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New York Teacher Archive: New Teacher
Do you know what state certificate you hold? Your requirements under that certificate? Your deadlines for completing requirements? What city license you’re appointed under? The UFT gets many questions from newer teachers looking for clear and reliable answers about certification, licensing and appointment.
Having worked his way up from pot washer to executive chef, Christopher Burgos knows his way around a kitchen. Now he’s getting a feel for the classroom.
Whether you are a teaching rookie or have a few years of classroom experience under your belt, this is the time to lay a solid foundation for a secure retirement and more.
Recommended by Margrit Pittman-Polletta, PS 24, Brooklyn: I get great ideas from “A Plan Book for Social Justice Teachers” (http://justiceplanbook.com) which is filled with resources for teachers of all grade levels and subjects, including links to lesson plans.
In the summer of 2010 my world was turned upside down with seven words: “I have to move you to kindergarten.” Here I was, with just two years of teaching under my belt (teaching 4th and 5th grade), being forced by my principal to move. I panicked! I had no idea that a year later I’d be looking back on my kindergarten experience with fondness and a sense of accomplishment.
Do you expect to be up for tenure? If so, become familiar with the Department of Education’s new Tenure Decision-making Framework. The new framework, which was introduced in the 2010-2011 school year, guides principals in making tenure decisions. There are important changes to be aware of.
Kristen Mulia had long been fascinated with spoken language. But when she was a linguistics major, that small inner voice said the study of languages might not be meaningful enough. There were other voices, too: her mother’s and her cousin’s. Both said she’d make a great speech therapist.
Teaching can feel like an isolating experience, especially for newer teachers. But there’s no need to feel alone. In fact, reaching out to others in your school community — parents, paraprofessionals, colleagues — is a good way to create support systems for yourself and enlist allies in the education of your students. Read more for suggestions on creating connections right in your school.
Few things are better than a fresh start. To come at something with new eyes, new lessons learned and a chance to do things differently than before — it’s reinvigorating. And teachers get one every September: a chance to reimagine everything, from how you teach to how you decorate your classroom.
Is it really June already? It seems almost impossible to believe. The school year always has its ebbs and flows, its points where you can’t see an end in sight and points where it seems the year is flying by. In mid-June, it feels like a little bit of both.
If you need to eliminate course credit deficiencies for your state certification requirements, you may be able to do so by getting passing grades on exams given by the College Level Examination Program (CLEP), DANTES Subject Standardized Tests (DSST) or Excelsior College Examinations.
The school year may be nearly over, but you may have some important business to complete — either before you leave for the summer or before you return in the fall.
Despite the great social and academic gains my students have made this year, they still wound up bruised and battered by the end of day three of testing. Several faces looked back at me from the tiny desks, big pencils in small hands, silently pleading for some kind of assistance in completing the tests’ tasks.
“Trying to keep 7th-graders interested in ‘Of Mice and Men’ can be difficult when what they’re really interested in is the girl walking by with a hall pass outside the classroom door,” says English teacher Mike Amari. Call it the Zen of teaching adolescents — trying to win their minds while their heads are all over the place — “It’s something you learn to work with,” Amari says.
Sometimes teachers need to take a break in service. Some, like you, need to temporarily relocate away from New York City to accompany a spouse; others decide to try another career path and later decide to return to teaching. Before you take time out for these or other reasons that may not qualify for an official leave of absence, be sure to call your UFT borough office and ask to speak to a consultant.
Top 10 questions/comments made by my 3rd-graders during their first-ever set of English language arts and math state exams (aka “Why teaching in a testing grade may cause premature aging,” or “Why I have Band-Aids on all my fingers from nervously picking off the cuticles while proctoring”).
As busy as you are at this time with grades, report cards and other classroom responsibilities, leave time in June to take care of items that could affect your professional and economic future.
Test prep in my 3rd-grade class has been extremely stressful. First of all, I’ve never taught “test prep” before, least of all to kids who have never taken “THE TEST” before. I’m convinced my co-teacher and I don’t know what we’re doing and if the children do poorly, it will be our fault for not adequately preparing them.
All teachers have the right to a duty-free lunch period every day. You should get no assigned work during this time, including meeting with a coach. Such an assignment cannot be mandatory. However, if you wish to meet with your coach during lunch, there is no problem.
His grandmother used to find him singing in front of the mirror, using a broomstick for a microphone. When he was 3 he started singing at church. Today, tenor opera singer Avid Williams, who has been making his living with his voice for 10 years, is making music at Brooklyn HS of the Arts. As director of the choir and the school’s vocal program, this second-year teacher has found his niche.
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