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Educational Excellence

Surprises

What surprised the early-career teachers the most since they
began teaching? Many expressed a serious concern about low
or unmotivated students. They attributed those concerns to the
Covid-19 pandemic where students fell behind because of remote
learning and isolation. One thought low ability and lack of
motivation were due to parents who just did not care how their
child did in school. Such parental indifference puts the burden on
the teacher to help students to catch up. In many cases, teachers
noted they were teaching life skills in hopes of better motivating
students to want to do well in school. They also hoped to motivate
students to set goals and then to work for those goals.
Another surprise for these early-career educators was how
well they bonded with their students and developed meaningful
relationships. One teacher worked in an inner-city school where
rival gangs existed in the community and school and where drugs
were rampant. This early-career educator feared for her safety and
was learning to show no fear—but she was also very surprised that
she could still build trust and even love with that community. One
interviewee said, “This has got to be the hardest job out there!”
These educators also expressed being overwhelmed by the
number of responsibilities a teacher has with little additional compensation. Besides teaching their own
students all day, they were often asked to give up work time to substitute or supervise students from
another class, deal with a disciplinary situation on their own, and work after school for preparation and
special events like festivals. The result was that preparation and planning time for their own teaching
needed to occur after school hours.

Having a Mentor
Those early-career educators who had a mentor were more secure in their jobs and profession. They
had more positive things to say about their jobs. They believed the mentor offered a variety of assistance,
such as:
• Help in understanding how the building works, how to find things, and so forth;
• Assistance with timelines and responsibilities (such as having grades due, recess duties, etc.)
• Help in getting a grip on paperwork.
• Introductions to staff.
• Being someone to whom to vent.
• Support in helping understand how to talk to parents, how to sign emails, and so forth.
• Encouragement to grow academically.
• Help with classroom issues, administration questions, and personal struggles.
• Quick willingness to help, offer suggestions, and provide a listening ear.
• Information on classroom management, whole brain teaching, and having a gentle spirit.
• Help in dealing with toxic people.
The experience was different for those who had no mentor. They appeared less confident and struggled
with the workload, timelines, and fitting in. They were forced to learn quickly to do all the things expected.
One said she had a mentor, but the mentor was from the district office, not the building where she worked.
She believed the whole mentoring experience was a waste of time. She was left adrift.

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