Getting to Know You!

The teacher with whom I spoke is a veteran of teaching - over 15 years of loving and learning - and is a devout life-long learner.  In truth, I chose Ann because she and I hold many of the same beliefs and I was curious to see just how deeply our professional ideals bound.  I was thrilled to discover her endless ideas and openness to collaboration and coaching. 

One thing I appreciated was that with her experience came a willingness to explore how to be a better facilitator of learning.  She was not threatened or overwhelmed by the coaching process in the way that two of my other colleagues were.  I suspect that this is because she is secure enough in her fundamental competence to be able to make changes or adjustments in thought without having to throw away hours of work in planning.  I was reminded of the Phases of Beginning Teacher's First Year diagram from Bay-Williams, McGatha, et all (2014), where disillusion and exhaustion dominate the middle part of the school year and one struggles to stay afloat, much less take on new ideas.  My two less experiences colleagues really liked the idea of such work, but felt overwhelmed by the time and emotional energy it would take.  I totally sympathize! 

The most inexperienced teacher at our school has 6 years teaching experience.  Lucky for me, just least year she moved from first grade to fifth grade and feels all the jitters and uncertainty and thrill of facing a new challenge - much as a new teacher would.  Additionally, she is a very structured and anxious person for whom working with new content holds a high degree of stress.

Talking with Elizabeth reminds me that working with new teachers will require a different process, beginning with asking the question, "How can I help you right now?" and being willing to do whatever that might be at that point in her process.  This may mean helping her set up a realistic way to handle grading demands or collecting resources for an low functioning student, instead of discussing how her students reason abstractly and quantitatively.  I also believe that new teachers can be more reflective (and self-critical) than more experienced teachers, which can result in fabulous opportunities for growth and professional satisfaction.  Our strengths are abound!