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Can you recall the moment you got that first call?
The other person on the line makes an offer. You cooly yet ecstatically (a contradiction, I know) accept. The adrenaline and endorphins flood your body. You may be smiling. You may be laughing. You may be jumping up and down about to break out in dance. You’ve just landed your first teaching job and nothing can stop you!
All the hours you spent preparing for the interview, recording yourself and listening to your answers, practicing your demo lesson, and ensuring that your outfit was perfect got you to this singular moment. You have arrived!
Now, the concerns lap into your mind. Like the undulating ocean water lapping a coastal beach. Wave after wave.
As educators, we have all experienced some derivation of the above. The excitement. The nerves. The thrill. But what happened next? What became of your first year? Did you try new things? Were you able to connect with your students and peers? Did you fail-forward?
Whatever happened, your success was partially on you but also contingent upon the administration and teachers supporting you through one of the most exhausting years of your career. Hopefully, you didn’t blindly navigate the waters alone with your friend, Wilson (Note: If you don’t get this reference, see Castaway; Tom Hanks is amazing!).
This post is for anyone who wants to help our new teachers not just get through their first year, but thrive despite any hurdles. To help them feel connected. To help them feel less overwhelmed. And, most importantly, to help them feel loved.
What do New Teachers Need?
I am not typically a Debbie Downer, but education is facing a crisis.
Three out of ten new teachers transfer to different schools or leave teaching altogether within the first year (Smith & Ingersoll, 2004). After five years, almost half of all new teachers leave the profession (Ingersoll et al., 2012). In urban districts, the turnover is just as high if not higher. Papay et al. (2017) reported in a study of 16 urban districts that within new teachers’ first three years, anywhere from 46% to 71% leave their district.
This is a travesty.
I don’t know about you, but when I was a new teacher, I struggled to keep my head above water. I was trying to figure out so much that it felt like I was drowning with no end in sight.
We can do better for our new teachers.
Celebrate new teachers’ successes. Provide them feedback. Listen to their triumphs, concerns, and questions. Purposefully and consistently doing these three things contributes to making new teachers feel seen, heard, and valued.
We should provide them with opportunities to build relationships, grow their capacity, and receive consistent feedback within a safe, accepting environment (AEE, 2014; Forrest, 2021; Simos, 2013). If these three things are woven into their first year within a safe, caring environment (Kelly et al., 2018; Robertson-Kraft & Zhang, 2018), then they will be able to find true success.
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “It takes a village,” and while it sounds corny, it’s true. This phrase is not a reference to the Village People and highlights how a collaborative effort can support an individual. Success for a new teacher involves the collective (no connection to Marx) working together to ensure that new teachers feel seen, heard, valued, and supported.
3 Ways to Support New Teachers
This sounds like new teachers need a lot, right? Yes and no. In all honesty, what new teachers need, veteran teachers also need; it just might look a little different. When it comes down to it, what new teachers need in order to thrive are three things:
1. Community
Relationships, relationships, relationships. We are social creatures and have an inherent need to be connected to others. Our new teachers need connection, too. You can help foster community by first being welcoming.
Before teachers even start the school year, create welcome baskets filled with all sorts of SWAG (shout out to Michael Scott!). What better way to kick off the new year than with a basket of teacher goodies?
Along with the free stuff, which in all honesty who doesn’t love something free, luncheons help connect new teachers with their mentors and administration. Breaking bread is a sure way to get to know someone on a personal level.
Outside of new teacher induction week, there should be consistent check-ins and opportunities for new teachers (and really all teachers) to connect. Incorporating breakfasts, lunches, and random get-togethers can create community and a sense of belonging. Besides, who doesn’t love kicking off their morning with some cinnamon buns, coffee, and chit-chatting with co-workers?
Some of my fondest memories as a new teacher were the social interactions I had not only with my students, but also with my peers. Like the time I walked into my friend’s classroom and slid on her floor, tumbling to the ground. I was unscathed but I couldn’t stop busting out in laughter as I lay on the floor and my fellow teachers rushed to me to ensure I was ok.
Or the times we grabbed Dairy Queen and sat together planning. Or the faculty breakfasts we would have eating our yogurt and granola and saying our TGIF praises. These moments made the year bearable and made me feel like I was part of a community.
2. Collaboration
Isolation is the death knell to innovation and growth. Creating an environment focused on collaboration can help new teachers feel connected and stay in the field (AEE, 2014; Lever, 2010; Rodgers & Skelton, 2014). All teachers, especially our novices, should be given countless opportunities to collaborate for these reasons and more.
Job-embedded collaboration like PLCs can not only improve teachers’ practice (DuFour et al., 2008), but also help them feel a sense of community (Forrest, 2021). If a district doesn’t have formal PLCs, then syncing up planning time and encouraging weekly grade-level or content-area collaboration can fill the PLC void. The more you give teachers opportunities to collaborate, the more they will be able to grow.
A common way districts help new teachers with collaborating is by partnering them up with a mentor as part of an induction program. When new teachers participate in an induction program with mentoring, common planning, and support from leadership, turnover can decrease by 50% (AEE, 2014).
Having a mentoring program can also increase new teachers’ sense of belonging (Rodgers & Skelton, 2014; Smith & Ingersoll, 2004). My one suggestion would be to do everything within your power to make these programs and collaboration opportunities job-embedded so that new teachers can unwind at the end of the day and focus on themselves.
Finally, offering learning labs or peer observation can help foster collaboration and learning. New teachers should have as many opportunities as possible to learn from and with their peers. Counteract isolation and bring on observation and collaboration!
3. Communication
You don’t have to be a social butterfly to know that we all need clear, consistent, and honest communication. Celebrate new teachers’ successes. Provide them feedback. Listen to their triumphs, concerns, and questions. Purposefully and consistently doing these three things contributes to making new teachers feel seen, heard, and valued.
Popping into their classrooms to check in and see how their weekend was can build your relationship with them and help them feel connected. Sending a note of encouragement that uses reinforcing language can validate new teachers and provide them with genuine feedback that builds their capacity.
Be kind to our new teachers and make sure you are supporting them because they have the drive, energy, and passion to be amazing and positively influence countless students.
When completing observations or evaluations, one thing you might try is a 3, 2, 1 activity. They tell you three things they love or are proud about this year, two things that were a challenge, and one question. Adding this structure encourages reflection and helps new teachers lead with the positive and what they are doing well.
One of the most helpful communication strategies I’ve experienced is having monthly meetings with new teachers. These meetings build connections and give new teachers a venue to ask any questions they may have. Topics can range from classroom management to conferences and anything in between. You can even bring in veteran teachers to do a Q&A or share their expertise with a specific topic.
These meetings should include a community builder, some primary content whether that be a reflective activity or reading, and a moment for gratitude and praise at the end. The hope is that after each meeting, they have some new learnings or considerations and feel energized.
One Last Thought
Being a new teacher is hard. You pour your heart and soul into your work and sometimes you hit a roadblock. You encounter problems that they never taught you how to deal with in undergrad. And you don’t want to reach out for help because you don’t want to bother others and have them think you are not cut to be a teacher.
If you're an educator, you will always encounter struggles - whether it is year one or year twenty. This profession has its challenges, but it is also extremely rewarding, especially when you see how your daily influence impacts your students’ academic, social, and emotional growth. Or when you see how the love and care you give a child helps them feel accepted and safe.
Because teachers’ jobs are demanding on so many levels, the onboarding process for our new staff must be thoughtfully planned and consistent, incorporating community, collaboration, and communication.
Be kind to our new teachers and make sure you are supporting them because they have the drive, energy, and passion to be amazing and positively influence countless students.
References
Alliance for Excellent Education. (2014). Teacher attrition: A costly loss to the nation
and to the states. Alliance for Excellent Education. https://all4ed.org/reports-factsheets/path-to-equity/
DuFour, R., DuFour, R., & Eaker, R. (2008). Revisiting professional learning
communities at work: New insights for improving schools. Solution Tree.
Forrest, N. (2021). Supporting New Teacher Development: An Examination of New Teacher Integration into Professional Learning Communities (Doctoral dissertation, Arizona State University).
Ingersoll, R., Merrill, L., & May, H. (2012). Retaining teachers: How preparation
matters. Educational Leadership, 69(8), 30–34.
Kelly, N., C. Sim, & M. Ireland. (2018. “Slipping through the cracks: Teachers Who
miss out on early career support.” Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 46(3): 292-316. doi:10.1080/1359866X.2018.1441366.
Lever, K. (2010). Career clue: An interactive teaching strategy to introduce beginning
students to the nursing profession. Journal of Nursing Education, 49(2), 105-7. http://search.proquest.com/docview/203947132?accountid=35812.
Papay, J. P., Bacher-Hicks, A., Page, L. A., & Marinell, W. H. (2017). The challenge of
teacher retention in urban schools: Evidence in variation from a cross-site analysis. Educational Researcher, 46(8), 434–448.
Robertson-Kraft, C., & Zhang, R. (2018). Keeping great teachers: A case study on the
impact and implementation of a pilot teacher evaluation system. Educational Policy, 32(3), 363–394. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904816637685
Rodgers, C. & Skelton, J. (2014). Professional development and mentoring in support of
teacher retention. i-manager’s Journal on School Educational Technology. 9(3), 1-11.
Simos, E. (2013). Why do new teachers leave? How could they stay? English Journal,
102(3), 100-105.
Smith, T.M., & Ingersoll, R.M. (2004). What are the effects of induction and mentoring
on beginning teacher turnover? American Educational Research Journal, 41(3), 681-714.
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