First Time Teachers

800 Words2 Pages

You have been dropped by helicopter into the heart of Beijing. You know a smattering of Mandarin and twice have tried to eat with chopsticks. You know that silk and fireworks originated in China and that you are obviously a novice trying to find your way in unfamiliar surroundings. What do you do? (Esch, 2010, p. 307) For many first time teachers, they often feel as if they have been dropped into a foreign land. According to Ferguson (2010), 25% of first-year teachers will leave the profession after three years. Beginning teachers are often disappointed by their first year of teaching (Hellsten et al, 2009). First-year teachers have many obstacles to overcome. It is their job to implement effective instruction, develop and maintain relationships among faculty, staff, and parents, and cope with all of the demands of teaching. In today’s classroom, student achievement is one of the components in measuring teacher success. It is critical that administrators provide the needed support for new teachers. “The quality of teachers and teaching are undoubtedly among the most important factors shaping the learning of students” (Ingersoll, 2004, p. 1). Student achievement suffers when new teachers lack experience and professional development (Brandt, 2005). Haycock (1998) reports that the achievement of at-risk students is even more influenced by the quality of the teacher. This research proposal is concerning the local school system’s teacher induction program and its effectiveness on new teachers within this school system. This researcher would like to know if the local school system’s induction program meets the new teachers’ expectations and specifically how this program has impacted the new tea... ... middle of paper ... ...ion program “gave us human faces and a soft place to land when we fell.” Leimann, Murdock, and Waller (2008) wrote about their personal experiences with an induction program in their county of Wicomico. All three are new teacher mentor/consultants for Wicomico County Public Schools in Maryland. The mentoring program in their county consists of three major components. A workshop during the summer provides information on rules, procedures, and routines. Teachers with less than four years of teaching are offered monthly professional development seminars. The final component of this induction program includes a one-on-one mentoring program. According to Leimann et al (2008) the success rate of their induction program shows retention of new hires after the first year of this program has been consistently “above the 78% national teacher retention rate”.

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