“It is hard to drink from a fire hydrant at full force.” – New Hires
Set up a mentoring program and arrange meetings for first-year teachers. Few teachers start new job with all the skills necessary. They need to be coached and motivated not to leave the place. As educational leaders our job is to shape the behaviors of the new hires to get acclimated. A school may be moving a 100 m/h but a new person who comes in might not even know where the bathroom is.
New hire orientation steps:
Determine orientation goals
Organize the process
Administer
Assess
Manage
Organize the process
Administer
Assess
Manage
How long
Mentor new teachers for at least 2 years, 3 is better (1 year is required by law)
Teachers that have been hired later
Make sure that new teachers that are hired after the school year has begun, they are not overlooked and receive even more support than those who have been through training all summer.
Resource room
Create a room for new teachers with ideas and resources to use for free
K.E.E.P.S. - Mansfield ISD
Suggest the implementation of the “The K.E.E.P.S.” program – in the long run it will be cheaper when you retain people than when you have to train new teachers every year.
Mentor and mentee meet every 6 weeks
If possible, the mentor should get a stipend.
People apply to become mentors
Mentor and mentee meet every 6 weeks
If possible, the mentor should get a stipend.
People apply to become mentors
Introducing New Hires
Use perceptual modes when introducing new teachers to the staff, have a motion for each of their names so they can be remembered and feel welcomed
New teachers need to know
Inform new teachers on things that are taken for granted:
Faculty restrooms
How to work the copier
Where to get teacher supplies
How to arrange for subs
School policies handbook
Introduce to the school staff
Show previous year’s yearbook to see the faces of possible students
Faculty restrooms
How to work the copier
Where to get teacher supplies
How to arrange for subs
School policies handbook
Introduce to the school staff
Show previous year’s yearbook to see the faces of possible students
Mentors
Ask the mentor to include the new teacher into the process of setting up the grade book, doing reports etc. so the new teacher can go over it with the mentor
What students need to know on the first day
- Is it the right room
- Where do I sit
- What are the rules in the classroom
- What will I be doing this year
- How will I be graded
- When is lunch
- Who is a teacher as a person
- Will the teacher treat me as human being?
- Where do I sit
- What are the rules in the classroom
- What will I be doing this year
- How will I be graded
- When is lunch
- Who is a teacher as a person
- Will the teacher treat me as human being?
What teachers need to do on the first day:
- Get them in the room
- Tell them where to sit
- Feed them
- Get them home safely
- Tell them where to sit
- Feed them
- Get them home safely
F.I.R.S.T.
F.I.R.S.T. – Framework for Introducing, Retaining, and Supporting Teachers (An New Teacher Handbook for Teachers who put Children FIRST)
Statewide model in Louisiana Public School System
Statewide model in Louisiana Public School System
A packet with key information for new teachers:
- Phone numbers and locations of the school and district staff
- Calendar of important meetings
- Deadlines for submitting lesson plans
- Lesson plan format
- Deadlines for submitting grades
- Grading policies
- Explanations of who is responsible for what in the school
- Who to go with what type of problem in the school and the district
- Great strategies for teaching
- Online resources
- Directions on how to use grade book, lesson plans site and other online district tools (Eduphoria)
- Expectations of the school
- Evaluation of instruction
- Domains explanation
- How to read STAAR results
- The importance of keeping paperwork on everything
- Duty schedule
- Emergency phone call tree
- Fire emergency, tornado, shelter in place, and other emergency procedures
- What information is expected to be posted on the board (Objective, TEKS)
- SPED and ELL paperwork to keep handy (accommodations)
- School teams and their leaders
- Professional development and report
- Necessary training as a new hire in the district
- Curriculum guide
- Blooms Taxonomy explained
- Testing dates
*** Organize new teacher binders by week. They have so much new information to get used to that just another binder won’t be read.
- Calendar of important meetings
- Deadlines for submitting lesson plans
- Lesson plan format
- Deadlines for submitting grades
- Grading policies
- Explanations of who is responsible for what in the school
- Who to go with what type of problem in the school and the district
- Great strategies for teaching
- Online resources
- Directions on how to use grade book, lesson plans site and other online district tools (Eduphoria)
- Expectations of the school
- Evaluation of instruction
- Domains explanation
- How to read STAAR results
- The importance of keeping paperwork on everything
- Duty schedule
- Emergency phone call tree
- Fire emergency, tornado, shelter in place, and other emergency procedures
- What information is expected to be posted on the board (Objective, TEKS)
- SPED and ELL paperwork to keep handy (accommodations)
- School teams and their leaders
- Professional development and report
- Necessary training as a new hire in the district
- Curriculum guide
- Blooms Taxonomy explained
- Testing dates
*** Organize new teacher binders by week. They have so much new information to get used to that just another binder won’t be read.
Problem - Solution
I refuse to allow you to leave your problem on my desk. You have a problem, come to me with a solution.
Most difficult students
Try to avoid assigning all the most challenging children to the new teacher. We have veteran teachers that can straighten out the challenging situations in their sleep. They have to be the ones who are assigned to the most difficult cases. The new teachers need to learn first. Everyone has to have an AP class, not only the teachers who have been there the longest. Things somehow have changed and we give the easiest classes to the most experienced teachers as a reward and we sink the new teachers from day 1.
Rookie award
At the end of the year as a principal present two “Rookies” award – one for the first year teacher overall, and one for the first year teach in the school.