Oh, if I had a dollar....
Hold on while I activate my magic confidence booster pack.
The irony is, I'm the most confident I've ever been, yet I question myself even more than I did before I was "confident." The saying, ignorance is bliss, rings some truth.
Who was I before confidence?
New.
Inexperienced.
Ignorant.
Naïve.
Unscathed.
The same voices that tell you to be confident, are often the ones that tear you down.
Their voices become your inner dialogue. Your uncertainty.
New. Their voices become your inner dialogue. Your uncertainty.
No room for error.
No time for growth.
No excuses.
No mistakes.
Figure out how you can get to be a Master teacher by tomorrow. Chop. Chop.
Why aren't you there? Here, read this brochure.
Inexperienced. Have you ever had something pointed out that you didn't know you were supposed to be doing? Imagine that at least once a week for 5 years. That's what the first years of a teacher's career is like. It's similar to parenting (because none of us know what we're doing), except, in parenting, you typically don't have others pointing out your errors - just yourself.
Well maybe I don't know how to make the right choices for myself? I keep messing up.
I should just do what people tell me. I should ask for help.
...but, wait, what am I supposed to do?? I don't know what to ask.
Ignorant.
I didn't know what to fix. I didn't know what questions to ask. I didn't know how to reflect, because I didn't know what my flaws were. This may seem foreign to non-teachers, but if you don't produce enough sales in retail - this is a flaw. There are so many flaws in teaching that you don't know are flaws. For example, asking a child to follow the dress code will hurt his self-esteem and cause his parents to want a conference to discuss why you were picking on him. How do you know how to avoid these situations without experience? How do you learn how to put out the fires if you've never seen a fire - when you don't know what even causes fires? The expectation is that new teachers put out the fires with no equipment. Impossible.
You should have high standards, unless it upset someone - then lower them.
The customer is always right. Wait, who's the customer?
Someone is upset, I must have done something wrong. It's my fault.
Naïve - People are helping me - so if I just do what I'm told and copy what they try, I'll be golden! That's how we learn something right? We become an apprentice. For some reason, that didn't work. I could be standing on my head twirling a baton just like a "Master," and would be told it wasn't entertaining enough.
I'll try the advice that's given to me. If I'm given strategies or training, it must be because
I need to improve in those areas. Wow, this is a lot to try at once. I'm overwhelmed, but
isn't this what I'm expected to do? Master teachers do it all, why can't I? I must be doing
it wrong. Or not doing enough. Why are my spinning plates crashing?
Unscathed.
You trust. You trust yourself. You trust others. You haven't been hurt. You are so hopeful and joyful for what the future holds. This is why we think back to our childhood right? The innocence. Your heart isn't calloused. You haven't had anyone betray your trust.
Wait, I thought that if I'm supposed to learn from others and rely on them?
I thought I could trust them to boost me up?
Teaching is competitive without anyone telling you it is. Sabotage and passive aggressiveness is around every corner. The bruises and scars are what cause you to change. You wake up one day, and look back - knowledgeable, experienced, and scarred. You know what you value. You know what you need. You know what questions to ask. Another irony? You no longer need people to answer the questions for you. You find your own answers. You no longer depend on anyone but yourself and your NEW, confident inner dialogue!
How do we support new teachers?
- Be a filter. My mentors could never tell me this enough. I needed someone to filter the books, binders, trainings, new programs, policies, and help me realistically look at what I could accomplish. Someone to say, "You and I together, are going to ignore these and focus on these. If you get in trouble, I'm going down with you. We can't do it all!" One of the greatest things a fellow teacher did for me was sit down with me, after letting me cry it out, and planned a calendar for my week - not just teaching, EVERYTHING… when I would buy groceries, do laundry, write my research paper, fill out paperwork for school, write lesson plans, grade each set of papers, etc. Any teacher knows you could NEVER sleep and still not accomplish everything.
- Give them a few tools - not the whole toolbox. Master teachers are masters because we can juggle a million balls more easily - this, unbeknownst to us, causes new teachers to think that's where they should be. It's either stated or implied for them. They are watching us. They are our apprentices. Remind them in your actions and words, that teaching is a process, and if you try to do it all at first, you will fail. It doesn't mean you lack confidence or knowledge or skill - it means you haven't learned how to multitask yet. You haven't learned what your strengths are. You haven't learned how to put out the fires.
- Show your weaknesses. Showing a new teacher that Master doesn't happen after the magical year 3 when you gain "career status" and have less evaluations, is important. There is a shift in education, thankfully, where doing what's been done isn't the norm. You don't get your lesson plans completed after a few years of tweaking them, then open the same plan book up for the next 27 years. Teaching is a constant struggle. Show them how to admit mistakes, and figure out a solution to trying something new.
- Don't expect them to always ask for help. They often don't know what questions to ask. Profession Learning Communities, or PLC's, can be a great place to get ideas and work together, but again - filter those ideas because they may not work in everyone's classroom or for every teacher. PLCs can be overwhelming to a new teacher. They may ask one question, but really be asking something else entirely. Be intuitive - look for what they need, but don't know they need. Maybe they are saying their students are grasping a concept, and you see that she needs to model a smaller skill first. Give her the suggestion.
- Follow up. Be reliable. If you say you are going to model a lesson, do it. If you know she's struggled with teaching a skill, follow up to ask her how she thinks it's going. The conversations we have as teachers are what make all of us look at ourselves and, therefore, grow. The conversations others have with us become our inner dialogue.
I'm certain that NOT ALL have had the struggle I had in my first few years. But, I'm certain that MANY HAVE. A program, a brochure, extra trainings can't support a new teacher - only compassion and understanding from those around her. People that truly want her to succeed and remind her how real success is measured, even when she hears otherwise. She needs people to be a filter. Translate the negatives into what they mean for a new teacher. Let her cry. Let her vent. Let her be happy for little successes that aren't measured on a scantron. Remind her, daily, that it's okay to be imperfect. Don't assume a smile or laugh means she's arrived at Mastery. Don't assume that after your mandatory time together, that she's "arrived" at Mastery. Invest. You will learn just as much through the process as she will.
Read this book: Monday Morning Leadership by David Cottrell. (quick read!!) It's not a teacher book. It's a book about how to mentor and how to be mentored. It would be a great book for any partnership starting a journey together.
Don't tell newbies to jump to the end...
Be confident.
Be successful.
Be a master.
They don't know how to get there. Like a child doesn't open up a chapter book and read, we support their struggle. We help the bumps in the road and assure them this isn't the end. We must be self-less. We must encourage them to keep going. We must regard ourselves as continuing, daily learners, who have not "arrived"… We are on the journey together.
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