That you have a philosophy of teaching in your first year of
teaching speaks so well of you that I’d wonder why you need a
mentor?

My first year though I did have a mentor and it was helpful
so I guess I do understand. I was then only forming my
philsophy of teaching so you’re ahead of where I was. My
mentor mostly listened, let me cry on his shoulder,
commiserated, consoled and gave some good advice. Mostly he
kept me going and let me know I wasn’t alone and that he
thought I was doing a good job especially for a new teacher.

Past my formal mentor, I found also many of my building
colleagues wanted to be as helpful and I could talk with
them. People rather like to be asked for advice. Find
yourself an informal mentor or a willing friend in the
building whose philosophies are closer to your own.

And there are SO many things we encounter in the classroom
that are firsts for us despite our degrees. What do I do the
first time a student changes a grade in my grade book? What
do I do when a student gets so mad at another that he spends
the rest of the year looking for covert ways to hurt him?
What do I do with the kid who has absolutely no attention
span whatsoever and has an anxiety attack every single day
when I pass out the worksheets because he hasn’t heard a word
I said? Does detention really accomplish anything or is the
same kids there over and over?

And who do I teach exactly? The weak kids? The strong kids?
The middle kids because I’ve got all three in the same class.
What’s the goal? Is school about keeping order or are they
actually supposed to learn something too? Are they supposed
to remember it or if they do well on a test is it ok that
they forget it then? What about the ones who can’t read but
are now in 8th grade??

And is memorization learning because it seems to me that a
lot of school seems to be nothing more than memorization.

Are you incompetent to be asking questions like the above?
Then I surely was very incompetent because those were the
kinds of questions I asked for the first several years of my
career. And - a lot of teachers that I asked had no answers
to them so - who’s the more incompetent?

Good luck - look around your building. There will be at least
one great person who might also be a good teacher who’d be
willing to share their insights and would welcome your
questions.

Biasakan menuliskan idea sendiri, bukan idea atau tulisan orang lain. Jika sampai mahu mengambil tulisan orang lain pun, tolong catatkan nama penulis asal dan sumber ambilannya. Jika anda mempunyai nama yang lebih baik daripada Britney, gunakan nama yang lebih baik itu.

First, congrats on making it through all the hoops. I know
you’re excited about being a first year teacher (or maybe
you are just finishing your first year — YAY!). It’s a
great feeling to be almost through it, isn’t it? I hope it
was as a great a first year for you as my first year was for me.

For those of you still struggling to find your footing, I
offer some advice. I give it not just as a “second year”,
but also as a seasoned mom:

1.LISTEN to what the experienced, seasoned teachers have to
say. They have far more wisdom in them based on life
experience alone, than you do coming fresh from a university
teaching program.

2. Don’t act as though you “know it all”, because you don’t.

3. If you’re young and childless, don’t talk like you
understand children and what motivates them to behave the
way they do. Truly understanding the “whole child” comes
from years of working with them, or having them living in
the same house with you.

4. Model your behavior based on the successful, effective
teachers at your school. Know the difference between a
teacher who TEACHES kids, and a teacher who MANAGES kids.

5. Do NOT, I repeat, NOT, expect or demand special treatment
from your peers. You are young (new) and are at the BOTTOM
of the pecking order. Diva behavior will only result in
isolation from other staff and a lot of angry emails sent to
the principal.

6. Show passion for your profession. Kids pick up on it and
respond to it. A boring, detached, teacher is an invitation
to boring, detached students.

7. Don’t sit in the lunch room and whine about every little
thing that goes wrong in your class, or the latest group of
parent complaints, etc. Many of us love what we do, love our
students, and don’t want to hear you whining. It translates
to insecurity and lack of ability to competently do your job.

8. TEACH! Don’t sit at your desk and read emails while the
kids are “working”. Get up, get involved, get engaged. No
student will work for you if you indicate you don’t want to
work with them.

9. Be organized and efficient. Don’t test them on material
they’ve never seen before. That’s not fair. Write
appropriate comments on their grade cards — a “D” does not
get an automatic “Great quarter!” comment on the computer’s
grading/comment system. That is a problem, and will
definitely be noticed by the parent.

10. It is YOUR responsibility to teach them the content. If
you find that EVERY student has failed the test, examine the
TEST, and why it was so hard for them to pass. Then, throw
it away, and give them another chance to prove to you they
know the content. And if they still don’t “know” it, then
face it — YOU haven’t taught it to them in a way they can
understand it. Change your method and reteach, if necessary.

11. This one is VERY important: IT IS NO LONGER ABOUT YOU
AND YOUR SELF-WORTH. Teaching is about the kids. Period.
Don’t make it into a power trip — you will lose.

12. Finally, ACCEPT responsibility for your shortcomings,
and ADMIT your mistakes to YOUR STUDENTS. There is nothing
wrong with saying “I messed up, class…I’m going to fix
this.” Students will have more respect for you, and more
likely to worker harder for you, knowing that you’ve given
them the benefit of the doubt and are willing to own up to
your mistakes.

Many of these seem pretty simple and trite, but these come
from observation. There is another second year teacher at my
school who does every one of the things mentioned above. As
a result, she is hated by her students, mistrusted by their
parents, and disrespected by the rest of us, including the
principal. All because of the above behaviors.

9 Boleh mengurus 70% masa sedia ada dengan baik untuk memenuhi keperluan pengurusan, borang-borang , laporan, perancangan dan perlaksanaan yang pelbagai.

10 Sanggup bekerja bermati-matian walaupun keperluan kerja dan kebajikan manusiawi anda diabaikan sama sekali oleh pihak atasan.(untuk guru-guru di sesetengah sekolah)

11 Sanggup mengalah dan menyerah dengan murid-murid nakal walaupun kepala anda disekeh oleh mereka kerana murid sentiasa betul, guru selalunya salah(fakta -cuba kira kes mahkamah melibatkan guru dan murid)

GuruBashid:
Salam kembali. Gembira rasanya dikunjungi rekan serumpun dari seberang

GuruBashid:
Mujurlah saya tidak seperti rakan-rakan anda yang gemar bercakap dan menjadikan “percakapan” itu sebagai suatu yang dipermudahkan sehingga apa pun boleh dipercakapkan.

Wassalam.

GuruBashid:
Tak boleh cakap begitu,sebab hanya ada tiga jenis pendidikan yang didedahkan kepada guru; pendidikan prasekolah, pendidikan rendah dan pendidikan menengah. Sepatutnya guru kena bersedia mengajar semua tahap kelas.