Substitute teaching, day 1
I had my first day in the classroom as an educator today as a substitute, and I can say this: Teaching is hard! Of course I've always known teaching is an incredibly difficult and intensive job, but the first time you stand in front of twenty students, expected to take charge of them and be productive with them... it's quite a feeling (nothing new to all of you who are teachers, no doubt). I made an enormous amount of mistakes, learned a tremendous amount, and left feeling both daunted and excited for my upcoming years as a classroom teacher.
The issue of paramount difficulty was, unsurprisingly, classroom management/discipline. One thing that I noticed was the seismic difference having another adult in the room made -- it causes a fundamental shift in the power structure of the class. While experienced teachers have undoubtedly built strategies and contingencies for misbehavior over many years, I was left wondering if every first-year teacher shouldn't have an Instructional Assistant. Considering the shockingly high teacher turnover rates and the fact that the #1 reason departing teachers give is not the salary but instead the work conditions, there could be any number of positive externalities. I'm not sure about the practicality (~130,000 new teachers a year is a lot of IAs) but does anyone know of isolated districts which engage in similar programs? I'd be interested in seeing the effects.
It's quite an experience, shifting from policy debates to the direct work. I'm looking forward to immersing myself in the latter over the next few years.
The issue of paramount difficulty was, unsurprisingly, classroom management/discipline. One thing that I noticed was the seismic difference having another adult in the room made -- it causes a fundamental shift in the power structure of the class. While experienced teachers have undoubtedly built strategies and contingencies for misbehavior over many years, I was left wondering if every first-year teacher shouldn't have an Instructional Assistant. Considering the shockingly high teacher turnover rates and the fact that the #1 reason departing teachers give is not the salary but instead the work conditions, there could be any number of positive externalities. I'm not sure about the practicality (~130,000 new teachers a year is a lot of IAs) but does anyone know of isolated districts which engage in similar programs? I'd be interested in seeing the effects.
It's quite an experience, shifting from policy debates to the direct work. I'm looking forward to immersing myself in the latter over the next few years.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, March 02, 2006 at 3:07 PM.
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