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Advice for soon to be New Educators

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Alexis Van Den Broek Alexis Van Den Broek 3800 Points

Hello,

I am in my final year of student teaching and will be graduating in April of 2022. I am curious as to what advice people have to offer to a soon to be graduate. I intend to apply for subbing positions if I do not have luck finding an immediate teaching job after graduation. I am starting to feel comfortable in my classroom management skills, but I am more so worried about conflict resolution skills. Our classes in school have not necessarily touched on this subject.

Vanessa Davis-Mireles Vanessa Davis-Mireles 1060 Points

Hi Alexis.

I to am in my last year of school and hope to graduate in December 2022 with a Bachelors in EC-6 with a concentration in Bilingual.  Although I have over 32 years of experience working with children in a classroom environment, I always have that one situation where I am lost of what to do.  However, the one thing that I have learned is ALWAYS implement your classroom management the first two weeks of school and be consistent. It is not going to solve all of your discipline issues but it gives you a head start to gain the respect of your students.  ALWAYS document anything that happens for your records and protection. I also recommend knowing ALL of your students background, their culture, keep communicating with their parents (not only for the bad but for the good things as well), and let your students know that you care for them even if they feel like no one else does.  Let them know, if they need help or someone to talk to you are there for them.  Being an educator, goes beyond just teaching.  We are their parents away from home.  Our profession is 7/24/365 and does not stop once we clock out.  Good Luck with your future endeavors and congratulations on your upcoming graduation.

Amanda Gonzalez Amanda Gonzalez 155 Points

Hi there Alexis, first off congratulations on your last year of student teaching how exciting is that! As I continued to read your post about the issue regarding conflict resolution skills I felt the feeling is mutual.  It is something I am concerned about for many reasons one being how to correctly handle the situation in a professionally skillful manner to maintain self- control as a teacher, while to maintain the friendships classmates have with one another, even when conflict occurs. It’s definitely a touchy subject to always keep in mind.

Christopher Like Christopher Like 340 Points

Alexis,

I am so excited to hear you are going into the field! 

I have found that the best way to handle conflict resolution is to tackle it before it becomes an issue. The best way I have found to do this is to form relationships with students where they know that you care and that they can trust you. If you set up a persona that is approachable and understanding, they will help you more than you help them. 

My biggest advice on this is Never get angry with a kid. I remember in my first couple of years teaching high school I used to go home some nights really upset at things like, 'How dare that kid put that piece of plastic on my hot plate- he ruined it!' or 'How come they are not studying well enough for this test, they bombed it!' It was about year three or four when I realized something I wish I knew from the beginning. That kid is 15 years old! 15 year old kids do stupid things. I remember doing stupid things at fifteen! Maybe it is the fact their frontal lobe is not fully developed and they don't realize consequences, or maybe they come from a home that reinforces different values than mine. It doens't matter. They are kids and they are going to do silly, dumb things. It did me no good to get so emotionally bent out of shape over these things. Address the act, reinforce your expectations, but let the kid know that you still care about them. 

I wish I knew that year one. It would have saved my wife a lot of headaches from hearing me complain in those first years. 

I hope this helps,

Dominique Chavez Dominique Chavez 670 Points

Hi Alexis, great question! Congratulations on being so close to graduation, I'm in the second block of my teaching program and plan to graduate Spring of 2023. It's interesting you brought up conflict resolution, it's not a topic that's been touched on much and is something that's crucial to navigate professionally. I believe conflict is inevitable when so many growing personalities are in such close proximity but I definitely think the way we as future educators navigate through it makes all the difference. 

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