Before we get started, I have two quick announcements

1.     I’ve been hearing a strong interest in how to support beginning teachers. I went into some key practices last year in episodes 214 and 215, so if you are in the mode to think about how to support your BTs (and ECTs), give a listen to episodes 214 and 215

2.     The July 22 episode of The Assistant Principal Podcast we feature a panel discussion with myself and five assistant principals. Some are national/state AP of the Year awardees and others are just wrapping up their first year as assist principals. The focus of our discussion is being a first year AP! We would love to hear from you. If you have questions, topics, advice, or stories, please consider sharing. Please email them to me at [email protected]. I would love to be able to name contributors but will only do so if you explicitly give permission for us to include your name and affiliation. We are recording on July 15, so don’t wait.

Okay, now onto the episode…

Show Notes, Episode 53: Supporting New Teachers, August 30, 2022

About this show:

In my teacher education program at The Ohio State University, I had two professors who literally wrote the book on managing students and spaces in physical education. Some of our student teaching lessons were taped, and the video was analyzed in six-second increments. Time was coded based on what a specific student was doing and the codes, as I remember them, were: Listening to content, listening to instructions, waiting, off task, and active learning time, or ALT. The goal was to have close to 80% of ALT time. In other words, students would be actively engaged in performing a task for 32 minutes during a 40-minute lesson. This required us as teachers to run highly managed spaces using concrete procedures.

Notable Quotes and Content

“The holy grail was ALT, active learning time. The goal was to run very tight lessons and have an extremely well-managed classroom with strong and effective procedures in order to maximize active learning time. This was my teacher ed preparation program.”

“The problem is that very, very few beginning teachers went through a program like I did. 

The Big Idea: Three big rocks:

·      Classroom management

·      Curriculum management

·      Building relationships with school leaders

Based on our collective experiences and in the literature

The Why

Great teachers = great schools

Can’t have great teachers if you can’t keep them and can’t develop them

Ethical obligation to support and grow the people we serve

***Almost universally, teachers wanted more contact with their administrators***

“With your lowest performing teachers, the place to start might be making sure that they are putting the time into planning.”

Challenges

·      Not having time is a false excuse (deal with them on front end or back end)

·      Having a clear game plan 

o   What do you want to do?

o   Management, curriculum, relationships and presence

·      Taking a team approach

Checking your own pulse

We are 1-3 weeks into the school year

·      Could you categorize your early career teachers?

·      More importantly, can you define what puts them into those categories and determine what they need most from you?

·      Are you supporting them and being directive, or are you making suggestions that are lost on overwhelmed 22-year-olds?

·      Do you have a team approach that is prioritizing ECT support?

Next steps

1.     Build a relationship with your ECTs

2.     Have the courage to be more directive in supporting them

3.     Drive conversations with your ILT

Summarizing (The big takeaway)

·      YOU need to support ECT, don’t put it all on your mentors

·      ECTs want you to be present and direct

·      Investing time is not an option – front or back

Some help:

·      10 Ways in 10 Days is a set of ten 10-minute activities to use with your new teachers in the first two weeks of school. If you aren’t sure of where to start with your new teachers, you can use these activities to start building relationships and providing procedural and curricular support. Even if you are a few weeks into the year, you can easily adapt these activities. In about the time it will take you to process three discipline referrals, you can help a new teacher get off to a much better start! Get a copy at https://mailchi.mp/9af27e09bca4/10waysin10days. Downloading will also sign you up for Qudrant2, our free bi-monthly micro-journal. 

Links:

My email: [email protected]

The Assistant Principal Podcast website: https://www.frederickbuskey.com/appodcast.html

Sign up for the daily leadership email: https://mailchi.mp/c15c68e6df32/specialedition

Website: www.frederickbuskey.com

Blog: www.frederickbuskey.com/blog (reposts of the daily email)