becoming a professional (part 2): working with others

The days of teaching "with your door closed" are no longer viable. Teaching is a collaborative effort, and for the better. New teachers can draw on their experiences during student teaching, when increasingly the model is to use co-teaching to support teacher candidates (and students!) during the student teaching experience. Co-teaching is one aspect of the collaborative efforts in schools, though there are many other ways that teachers need to work with others. The teamwork aspect of working in a school can be challenging but so rewarding. Here are some ideas to keep in mind when beginning your work with others in your new school (or to re-frame your work in your current school, for those with experience!).

1.  Working with others, and guidance from your peers, can help increase your self-efficacy. You may think that it is easier to keep your concerns, struggles, and failures to yourself. But sharing these with colleagues, and getting effective advice, can help make you more successful. Your colleagues are full of expertise and experience - find ways to tap into that.
2. Sharing ideas can save you (and others) time. Yes, working with others can be time-consuming. But when you tackle new projects together, and share what you develop, this can save all of you time.
3. Understanding the school goals can help you be a more productive member of the school community. Spend some time now, if possible, understanding the goals of the school. When you know these goals, and have thought about how your work supports the goals, the better able you'll be to dive into the work of the school. Knowing the school culture, history, and goals is an essential part of being part of the community.
4. Know that what you say and do is important to how others view you. Think about what you say and do, and do what you can to show others the capable, hard-working, respectful, responsible person you are!
5. Focus on student learning. Keep that running through your head as you work in the school and with others. It should be the top priority.
6. Ask for help! Similar to the first point, it is ok not to know things. It's ok to ask for help. Your colleagues expect it when you're new (or even if you're experienced!). 
7. And, on the other hand, be willing to help when others need help. Showing yourself to be quick to help will be a good thing for you in a new school.
8. Remain open-minded. This can be hard to do at times, but is so essential when working with others in a school. There is almost never one "right way" to do something, and you can always learn from others' expertise.

What do you keep in mind when starting a new job or beginning a new collaborative project with others?

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Reference: Thompson, J. G. (2009). The first-year teacher's checklist" A quick reference for classroom success. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

new beginnings

Whether you are already well into your academic year or just beginning, in your first, or third, or thirteenth, or thirtieth year of teaching, this poem can be meaningful at the start of a new school year for us all.

Blessing for a New Position

John O'Donohue

from To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings (2008)

May your new work excite your heart,

Kindle in your mind creativity

To journey beyond the old limits

Of all that has become wearisome.

May this work challenge you toward

New frontiers that will emerge

As you begin to approach them,

Calling forth from you the full force

And depth of your undiscovered gifts.

May the work fit the rhythms of your soul,

Enabling you to draw from the invisible

New ideas and a vision that will inspire.

Remember to be kind

To those who work for you,

Endeavor to remain aware

Of the quiet world

That lives behind each face.

Be fair in your expectations, 
Compassionate in your criticism.

May you have the grace of encouragement

To awaken the gift in the other’s heart,

Building in them the confidence

To follow the call of the gift.

May you come to know that work

Which emerges from the mind of love

Will have beauty and form.

May this new work be worthy

Of the energy of your heart

And the light of your thought.

May your work assume

A proper space in your life;

Instead of owning or using you,

May it challenge and refine you,

Bringing you every day further

Into the wonder of your heart.

NSTA Book Beat

Calling all Science teachers! Have you signed up for the National Science Teachers Association - NSTA Book Beat email list? It is a great resource for Science teachers, including summaries of new books pertinant for Science teachers across disciplines.

A recent Book Beat email included some chapters out of books related to planning for the beginning of the year. There is a chapter about planning the first week of school from the book Rise and Shine: A Practical Guide for the Beginning Science Teacher. And there are some great ideas for beginning each class period (that are actually applicable to any content area, not just Science) from the book The New Science Teacher's Handbook: What You Didn't Learn From Student Teaching.

Check it out!

NTC MOOCs for new teachers

In May, I wrote about MOOCs (massive open online courses) that are available for new teachers through the New Teacher Center. At the time, their First Year Teacher series was not available, but it is now!

The NTC's First Year Teacher Success from the Start series is available, on demand. There is a secondary and an elementary course offered. Each course has 6 modules with presentations and assignments. You can start the courses at any time. The course is free, but in order to receive a certificate of completion, there is a $49 cost associated. Check with the professional development and/or continuing education credits office in your district before paying for the certificate to see if the credits will count towards license renewal credits or professional development for you.

What a great way to get back into school mode and ready for the year!

becoming a professional (part 1)

The transition from student to teacher happens gradually, and then all at once. You have worked so hard in college throughout your courses, practica, and student teaching - as a teacher candidate. Suddenly, you have a job and are expected to be the full-time teacher for a group of students. Exciting! Terrifying! You have committed yourself the the well-being and success of your students, as well as maintaining rigorous standards of professional practice. But what does that really mean?

Spending time this summer thinking about what is expected of you as a teacher can be a really helpful framework for heading into a new school year. There are so many expectations for a teacher, but here are some of what makes a teacher a professional (adapted from Thompson (2009):

1. Establish positive relationships with every student. How will you plan to get to know your students? In what ways is the curriculum flexible to build on student interests, skills, knowledge? How will you show your respect for students?
2. Honor your students by having high expectations for all. How can you communicate high expectations? How will you differentiate to help all students succeed at high levels?
3. Maintain a productive and safe learning environment. How can you use your classroom to support students in their learning? What organizational structures / routines will support student learning?
4. Accept responsibility for what happens in your classroom. It can be tempting to find many reasons to excuse low student motivation, low test scores, inappropriate behaviors. But taking responsibility for these is empowering. You can do something to fix this! Think about ways to proactively plan for these in your classroom.
5. Initiate a teamwork approach with parents / guardians. What is your plan for working with parents? How will you keep them informed? How will you invite them to ask questions? 
6. Be a life-long learner. Being a successful teacher means that you live a life full of learning. Be open to new ideas, from your students and colleagues. Read. Attend workshops with an open mind. Take risks.

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Reference: Thompson, J. G. (2009). The first-year teacher's checklist" A quick reference for classroom success. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

nonfiction resources for science and math

There is so much talk about nonfiction lately, especially as a response to the Common Core State Standards. There are some misconceptions (like that English teachers can't teach fiction any more in order to meet the nonfiction percentage of text required by the CCSS), but as the linked article states, "The Common Core does not say to get rid of literature and only read non-fiction. It says that 50% of what elementary, 60% of what middle school and 70% of what secondary students read should be non-fiction. The key here is throughout the entire day." This means that all teachers should be include and teaching nonfiction texts throughout the school day across content areas.

For science and math teachers, finding high-quality resources can sometimes be a challenge. But the great news is that there are lots of organizations out there to help you find the best sources for your students.

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) publishes a list every year of the outstanding science trade books published for K-12 students. I look forward to the list every year to use to add to my classroom library.

Nonfiction Detectives is an awesome blog reviewing new nonfiction books. Here's their "Best of" list from 2014, which includes a science section. The 2012 list includes some math books too.

Sometimes, though, books are more text than you're looking for. The Electronic Library for MN (ELM) is an amazing resource for teachers. Not only can you search for nonfiction articles to supplement your own learning about new topics, the databases have been culled to provide the best nonfiction resources for your students too. Check it out - it's free!

Where do you find the best nonfiction resources for science and math?

effective feedback

In my graduate course on assessment, teachers spend time observing other teachers teaching for their uses of praise and formative feedback during lessons. It is one of the activities that teachers in the course find most valuable. Not only do they learn new ideas for providing feedback to students (or, sometimes, what not to do), but the act of observing also encourages reflection on their own practices. The right kind of feedback is essential for effective teaching and learning, and several recent reviews of literature on feedback indicate that there is some good consensus on what works and what doesn't work when it comes to feedback.

It can be hard, if not impossible, to carve out time to observe colleagues during the school year, but the summer might provide a perfect opportunity to do this reflective work. You might not have access to summer school classrooms, but if you've got an internet connection, you can do this activity at home.

Review the chart of effective (and ineffective) feedback practices (McMillan, 2014). Then, find a teacher to observe. This can be in a summer school classroom or online. Teacher Tube and Annenburg Learner are great resources for finding videos of teaching. Observe the teaching, and make note of examples of the effective and effective practices you observe.

Do	Don’t
Use challenging yet attainable goals	Use goals that are too high or too low
Emphasize mastery goal orientation	Emphasize performance goal orientation
Ensure that feedback is clear, transparent, and easily understood	Use feedback that is unclear and/or difficult to understand
Compare student performance to standards, criteria, cognitive strategies and precious performance	Compare student performance to the performance of other students or emphasize the person rather than the task
Use a moderate amount of specific, individualized, and descriptive feedback	Use general or vague feedback
Give feedback as soon as possible especially for simple cognitive tasks, tests , and other assignments	Give delayed feedback, except for slightly delayed feedback for cognitively complex tasks, especially for high achievers
Use both verification and elaboration feedback	Use only verification feedback
Match feedback to student ability	Use the same feedback for all students
Focus on key errors and misunderstandings	Ignore key errors
Emphasize effort attributions	Emphasize external attributions
Give feedback as students learn	Give feedback only after performance
Anticipate probable feedback messages	Rely on unplanned or unanticipated feedback

If you're watching videos, you are highly encouraged to do this work on a porch, with a refreshing drink, while the sun is shining :)

After completing this activity, make sure to reflect on your own practices as they relate to praise and formative feedback. What are two things you could make a plan to do next year that will help your students move forward in their learning through your use of formative feedback and praise? Write them down in that notebook of great ideas you keep all summer (you have one of those right? to keep track of the brilliant brainstorms you have while you're on the boat, driving the kids to soccer, or standing over the grill but are sure to forget once back-to-school workshops start? yeah, that one!). Return to these ideas in the weeks leading up to school and throughout September to keep a focus on effective praise and feedback.

reference: McMillan, J. H. (2014). Classroom assessment: Principles and practice for effective standards-based instruction (6th ed,). Boston, MA: Pearson.