The Teacher Preparation
Initiative and its six Partner Districts continue to collaborate to support
teachers in their first three years of instruction. An ongoing effort is the
offering of new teacher workshops for all first year teachers in the Partner Districts
and recent SCSU Graduates. Currently these new teachers and graduates are
invited to four workshops starting in early August.
The August Workshop has a
goal of getting new teachers’ first teaching experiences off to a successful
start and providing networking opportunities. Participants were welcomed with
music and networking. Presentations and follow-up sessions for every level of
teaching had a focus on building relationships, classroom management, and
professional communication. Teachers were invited to join a Schoology site to
network and receive ongoing resources. The day concluded with the creation of
implementation plans and a drawing for baskets filled with teaching supplies.
The half day October
Workshop offered a targeted focus on classroom management. New Teachers were split
into four groups to participate with a classroom management panel of master
teachers at their level of teaching. Following the panel, teachers rotated
through three stations with the themes of student interaction/engagement,
transitions, and dealing with unforeseen circumstances. It was a fast paced
afternoon that also included networking, gifts, and treats.
By December, many of our
New Teachers are experiencing great stress as they moved into the third stage
of teaching-“disillusionment” (California Department of Education, 1990).
Taking that into consideration, the new teachers received an interactive stress
management presentation by Dr. Steve Hoover. The rest of the day brought
break-out sessions in the areas of technology, working with at-risk learners,
special education topics, differentiating for learning, and networking in
specific areas of instruction. It was wonderful to see the collaborative effort
of so many SCSU Faculty and P-12 Veteran Teachers throughout the day. They
worked together to facilitate groups and present content and the new teachers
were very appreciative of the various perspectives offered.
The final workshop, in the evening on February 26, will feature a very
exciting presentation by Willow Sweeney. Willow Sweeney
is co-founder of Top 20 Training that provides training and materials to
empower leaders, teachers, parents and students to develop their potential. Willow’s career has included high
school teaching, coaching and she has been a national speaker and trainer since
2002 (Top 20 Training). It is
our hope that Teacher Education Faculty will attend this event alongside new
teachers and SCSU Graduates.
How do you think SCSU
Faculty and P-12 Educators could be involved in new teacher workshops?
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