First year teacher

[IDoDis]

I'm starting my 25th year teaching. I think I was a great teacher my first year. I worked 10 times harder, made material from scratch, hand wrote very detailed lesson plans (including what I should say), recorded myself reading chapter books onto cassette tapes for my listening center, created my own reading comprehension cards, and math games, made my own bulletin board cut out letters and drew & cut out my own pictures (including coloring them in -- no store bought posters), worked 12 hour days, loved my students, and I still remember all of their first and last names, details about them, and where many of them lived (went on home visits at the beginning of the school year).

While I still put in lots of effort and work long days, it's different now. I don't make everything from scratch (thank you teacherspayteachers.com) and look back at class photos where I can't remember one single detail about certain kids. Some years are a blur, but a teacher never forgets her/his first year students. That first year was magical. I didn't want the school year to end, was sad packing up on the last day of school, and missed the kids like crazy. Now I play "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang on the last day of school as I pack up and wish the summer was a bit longer.

A first year teacher might be a very pleasant surprise.

 

[mom2rtk]

Sorry if I missed it, but how big is the class? I would be ok with a first year teacher as long as the class size was reasonable. That has become a real issue in our district since our oldest started.

We've had some great teachers through the years, and we've had some doozies. The worst was in fact a first year teacher, teaching 7th grade math, a new integrated curriculum called "College Prep Algebra and Geometry". At open house she said 1) I'm a first year teacher 2) I have 5 kids and 3) I'm learning the material at home each night before teaching it to your kids the next day. That got a raised eyebrow from me. I should have gone with my gut instinct to request a change then. We called it "the lost math year" for our son. She was let go half way through the year. That's no small feat, so she must have been as I feared she might be. I meddled and made sure he had a stellar math teacher the next year, but I still don't think he ever got back on track.

But I think they can survive that better in elementary school. And new teachers are so energetic and sometimes I like their "I can conquer the world" optimism. I bet your daughter will be fine.

 

[pookybean]

My son must have an asterisk next to his name in the school district because he always get the long-term sub since the teacher either is out on maternity leave at the beginning of the year, or leaves for maternity leave at the end. This happened in 3rd grade and 5th grade, and again with his history teacher this past freshman year. And his gym teacher was out both 7th and 8th grade.

Every year since K (she is now going into 11th) my DD has had a teacher get pregnant, be pregnant or go out on a maternity leave. It's a running joke now when we go to back to school night to guess which teacher will end up pregnant!

 

[fly girl]

Sorry if I missed it, but how big is the class? I would be ok with a first year teacher as long as the class size was reasonable. That has become a real issue in our district since our oldest started.

We've had some great teachers through the years, and we've had some doozies. The worst was in fact a first year teacher, teaching 7th grade math, a new integrated curriculum called "College Prep Algebra and Geometry". At open house she said 1) I'm a first year teacher 2) I have 5 kids and 3) I'm learning the material at home each night before teaching it to your kids the next day. That got a raised eyebrow from me. I should have gone with my gut instinct to request a change then. We called it "the lost math year" for our son. She was let go half way through the year. That's no small feat, so she must have been as I feared she might be. I meddled and made sure he had a stellar math teacher the next year, but I still don't think he ever got back on track.

But I think they can survive that better in elementary school. And new teachers are so energetic and sometimes I like their "I can conquer the world" optimism. I bet your daughter will be fine.

17 kids. 8 boys, 9 girls. Definitely manageable.

 

[mom2rtk]

17 kids. 8 boys, 9 girls. Definitely manageable.

The odds are definitely in her favor. I wouldn't sweat that at all. I think it's much easier to handle a difficult student or 2 when you have a class size of 17. Some of our classes are closer to 30 these days. I would probably feel different about it if the class wasn't so small.

 

[cornflkgrl]

17 kids. 8 boys, 9 girls. Definitely manageable.

That is amazing. Is that public school?! I don't think my kids have been in a class under 25 students since kindergarten.

 

[PollyannaMom]

That is amazing. Is that public school?! I don't think my kids have been in a class under 25 students since kindergarten.

It could be. I sub in two different districts. The first time I walked into a 2nd grade in one of them, I thought half the class was absent! The two districts just spent their money very differently.

 

[mom2rtk]

That is amazing. Is that public school?! I don't think my kids have been in a class under 25 students since kindergarten.

We had a very small local elementary school. There were 2 classes for each grade all the way through for each of our 3 kids. Our first was there during a bumper crop apparently. We enrolled him in kindergarten and showed up for "meet the teacher" night. The people were hanging from the rafters. They needed a 3rd class but had nowhere to put one, so 2 huge classes it was. As the enrollment closed in on 30 per class, we bailed. There was another school in the district that still had half day kindergarten. Class size? 17. We drove him every day to and from that other school every day but it was a much better fit for him that year. The next year they said no more transfers so back to our local school it was. And those class sizes stayed between 25 and 30 the entire way through.

Our second child hit at a time with fewer kids. Class size was upper teens all the way through. It was an entirely different experience. So refreshing. (The third was more average size classes, in the lower 20's.)

 

[scoutie]

I've been teaching for a long time, but remember my first year. I was super enthusiastic, excited, stayed late, coached, attended every dance, and because I was young and didn't have a family, I was able to do those extras like attend my students' skating competitions, football games, etc. Was I a solid teacher? Not compared to now, but I have a stack of letters from the kids I taught that first year telling me what an amazing year they had, how some were inspired to be a teacher, how they now loved Language Arts for the first time, etc. First year teachers are generally subjected to many observations from admin, their teacher mentor, and coworkers. I think your child will be fine.

 

[fly girl]

That is amazing. Is that public school?! I don't think my kids have been in a class under 25 students since kindergarten.

No, catholic school.

 

[klmall]

Every year since K (she is now going into 11th) my DD has had a teacher get pregnant, be pregnant or go out on a maternity leave. It's a running joke now when we go to back to school night to guess which teacher will end up pregnant!

We used to do the same! I always breathed a little easier once January came thinking that unless complications arose DS's teachers were in the clear!

I also clearly remember a year in the junior high I taught in that had 7 pregnant English teachers (out of 12 total maybe with 1 being a male!) including the Department Head who ended up giving birth in the medical office parking lot across the street from the school. And the number above didn't include a long-term sub with her leg in a cast who was pregnant and scattered pregnancies in other departments. Everyone joked about it being in the water .

 

[Thing 1]

Third grade. She was soooo young. She had graduated early and was like 20. BEST YEAR EVER. She was a big tougher and gave a bit too much home work but she was 100% dedicated and they learned so much. That was the year of 9-11 and I was absolutely so impressed how she handled it with our children. She only stayed in our district a couple years and moved to a very high end private school. It was a huge lose for that school. The next year he had a teacher about 5 years in and she was terrible. We always said we were so glad he learned enough in third grade to carry him through fourth. She could be wonderful or terrible....just like any teacher.

 

[grnflash]

We do a teacher request every year. He's only going into 4th grade, so far every request has been met even when he started at his new school last year.

So far each year has had 3 classes, incl. a new teacher for each 1st and 2nd. Each year except K has also had a known rock star teacher, 1st and 2nd also had known duds.

The thing is - of course we don't want the dud. So we don't roll the dice with the newbies - yes, some will be rock stars...and a few will be duds. And I'd rather take the chance on missing out on the new rock star than pay the price with the new dud.

So we request. You won't hear boo from us the rest of the year.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Do these kids know they are "the worst"? Do their parents?On parent-teacher night are you like: Its great to meet you. Little Johnny is one of my worst students.

Wow! How snarky perhaps you should have read the whole thing and analyzed what I said. I did not label them as the "worst" that is what the system has labeled them and that is why I put it in quotes. Although I do not know why I am even justifying this to you.

 

[cornflkgrl]

Wow! How snarky perhaps you should have read the whole thing and analyzed what I said. I did not label them as the "worst" that is what the system has labeled them and that is why I put it in quotes. Although I do not know why I am even justifying this to you.

Sorry if I misunderstood your post. In my school district children with need of behavioral supports have an IEP and are categorized (mild, moderate, severe) for staffing purposes. That is not their label though
And "The worst" is not a category for anybody or anything.

 

[clori]

My niece did a combined Bachelors/Masters program. Her last year she got married and started a family. Since then she has had a second child (1 and 3). She started out subbing but then did long term sub position and last year started out as a permanent sub (went in every day and helped in the office if no teacher was out) before taking a long term sub position in another district. This year she has her first regular teaching job though it is 1 hour away. As of right now she has 17 kids in her public school 4th grade classroom in suburban to rural area. I think she will be great though I will admit I'm biased. She was allowed to go in and paint her class room, request specific books for read alouds etc. I can't wait to hear how much fun she has when school starts.

My own kids are in 7th and 11th in an urban public school system. In the k-8 my oldest had 18 in kindergarten with a full time aide and my youngest had 16 along with the full time aide. There were 3 classes per grade in k-6 for older dd but for whatever reason one of the 3 class sizes dropped to under 10 kids and they condensed to 2 classes for grades 7&8 but still only having around 18-20 kids in a class. At graduation there were 34 kids combined. High school is much more varied. I know last year dd told me she had 18 kids in English, under that in accounting, and about 30 in her gym class. Unfortunately for my youngest her class has averaged about 19-21 kids in all 3 classes but they never went back to 3 classes for 7&8th. Now I am a tad concerned with class size for this coming year. It is definitely a wait and see for class size since bussing was just eliminated in recent budget cuts though we do have public transportation. School starts August 30th.

We aren't allowed to request and since kids switch classes starting in 4th grade it doesn't pay to request from then on (4-6th graders rotate through all teachers for their grades). I did talk to younger dd's 2nd grade teacher and mentioned I would much prefer her not to get a specific 3rd grade teacher. I figured it was the last time I could even try to request. I don't know if it helped but she didn't get that teacher. If I had asked the office/principal I would have just been told we don't take requests.

As to teachers coming to watch activities my younger dd's 2nd grade teacher (has adult children) came to see her dance recital. She was very happy to do that since her dd owns a dance studio it was a recital she could watch but not help at. Once the Spanish teacher emailed me and said oldest dd mentioned a skating event in a city her parents live in taking place when she would be visiting them. She asked me for the information and showed up to watch for a while. She has a son a year younger than my youngest. Last year my 6th grader's math teacher (adult age children) came to watch the figure skating recital. Basically if it isn't a school event I don't expect teachers to go to things. I think the ones that do go are interested in the child and activity plus happen to have time to go. It has only been 2 times but both times I paid for the teacher's tickets. A few of dd's high school teachers have come to skating events but more so because they are friends with a skating coach from the high school.

 

[Magpie]

And fellow parents, how was it when your child had a first year teacher?

Best teacher my daughter ever had was a first year teacher!

Second grade, a congregated class for "profoundly gifted" children (so, some interestingly challenging kiddos), and she was unfailingly keen, enthusiastic and incredibly warm and nurturing. My daughter, for many years after, said she wanted to be a teacher "just like Miss". It was a sad day when the children learned she'd be leaving the school to go work in Toronto. My daughter apparently gave her a pewter ring she'd bought out of a gumball machine which said, "Foxy", while sobbing that she'd never forget her.

Many years later, she came back to our town and actually ended up teaching French in my daughter's middle school. To quote my daughter, "Still an awesome teacher, though a less awesome subject."

This teacher actually tracked me down that year, in grade seven, to tell me that she still had the "Foxy" ring my daughter had given her. Apparently, she puts it on her desk the first day of each new year, to remind her of the impact she can make in a child's life.