Schools and Teachers work on a 10 week Cycle.
A beginning is full of hopes and dreams and great ideas. .By the end of the term, the same enthusiasm is just
not there and teachers can become stressed and even physically ill with tension.
Everything starts in a professional way, and then there is a degeneration to the end of the term, then
the vacation regenerates and revives. It happens all the time.
Create a new beginning by attending a conference. You return refreshed and regenerated and with new ideas and regenerated
enthusiasm.
Encourage any jaded teacher to go and attend a seminar or conference. They will return a different person. Conferences
and seminars are not just for Heads and Administrators. Teachers need these breaks even more, and need to be encouraged to
attend gatherings of other teachers, out of their own area for growth.
Teachers need these breaks at least once each term. In-school Seminars for everybody is not the answer. The department
accepts this, as they have special day leave for a teacher wishing to use this facility, and schools provide PD opportunities,
but many teachers may not see their own personal growth as a part of their teaching ability.
Teachers must physically leave their boundaries if they wish to extend their own boundaries.
New and even continuing teachers would be helped somewhat, by schools having a curriculum for teachers
to follow at least for one term.
At some schools, teachers prepare a projected course for the following year, so the new teacher has time to settle
in with the students, learn the new system ,and learn about the school systematically, without having to also try and
work out what is supposed to be taught..
Online Courses is one way of making this a reality. new teachers can access this information on the School or Broader
network.
Some schools provide Staff Training Sessions for new incoming teachers, and this helps these teachers to assimiliate
far more quickly than they would if they had to find out everything for themselves.
This is essential when new teachers come into the school mid year. All schools run these sessions at the beginning of
the year. Its the other times, that this is possibly needed even more, as school routines are established and new teachers
now have to learn these, whereas in the beginning of the year, they were themselves a part of this routine set up, when staff
and students first arrive.
The next struggle is usually at the end of the term when the reports have to be written.
If a teacher has not been able to fully get to know every student, which does happen, as there could
be behaviour problems in large classes ,which restricts teachers from getting to know all the students fully, then report
time can be a disaster.
A report on each student from the past teacher would alleviate this stress and also give the new teacher some
idea of what has been happening in the past.
The situation may occur that often it is the quiet student who gets overlooked ,and a past teacher report could help
alleviate this problem.
There have been classes where a photo of each student and a brief description is presented to each teacher. This becomes
very important if there are health problems or emotional private situations that ought to be known, and if a teacher wishes
to share any issue that would help the next teacher. Primary Schools are excellent at this, mainly because the same classes
move upward together, but the same concept in Secondary and Tertiary,would be useful to new teachers as they struggle to find
their roots.
Teachers facing empty records are disadvantaged as they have to work without any foundation as each school is a new
start.
Relief teachers also find records such as these helpful, and schools who do provide records and data, have less stressed
teachers as they start with some guidelines as to what to expect.
One school had students at risk listed on a chart in the staffroom, which is extremely valuable if you are on duty where
you have to deal with students out of your own teaching area. Familiarising yourself with the faces of students with allergies,
illnesses, etc is an excellent idea.
Teaching can be like the explorers of the past...you plot your way as you go, and if you go wrong, then you have
to not only find your way back to where you went wrong, but you now have to plot the tracks again.
Wouldn't it be far easier having a map, even if the map was vague? At least one would have some idea where to start from.
A good map of course means you can travel faster and far more efficiently, and many schools are now doing this to help their
staff assimilate and teach more efficiently.
Today with the technology available, it would be easy for teachers to create this data bank and add or amend as time
goes on. Schools all have reports stored somewhere. The basic information from past reports could be a beginning with a format
for basic data such as:
Name and details, including parental contact details
Behaviour and Attitude
Health Matters
Interests and Achievements
Problems and Concerns
Other
Not only that, teachers who cope from the beginning find it far easier to maintain that original enthusiasm and can
handle that end of term stress much better as they have less detrimental effects to try and overcome or change.
