Successful New Teachers

As I continue to work on my thesis for my Education Specialist Degree at Central Michigan University, I've been reading a great deal about how to successfully "induct" new teachers into this great profession. Many excellent web sites are out there as well as quality articles in periodicals. Furthermore, some experts have authored excellent books about the subject.

I became interested in new teacher induction when I was a new teacher -- and never really got "inducted." Orientation was a simple day filling out tax forms, meeting district administrators, and eating a nice lunch. Oh, yeah, and I also received a key and a good luck. My first year was a tough year; upon becoming an administrator, I brought up an idea to my colleagues: "how about a three- or four-day new teacher orientation program?" They said, "Rick, it's your idea. Create it."

New teacher induction is fun and rewarding. Getting mentors involved is a total bonus -- having them share their expertise with many new teachers instead of just one is excellent. Hearing teachers share information about their first years ... priceless!

You can visit a couple of squidoo lenses I created to find out more about this:

http://www.squidoo.com/educate24-7

or

http://www.squidoo.com/qualityschool/.

Thanks for tuning in!