1.acting like a know it all
2.being their student's friend
3.getting involved with the gossip crowd in the faculty lounge
4.lack of organization
5.inconsistent discipline
6.spends too much time making the room cute so then the actual lessons given to students are not planned well
1. Not asking questions when you need help. Take advice and don't rewrite the wheel
2. Biting off more than you can chew- wanting to be involved in so many things when I really just needed to be able to get through the day
3. Starting every great idea you hear of immediately after learning about them-I would hear about the next new thing and try and start it the next Monday morning
4. Being too easy in regards to discipline
5. Inconsistency in regards to pretty much everything
6. Coming too early and staying too late-you need to have personal time!
7. Spending time, energy and money on things that weren't really worth it- I feel it's more important to have strong academics and lesson plans than having a great classroom theme with coordinated nameplates
8. Have a place for everything and take the time to put everything in it's place. Let students help out-they want to!
9. Plan! Plan! Plan! I felt like an idiot the day I realized things went much more smoothly when I had solid lesson plans.
10. Have a backup plan. Know what to do if kids finish early. Have a plan if things don't work out so well.
Not getting the correct curriculum for their grade level and adhering to it.
Not seeking out resources in their own building.
Trying to be friends with the students so that they will like them.
Starting out with discipline that is too lenient, then trying to get more strict.
Trying to choose too many projects for one year for self-improvement. They would do better to focus on one or two major issues than to try to tackle everything at once.
Getting caught up in extra-curriculars, and not leaving enough time to plan effective lessons and gain the content knowledge needed for their grade level.
1.Thinking they know it all
2.Not giving veteran staffers due respect
3.Giving too much respect to vets
4.Being intimidated by parents
5.Trying to be all things
6.Spending too much time in the teachers lounge or lunchroom with troublemakers
7. Not relying on their own instincts enough
8. Not putting a sound class management plan in place
9. Taking things too personally
10.Wants to be liked by everyone
Sit down and write out a year long plan. Include holidays, special school events, Christmas play practice, parent teacher conferences, minimum days, etc. Ask a colleague for help with this. Someone who's been around long enough to know and share all those activities that aren't on the regular schedule. Many a new teacher has been thrown for a loop by all these "events". And be advised that after each of the holidays and "events" you're going to have to review and reteach procedures again.
I supervised out district's new teacher mentor program for 15 years...Here's what I experienced.
New teachers have just gone throught the interview process where they have to sell their capabilities. ( I can do this...I'm going to be a great teacher...You should hire me...I know what I'm doing...) It's hard for them to then show their weaknesses and needs. It's hard to admit that they don't have all the answers. Do any of us? Biggest obstacle to helping teachers was getting them to open up to asking for help or accepting suggestions for improvement. This is sometimes complicated by veteran teachers who mentor new teachers and think they know it all. It must be a collaborative relationship where teachers learn from each other.
Second, biggest mistake is not establishing discipline from the beginning. Yes, they often want to be friends with students or become the students' favorite teacher. Experienced teachers know this is a fine line to walk. Establishing rules, procedures, routines and high expectations firsts allows for a safe classroom where outcomes our reached and everyone finds learning can be fun.
I also found that new teachers don't take time for themselves. The first couple of years of teaching are very demanding. If you don't take time to feed your own spirit and have a life outside of classroom you won't find joy in your teaching; you'll burnout.
All of the other things mention by others do occur with some teachers; everyone seems to have their own strengths and weaknesses. For some it is planning, or taking on too much too soon. For others it is other things.
1. Being a friend to the students.
2. Waiting until right before class to ask for help or materials.
3. Not being aware of how to use body language to correct student behaviors.
4. Using poor grammar.
5. Wanting supervisor to contact parents instead of doing it themself.
6. Chewing gum!!!
7. Lack of awareness of state standards.
8. Lack of professional dress!!!
1. Sometimes new teachers surrender their "voice' (opinions)
2. New teachers will get their personal life out of balance with work.
3. New teachers try to get it all done well the first year. Select a focus.
4. New teachers do not realize what they bring to the team.
5. New teachers are in danger of burnout if they don't pace themselves.
6. New teachers might not ask for help when they need it.
7. New teachers need to realize that most people are on their support team.
8. New teachers might take awhile to learn that 'you must connect before you can correct' a student's poor habit.
9. New teachers may make the mistake of not assimilating into the culture of the school.
10. New teachers need to drink more water!
1. Only going in order with the textbooks instead of seeing how they match with the state standards.
2. trying to be best friends with the students
3. not being teachable themselves
4. not being consistent in discipline
5. spending their own money on too much instead of borrowing to see if they really need it.
6. getting offended easily when someone offers advice
7. trying too hard to "look good" instead of worrying about the students actually learning.
8. not dressing professionally
9. Trying to be "funny" with the kids and not remembering they don't always understand sarcasm.
10. modeling after burned-out teachers instead of real "model" teachers.
How could I forget that one!?! I've never been this way, but I always used to smile when one of my new teacher colleagues would be grading every last homework, morning work, time killer, etc. By the end of the year, he was on the right page though
Okay, without looking at what the others wrote, these are the ones that popped into my head. (I'm only going into my 5th yr of teaching, and this year, we had three new teachers, so I am going to base it on my own/their experiences)
1. Being inconsistent with a behavior plan
2. Trying to be too tough or being too much of a pushover
3. Following the book exactly
4. Not planning out a basic pacing schedule for the year
5. Worrying more about how things look in the classroom then what
is actually going on in the classroom
6. Trying to do too much for the parents OR not doing enough to communicate with parents
7. Grading everything!
1. Thinking they know everything/ not willing to accept help from co-workers.
2. Griping about/talking about students to co-workers in areas which parents & students walking by can overhear them.
3. Not being consistent on discipline.
4. Taking things too personal. ex. when a parent gets upset at them for something, they either cry or become defensive. Over time, you learn to listen to the parent & then answer calmly.
5. Either doing too much or not doing enough. Some new teachers are so involved in their classrooms that they don't have anything else in their life. This causes them to burn out too quickly. Other new teachers didn't realize that teaching isn't an 8-3 job & they refuse to work beyond those hours.
6. Too much busy work b/c they don't know how to handle any down time.
7. Throwing stuff away when setting up their new room. For the first year, I think you should just store whatever stuff that you don't plan on using. Yes, it may be 100 years old & way out of date. However, it belonged to someone at sometime & you can guarantee that someone in the building thinks it's priceless. Store it this year & then next year you can set it in the hall as 'stuff I don't use, but I know someone may want.' Then, if no one takes it, you can trash it.
We have a new teacher coming in August and this is a great thread to share.
1. wanting to be friends with students
2. not realizing the time committment involved with teaching
3. comparing themselves to other teachers
4. not asking questions
5. parent communication
6. learn how to calm parents fears
7. realize that their input is important and welcome at staff meetings
8. become familiar with the people who are in charge of your parent teacher organization
I don't think I saw this one while I skimmed the other answers:
Not documenting enough (phone calls, grades, communication, behavior) to support an argument. For example, when a parent calls into question a failing grade/class many new teachers wouldn't have a copy of some failed work, copies of notes sent home to discuss the failing grade, and what they did to help student pull grade up.
Also documenting interventions used on a student before they bring it to a student committee to consider testing for special education.
That's really good advice. I'm going to be student teaching this fall and hopefully teaching in January and no one has ever given me this advice. I can see your point this is very importatnt!! Thanks!
I have just finished my student teaching a few months ago. I was called in to sub for the class and I found the class was out of control and extremely talkative. The classroom management plan I began with the class was no longer in place and of course would not work when I tried to implement it. The class was very talkative and hard to handle as a result I had a hard day! Why was this class misbehaving? Was it because I had come back and they were excited or that the teacher expectations had changed?
06-29-2008, 07:14 PM
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