I have to admit that at the beginning of this project and semester I didn't really know what to expect from this project, or what I was going to get out of it as an educator. Even half way through and a little bit towards the end I didn't really get what was going on, but now that we are coming towards the end of the project things have gotten much clearer. I see where everything fits in and it gives me some insight to the process of developing curriculum. It also made me start to think about myself three years ago when I was just starting my career as a new teacher. Would the curriculum my group has developed been helpful to me as a new teacher just starting out.
My school runs a 3 day workshops for new teachers to prepare them for the upcoming year. The three days usually include workshops on using the computers and technological systems the school offers. There are tours of the school and time with supervisors to get to know one another. Different teachers give lectures on things you can expect to see as a new teacher, and for the most part you are sitting there watching other people explain many different things. I was actually exempt from from about half of this time because I was involved in a sport, so I didn't get to enjoy the whole process, but from what I did see I can definitely the NT program my group developed in class would be much more helpful as a new teacher. There are so many things that i didn't know about teaching and had to learn though experience. The most helpful part of my first year of teaching was collaborating with my peers about ideas and techniques. If the people I work with weren't so helpful my first year would have been much more difficult. This is why it's important to have a productive New Teacher program in many schools because there won't always be that support from other teachers and new teachers need to be prepared to take on the many aspects of the classroom. Any help a new teacher can get about their profession will only prepare them for their future tasks.
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My eyes have also been opened through this experience. Coming from someone whose mentor told her that first year that she had to give a quiz every Friday, grade two homework assignments a week, and teach memorization of basic skills, this type of development would have been very beneficial to me. It was a good thing that I am stubborn, and come from a family of educators, since I did not listen to anything my mentor told me. I just kindly nodded my head and did what I wanted anyway. It was even more frustrating to me when my mentor told me in my second year of teaching (after he was no longer my mentor) that I had to take down my multiplication table since the students in the seventh grade did not know their multiplication tables. I simply replied, "Well you know they first learn multiplication in third grade. I do not have room in my curriculum to drill the students on their basic math facts, perhaps you could do it in seventh grade."
After reflecting on this situation now, I am do not regret saying that to my mentor. But if I were the type of new teacher that did everything everyone told me, then I would not be giving my students the best education possible. It would have made it easier for me to have somewhere to go to discuss these things in a non-threatening environment. As an administrator, I hope I never forget that first year experience since it will enable me to have compassion for the first year teachers I supervise in the future.
It sounds like all of us were skeptical at the beginning of this assignment:) It really is coming together though. My school district has new teacher workshops at the end of each summer and actually also makes teachers come back in for training for their first three years in the district. However, from my personal experience, there was not a lot of information presented in those workshops that came in handy throughout the school year. Furthermore, professional development needs to continue through the entire year because new teachers need continual support throughout that first year.
I agree with you about having districts do more for NT because I feel that not enough is done to help them out with things that are important to developing them and supporting them as novice teachers. My district does something similar in giving them some computer training and some tours but that's really it. Something like what we worked on would be much more beneficial to NT in providing them with the support that they need.
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