Best Practices for Novice Teachers: Interview with a Veteran Teacher

Students with diverse learning requirements and preferred learning methods populate classrooms. As a result, teachers must meet students where they are and assist them in achieving their academic objectives. Novice teachers lack the necessary expertise in dealing with diverse learning requirements; they frequently feel overwhelmed and abandon the school or the job, forcing institutions to rehire teachers. On a global scale, teacher attrition in the first five years of classroom in-service practice is a source of worry (Whalen et al., 2019). Hence, teachers must be abreast with changing pedagogy and effectively execute teaching strategies to meet students' needs. Education plays a critical role in personal and social development (Delors, 1996). To help novice teachers with the progress of future generations, an interview with a veteran teacher occurred. A best practice guide for novice teachers concerning choosing resources, technology, and materials and building classroom management strategies for a rigorous and acceptable curriculum guided by the responses from the interview follows.

Best Practice Guide for Novice Teachers

The road of an educator is not an easy one to travel but proves rewarding in the end. As novice teachers, they face challenges and need support to begin their careers (Whalen et al., 2019). Beginning teachers have no idea what to look for because they were not taught what to look for as a new teacher in university, and they learn things on the job that would have never occurred to them previously because they had no skills (Whalen et al., 2019). However, leaning on the three pillars of education, learning to know, learning to do, and learning to be (Delors, 1996), will guide the journey to being an effective teacher. Effective teachers use examples from real-life events, are always prepared, and continue to grow (KÜLEKÇİ, 2018). Following educational pillars will aid in dealing with a wide range of student demands while also assisting kids in academic and social development.

Fostering Knowledge and Elevating Ability

Fostering knowledge and elevating ability starts with lesson planning. Also, teachers must have a plan for determining lesson resources in the diverse classroom while increasing rigor, utilizing technology, and encouraging students to learn about others. The standard lesson plan for improving students' self-awareness focuses on an instructional regime that includes social and emotional learning activities. As a result, children must have the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings, reflect on a range of emotions, build on their strengths, set personal objectives, and develop the best tactics for accomplishing them. Additionally, students must get opportunities to work collaboratively and individually to promote self-examination of preparation and participation while reflecting on work in class. Working in groups allows students to learn more about one another, and the teacher can define and explain what they should expect while interacting with and learning from one another. When the teacher strategically organizes the group setting and size to cultivate meaningful interaction, including topics that drive group conversations and establishing the guidelines governing these discussions, including the benefits of safe forum debates, it also helps students learn about others.

Though the department of public instructions provides curriculum resources for some subjects, one of the first things to think about is the nature of the learning cohort's requirements. Learning styles, cultural and academic gaps, and ethnic, racial, and gender differences are possibilities. After identifying the said needs, the teacher must use a deliberate method of flexible lesson design to respond accordingly. This technique is also anchored in the awareness of issues of inequality, involving key stakeholders such as parents, selecting the best type of education, and incorporating the best technology platform to ensure that all children have access to learning.

Rigor concerns in-class practices and assignments that compel students to engage in deep learning and display cognitive complexity (Culver et al., 2019). To increase academic rigor, teachers can use student data to track progress, strengths, and weaknesses and assign individualized activities to encourage growth for all students. Also, giving students choices to showcase the product of their learning will help with maintaining rigor by allowing them to demonstrate their understanding from a position of comfort and strength. Making changes to the content, process, and learning outcomes is another option. When there is a significant change in the learning topic, however, one must always be wary of lowering the expected learning standard's requirements—one technique to boosting expectations is to include higher-order questions. After being exposed to the more straightforward language, a group of pupils may be called upon to read the grade-level text. In terms of the learning process, students facing challenges grasping essential concepts might use visual organizers to help them organize their thoughts and make sense of the information.

Using Google Sheets and Google classroom to track progress on group assignments where each student is responsible for a piece of the total project is one way to use technology to elevate students' work and abilities. Other sites for students to practice skills include purpose games, Quizzes, Quizlet, and Edpuzzle. Technology in the classroom has a wide range of benefits. Using electronic and digital tools in the classroom improves learning and gives all pupils a better experience (Flair, 2022). Students' access quick feedback from all learning community members, including their peers, is one of them. Others see the advantages of simultaneously writing, discussing, and exchanging thoughts and ideas and the benefits of cooperatively producing reports and inquiry-based projects without the constraints of geographical locations. Mastering core learning skills is one of the most important benefits of technology in boosting students' abilities (reading, writing, and arithmetic). Technology allows students to master these abilities more quickly while also providing the opportunity for frequent practice. Through numerous learning games and applications that are valuable "tools" for stimulating interest and driving engagement, technology can also drive students to study and hence their ability.

Cultures, Values, and Enhancing Diversity and Similarity Appreciation

Teachers in the classroom must use strategies to develop respect for other people's cultures and values, encourage students to appreciate similarities and differences, and the ability to deal with diversity. However, preservice teachers may not be as prepared as they thought they were after encountering several classroom situations, but further educator education and support for new teacher induction methods can help to ensure readiness (Madler et al., 2022).To ensure students are aware of cultural differences, teachers can use some time at the beginning of the semester to discuss how to respect varied cultures. Also, teachers can encourage every student to express an interest and participate as much as possible in the cultural experiences of others. Learner diversity necessitates accepting students with diverse degrees of physical and intellectual skills (Madler et al., 2022). Therefore, teachers must encourage students to take time and deliberately learn and understand the proper pronunciations of words and, even more importantly, the names of people from different cultural origins.

The classroom is a diverse setting, and helping students appreciate such includes planning and executing culturally responsive lessons that cater to the diverse needs of the learning cohort, especially the racial, ethnic, and socio-economic realities of the 21st-century classroom. A more flexible system that permits greater curricular diversity and establishes bridges between different types of education can provide valuable remedies to problems mismatch between supply and demand in the labor market (Madler et al., 2022). Another consideration when responding to classroom diversity concerns students' individual needs, which sharply focuses on their learning styles, unique challenges, and the diverse community/ cultural assets each brings to the learning space. Similarly, teachers can assign seating with different groupings and use videos and pictures showing from different cultures to enhance learning.

Within a diverse classroom, most teachers fail to address the need to appreciate similarity since the focus is mainly on sensitizing students about cultural differences and sensitivity. However, the need for students to grasp the concepts of culture, cultural identity, and cultural diffusion is paramount. Students must understand the many similarities between groups and individuals despite differences. Teachers must constantly expose students to the values that transcend cultures and their implications for learning and citizenship. These include good manners, respect, traditions, morals, family, institutions, history, music, and dance. The teacher can have class discussions or debates and watch videos to aid students' appreciation.

Teachers encounter several obstacles, such as teaching global themes when their expertise is in national topics. However, conducting study and enlisting the assistance of peers will make the process easier. Furthermore, after most of your teaching career working with culturally homogeneous populations, instructing scholars from various racial origins and speaking different native languages, such as Spanish, might be intimidating. Teachers can overcome such obstacles with the help of experienced faculty members and attendance at professional development seminars. Collaboration with Spanish teachers within the company and learning how to embrace students' culture and language and use them to enrich the learning experience for all students is a vital component of tackling the problem of language barriers.

Conflict Resolution, Empathy, and Cooperative Behavior

A lack of understanding among students can lead to conflict and insensitivity within the classroom. As a result, teachers must educate pupils on comprehending and resolving problems while empathizing with others. Teachers can model positive behaviors daily and use scenarios that students act out, then debate/discuss the various ways to handle the situation. Also, students can participate in group activities with close supervision, and the teacher stepping in as soon as a problem arise. Being a positive role model and emulating caring, sharing, and being sensitive to the feelings and emotions of others can help students to do the same. Also, exposing students to events and the merit of critical thinking skills and understanding complex issues from various perspectives can help them listen and think before acting. Teachers should also urge students to reflect on their actions, thoughts, and feelings to become more empathetic to others' perspectives.

Employing the H.E.A.R Strategy is another approach that teachers can use to increase empathy and corporation in the classroom. The H.E.A.R Strategy consist of four steps, halt, engage, anticipate, and replay (Wilson & Conyers, 2014). Students are encouraged to stop doing whatever they're doing, focus on the speaker, think about what the speaker is saying, then replay the information for understanding and remembering (Wilson & Conyers, 2014).

Words of Wisdom

Start with knowing your students and, importantly, understand their backgrounds in terms of the ethnic, racial, and socio-economic realities. Also, closely monitoring students and showing respect to get respect. Track individual progress and have students track their progress closely (not just their grades but their knowledge). Another piece of advice is to include critical stakeholders in all aspects of the teaching and learning process. These include parents, teachers, coaches, and even students and peers. I would also encourage the new teacher to conduct a learning inventory of their students. The approach may include one of the various diagnostic tests available to capture data, such as learning styles, reading profiles, interests, social language, emotional states, and levels of academic achievement. The above are critical components necessary for deciding the appropriate instructional strategies and their effectiveness in the 21st-century learning space.

References

Culver, K. C., Braxton, J., & Pascarella, E. (2019). Does teaching rigorously really enhance undergraduates’ intellectual development? the relationship of academic rigor with critical thinking skills and lifelong learning motivations. Higher Education, 78(4), 611–627. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00361-z

Delors, J. (1996). Learning: The treasure within: Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the twenty-first century. UNESCO Publishing.

Flair, I. (2022). Technology in education. Salem Press.

KÜLEKÇİ, G. (2018). Identifying the perceptions of prospective English language teachers on characteristics of effective teachers: Who is the ideal teacher? Novitas-ROYAL, 12(1), 1-15.

Madler, A. M., Anderson, S. K., LeMire, S. D., & Smith, K. (2022). Perceptions of teacher preparation for classroom diversity. Mid-Western Educational Researcher, 34(1), 42-68.

Model Teaching. (2020, June 5). Differentiation in the classroom: Content, process, or product? Model Teaching. https://www.modelteaching.com/education-articles/lesson-curriculum-planning/differentiation-in-the-classroom-content-process-or-product

Whalen, C., Majocha, E., & Van Nuland, S. (2019). Novice teacher challenges and promoting novice teacher retention in Canada. European Journal of Teacher Education, 42(5), 591–607. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2019.1652906

Wilson, D., & Conyers, M. (2014, January 22). Training the brain to listen: A practical strategy for student learning and classroom management. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/training-the-brain-to-listen-donna-wilson#:~:text=Teaching%20Students%20to%20Focus%20and%20Listen&text=One%20must%20work%20hard%20to,Engage%3A%20Focus%20on%20the%20speaker