K el lerISD

Growing up my mother worked in the cafeteria at the local elementary school. Each morning I would get up early and go to work with my mom. We typically arrived about an hour and a half before school started. Luckily, other cafeteria workers brought along their children, so I had others to hang out with.

We would spend the mornings playing in the cafeteria or outside. Unbenounced to our parents we spent a lot of time in places we shouldn’t have been: under the stage where the chairs were stored, in the teacher’s lounge, in the library playing hide and seek, at the track, in the concession stand, in storage closets, etc.

One of my earliest memories was in the teacher’s parking lot when a heavy rain left a very large water puddle. I was in first grade at the time and like all first grade boys ,believed that I could do almost anything. I knew as I easily jumped the puddle my

friends standing around the edge would be impressed. Just as I landed in the middle of the puddle one of the teachers who had taught at the school for years pulled into the parking lot, rolled down her window, and made it clear to me that the parking lot was not the place to be playing. Now, in school I was pretty quiet and rarely did I get in trouble; I knew what would happen when I got home. In this particular case I quickly retreated to the cafeteria feeling defeated and embarrassed.

I believe our first year teachers begin the school year with the perspective of a first grade boy. They believe they can do almost anything, but they soon find themselves standing in the middle of a puddle with all of their fellow teachers standing around the edge. On occasion the veteran teacher will step in and make it clear they are in the wrong place. I believe this is where their mentor comes in. It’s our job to help them out of the puddle, dry them

off and give them the confi-dence to try again.

As you review the chart on page four think about what you can do to help those teachers who are in the disillusionment stage. For our November meeting please be prepared to share some of your tips and tech-niques with the others in the group.

AN Y PU D D L E S? I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Professional Learning Community Schedule of Topics

2

Reminders 2

The Delayed or “Anticipatory” Conse-quence

3

Phases of First Year Teaching

4

MENTOR MINUTE

Mentor Minute

R E M I N D E R S . . .

PRO F E S S I O NA L LE A R N I N G CO M M U N I T Y SC H E D U L E O F TO P I C S

• If you have not turned in your “Mentor Invoice” for the month of October, please do so as soon as possible. Please follow the submission schedule below. Invoices can be faxed to 817-741-3548. Month Invoices Due October Week of October 11 November Week of November 8 December Week of December 6 January Week of January 10 February Week of February 14 March Week of March 7 April Week of April 11 May Week of May 23

• My records indicate that the following teachers are in need of PDAS training: Mary Pham, Angie Lucas, Veronica Gomez, Lyndsay Hollis, Lauren Aguilera, Lauren Kornely, Kristen Mikell, Kim Taylor, Eric Benjamin, David Turguette, Brian Salge, Sheila Price, Catharine DeVault, Manuella Rogers, Tim Lyons, Travis Brown, Adam Cook, Ursula Fontenton, Patrick Hale, Nicole Armarendez, and Julie Gipson

• Our next mentor meeting is on November 4th from 8:00-11:00 am at the Administration Building in the Lone Star room. Please have Chapters 2-4 of The Heart of Mentoring read prior to this first meeting.

“Communication is the real work of

leadership.”

Nitin Nohria

Page 2

Month Topic FYT Notebook FYT Power Point

September

The Effective Teacher

Pages 9-19

Slides 7-14

October

Managing the Classroom

Pages 36-57

Slides 27-56

November

Discipline

Pages 58-72

Slides 57-64

Dec/Jan

Teaching for Learning

Pages 89-103

Slides 75-106

February

Teaching for Learning

Pages 89-103

Slides 75-106

March

Discipline

Pages 58-72

Slides 57-64

April

The Effective Teacher

Pages 9-19

Slides 7-14

May

Mentor Minute

The Delayed or "Anticipatory" Consequence B Y J I M F A Y

Love and Logic Solutions

www.loveandlogic.com

Page 2

Immediate consequences work really well with rats, pigeons, mice, and monkeys. In real-world classrooms, they typically create more problems than they solve. Problems with Immediate Consequences

1. Most of us have great difficulty thinking of an immediate consequence while we are teaching.

2. We "own" the problem rather than handing it back to the child. In other words, we are forced to do more thinking than the child.

3. We are forced to react while we and the child are upset. 4. We don't have time to anticipate how the child, his/her parents, our administrators,

and others will react to our response. 5. We don't have time to put together a reasonable plan and a support team to help us

carry it out. 6. We often end up making threats we can't back up. 7. We generally fail to deliver a strong dose of empathy before providing the conse-

quences. 8. Every day we live in fear that some kid will do something that we won't know how to

handle with an immediate consequence. Take care of yourself, and give yourself a break! Here's how:

• The next time a student does something inappropriate, experiment with saying, "Oh no. This is so sad. I'm going to have to do something about this! But not now...later. Try not to worry about it."

• The Love and Logic® Anticipatory Consequence allows you time to "anticipate" whose support you might need, how the child might try to react, and how to make sure that you can actually follow through with a logical consequence. This Love and Logic technique also allows the child to "anticipate" or worry about a wide array of possible consequences.

• The Love and Logic® Anticipatory Consequence technique gains its power from this basic principle of conditioning. When one stimulus consistently predicts a second, the first stimulus gains the same emotional properties as the second. Stated simply: When "try not to worry about it" consistently predicts something the child really must worry about, "try not to worry about it" becomes a consequence in and of itself...an "Anticipatory" Consequence.

Mentor Minute

First-year teachers will move through a number of developmental phases. While not every teacher goes through this exact se-quence, these phases are very useful in the process of supporting your new teachers. These teachers move through several phases from anticipation, to survival, disillusionment, rejuvenation, reflection, then back to anticipation. Below are the stages through which new teachers move during this first crucial year.

ANTICIPATION PHASE New teachers enter with a tremendous commitment to making a difference and a somewhat idealistic view of how to accomplish their goals. One new teacher is quoted as saying, “I was elated to get the job but terrified about going from the simulated experi-ence of student teaching to being the person completely in charge.” This feeling of excitement carries new teachers through the first few weeks of school. SURVIVAL PHASE The first month of school is very overwhelming for new teachers. They are learning a lot and at a very fast rapid pace. During the survival phase, most new teachers struggle to keep their heads above water. They become very focused and consumed with the day-to-day routine of teaching. There is little time to stop and reflect on heir experiences. It is not uncommon for new teachers to spend up to seventy hours a week on schoolwork. New teachers, still uncertain of what really works, must develop their lessons for the first time. Although tired and surprised by the amount of work, first-year teachers usually maintain a tremendous amount of energy and commitment during the survival phase, harboring hope that soon the turmoil will subside. DISILLUSIONMENT PHASE After weeks of nonstop work and stress, new teachers enter the disillusionment phase. The intensity and length of the phase var-ies among new teachers. The extensive time commitment, the realization that things are probably not going as smoothly as they want and low morale contribute to this period of disenchantment. New teachers begin questioning both their commitment and their competence. Many new teachers get sick during this phase. During this phase, classroom management is a major source of dis-tress. At this point, the accumulated stress of the first-year teachers, coupled with months of excessive time allotted to teaching, often brings complaints from family members and friends. This is a very difficult and challenging phase for new entries into the profession. They express self-doubt, have lower self-esteem and question their professional commitment. In fact, getting through this phase may be the toughest challenge they face as a new teacher.

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PHASES OF FIRST YEAR TEACHING