Advice for New Teachers: From a Student

Kelsi Bryant is a 10th grader at award-winning Marvin Ridge High School in Union County, North Carolina. After reading some archived new-teacher discussion at our MiddleWeb website, Kelsi was moved to prepare some notes for new teachers from a student point of view.

“I have been to schools on both sides of the county,” she writes, “and, with a family of teachers, I am aware of many different teaching styles. I am no teacher, it is true. But in my 10 and a half years of being a student I have had lots of good teachers; and lots of bad teachers too. I want to to share some things that my good teachers did.”

It’s good to hear from thoughtful “consumers” in our public schools. Here’s what Kelsi had to say.

Credibility

[In the discussion] a lot of teachers mentioned that they would yell at their students to try and get their attention. This is my opinion on the subject:

This is not going to work. I am going to tell you now. Maybe the first or second time, but after that it is a useless tactic. As a student, you are looking at your teachers for direction whether we know it or not. Jean Piaget's theory of development suggests that children imitate those around them. If you as a teacher lose your cool in a classroom, students will be more likely to respond to you "violently." If you do find yourself upset or stressed, do not continue on with your lesson. Take a moment and calm down. When your heart rate reaches a certain level, it becomes harder to make rational decisions. Take a deep breath. It will be worth it.

Other teachers mentioned that many of their students could not or would not do their homework:

This is probably because the students have lost their respect for you or they never had any. That is a very large problem. I am going to be more likely to work for a teacher that I respect than I am for a teacher that doesn't know what they are doing, yet pretends they do, or one that doesn't care about their students.

You are a new teacher. Accept it. Admit that to your students. If you bring yourself to their level, they will understand much better. You will have issues in your classroom. Not all of your classes will be amazing. That does NOT mean you should ever stop trying your best to teach them. Students can sense when their teachers care about their learning and when they do not. The more effort a teacher puts into planning a lesson and grading papers and thinking about their students, the more their students will give in return. I can almost guarantee it. "Wherever you are, be all there." - Alan Hlavka

If a teacher is having problems with students that do not follow rules:

It is probably because the students do not see these rules as relevant or are testing their boundaries. Middle School students have brains and therefore can think. They want to know why they have to do something. They are not little windup soldiers all in a row.

Explain to them the bigger picture. “Yes, it is just one page of homework. But I am giving you this homework to reinforce the things you learned in class today. That way when it comes up on a test, you will be more likely to remember it.” On average, people need to see something seven times to remember it. Homework is one of those seven times, so tell them that. If something you’re about to give out for students to do is irrelevant, do not give it out. We hate busywork.

The other reason may be that students are testing their boundaries. Students want to know that you care about them. If they don't follow a rule, and you call them on it, you are telling them that you care enough to stop them from doing something they shouldn't be doing. One teacher mentioned keeping extra uniforms for students who forget theirs. This is perfect -- never let an excuse stay there. Work something out.

And new teachers!! Don't give up on teaching because it is hard now. Those amazing teachers you look up to had to start somewhere! "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember amateurs built the Ark; professionals built the Titanic."

Thanks, Kelsi. Very good advice!

Comments

[Kelsi Bryant]

Whoa! Didn't realize there was a comment box...
If it is still relevant, I would like to address the comments about student responsibility.
I completely agree that teachers work hard enough as it is, and shouldn't have to do more work because a student isn't. Student responsibility is key to having a successful education and, in the future, life. One of my best teachers I have ever had was my APUSH teacher who strongly emphasized personal responsibility. But there is a line between making the students responsible for themselves and refusing to help a student because you think it will help them. Forcing a student to learn on their own can be a good thing but it requires that you as a teacher teach your students how to teach themselves. Without doing that, the teaching method is as effective as giving a man a fishing rod and a lake and expecting him to fish for himself. Many students never learn how to be responsible because they have had teachers that gave them the answers and shoveled them along in the past. Compare a lack of student responsibility to a lack of student’s ability to read. If a first grade child struggles with reading and has a teacher that ignores the issue at a young age, the problem multiplies as the years go on and is never solved. If in elementary school, teachers do not teach their kids how to think critically and learn on their own, students probably never will. That is, unless they have a teacher that is willing to show them how to be responsible.
Now the question is: how? My first piece of advice would be to hold the students accountable. Lay down the law that late work is never accepted. It may not seem like that big of a deal, but the message that comes across is that you are serious. Make sure your students know how to take effective notes, show them different ways to take notes so they can find which ones work for them. That way if a student does have a question about what they did in class or how to do the homework, they have it written down. If they have it written down, or they are expected to have it written down, then it takes any chance of you having to be a part of their homework out of the picture. You don’t have to be a mean teacher to be fair and reasonable toward the student AND YOURSELF.
I guess my main point is that a student’s responsibility is up to them, but students have to know what they have to do to be responsible. When a teacher gives his or her students all (as in all, as in not assuming they know how to do little things like taking notes or writing a thesis) of the tools needed to succeed, it eliminates the possibility of an excuse and the possibility that it was a teachers fault a student failed. When a student has all of the capabilities to learn, and chooses not to use them, then there really is nothing more a teacher can do.

[John Norton]

Kelsi's a "she" - and I'm sure she has a sense of the student's responsibility... I can't imagine you can live in a family of teachers and not. But you're right, this is through the student lens, and we take from it what's useful. I will say that I run across a fair number of adult teachers who see it as TOTALLY about student responsibility. Learning should surely be a shared contract.

[Joy Yee Mon]

I appreciate this, but I feel that the young man doesn't think that this is a two way process. He sounds as though what goes wrong is all on the teacher who has to be fixing the wrong all the time. Doesn't the student have his/her sense of responsibility? What about doing the right thing because it is right? What about self motivation? He sounds as though students can only operate because of the teacher and when it goes wrong, it is all the teacher. I guess time may change his view.