Helpful Hints in Hindsight:What the Early Career <math> Teacher Needs to Know

Shelby Aaberg2015 Nebraska Teacher of the YearScottsbluff High School@ShelbyAabergsaaberg@sbps.net http://mathleticism.net

Wayne State CollegeMarch 5, 2015

About Me

• Wife Laura, Daughter Allison, baby boy on the way

• 2015 Nebraska TOY• National Board Certified• 2013 PAEMST Finalist• 1st Vice President, NATM• Math Dept. Chair, SHS• SHS Sprints Coach• 11th year as a math teacher• Adjunct graduate instructor at UNL• AP Calc AB, AP Stats, Precalc/Trig,

MTPS, Offsemester Alg 1• I love all my kids.

I have done some cool stuff in my career already.

I have hung out with some of the top minds in our field.

I have learned from the best. No, really, THE best.

Objectives

• Examine early-career suggestions from selected 2015 STOYs (State Teachers of the Year).

• Consider how to utilize your colleagues as resources.

• Discuss meaningful classroom technology use.

• Answer the question, “When will I ever use this?”

Turn to Your Neighbor

What suggestions do you anticipate the STOYs will have for early career teachers?

2015 State Teachers of the Year

Carla Jackson2015 Lousiana Teacher of

the Year

Kathy Thirkell2015 Colorado Teacher of

the Year

“My best advice is that building relationships and connecting with your students is way more important/powerful than any content or instructional strategy. Kids may not always remember a specific science unit or math strategy, but they will definitely remember feeling valued and important. I got to share this point when I spoke at our Governor's Education Summit yesterday and it went along with these pics...”

• Best wishes in your adventures. • Be prepared to be a member of the most influential

profession in the world. • Henry Brooks Adams states, “A teacher affects eternity;

he can never tell where his influence stops.” • As teachers we have the awesome responsibility to make

the difference in the life of a child each and every day. • Be prepared to offer these children the best of who you

are every day for they deserve nothing but the best. • Be prepared to be a lifelong learner.

Kathy Thirkell2015 Colorado Teacher of the Year

“Google Drive helps make doing transparent

...so get a handle on technology”

“I always encourage pre-service teachers when observing teachers to ask the practicing teacher to ‘call their shots.’

I tell them to ask for 5 things before the lesson to look for, or to ask for the teacher to call attention to an action before they do it

Often young teachers are observing yet have no idea what to look for, the small things that we all do to manage our classroom can be hard to spot if you don't know what to look for.

I got this idea from Practice Perfect by Doug Lemov.”

“I wish I’d been shown how to make healthy decisions with regards to school budgeting. What to ask for, prioritizing purchases, that sort of thing.

No one ever really did that in the end. I learned by making some uncomfortable mistakes!”

• Parent communication from day one. • Meet with the custodians and bookkeeper immediately.• Being a special needs class, I made sure the custodians knew I would try to handle any

issues myself before reaching out to them since they are such a busy crew. They truly appreciated me coming to them directly and introducing myself. They also know how much I value them.

• I wanted to be on the same page with our bookkeeper about our class budget, so I made that face to face contact early. The bookkeeper is the nucleus at our school and you want to gain his/her respect early.

• Attend campus events! You will have a chance to interact with other teachers and staff and have an opportunity to ask questions in a comfortable environment. Many times, the "newbies" are asked to host a club or help with sports. I was asked to be over Special Olympics and it changed my life.

• Don't overcommit to impress, but find something you can fully commit yourself to and enjoy doing.

• Include your own family and friends in school events. Go to a play together, attend a tennis match, volunteer for a charity walk/run and include family and school. You don't have to feel like you are neglecting your own family/friends by being a part of your school family. Enjoy them together!

• “I think one of the most important things is forming a great relationship with your students and really getting to know as much as you can from them.

• Kids come to school with a lot of baggage sometimes and teachers need to be cognizant of their mind sets sometimes. Meet their family and call home about positive things as much as possible. Parents don't hear enough positives from teachers. Usually phone calls home are because there was a problem.

• New teachers make these great lesson plans and then when teaching they use those plans like it's the Bible. Know that what you plan may not always work out that way. You may need to change the path to get to your end goal and that's OK. It's not about checking things off your lesson plan each day and thinking that's how you know you did a good job. It's ok to take more time than you thought. Make your instruction meaningful.

• Ask for help. Ask to observe others.• Take the time needed at the beginning of the year to establish routines and

procedures. Classroom management is #1. • Keep a journal...reflections...stories about your kids...after 22 years it's hard to

remember those inspirational stories.

Carla Jackson2015 Lousiana Teacher of the Year

1. Ask your students for critical feedback and use it. They see you teach everyday and they know what is working and what is not working. Share with them how you have applied their feedback to making change that impacts their learning. 2. Be okay with risk-taking. Just because we may not know something, or we are not experts, does not mean that we should keep students from learning about it. Take a risk and recognize that your students may know more about something than you do and that is ok.

3. Just like mentioned above...find a mentor that truly wants to help you grow as a professional, but that they also want to learn from you. Remember that we always can learn from anyone. I truly believe we all are the teachers we are today because of the teachers we have worked with.

• Open up to observation/evaluation and eagerly accept feedback.

• I wish I would have had my students evaluate me each year.

“As a first year teacher, I remember I always kept to myself. I thought my lesson delivery strategies were spot on. After observing other teachers, I learned that there was much room for improvement. This is when I really started to grow as an educator. My advice is to learn from your colleagues. Do not self contain yourself in your four walls.”

“I wish I had written something daily (nothing long but just documented significant moments or my reflections) since that first day. Not sure that's a strategy or even helpful, but I wish I had my own written teaching and learning history. ”

2015 National Teacher of the Year Finalist

“I wish I would’ve been encouraged to call parents early so I could establish a positive relationship, and I wish I’d known it was okay to go to a mentor teacher of my own choosing (not necessarily the one assigned to me) to get help and support.”

2015 National Teacher of the Year Finalist

Objectives

• Examine early-career suggestions from selected 2015 STOYs (State Teachers of the Year).

• Consider how to utilize your colleagues as resources.

• Discuss meaningful classroom technology use.

• Answer the question, “When will I ever use this?”

Turn to Your Neighbor

How do you plan to use your colleagues as resources?

Everything is Cool… When You’re Part of a Team

1. Is group work fair?

2. Are we taught group dynamics in teacher preparation?

3. Should we be expected to spontaneously cooperate?

Some Things We Do at My School• Department Socials

• PLC (Professional Learning Community) meetings are teacher led

• Cross-Observation

• Instructional Rounds

• Common Assessments

• Data Analysis

Seeking Colleagues Outside School Walls

PLN (Professional Learning Network) via Twitter

#nebedchat, Wednesdays, 8-9 pm CST

#noycechat,Sundays, 7-8 pm CST

Twitter Tutorial for Teachershttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8nCl_Db-QI&app=desktop

Teaching Channelwww.teachingchannel.org

TED Talks

Ken Robinson,How Schools Kill Creativity

Simon Sinek,How Great Leaders Inspire Action

Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe

Objectives

• Examine early-career suggestions from selected 2015 STOYs (State Teachers of the Year).

• Consider how to utilize your colleagues as resources.

• Discuss meaningful classroom technology use.

• Answer the question, “When will I ever use this?”

Turn to Your Neighbor

How do you plan to use technology in your classroom?

Blogging

A great way to record your own professional growth

Community Involvement

Communication with Stakeholders

www.faketicketgenerator.com

Social Justice

http://ncase.me/polygons/

Student Input on Community Safety

Constructing Physical Models of a Problem/Solution

Compare and Contrast Software Packages

http://mathleticism.net/?p=1360

Objectives

• Examine early-career suggestions from selected 2015 STOYs (State Teachers of the Year).

• Consider how to utilize your colleagues as resources.

• Discuss meaningful classroom technology use.

• Answer the question, “When will I ever use this?”

Turn to Your Neighbor

How do you react to the question “When will I ever use this?”

Get Out of Your Classroom. Learn From Your Peers.

Great teaching, like leadership, requires sacrifice for others.

In Conclusion

Let me be a resource for you as you start your teaching career.

Thank you for your attention. I’ll take some questions.