimes I just want to get the grading done so I score it and am done with it. You probably can't get away with this as much in English. Let me know what other questions you might have.
Congrats on the job! I'm still trying to get a teaching job myself...
The best advice I've gotten so far is that it's easier to start off more strict than it is to start off trying to be their friends/not strict at all. I learned it the hard way a few times while subbing. Set the ground rules and your expectations from the beginning and then you can become more lax later if appropriate.
Someone just told me about proteacher.net. I haven't really explored it yet but it could be useful. There's also free lesson plans (plus ones you can buy?) on teacherspayteachers.com. I personally wouldn't pull a LP off a website and use it verbatim, but i like looking at other teachers' plans and resources to develop my own ideas or just to see examples of things that have worked. Asking your new co-workers what works for them is great too. I went to school for teaching so I keep in touch with a bunch of classmates on FB so we can ask each other for feedback on ideas or ask about resources.
Good luck!
I'm also a high school English teacher (10th, 11th, and AP Literature) and would be happy to help you out with some specific lesson ideas and strategies if you'd like. PM me for my e-mail.
Just as a general piece of advice, I'd contact the department chair and see about getting a mentor teacher at your grade level. This will be particularly important if your state has assessments/high stakes testing after you arrive. You should also see if you can get a copy of the textbook or novels typically used with sophomores and juniors.
Good luck!
28/100
LittleL 8/10/07
Baby E 11/27/10
Check out my makeup and reading blog:
Books and Beauty
Note: I teach elementary but I have experience with hiring (and mentoring) a mid-year hire. Mid-year starts can be very rough but the nice thing is that you only have to get through a few months.
Definitely get a mentor teacher. In a high school, you will most likely be able to get a mentor that teaches the same grade/class combo as you which will be very helpful. I'd be surprised if they didn't intend to set you up with one anyway.
Don't be afraid to try new ideas BUT I'd also start out with things that are more maneagable for you at first. Lots of more fun ideas require a certain amount of classroom management. Take things one step at a time. It's okay to have lessons that aren't super snazzy at first while you get a grip on everything.
Follow directions. I know this sounds basic but every school and admin has their own way. If your mentor or department chair tells you that something is a no-no at your school, LISTEN to them. If it's something you really want to do, put it on the backburner and revisit it later. (The teacher we hired was deteremined to do home visits. This is something our admin isn't crazy about and definitely not something to do without running it by your admin first. Ours specifically told her no and she did it anyway. You can imagine how that went over.) Other issues were smaller than that but there are still things that would never occur to you as being something that will create issues but will actually create a shitstorm. A good way to avoid this is to ask other teachers about their policies for common things (homework, late work, etc.) and create similar policies for now. Don't reinvent the wheel! Save yourself some work AND a potential headache.
Remember that each day is a new day! If you have a crappy day, reflect on why then change it the next day. Similarly, each day is a new day with the kids. If you have one that drives you nuts, start each day fresh. Trust me, at least one will drive you nuts!
Lock up your purse.
Thank you all, ladies, for your help!
I am meeting with the reading coach that is currently teaching these classes on Thursday and hopefully we can hammer out some things so I feel a bit more confident. This same reading coach is sticking around in the beginning to help and the 10th graders have reading FCAT at the end of March
They will have completed the writing portion just before I start (my start date is still a bit in the air as I have to give 2 weeks here and then have fingerprinting etc. completed). This makes me, well, scared. This is such an awesome opportunity for me and I just don't want to fall flat on my face or start off on the wrong foot.
Keep in touch with parents. I email grades home, even though they are posted online. It keeps the communication open and if there is ever a problem it can usually be nipped before admin has to intervene.
The parents love it.