Emotional Resilience in Educators

Another excellent article and summary from Beth Mann.

I attended the New Teacher Center Symposium in February along with two P-12 educators. Along with presenting on our New Teacher Workshops with my colleagues, I attended fabulous sessions on supporting our graduates and novice teachers. The session that had the most impact on me was Elena Aguilar’s cultivating emotional resilience in new teachers. As Elena states in the article that I am sharing below, “Emotional resilience is essentially our ability to weather the storms in our lives.” Certainly we all realize that new teachers are weathering many storms in their new positions. I will be sharing Elena’s ideas with the Support Working Group to discuss how we might work with new teachers to strengthen their capacity in this area. Enjoy Elena’s article at:

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/coaching_teachers/2015/03/cultivating_emotional_resilien_1.html?print=1

Teacher Turnover - a $2.2 billion dollar annual cost to school districts.

Beth Mann, the TPI P-12 Liaison shared the following article:

“Revolving Door of Teachers Costs Schools Billions Every Year” is a summary of NPR’s interview with Richard Ingersoll, who studies teacher turnover and retention. In this article, Ingersoll speaks to the reasons why teachers stay in the profession and why some don’t. He also discusses some of the important factors driving the decision to stay or leave and how that impacts groups of teachers. With 40-50% of teachers gone from the profession within five years, teacher turnover is costing districts $2.2 billion annually. The good news is that more teachers are part of induction programs that have positive effects, with student achievement being better for those teachers that are part of a comprehensive induction program. Enjoy the article at:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2015/03/30/395322012/the-hidden-costs-of-teacher-turnover

Findings from a recent Mn BOT study on Minnesota Teachers

Jim Robinson shared this article from the Star Tribune: State can learn much from new study on teachers.

The article includes critical information about current teacher/student diversity statistics:
·         Of 58,000 teachers in MN, only 4% are people of color
·         Of 830,00 students,  25% are students of color
·         The population of minority students grows about 1% each year

The article also points out areas where there are shortages of qualified teachers:
·         School psychologists
·         Middle/High school math, chemistry, and physics
·         Special education
·         English as a second language

As a P-12 and higher education partnership, it is especially critical to reach out to students of color who have considered teaching, and educate all students about positions which are currently experiencing shortages.

Supporting at-risk students through simple technology

A recent article in the New York Times identifies how simple “nudges” can provide the support for low-income students to:

·      Prevent dropping out of college

·      Navigate the hurdles for applying and attending college

·      Provide support to parents of pre-school students around literacy and math

These nudges are as simple as personalized text messages, and some coaching around study skills. 

The full article can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/18/upshot/helping-the-poor-in-higher-education-the-power-of-a-simple-nudge.html?emc=eta1&_r=0&abt=0002&abg=1

How could these approaches be used to support students in your classes or schools?   

Communicating with Novice Teachers and Recent SCSU Graduates

The Support Working Group has been considering different options for ongoing communication with novice teachers and SCSU Graduates. In academic year 2013-14, we posted resources through Schoology, an educational management system that can also serve as a social networking site for educators. This year, the group’s goal was to reach new teachers and graduates directly and incorporate more engagement. We decided to create short monthly videos that correlate with the phases that new teachers typically progress through in their first year of teaching.

Milissa Walz, social studies teacher and mentor leader in Holdingford, creates the content for the videos. She shares that with Gregg Hermerding, media specialist and mentor from Monticello, who then creates the Animoto Videos. Each month, TPI shares the videos directly with novice teachers and recent SCSU Graduates and posts them on our new teacher website. When TPI hosts New Teacher Workshops, Gregg also creates a follow-up video for those gatherings as well. Please take some time to check out a few of these 3-minute videos at: http://tpiscsu1.weebly.com/resources.html

“Do you have ideas on how to stay in communication and engage with our novice teachers and recent graduates?