New Teachers Discussion and Analysis

¶ … New Teachers

Discussion and Analysis of Problems Facing New Teachers

Introduction number of studies note that issues and problems facing new or novice teachers have become an important area of concern in modern education. One of the main reasons given for this concern is that "The more known about the difficulties which student teachers encounter and the sources of their concerns, the better the chances for eliminating the problems and enhancing every student teacher's chance for success. (Smith, 2000, p. 633) Therefore, understanding the problems and possible solutions to these problems that face new teachers is seen as an important aspect in developing and furthering creative educational praxis.

Another reason given is that "...many problems faced by student teachers could possibly be an omen of future conflicts "(ibid) In other words, problems that are identified and dealt with timeously can provide the groundwork for better teacher interaction and teaching methodologies in the future. There are also numerous other reasons for this concern - such as the fact that teaching has become a very complex endeavor involving and demanding numerous facets of the teacher's expertise and knowledge.

The central trajectory of this paper is therefore to discuss the various problematic areas that face the new teacher. This will include the assessment of general and practical issues which affect novice teachers. A major part of the paper will be directed at a discussion of solutions to these problems and to related techniques and methodologies, as well as theoretical solutions that have been suggested.

2. General problems

The problems faced by the new teacher can range from basic unfamiliarity with practical and administrative issues, to more complex and vexing problems relating to classroom adaptation, teaching techniques, as well as confidence and issues of self - esteem. Simply stated, the most essential problem facing new teachers is lack of experience and often a resultant lack of confidence that may impede and restrict the all important issue of communication and that vital connection between the teacher and the students.

Studies attest to the commonly held view that modern teaching has become increasingly complex, diverse and demanding; hence placing more stress on the new teacher.

One of the central problems facing the new teacher is often a lack of confidence in the face of the demands and requirements of the modern teaching environment. Most teachers enter the profession well aware of the effect and influence that teachers can have on the future of their pupils.. As Henry Adams stated: "A teacher affects eternity: he can never tell where his influence stops." (Eison, 1990, p. 21) This is often a daunting prospect for many new teachers who have no prior experience. "The truthfulness of this observation is known to experienced teachers; its implications can be profoundly intimidating, however, to new or inexperienced faculty. " (ibid) This realization can often reduce the initial enthusiasm of the novice and result in feelings of despair and inadequacy. Therefore the inculcation of the necessary confidence is an essential foundational problem that many new teachers have to face up to.

There are a many studies and guidelines written by experienced experts on essential tips and suggestions for the new teacher. However there are relatively few studies which deal with the essential problems of self-confidence. Confidence must be projected to involve and communicate with the students and there are various core issues that the new teacher can pay attention to and develop in order to gain this confidence.

These aspects include the following issues aimed at the novice teacher: the organization, structure, or clarity of their work and presentation, as well as the inculcation of teacher-student rapport. Other factors which add to the general problem areas include the teaching and communication ability of the teacher as well as the extent of the workload that the teacher has to carry and the level of course difficulty. (ibid)

Among the aspects that can help the teacher over the initial confidence hurdle when faced with a class for the first time are the following suggestions from Eison. The teacher should, speak expressively or emphatically, use humor, varies facial expressions, stress important points, shows concern for student progress, encourage questions and comments, moves about while lecturing, praise students for good ideas, ask questions of class, be friendly and easy to talk to. (Eison, 1990, p. 22)

Eison emphasizes three crucial but fundamental guidelines for new teachers based on "activity." The first is to speak actively." Become an expressive, enthusiastic speaker who captures students' attention both verbally (e.g., humor) and nonverbally (e.g., facial expressions, movement). "(ibid)

He also encourages new teachers to teach actively. This means that the teacher should actively engage pupils and encourage comment and participation in the classroom. This aspect is also crucial in establishing modes of communication and reciprocity between student and teacher. Eison also emphasizes "active care" as a primary guideline for new teachers.

By this he means to Demonstrate a visible concern for your students, recognize publicly their academic achievements and growth, work hard to insure that students recognize that you are an approachable human being." (Eison, 1990, p. 22)

Other aspects that can help the teacher to establish a good rapport with the students is to prepare directed educational goals and objectives when planning a lesson. This serves a number of purposes. Firstly, it will help the novice teacher to be more confident in that he or she will be teaching with clear and precise guidelines and this will provide focus and allow for logical and easy to follow lessons. In other words, the beginner teacher should not have a vague notion of what is to be taught in a particular lesson. "A more useful approach is to formulate specific instructional objectives for each class session." (ibid)

Another aspect that the new teacher should consider is building in opportunities within the lesson plan for experiential learning. This aspect could include elements such as " teaching specific critical thinking, writing, or speaking skills,... examining one's attitudes and values, and... identifying the significant personal implications that can be found in the course content. "(ibid)

Another pointer that it is particularly important is that teacher should keep track of each student's progress as."Few things will enhance a teacher's self-confidence more than visible signs of students' satisfaction and growth." (ibid) useful guideline which many new teachers fail to follow is to reduce lessons to the most significant and interesting elements. Many novice teachers attempt to introduce or add too much scope and detail in a single lesson. Many experts are of the opinion that often " less is more," in the sense that too much information and data may confuse the student and lead to a loss of contact and direction in the class and hence to a loss of confidence for the novice teacher. Experts stress that the content of the lesson should introduce and interest the student and not overwhelm them with mountains of detail.

Active learning is of course an essential component of good teaching practice. This view is supported by many experienced professionals such as Patricia Cross (1987) who states that "When students are actively involved in the learning task, they learn more than when they are passive recipients of instruction," (Eison, 1990, p. 22) Active learning techniques are an aspect that many novice teachers need to inculcate.

A active learning strategies provide students with the opportunity to do such things as completing short, in-class writing activities, engaging in extended class discussions, taking field trips, completing laboratory exercises or self-assessment activities, conducting debates or role-playing exercises, participating in games and simulation activities, using computer-assisted instruction activities, making individual or small group presentations, taking tests of either the graded or ungraded variety."

Another very important area that the new teacher should focus on is the dynamic interchange between teacher and student. This is a particularly difficult area for the new teacher as it necessitates an experienced grasp of the subject matter - which the novice might not yet have - and a certain in-built flexibility in the teaching plan, which the novice may not as yet feel comfortable with.

Another aspect that many new to the teaching profession are not initially comfortable with is admitting that one does not know everything. Eison offers the following insight in this regard.

One measure of instructional effectiveness is the number of questions that students ask. Anticipate that student curiosity and creativity will often be greater than most instructors' knowledge and experience; there will be times when student questions will stymie even the most senior instructor.

Other expert advise includes the use of peer observations to improve instruction

Eison and Helling also suggest that new teachers should develop the art of teaching through involvement and creating discussion through questioning. (Eison, 1990, p. 23.)

Other aspects that the novice teacher should be aware of are the necessity to teach student to think critically, as well as learning to recognize the differences in learning styles that different students may have. A particularly difficult area that often requires training and input from more experienced teachers is the facility to construct tests and assign grades which aid the learning process. (Eison, 1990, p. 24)

One of the fundamental issues that has been documented with regard to problems experience by new and inexperienced teachers is teaching ' vision' and the self - concept that the teacher has of him or herself. This facet has a direct influence on the quality of the teaching as well as on relationship between the teacher and the students.

Many of the fundamental problems that the new teacher may experience are related to the personal vision that the teacher has about what teaching means and what is expected of them. "One of the most powerful predictors of teachers' commitment to teaching is a "sense of efficacy --the teachers' sense that he or she is making a positive difference in the lives of students." (Hammerness, 2003) This sense of efficacy is related to the teacher's 'vision' or view of the nature of the profession and its expectations. Hammerness explains this concept of vision as follows;

vision may provide a means to surface and examine teachers' beliefs, providing teacher educators with a way both to validate and build on teachers' hopes and dreams.... vision may provide an avenue for teacher educators to help new teachers "plumb the depths" of their beliefs and goals examining, challenging, and further articulating their beliefs and assumptions through the sharing of visions."

As stated above, understanding a teacher's vision of his or her task is an important part of understanding and evaluating problem areas in the education of new teachers. Teacher educators often find that many of the problems that new teachers experience are due to the disparity between their hopes and vision and the realities of teaching practice. This means that often new teachers have expectations for themselves and the profession which are out of sync with the realities of the classroom. Young teachers often place unrealizable goals as their immediate aim and this often results in feelings of inadequacy when these goals are not achieved according to the particular "vision "of the teacher.

Part of the solution to this problem lies in assisting the teacher to "...understand and deal with the gap between their hopes and their practice." (Hammerness, 2003)

For many new teachers, "...vision consists of images of what teachers hope could be or might be in their classrooms, their schools, their communities, and in some cases even in society as a whole." (ibid). While vision can act as a motivational force for these teachers, yet it can also make the teacher feel despondent and inadequate if the "vision" is too extreme. Comparing their vision to the current realities of classroom and education sometimes "...leads them to learn that their visions are impossible and that they and their students are powerless to reach them. " ibid The study of vision in new teachers often reveals, that disillusionment may result in far more than deflated emotions and the attitude shift from progressive to conservative documented by researchers. The gap between vision and reality in fact lead some of these teachers to learn that their visions are impossible and that they and their students are incapable of attaining them. (Hammerness, 2003)

Dealing with this important problem usually requires the intervention and guidance of mentors - which will be discussed in more detail in the following section.

Experienced teachers and teacher educators can provide a number of techniques and methods to manage this gap between ideal and the real for new teachers. For example, teacher educators may be able to help teachers to recognize the steps they need to take to reach their vision and to come to terms with the time that may be required. Furthermore, teacher educators may be able to help new teachers to develop visions with an episodic character. Episodic visions are ones in which teachers recognize that their classes will not be ideal every day but rather that those instances may only occur once or twice a semester, after several weeks or even months of careful scaffolding...In so doing, teacher educators may be able to help new teachers prepare themselves to address the balance of ideal practice and ordinary work and, in turn, may be able to help new teachers recognize and celebrate the achievements that they do make (Hammerness, 2003)

3. Mentoring

As mentioned in the introduction to this paper, modern teaching has become an intensely complex and multidimensional profession, demanding considerable input and expertise from the new teacher. Hargreaves (1997) points out that, teaching is now difficult, complex, demanding, emotional work with teachers taking on many roles previously fulfilled by other social agents such as family and church. Teachers are also faced with increased diversity of student resources and needs in schools, and with hugely expanded curricula. (Martinez, 2004 p 95)

This situation has necessitated that new teachers usually require the input and assistance of teacher mentors. Recently a trend has emerged where many educational bodies and institutions have realized the importance of this problem and instituted formal and scheduled mentoring programs in order to assist the new teacher in dealing with the various problems of teaching that may be encountered.

An instance of this form of formalized mentoring can be found, for example, at the College of Education at the University of Washington. The Dean of College, Patricia Wasley, explains the process of aiding new teachers.

We know from research that mentors need training to be successful. For starters, mentors need to know what new teachers learned while they were here at the university, so that they can build on that knowledge.. A mentor should be able to tell a new teacher: 'OK, I know you learned these two ways to teach reading while you were at the university. Let's work with those methods until you're comfortable using them in the classroom, then I'll show you something new to add." Mentoring that is infused with intellectual content becomes connected to professional development and goes well beyond "showing someone where the erasers are kept."

Building A Teacher's 'Repertoire' Takes Time, Training.)

The importance of the mentoring process as a key solution to many of the problems that new teachers experience is being realized in many research studies of educational praxis. There is a general understanding that many of the problems faced by the novice teacher can be dealt with through directed input for more experienced staff.

Novice teachers and experienced educators should be encouraged to work together to form a positive network within the school and with their colleagues in other schools. This is an essential component for both instructional and motivational reasons. Career ladders and release time incentives can be designed so that veteran teachers can serve as mentors for their newer peers, thus promoting collaboration and establishing rewards for productivity and involvement by both. (Marlow & Inman, 1993)

Mentoring can also be extremely useful for new teachers faced with the complex of problems in teaching the disabled. Working with students who have emotional and behavioral problems for the first time can be an extremely difficult and daunting task for the novice teacher and is certainly an area where mentorship is required. Many new teachers are unprepared for the difficulties of this form of teaching, as the following extract from a teacher's experiences suggests.

Major challenges I encountered were the behavior management issues surrounding working with high school students with serious emotional and behavioral difficulties. During my teacher preparation program internships I had worked with preschool and younger elementary-aged students with disabilities, some of whom had behavior issues, but I felt totally unprepared for the challenges that my high school-aged students with disabilities presented. High school students with serious emotional and behavioral disabilities behaved remarkably different from 4-year-olds with autism and with mental retardation! First of all, the high school students were extremely competent at oral language. Second, some had become masters at confronting teachers with verbally aggressive and noncompliant behaviors. (Mastropieri, 2001, p. 66)

The above quotation illustrates the feeling of inadequacy and frustration that may confront even the most enthusiastic and well prepared new teacher. Mentoring therefore serves to provide a support system to help with both practical as well as emotional issues that might occur.

Another important positive aspect of mentoring is that it can also help in guiding and introducing the new teacher to the often complex and confusing area of modern teaching technologies. This aspect has already been built into new mentoring programs, which provides an invaluable support for the new teacher. The use of new technologies can also have the effect of allowing mentoring to take place rapidly and even over distances through the Internet and online conferencing." New technologies afford the possibility of effective mentoring to be experienced as professional learning relationships that take place within a rich mix of system- and school-wide structures, using well developed materials and practices. " (Martinez, 2004 p 95)

Other areas which can be used to increase the feasibility and practicality of mentoring input are mini-conferences for new teachers, where problems confronting new teachers can de dealt with. These conferences also provide, information that a new teacher may not otherwise have received. For example, give strategies for managing students with challenging behavior, or offer advice on how to hold an effective parent-teacher conference." (Martin, 2001) The conferences could also deal with important and problem causing issues such as topics such as, "How to organize a classroom" or "What to do on the first day of school." (ibid)

Another suggestion put forward by some experienced teachers is a teacher newsletter, which could include"... positive messages, ideas for bulletin boards, classroom management strategies, tips for communicating with parents, and addresses for Web sites that teachers could use in lesson plans. (Martin, 2001)

All of the above mentoring possibilities help to assist the new teacher in gaining confidence and feeling more secure in the practical teaching environment.

4. Theoretical perspectives

There are numerous theoretical perspectives and pedagogical -philosophical views concerning the most effective and best teaching practices that the new teacher should be aware of. These theories and philosophies range for behaviorist theories of teaching praxis to postmodern social constructionist educational models. There are also numerous teaching strategies suggested by experts that may be used by the new teacher. However, all of the theories are strategies which are essentially difficult to apply for the new teacher who is struggling to deal with the relatively new stress and strains of practical teaching. This point is stressed in an article entitled Emerging Themes in Problems Experienced by Student Teachers: A Framework for Analysis by Bettye P. Smith.