In this book we are introduced to Dan Brown’s story of his first year of teaching a 4th grade classroom in the Bronx borough of New York City. In Mr. Brown’s first year of teaching he took and mental and physical toll, as he had to deal with frequent student outbursts and the overall issue of many students just not listening to what he was saying. Mr. Brown tried vigorously to help his students, but he just wasn’t getting the results that he wanted and therefore it was crushing for him personally. Ultimately Dan did not make it to a second year at the Bronx elementary school. Now reflecting on his first year of teaching and along with his gained expertise as a teacher, he shares five important tips to help rookie teachers float along, instead of sinking.
The first tip that Mr. Brown shares with the reader is to think large scale when constructing and organizing your class content for the year. Ideally, Mr. Brown says to create a few relevant themes that will correlate the closest to the student’s worlds and then intertwine the themes into the scope and sequence of the curriculum by breaking them down into smaller chunks. Mr. Brown says that by doing this type of theme based planning, the students will be able to understand the connectivity of all the material in the course, because the units will be coherent. As Mr. Brown says, a student may be uninterested in a course topic, but by creating an overall theme for the class, he/she may still be kept interested in the overall course by understanding the notion that it relates to the theme you have created for the entire course. The value of creating a large theme for the course you will teach is that it will offer a great return on investment. Mr. Brown says creati...
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...how their child is doing. Mr. Brown also shared a rather interesting tactic to deploy, with that tactic being to send the parents a survey designed to get to know the students you will be having in the upcoming academic year. There is no one better that will know the student then their parents, so they are a prime resource to use and gain valuable information about the students you will have.
Mr. Brown leaves the reader with one of the most important sentences in the article, by saying that a learning curve for new teachers is imminent. All of these tips are adaptable as Mr. Brown says, because some schools may not be as lenient in allowing a teacher to have freedom in their teaching practice. If these five tips are implemented though, a first year teachers experience should be better than what Mr. Brown had to endure in his first year of teaching in the Bronx.
Overall, Mr. Brown shared five remarkable tips for a first-year teacher. Mr. Brown’s first teaching job was arguably one of the hardest jobs in the educational profession, as his students came from the Bronx borough of New York City. In the Bronx, there are approximately thirty percent of people living below the poverty line and that is almost twice the national average of fifteen percent (Bronx Borough QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau, 2014). As one might assume, there is a strong correlation between a student living in poverty and both misbehaving and having a lower academic performance (Jensen 2009). This correlation can be seen in Jensen’s book, Teaching with Poverty in Mind. Jensen says that Students living in poverty are more likely to misbehave, which that is what Mr. Brown had to deal with. I would assume that the behavioral issues Mr. Brown was referring to in his time at the school in the Bronx were associated with poverty. Poverty can also create higher stress, which therefore may cause students to not attend school on a regular basis and inhibits proper attention and concentration for school. Ultimately Mr. Brown got many of the hardest students in his first year of teaching and that could have played a major factor in him sinking in his first year. My high school was something special as it had a vast array of students coming from different income levels. Some student’s that were from Asia were truthfully millionaires, while on the other side of the income level we had rural students coming from Indian Township. While participating in my observation and even as a student, I have seen first hand just how hard it can be to teach some students. Many of the students that were difficult to teach came from Indian Township. There were always frequent interruptions and issues that arose, which had to be solved. Many of the students from Indian Township would show up only once or twice a week. A teacher going into a situation similar to Mr. Brown needs to know what they are facing. Many times a teaching job can be difficult to come by and the only openings are in areas where educators prefer not to teach. A first year teacher may have to take a job in one of these low socio-economic areas, so they need to know what they are getting themselves into.
279) to penetrate in the teacher everyday discourse so deeply that no one even questions their meanings, but everyone tries to use them in their teaching as if they are the guarantee of a good practice. However, as Cochran-Smith (2008) insists, good teaching cannot be fully regulated by the “high stakes contexts” (p. 279) and testings, as “good teacher education focuses on an expansive rather than narrow notion of practice” (p. 279), including the ability of teacher to build a good emotional rapport with the students and parents, responding to the learners’ needs, ability to demonstrate good problem-solving skills and so on, rather than being constrained only to the test scores, once again concluding that teacher education is a rather elaborated and complex
As the time approached, my attitude toward student-teaching was one of confidence and in some ways overconfidence. I believed that I was equipped with all of the tools necessary to be a superior teacher. Little did I know what truly goes on behind the scenes of a teacher. Between grading papers, attending meetings, and preparing lessons, I would often feel overwhelmed. Still, student teaching would prove to be much more valuable than I anticipated. It would teach me to appreciate the wisdom of mentors and experienced teachers, value or being organized and prepared, and lastly the resilience of students.
Walking into a classroom on the first day of teaching is considered one of the most terrifying experiences imaginable. The first day sets the tone for the whole year. Is this class going to be a fun relaxing class, a hard and academically superior class, or a chaotic stressful class where the best part of the day is the end? Former teachers and now authors, Daniel Robb and Rafe Esquith describe their experiences of teaching new classrooms with new situations in their books Crossing the Water and Teach like Your Hair’s on Fire. They both talk about their experiences enlightening them to the importance of trust, respect, and being yourself. These three key components have a large impact on and can improve classroom management,
Understanding of these themes is not the end product of a single unit or lesson, but the product of long term, ongoing instruction. The bold terms represent the connecting themes that appear in multiple units throughout the course. Following the term is an enduring understanding that gives focus to the theme and, in parentheses, the grades or courses where they appear. Enduring understandings transcend specific units and courses and increase student understanding and retention of knowledge. (Georgia Standard of Excellence in Social
166-173). Linda Darling-Hammond (2000) discusses how teacher education has changed and how it has affected our education system (p. 166). The author also notes how even the most intelligent people found it hard to prosper in the field without the right skills and preparation (Darling-Hammond, 2000, p. 166-173). In the article, she presents how post baccalaureate programs are carefully structured, versus alternative routes which can be no more than backup employment options. Darling-Hammond (2000) also addresses how it becomes difficult for aspiring teachers to learn both subject matter and pedagogy (p.
Several of the major reform initiatives of the 1980s and early 1990s argued that improving education requires improving teacher quality and, accordingly, teacher education. Numerous changes in teacher recruitment, preparation, and certification were proposed. (For a detailed list, see Hartley, Mantle-Bromley, and Cobb 1996.) In response to the calls for reform, general teacher education programs raised admission standards/exit requirements; revised curricula to reflect multiculturalism and new K-12 standards; paid more attention to pedagogy, teaching practice, and relevance; included clinical experiences in public schools and other learning environments; and proposed new model standards/principles for licensing beginning teachers (Lynch 1997).
The first day of field marks the beginning of a new teaching experience, and for that reason, the first day of field will forever be a nerve-wracking day for me. On September 13, 2016, I, Mr. Cataldo began a new teaching journey, at Carlstadt Public School, a suburban school, in Carlstadt, New Jersey—Mrs. Mariano’s sixth-grade language arts literacy classroom. While walking through the front doors of the school, numerous questions began to come to mind, such as the following: Will Mrs. Mariano and her students feel comfortable with my presence in their classroom? Will I establish a positive relationship with Mrs. Mariano and her sixth-grade students? Albert Einstein once said, “The only source of knowledge is experience” (Albert Einstein Quotes, para.1). Today, I am fully aware that in life, one’s personal and professional experience, both good and bad, enables he or she grow as a person and more importantly as a learner. For that reason, I find it pivotal for one to realize that in life, it is normal to feel nervous, as well as make mistakes; what matters is that he or she is more than capable of transforming his or her mistakes into successes.
When I first decided to be a teacher I had many thoughts and opinions about teaching and education. Some of my thoughts and opinions have stayed them same; however, many have changed from the discussions and readings in LL ED 411 and 480. When I first decided that I wanted to be a teacher I thought that most students learned in the same manner. I also thought that the teacher should have power over the classroom. Likewise, I thought that technology should not be used in the classroom--except to type papers. I now know that there is not much truth to my ideas and thoughts because my thoughts were shaped only from my experiences. My experiences are narrow because they were shaped from the problems in schools and the old ideas that teachers still have. Now that I have learned the other sides to these problems I know that my thoughts about teaching and education are not fully developed.
Public education in the United States of America continuously faces many challenges – diverse student body, overcrowded classrooms, and lack of resources. Besides, many think that in order to provide quality of education for all students we need to improve effectiveness of our teachers. It is necessary to evaluate existing school teachers routinely. However, it will not be sufficient for improving the teacher body overall. Not only have we needed to evaluate existing teachers. It is especially important to ensure that young inexperienced teacher candidates are prepared to educate all students and meet their academic needs. Ravitch points out that “we don’t need to hire bad teachers” ( 69??? ) Thus, we need to ensure that prospective teacher candidates upon their graduation possess necessary skills to support student learning and take charge of their classrooms from day one. That is why New York and 25 other states are currently in the process of changing the way they give their initial certification. The new legislation is expected to take place in New York State beginning May 1, 2014. All candidates graduating at that time and thereafter will be subjected to the new Teacher Performance Assessment or edTPA.
While growing up and observing my teachers at school, I have learned that it isn’t always an easy job. Teachers do everything they can to teach their students’ academic, social and other formative skills. Plenty of my teachers have to deal with complications, most of them being minor, but it isn’t always an easy job helping children, teens and young adults. As a student myself, I know they can be stubborn, unwilling to learn, aggressive, and irresponsible. Sometimes, they simply don’t care. However, that is a teacher's purpose: to help and shape their students to become better learners, so that they have a clearer understanding regarding a variety of subject matters. Someday, I actually want to become an elementary art teacher, which is why I researched this career. I chose to gather more information of what skills it takes to be a teacher and what you need to do to successfully fulfill this career.
Rafe Esquith the author of Teach like your Hair’s on Fire, always seems to put the children he teaches first. He has been referred to by the Washington Post as “the world’s most famous teacher” (Deloza, 2014). He is known for his incredible dedication and commitment to the children he teaches (Deloza, 2014). From the very beginning, his book allows you to experience, both Esquith’s love of teaching and his journey with Room 56, a classroom, in a struggling neighborhood in Los Angeles. The book is insightful and inspiring, as it connects us with an award winning, selfless and talented teacher, Rafe Esquith and his grade 5 students.
In today’s classroom, the teacher is no longer viewed as the sole custodian of knowledge. The role of a teacher has evolved into being amongst one of the sources of information allowing students to become active learners, whilst developing and widening their skills. Needless to say, learning has no borders – even for the teacher. One of the strongest beliefs which I cling to with regards to teaching is that, teaching never stops and a teacher must always possess the same eagerness as a student. Through several interactions with other teachers, I always strive for new ideas, techniques, teaching styles and strategies that I might add to my pedagogical knowledge. Furthermore, through personal reflection, feedback and evaluation...
In recent years, the cliché image of a teacher has come under attach. Research has shown that teachers often work in an isolated setting in which they are considered experts in their specific area; however they often lack the support and equipment needed to do their jobs effectively. As a result, to the inadequate working environment new teachers often leave the profession within the first five years. These conditions often exist because the educational system fails to prepare our teachers with the proper tools and experience needed to do their job well (U.S. Department of Education, 2010).