advice for EFL Teachers

[ali al issa alissa]

NEWSLETTER

Advice for a Beginning Teacher

Some ideas for surviving the first few days of school in style.
One of the editors was talking to a beginning teacher at the beach and the conversation got around to his beginning teaching in a few days. He was looking forward to it with a mix of anticipation, excitement and apprehension. So far he hadn't much idea of what was expected of him in his new position.
I think the mixed but essentially optimistic feelings will be being felt by many of his fellow teachers no matter how experienced they are.

• What will the class be like?
• What is expected of me?
• How will I get on with my fellow teachers
• Will the parents like me?
• Was going teaching the right decision?

To often when talking to fellow teachers these feeling are kept hidden. Unfortunately the emotional side of teaching is not talked about much. In the past decade the focus has been on management, curriculum and accountability to the point that the personal aspects of teaching and learning have been neglected.

Creative teachers (and schools) will be the key to future success.
Teaching is a feeling intense occupation for both learners and teacher and we believe that the next decade will see innovative school leadership placing the art and craft of teaching/helping at the centre of school professional development.

Be a 'curious' teacher!
Now is the time to begin to clarify what it is you really believe about teaching - what are the main 'messages; you want to give to your students. You will find your fellow teachers keen to help you if you take the initiative.
If you don't ask for help when you begin your career you might, like many teachers, lose the habit.

How to survive in style.
The first year of teaching is an important one. All beginning teachers want to be seen as a good teacher in the eyes of their students, parents and fellow teachers.
The choice is to survive in style or end up emotionally drained wondering if you made the right decision. If thing go right teaching will be an exciting career - if not it can be a depressing occupation.
A lot will depend on how you survive the first few days teaching.
If you have a dynamic principal and staff who have created together a culture of clear expectations you will be fortunate.
For those of you in less than dynamic schools this newsletter may be of use to give you some emotional and practical support.
The ideas in it present some choices for you to consider but keep in mind every school has teachers who will be more than willing to share their wisdom if you are open to asking for help. The worst scenario is to keep your concerns to yourself - people can only learn if they indicate they want to be helped. Take the initiative; show you are in control of your own career.

Avoid cynics!
Avoid those teachers who have lost their spark - the pessimists and cynics. You will be able to identify them without much difficulty.

Student need for high self esteem.
To create a positive learning community, where all member develop high self esteem, you need to satisfy your student's basic need for:

1.A sense of belonging - that this is our class.

2.A sense of identity - that they are special.

3.A sense of empowerment - that they feel they are getting better.

4.Being able to make responsible choices and set their own goals.

5. For fun, enjoyment and love of learning.

If all these needs are met you have a learning community. If not they will satisfy their needs elsewhere - or gain power etc through bad behavior. Such needs make a powerful list of 'messages' to share.

There is no shallow end in teaching!
Teaching starts with a bang! When the door shuts on day one you are on your own. Teaching is one of the few jobs where you are expected to perform immediately as well as learning how to do it at the same time!
This is daunting thought even for an experienced teacher but for a beginning teacher it can be a frightening one.

Before school starts
Just as your students will be watching you to see what you 'allow' so should you do your best to find out what the school stands for.

• Ask the principal what the school vision is - what are the important ideas that the school wants all students to achieve?
• Ask other teachers what they feel are the important things.
• Read whatever material the school has developed about expectations.

Hopefully you will be able to uncover the 'messages' that the school stands for! More often you might not! In this situation search out creative teachers - all schools have them

Day one- ready as can be!!
What we are saying is for you to think hard about the 'messages' you want your students to take home with them on that first day. Remember the question all parents ask: 'What did you learn at school today'. Your students will either be your best or your worst PRO officers! Our advice is not to leave it to chance.

First impressions count.
The first few minutes, hours, days will be vital in the development of an emotional bond with your class. Very few teachers get much information on what to do in the first few days.

Make the first meeting with your students/ parents count.
Give all parents a warm welcome. Smile a lot. Be interested in their concerns, their expectations, their holidays, anything - just talk to them. They will be equally apprehensive about leaving their children with you! Reassure them you will be doing your best to help their child. Tell them your main 'messages' if you have them thought out

Dress to impress.
You will be treated as well as you dress. Dress for respect, credibility, acceptance and authority. Make your first impression count.

Personal presentation
Prepare small presentation about yourself to share with the students - they will be intensely interested about 'their' teacher. Talk about how you want to treat them and how you want to be treated. These are important 'messages' to reinforce and will be the beginning of your class culture/ vision.

Give them the 'message' that you are organised.
In too many classrooms the days programme is more like a guessing game. Students need security and predictability to take the risks needed to learn - as do you.
When you have sorted out your programme for the day, following discussion with your team leader put it on the blackboard for the class to see. The more detail the better. This will save students having to continually ask you what to do and it will eventually provide you with time to focus on helping students who need your help.
Don't be worried about spending time setting up these basic procedures - the class will never be more attentive! Consider how do you want them to leave and enter the room? How do you want them to signal when they want to contribute? How will the books be set out? It will pay to demonstrate such things explicitly. Don't assume students will have such things in place. Model or even role-play how you want things to go. Once again discuss with your team to ensure consistency
If you use groups define each groups tasks with enough definition for them to work independently. Start with very simple tasks until you and the class develop more skill and confidence. Such planning will give everybody a sense of security
Expert teacher are able to cope with unplanned events because their students have the skills to know what to do in such situations. Until this expertise develops it pays to stick as close to your plan as you can.

Beginnings, transitions and endings.
Start the day (and each session) with a discussion to outline expectations and goals.
End each session with a short reflective period to outline main points covered and to assess how well things went and what might need changing.

The end of the day.
Fifteen minutes before school finishes have a quick reflective session about the great things they have learnt - the parents will be asking them! This is an ideal time to reinforce your main messages

What do your class think school is all about?
Discuss with them what they think school is all about. Why do we have schools? If you do this prepare your responses in advance. You want them to develop a positive 'mindset' about the role of the school.
They might say school is a place where teachers teach you. You will want them to get the 'message that it is a place where teachers help them learn.
Ask your students what is a teacher? They might tell you that a teacher is a person who teaches spelling reading etc! The 'message you will want your students to develop is that a teacher is a person who helps students develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills to live well in the class community and in the future. The big 'message' is that a school is a place where 'we' get ready for the future. An 'I can do' place.

The class vision 'message'.
A good idea is to eventually develop a shared vision for your class e.g. 'our class is a place where we learn to live with and help each other be as good a people as we can.' They should almost know this off by heart.
If you do ask your students such philosophical questions you would need to clarify your own views first.
When you do develop your class 'vision' and values (best stated as behaviours about how they want to be treated) you might share the vision with the parents.

A class treaty.
The class vision or rules could be related to the Treaty of Waitangi. Get them to give their prior views first about the Treaty of Waitangi and then expand their knowledge. You could write up 'Their questions' and their 'prior views' and 'what we know now'. Use this approach (called constructivism) as much as you can.
The 'message' you are giving is that you value their views and that people ought to honour agreements

Find out more about their 'mindsets'.
Before you tackle each area you might ask them to tell you what they think maths is, or reading, or why information technology is important, or what science is, or social studies? How they 'see' a subject influences their learning.
You also get them to fill out a form asking them how much they like each of the Learning Areas on a 1-5 scale- this would provide excellent base line data.

Some 'focussed' tasks for day/week one.
Ensure all these tasks give explicit 'messages' about your expectations.

Personal writing (Poetic)
They will be keen to talk about their holiday experiences. Begin by sharing an experience of your own. Model the need to focus on one thing and then elaborate. When they have selected their 'best' thing get them to visualise they are back in the situation and write as if they were there - what they heard, felt, what happened. Encourage them to put in details and feelings. The message that you want them to get is that you value their life experiences (their identity) and also that quality is more important than quantity. Share with class. It might take all week to draft one quality piece.

What can you learn from a self-portrait?
This is an easy task to introduce the 'message' of quality and also to model your role in the coaching/helping process. You help students learn by 'scaffolding', modelling, demonstrating, 'thinking aloud' always with aim of making them independent.
On a small piece of paper get them to draw a portrait with no help. Put aside this 'prior view'. Now 'coach' or guide them through the process to expand their skill, (constructivism again). Start by getting them to draw a light oval. Then make them look at each others eyes then draw half way up (measure) then do same for nose, mouth, hair, neck and shoulders. Make them value observation - really looking. Quickly frame the portrait then get them to add a 't' shirt with patterns and then add a background. Compare the two efforts - what 'messages' have they learned?
Later you could get them to enlarge the drawing using the same process. They could colour in during the week. All the time you should be reinforcing the quality 'message' - do your best, don't rush, add details, quality rather than quantity.
Many teachers make up a display using these portraits - personal details can be added from the survey below.

Do an 'all about me' survey
Start by sharing information about yourself. With the class 'brainstorm' all the categories they could collect data about.
This could lead into simple graphs as well as providing you with useful data about their current skill levels in maths, language and handwriting

Plan a small environmental unit
Look around the grounds. What would make a simple study? e.g a tree, cicadas, a tree fern, bicycles, a particular flower. Or select something that interests you.
Complete a careful observational drawing. You might have a practice with a simple leaf. Make them really look, to slow the pace of work and to take their time. Push again the 'message ' of quality - doing things well.
Gather their questions about the topic you have chosen and their current answers (prior views). Then select three of four to research. Start developing the 'message' that they are to do their own learning but you will help.

Take their minds for a walk.
Develop their sensory awareness by exploring the grounds focusing on one sense at a time - encourage them to describe what they see (patterns, movements) hear, smell and touch. Encourage simple phrases in response and not one word answers. The 'message' is we learn from what we notice!
Display thoughts under the caption 'taking our minds for a walk'. Add digital photos if possible.

For principals and team leaders.

Reflect back to your feelings about your own first day of teaching.
Then as a team discuss in detail how you are all going to plan the first day/week. Talk about activities that have proven useful in the past. Even overplan. New teachers can always ignore suggestions when they are in their own class if they have better ideas.
Many schools these days are setting clear expectations for presentation in exercise books to ensure consistency (and to reinforce the quality 'message'). Discussing these will help a beginning teacher to teach some simple lessons. Plan collaboratively simple procedures and lessons in reading, maths, language and a simple afternoon study. It is important that the beginning teacher feels that they are well prepared for their important first few days.
Don't worry too much about curriculum statements. At this stage it is important to set simple expectations. The more explicit this is done the better so keep the content simple. Introduce the idea of doing fewer thing well - quality rather than quantity.
Teams might prepare a joint statement about their 'main messages' to share with the parents Principals should be involved in the development of such a statement.


Ali Al issa

EFL Teacher

Direct English