HELPING NEW TEACHERS SURVIVE
Reprint from the January 26, 2001 edition of The Tidings - By R.W. Dellinger

When Lisa Williams started teaching first grade at St. Joseph the Worker School in Canoga Park last September, her biggest challenge was having so many students whose parents spoke English as a second language. Another problem was figuring out what exactly first graders know and what they don't, so she could teach at their level. "But also just getting them out to lunch and recess," Williams reports. "It sounds like the simplest thing, but you spend two weeks just getting it right at the beginning of the school year."

First-year teacher Michelle Lasorce's major hurdle at Our Lady of Peace School in North Hills was starting from scratch in building up instructional materials for her third grade class. And then there was the whole issue of classroom control. "It was a challenge because you as a first-year teacher are trying to establish yourself while the students are preparing themselves for a new teacher," she says. "It's a challenge to set rules and makes sure that the kids follow them."

For Denise Itule, who is the new third grade teacher at Our Lady of Grace School in Encino, finding classroom procedures that worked for her as well as her students was difficult. "Plus, just finding time for everything that you want to teach and the way you want to teach it", she says. "And then coming up with creative ways to teach 35 kids has been a challenge. But it's been interesting and exciting too."

Day-To-Day Mechanics
None of this surprises Patty Baldwin, who has been the principal of St. Bernardine of Siena School in Woodland Hills for 11 years and an educator since 1975. She says all these problems arise from the fact that new teachers have had little or no experience handling the day-to-day mechanics of teaching. "They all come with a good heart," she observes, "but they need to know the actual hands-on how things work on a daily basis: How do I set up my classroom? What am I going to encounter discipline-wise? How could I have avoided this difficult situation? What was good about the lesson I presented? How am I going to evaluate that the students learned what I wanted them to learn? How am I going to survive?"

Baldwin knows that many don't. A recent national study found that half of all new teachers never return to the classroom for a second year. In addition, she points out, many teachers who start out in Catholic schools soon switch to public schools where the salaries are significantly higher and the benefits traditionally better.

"It's a real problem nationally and right here in the archdiocese," she says. "And if we think we have a problem now, three or four years down the line it's going to be even more severe unless we devise ways to attract, train and then retain teachers.

Teachers Teaching Teachers
Last fall, the principal started a pilot program called "Teacher to Teacher" to do just that. Every month a workshop is held at st. Bernardine of Siena School for new teachers. First, they hear a lecture by a leading education authority. Topics include how to teach reading and writing, math, social studies and science as well as practical instruction in the nitty-gritty of lesson plans and bulletin boards, grading student work and conducting parent conferences.

Each lecture is followed by an hour or two of classroom observation. Workshop participants visit St. Bernardine of Siena School classrooms, where veteran teachers demonstrate how they teach the subject under discussion. After class, new teachers get the chance to ask the veterans questions about their teaching techniques and methods.

"You can only learn so much in a classroom - the theory," points out Paula Dersom, the third grade teacher at St. Bernardine of Siena School who modeled a lesson on science writing. "But to put it into practice is something totally different. To see it in hands-on setting is best. That's the way I Learned."

First-year teacher Lisa Williams agrees. "It's fantastic because I get to see firsthand how teachers actually teach the subject," she says of the Teacher-to-Teacher program. "And then I get to go back to St. Joseph the Worker and right away use the information in my own first grade classroom. It's just a really great way to get ideas and learn how to implement them."

"I Can Do That"
Michelle Lasorce, the third grade teacher at Our Lady of Peace School, also likes having the opportunity to observe the teaching profession up close. "These experienced teachers are saying, 'This is what we do.' It makes you think 'Oh, yeah, I can do that, too".

Third grade Our Lady of Grace School teacher Denise Itule, who has a master's degree in education from Pepperdine University, says the workshop "kind of reaffirms" what she learned in graduate school. "And it's just nice to be around other teachers who are also starting out, because we understand what each other is going through," she explains. "You feel like you have a support system around you, which is nice."

 

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