First Year Teachers- Looking for Assistance
Description
Learn how California school teachers can get assistance in how to better do their jobs through sevral sources.
Transcript
Male: Whether it’s managing a classrooms or helping with schedules, the state does offer new teachers some support through a program called BTSA. Female: Hi. Thane: Hi. Male: Thane just rushed across town to make this meeting. Ken: And the idea was that brand new teachers that are coming into the field needed extra support. A person who is there to offer assistance. Female: And Rina and I were also kind of talking about scheduling. Ken: In theory, it’s a wonderful idea. Female: You guys have to accomplish 60 hours of reading time which seems kind of overwhelming. Thane: I have so much training going on. Ken: Unfortunately in practice it doesn’t work that way in all cases. Thane: It’s been really difficult for me to get there in time and to do much with it. Ken: Often what beginning teacher say about their BTSA program is that it’s just another layer of paper work. If it’s operated well the way it is intended, it can make a huge difference. If it’s not, it’s just adds to this turning a teachers which contributes to the defunction that many schools that are really struggling to perform well. Male: Possibly the best place for our first year teacher to find advice is through a teacher who have recently been in their shoes. Its Tarik McFall’s 2nd year at Edward Kemble. For Tarik, there is at least three pieces of advice that can only help a first year teacher, but they also address some core issues in the entire teacher retention crisis. First step, new teachers in question at the job is really for them. Tarik: Its not for everyone, there's a million things in the world that you can do. And if you choose to teach, love what you do and enjoy it. When it comes down to the end of the day, ask yourself the question, do I love the idea and go from there. It if you're not in it for the right reasons, it’s going to show. It’s going to show in the way you teach and its going to rub off on the kids. And that’s the last thing you want to do. Male: Second piece, and it might fly in the face of the state’s standards, it’s knowing when to let the schedule go. Tarik: You can plan out your day, never goes as planned, never. Your day will never go like you planned it out, this do this, do this, do this, do this. Never happens, ever. Ever. Think of kids, if they don’t pick it up right away, sometimes you get caught up, okay, I need to make sure this kid gets it. The way I figure it, no matter what I'm teaching, I may not hit on schedule every time that I'm teaching the whole day. Male: And maybe the most important component is the role of parents. Tarik: If I were to make it easier for teachers, it can't be done. But it could magically can happen it would be to instill on every family the importance of education. That’s it. If the connection is not there at home, it’s so hard to get that connection and bring them into passionate. Male: The parent component is often outside the educator’s control. But teachers at Edward Kemble are taking upon themselves to visit the homes of every single student. Shana: The relationship building is I think the biggest part of it. It’s a teacher saying it to a parent, what they can do for your child, I'm here to help. And it’s apparent telling a teacher thank you for caring so much about my child. Male: When Thane visits the family of their students he discovers that many are given the right things. Almost all the parents he visits want a life for their children better than their own. It’s after night like this that job frustrations disappear. And Thane believes he has the best career in the entire world.