How Babcock & Northwood Are Tending Their New Teacher Gardens
Each site has a special way of supporting its teachers, but we don't always get the chance to take a peek inside that work. This month, the new teacher support team at Babcock and Northwood Elementary Schools had the chance to share a bit about what it is they are doing to help their newest educators build the mindset, skillset, and resilience needed to navigate their first years and how their own experiences in the classroom have helped shape how they approach this transformational work. Take a look!
In 100 words or less, please share the work that you’re most proud of doing in supporting new teachers at Babcock & Northwood.
We have worked to establish trust with our new teachers, maintaining an open-door policy and often asking if there is anything we can do to support them. We also notice and point out to them what they are doing well. Developing positive and constructive relationships are important to us. We are creating avenues for listening to teachers, connecting them to other staff members, and providing opportunities for two-way communication.
This month’s resilience work focuses on building compassion and maintaining perspective. Our question for each member of the support team was:
What favorite “new teacher” story do you have from your own teaching journey that you think helps you maintain your perspective as you work to support new teachers?
Mr. Myers, Principal, Babcock & Northwood Elementary
I remember struggling with lots of things during my first couple of years in teaching. I used my BTSA release days to observe colleagues and talked to several who I respected, looking for advice. Of course, some of the advice was good and some wasn’t all that great. One of the best early pieces of advice I got as I was trying to work out my style and who I was as a teacher, was to not try to “be anyone else”. In hindsight, I think that was great advice because I was questioning myself a lot, and looking for successful practices that I could replicate. I think it was in my 3rd year in the classroom that I observed a teacher who was at Fairbanks Elementary who had a large impact on me. I had gained some good strategies from others, but this was the first time where I saw someone who “personified” how I wanted to be as a teacher. I got to watch him a few times and took a ton of what he was doing and made it my own. Much of that was ways to run an engaging environment where there was a strong connection between students and teacher, which was also very calm and thoughtful.
Mrs. Ampania, V.P., Babcock Elementary
When I was in my first year of teaching, one of my students’ fathers told me that he had AIDS during his parent-teacher conference. In that moment, compassion kicked in and my perspective on how best to support his daughter and the family shifted. Here I was concerned about some missing homework assignments and some attendance issues but realized that their story was much greater than the items on my checklist. I knew that I played a vital role in this sweet girl’s emotional well-being and that relationship continues to this day. Being her teacher changed me and helped me see what kind of teacher I wanted to be for my students. This was a defining experience for me that showed just how important having perspective and showing compassion are in our profession.
Mrs. Young, V.P., Northwood Elementary
My very first year of teaching was a whirlwind. Six months before, I had quit my job at a title company and started substitute teaching. I enjoyed it so much, I decided to get my teaching credential. My bachelor’s degree was in Business Administration, not education. My experience with education was encompassed by substitute teaching. California had just put class size reduction in place and I wasn’t even through my first class, and I had a job teaching 1st grade at a K-8 school in the central valley, nestled in the middle of cotton fields. My principal was supportive and the reading specialist helped me as much as she could. A week before school started, it was decided my class would be a K-1 combo. I panicked! I went to the Kindergarten teacher who had been at this school many years to ask for help. I had heard what a masterful teacher she was and was so glad that I was working with someone of her caliber. But, as we were talking, I asked her about the Kindergarten curriculum and schedules and many other things. I was overwhelmed. She looked at me point blank and said, “You are going to have to get your own curriculum because I’m not helping you.” I was floored. She was mad because I was getting K students who had been in Head Start the year before. I felt: hopeless, lost, defeated, and angry. I decided I would remember these feelings and work to support fellow colleagues whenever I could. Everyone wins when we support each other.
