Supporting First Year Teachers
In an Endeavor to Prevent a Teacher Crisis
Bradford Hall
Jacksonville University
Business Communications
Ms. Sandra Dean
Executive Summary
In America’s schools today, there is many new teachers entering the field of education to
prepare young minds to lead a nation when it is their time. While baby boomers are rushing to
retire in a huge wave from America’s classrooms, large urban school districts like Duval County
Public Schools, and even smaller school districts, are struggling to support first year teachers. This
report specifically focuses on how to support new teachers, keeping them in the field of education
to avoid a teacher crisis by answering three important questions:
• What are the common challenges of first year teachers?
• How do we address these challenges?
• Why does addressing these challenges matter?
The conclusion of this report is that in order to improve support of first year teachers,
school districts must focus on providing better training to teachers in classroom management, offer
teachers more curricular freedom, and become strategic in identifying ways to cultivate more
supportive environments for all teachers, but especially for new teachers. If America does not
focus on doing these three things, an education crisis that would lead to teacher shortages and
weakened teacher certification requirements, lower academic performance among America’s
students, and leading to the corporatization of public education.
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The Problem of Supporting First Year Teachers
Since the beginning of time, we have depended upon education to go further in life and
achieve success. However, an epidemic has reached schools all over the country. Large urban
school districts like Duval County Public Schools are scrambling to find a way to increase teacher
recruitment and retention efforts to help them educate America’s children. With baby boomers
retiring at higher rates and first year teachers receiving mediocre support, this goal seems more
and more distant. Schools must work to address common challenges of first year teachers – no
professional development in classroom management, no opportunity for curricular freedom, and
unsupportive environments.
Discussion
How do we address these challenges?
Classroom Management
Classroom Management involves making sure classroom lessons run smoothly so that
every child is capable of learning. Every day experienced teachers apply various skills they have
learned throughout their tenure in the classroom to help them deliver effective instruction to
students. However, first year teachers have not had an opportunity to learn the ins and outs of the
classroom. Research suggests that one of the biggest issues for first year teachers is an effective
classroom management program. According to Parsonson (2012), 80 percent of disruptive
behavior is attributed to poor classroom organization, planning, and teaching.”
In an effort to help first year teachers effectively control classroom management, it is
important that teachers are provided with periodic professional development programs to enhance
this skill. Great classroom management programs require planning and consistency where rules
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are clear, simple, and implemented fairly. Classroom management techniques must also provide
students with predictability for events and activities. Teachers can best do this by developing
routines. It is also beneficial that first year teachers learn how to simultaneously use praise, both
verbally and non-verbally, when students have done something great and how to monitor the
difficulty of tasks given to students. Great classroom management programs should always include
opportunities for classroom participation among students.
Mastering student engagement practices is perhaps the greatest way to control classroom
management. Strategically arranging seats in a classroom also help students to interact with their
peers and become engaged in the learning process. Parsonson (2012) recommends that students
over the age of 10 years have their desks arranged in rows instead of groups. He also contends that
teachers should use quiet and calm voices when giving instructions to their students and provide a
clear sequence of activities. Brief tasks should be interspersed with longer and more demanding
tasks to make sure students remain on task and engaged. While many beginning teachers may
believe that they need to control student activities at all times, Parsonson (2012) recommends that
teachers provide some choice and access to preferred activities that will occupy students’ minds
and keep them from engaging in disruptive behavior.
MacSuga & Simonsen (2011) present, through their research, a finding that “teachers
perform best when they have clear guidelines and strategies for effective teaching, accompanied
by written performance feedback plus graphed data and consultation meetings.” They also present
a classroom management checklist that helps teachers to ensure they have properly employed
classroom management skills. This checklist (Appendix A) reminds teachers to structure their
classroom lessons into two categories: beginning of class and during instruction. For example, at
the beginning of class, it reminds a teacher to greet students as they enter the classroom and prompt
them to show respect and responsibility. During instruction, a teacher is to provide instruction that
actively engages students in observable ways (e.g., writing, verbalizing). From these two
categories, teachers then prioritize the three top items for their classroom from the checklist.
Teachers can then develop an action plan for enhancement.
Five first year teachers in Duval County Public Schools were interviewed about their first
year experience in the classroom. None of the teachers’ real names was used for this report. Allison
Spring is a second-grade teacher. Tabitha Grayson is a fourth-grade teacher. John Abraham is a
middle school music teacher. Patricia Glover is a teacher is a high school Mathematics teacher.
Janice Keyes is a high school English teacher. Every one of these teachers cited classroom
management as an area where they recognize they need improvement but also expressed frustration
with the fact had received no professional development opportunities in this area, although they
received low marks on their performance evaluation.
