Modesto Bee Logo

On Campus: New, future teachers receive advice from current ones | Modesto Bee

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Newsletters
    • Buy Photos
    • Submit a Photo
    • Search Archives

    • News
    • Politics
    • Local News
    • Crime
    • Bee Investigator
    • Education
    • Turlock
    • Oakdale
    • California News
    • Nation & World
    • Scott Peterson Case
    • Local Sports
    • Sports
    • High School
    • High School Football
    • High School Athletes
    • College
    • Outdoors
    • Camps, clinics listings
    • Pro Sports
    • NFL
    • MLB
    • Giants
    • A's
    • 49ers
    • Raiders
    • NBA
    • Politics
    • The California Influencer Series
    • Business
    • Biz Beat
    • Agriculture
    • Employment News
    • Real Estate
    • Living
    • Celebrations
    • Family
    • Fashion
    • Food & Drink
    • Health & Fitness
    • Pets
    • Travel
    • Worship Directory
    • Entertainment
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV News
    • Contests
    • Comics
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Horoscopes
    • Modesto Bee Rewards
    • All Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Influencers Opinion
    • National Issues
    • State Issues
    • Submit a Letter
    • Mike Dunbar
    • Community Voices
    • Obituaries
    • View Obituaries
    • Place Obituary Ad

    • dealsaver
    • Classifieds
    • Place Classified Ad
    • Pets
    • Garage Sales
    • Real Estate
    • Apartment and Rentals
    • Jobs
    • RVs/Motorhomes
    • Merchandise
    • Service Directory
    • Place an Ad
    • Place Celebration
    • Place Obituary Ad
    • Place Classified Ad
    • Place Legal Ad
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • See Legal Notices
  • Mobile & Apps

Nan Austin

On Campus

On Campus: New, future teachers receive advice from current ones

By Nan Austin - naustin@modbee.com

    ORDER REPRINT →

October 01, 2014 02:19 PM

In all the tumult over Common Core, one group has gotten little press: the teachers who did not have to retrain and start over, the ones just starting out.

At the California State University, Stanislaus, Student to Teacher Conference, I got to hear advice for new and future teachers from 10 educators only slightly more seasoned.

The annual gathering filled the main campus dining room, where Donna Andrews with the Teacher Education Department exhorted participants to “find something that you really want to get up in the morning and do.”

For her, that something was teaching, that endlessly challenging, most rewarding work that not everyone is cut out to do.

SIGN UP

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Modesto Bee

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

We know this because nearly half of all beginning teachers will leave the profession within their first five years in the classroom, according to a report released this summer by Alliance for Excellent Education.

There are doubtlessly a range of reasons for the calamitous drop-off we could all predict, but here are some I did not expect from “What to Expect From Your First Year of Teaching,” a packed panel discussion at the conference.

While the panelists spoke warmly of their career choice, they had words of sometimes surprising advice for those entering the field.

• Common Core is not the problem, finding out which grade you’ll teach a week before school starts and having to get up to speed in a new grade level is, said Jenny Feriani. “Every weekend, that’s what I’m doing, learning the standards and thinking up activities,” she said.



• Not all kids will come into your class at grade level. “In reality, you need to teach a year or two behind,” said Alice Poulson, putting that down as her biggest challenge.



“While you’re doing your student teaching, try to see the worst and hardest classes. I guarantee those are the classes you’re going to get. You’re not going to get those bright and shiny ones,” warned Tiffany Guenthart.

• Managing a classroom is harder than it looks. It takes more skills than most new teachers come in with, and those who brought it up talked with pride about techniques they had mastered.



“Start out the school year being the hardest teacher you can be,” said Brian Wood, who admitted being “too nice” his first year. “Get involved with parents,” he added, to improve discipline in the class.

Another panelist described taking over a class halfway through the year from a teacher who had been absent half the year and apparently only half there when present. Creating order out of chaos in her class was a major challenge, she said.

Tips for what worked included incentives – points, honorary jobs, leading the lunch line – and disincentives, such as staying 10 seconds after the last bell rings. Using technology works for keeping kids on task.

Beyond those quick fixes, several spoke of developing relationships with kids.

“I teach at the junior high I went to,” said Armando Mendoza, who posts his graduation certificate from Hanshaw Middle School to show his kids college success can happen for them. “They think they’re alone, but there’s hope,” he said.

• The greatest help and support, most said, came from colleagues, sharing their lesson plans and friendship in what becomes kind of a second family.



What did not help was the state support program required for beginning teachers, which was universally viewed as one more assignment on top of everything else.

“It was extremely time consuming with a lot of fairly pointless paperwork,” Poulson said.

• You will not know what you will not know, several cautioned to widespread nodding.



Getting keys. Finding the restrooms. Finding where your kids line up in the morning. How to work the copy machine. Knowing you need a lunch count.

All the details of the day become minicrises as first-timers discover the things they never thought to ask.

One more thing: “Treat custodians like gold!” Guenthart said fervently as “Oh, yes!” and testimonials exploded all around her.

  Comments  

Videos

Watch highlights of Bella Vista’s win over Central Valley in CIF-SJS Div. II Championship

Watch as Modesto police serve search warrants in homicide investigation

View More Video

Trending Stories

Update: Lockdown lifted at Modesto schools as police serve search warrant

February 21, 2019 10:06 AM

Suspect in bar shooting said he acted in self-defense: ‘The whole thing was provoked’

February 21, 2019 05:10 PM

An unsettling sight: Someone strung dead coyotes along a fence near Oakdale

February 20, 2019 12:04 PM

See the 2 big names booked for new Modesto amphitheater as it readies full 2019 season

February 20, 2019 03:57 PM

Ceres SWAT team rolls to west Modesto, arrests suspect in October gun disturbance

February 20, 2019 07:52 PM

Read Next

Time to write a new chapter

Nan Austin

Time to write a new chapter

By Nan Austin

naustin@modbee.com

    ORDER REPRINT →

June 08, 2017 04:30 PM

I have been known to reflexively shake hands at parties saying: “Nan Austin, The Bee.”

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Modesto Bee

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE NAN AUSTIN

Teachers want raises, but Trump cuts and little new money are coming

Nan Austin

Teachers want raises, but Trump cuts and little new money are coming

May 23, 2017 04:02 PM
Phish bait: As kids get laptops, how do schools keep them safe in cyberspace?

Nan Austin

Phish bait: As kids get laptops, how do schools keep them safe in cyberspace?

May 17, 2017 12:06 PM
Teachers sign on for tech training with an old-school twist

Nan Austin

Teachers sign on for tech training with an old-school twist

May 09, 2017 03:50 PM

Nan Austin

Modesto City Schools keeps integrated math in close vote

May 02, 2017 04:39 PM
How to turn around flailing schools (hint: it takes wanting to change)

Nan Austin

How to turn around flailing schools (hint: it takes wanting to change)

April 25, 2017 02:47 PM
The Vista student housing rises across from Stanislaus State

Turlock

The Vista student housing rises across from Stanislaus State

April 05, 2017 04:11 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Modesto Bee App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
Advertising
  • Advertising Information
  • Place Obituary or Celebration
  • Place Classified, Legal
  • Local Deals
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story