First Five Years
I Can Do It!

Veteran Teachers Help Beginners Survive in the Classroom.

Beginning a teaching career can be a daunting, overwhelming experience. Depending upon the school, a new teacher may confront an overcrowded classroom, no mentor, and little time to meet with peers or plan courses. In too many cases, new teachers see little hope of handling the challenges before them, and they leave the profession.

Now NEA has come to the aid of new teachers with a six-hour crash course in classroom management called "I Can Do It." Through the program, experienced teachers share the secrets of surviving and thriving during the first five years in the profession. NEA currently is collaborating with 22 state affiliates to offer the program, and thousands of new teachers have taken advantage of it.

"These are the things you don't learn in college, but which are vital to your success as a teacher," says Mary Jo Webster, a high school music teacher in Falls Church, Virginia, who took the training course through the Virginia Education Association (VEA). "If you don't master classroom management, it makes teaching much less effective and less satisfying for teachers and students alike." Webster found the program such a boost to her classroom effectiveness that she then enrolled in VEA's three-day course to become a program trainer.

During the "I Can Do It" sessions, trainers focus on strategies that will help beginning teachers successfully manage their classrooms, such as establishing a positive classroom climate, using rules and routines to manage instruction, and maintaining critical relationships.

"Good education is a partnership between teachers, students, and parents," says Webster. "See parents as your allies--not your adversaries. The better the relationship you build with parents, the more effective you will be in helping students learn."

"I Can Do It" started in the mid-1990s in San Bernardino, California, when chapter leaders and members from the California Teachers Association (CTA) began investigating why so many teachers in the county left the profession within the first five years on the job.

The chapter presidents met with active teachers and with teachers who had left the district and developed a plan to provide new teachers with the tools they needed to succeed, says Patricia Rucker, a former teacher and now a consultant for the CTA "I Can Do It" program.

The first "I Can Do It" trainings were so well received in San Bernardino that CTA expanded the program statewide. Before long, representatives of NEA affiliates from across the country traveled to California to learn about the program and take it back to their home states.

"We sent people to learn the California program, and began our own in 1999," says Betty Lambdin, who coordinates "I Can Do It" for the VEA. "Since then, it has spread fast and furiously in Virginia. We've already trained thousands of new teachers, and we have 30 teachers currently conducting weekly trainings."

So what does it take to keep your classroom under control? "I Can Do It" trainers have some advice:

"Go slow to go fast," says Ronda Royal, a third- and fourth-grade teacher in La Mesa, California, now in her fifth year as a trainer. "Spend the first several weeks of the school year going over rules, routines, and expectations with your students. Let this information gradually take hold. Then you can keep your instruction going at a brisk, consistent pace later."

Rucker agrees. "Remember that routines are as important as rules. Rules are about managing behavior, but routines are the key to managing instruction. Make sure kids know the signals, verbal and nonverbal, that you use for instruction and classroom management."

--Matt Simon

For more:
E-mail Linda James at ljames@nea.org.

Dilemma
How do you get your class back on task after lunch?

I ask my students to put their feet flat on the floor, take everything off their desks, and put their hands on their desks. Then I ask them to stare quietly at the clock and, in silence, watch the second hand go around for one complete minute.

Ann Ribinsky Brown
High school English teacher
South Plainfield, New Jersey

After lunch, my students have 10 minutes to use the bathroom, water fountain, or complete other quick jobs. At the scheduled time, I begin reading an ongoing, chapter book aloud. This motivates the children to be on time.

Richard W. Rogers
Third-grade teacher
Blue Bell, Pennsylvania

I have a class in the middle of the lunch shifts. I inform the class of what we will do before and after lunch. As they return from lunch, I remind them of the activities left to perform.

Katrice A. Lucas
Ninth-grade social studies teacher
Baltimore, Maryland

The best way to get my students to settle down from lunch is to have a quiet activity for them to do. I read a book aloud and let them draw while they listen to the story.

Shawna Kurr
Special education teacher
Warren, Maine

Reading to my students gets them settled down and back on task. The children are so interested in the story, they listen from the moment I start reading. It is a great way to transition back to learning.

Jennifer Vince
Fourth-grade teacher
Columbus, Ohio

My third period class meets for 30 minutes, followed by lunch, and then an hour of class. Students know that after lunch they will take a quiz. This strategic placement of the daily quiz gets the class back on task and has virtually eliminated student tardiness.

Linda Turner
Math teacher
Jacksonville, Florida

Got an Answer?

How do you help a child whose parents are getting divorced?
E-mail your answer to dilemma2@list.nea.org. Or send by regular mail, or fax to 202/822-7206. Include your name, city, state, and job. If published, you will receive an NEA Today mug!

Nobody Ever Told Me

Classroom Distraction
There are some things that you just need to learn on your own during your first year as a teacher. My first year was quite an adventure, to say the least.

One day in particular sticks out in my mind. I made it through the day with the usual trials and tribulations. In the late afternoon I had to attend a meeting. I was just about to leave when my children started yelling that one student was playing with a balloon.

I looked at the student the children were talking about and sure enough he was playing with something. I told him to bring it to me. He handed me the "toy," and when I looked down I was holding a bright pink condom. My jaw dropped as my kids asked what it was. I did not know how to respond, so I simply told the class that toys were not allowed in school. I just could not believe that a second grader would bring a condom to school. I was at a loss for words.

Nobody ever told me how to deal with a situation like this.

Jamie Sienko
Second-grade teacher
Baltimore, Maryland

Got a Story?
E-mail kloschert@nea.org.

Two-Minute Tips

Noisy Classroom
Quieting a rambunctious group can be a challenge, but I succeed with this trick. I ask the children to copy my movement patterns, saying "do what I do" while I move my arms up and down, pat my head, or touch my nose. Initially, I do one movement and change it every five seconds. Later, I perform a pattern of movements. Children need to watch and tend to stop talking as they concentrate on imitating my motions. In addition to getting their attention, this gives them a simple movement break. For noisier groups, I clap patterns and have the students repeat them. I continue the clapping patterns until everyone is quiet and joins the game.

Janet Shlegle
Loveville, Maryland

Post-It® Charts
When I make a new seating chart, I put each child's name on a small Post-It note and then attach the notes to a piece of paper. I can move the sticky notes quickly to change the chart without erasing or forgetting a student. I store the notes and chart in a clear protector sheet so I don't lose any of the Post-Its. The charts save time and paper.

Tina Thompson
Lexington, Nebraska

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