First Year Teacher Experience
Before beginning this course, anticipate a future interview question similar to the one posted here. Assume the school principal is interviewing you. How will you prepare for this common challenge?
Educators get into this profession because they feel they can make a big difference in a child’s life, and they love kids. We love all kids, and we are blessed to live in a country that expects us to serve all kids with a comprehensive plan and support system in the least restrictive environment. The drumbeat we continue to hear from first-year interns is that the paperwork, planning, and knowledge required to keep up with the legal, personal, and professional expectations for Special Populations is a big challenge.
First Year Teacher Experience
At the beginning of the year, running meetings (even the logistics of setting up a meeting), ensuring that all documentation is complete, and communicating to all responsible parties may be overwhelming. Then add to that the responsibility of creating lesson plans that differentiate to the 504, IEP, GT, LIP, EBS and dyslexia plans with strong accommodations in delivery and support may be a daunting task. IEP meetings are especially challenging for the entry-level teacher due to the number of people involved and the amount of diagnostic information you need to understood and implement. One intern commented that it felt like “drinking from the firehose” at the beginning of the year. By the end of the year, however, our interviewees are much more relaxed and efficient with these expectations. They attribute these changes to their practice over the year and the added structure to their preparation. APA.
First Year Teacher Experience
Question:
What does it look like when you “add planning structure” to the 15-50% of your general education classroom or 100% of your ESL or SPED classroom? How can you proactively plan for this year rather than figuring it out the hard way over the entire year? Please share your thoughts, ideas you might like to try, or any guidance/advice you believe can support all of us in learning to utilize personal planning best practices around time management, communicating, and designing lessons for special populations.