Incoming teachers to BPS were treated to inspirational talks and a wide selection of workshops at this year”s New Teacher Institute, held at English High School. New Teacher Developers, who are the primary designers of this Institute, were on hand to welcome everyone and to give out copies of keynote speaker Rick Smith”s classic book, Conscious Classroom Management.
On Day 1, two 2013 Educators of the Year shared their first year experiences and recommendations. Erik Berg, who teaches second grade at the Philbrick, had three major suggestions: find joy in the work, lean on your colleagues, and get involved… but don”t do too much, i.e. resist administrative pressure to join every committee! Amy Piacitelli of Charlestown HS reminded us that teachers send a message every single day about who we are and what we believe about the students we teach. Dr. Carroll Blake began his keynote with music, saying that participants are starting “a journey to set the world on fire.” He spoke about the importance of becoming culturally proficient educators, which requires getting to know what students bring and developing positive, caring relationships throughout the school year.
Presentations on Day 2 focused on establishing those all-important procedures and routines that make for a successful classroom community. Keynote speaker Rick Smith kept everyone engaged for two hours (!) by frequent “turn & talk” activities in response to a plethora of strategies for gaining and maintaining student attention. His goal, for experienced as well as brand new teachers: “Stuff You Can Use.” One of the ideas that I especially liked was to spend less than 2 minutes/day, for 10 days in a row, in a brief personal conversation with the most challenging student in your class. He assured his audience that this simple strategy should yield an 85% improvement in behavior from that student! Another strategy worth sharing is using visuals to reinforce expectations: e.g. take photos of your students illustrating how to line up to exit the classroom, and how NOT to line up! This can be displayed as a simple rubric, with numbers assigned to each example. Photos can also be posted near a classroom sink or supply area to show how it should look when everything has been cleaned up. Following lunch, NTDs led workshops for new teachers on how to best utilize the resources and ideas presented in Conscious Classroom Management, while experienced teachers heard more from Rick on ways to motivate reluctant learners.
Institute participants also got to choose from a variety of workshops led mostly by district staff from Human Resources, the Office of English Language Learners, Visual and Performing Arts, and other BPS departments. K-3 teachers attending the Health & Wellness “Let”s Move More” workshop had fun counting with their bodies. Dr. Catherine Constant, of the Office of Special Education and Student Services, shared strategies for engaging all children. Edmodo, a free social learning platform for educators and their students, was the topic of yet another afternoon workshop.
I always enjoy meeting and talking with teachers new to Boston, and these two days at the New Teacher Institute were no exception! Next month I will return to featuring student learning, with captions by the students pictured “ please invite me to visit YOUR school!
Amika Kemmler-Ernst, Ed.D.
amika45@comcast.net