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CHAPTER 1
Twelve Tips About Fitting In
Mentors and coaches should help new teachers understand the school culture in order to help them learn to fit in.
School Cultures
When teachers take jobs in schools, even if they worked in the schools as practice teachers, they generally lack substantial understanding of the school culture, which includes the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of both the adults and the students who interact in the school. It is important to keep in mind that each school has its own unique characteristics and that often it is the mentors and coaches who can help novices or struggling teachers learn to fit in with that unique school culture. If teachers fit in, it is more likely that they might stay in a school or in the profession. Some aspects of a school's culture appear to support mentors and coaches in their efforts to help teachers learn to fit in, and some work against them. I will explain each of them and suggest some tips. Figure 1.1 (page 12) is a graphic representation of these factors.
The School Culture I Studied
I chose to study a school that was demographically similar to the schools in which I had been a mentor or coach. These schools are in the southeastern United States and in urban settings. They have challenging student populations, which include large numbers of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, high numbers of low-performing students, and high levels of teacher turnover. I call the school from which I provide real-world examples Lincoln High School. Although I also was a mentor and a coach in middle school settings, I believe this school is highly representative of schools that struggle with teacher turnover; therefore, it provides many useful examples of how colleagues such as mentors and coaches helped teachers deal with many typical school conflicts. It is important to remember, however, that each school culture is unique and no one school or group of schools has the ability to reflect the conflicts of all schools.
Figure 1.1 Supportive and Challenging School Culture Factors Related to Collegial Partnerships
Supportive Environmental Factors
The following explanations, examples, and tips address the ways environmental factors can improve the chances that mentors and coaches might help teachers fit in at their schools.
University-School Connection
One of the findings from my research was that the universities that send new teachers to schools to practice teach often play supportive roles and have a great deal of influence on how collegial partnerships work. Sometimes professors who place student teachers in schools have already attempted to match teachers who have a good chance of fitting in at those schools. The most effective professors in charge of school placements seem to have made a point of understanding the school cultures and have made a point of understanding the kinds of teachers who might fit in there.
The Talented Dr. Collins
Some of the mentors I interviewed at Lincoln were impressed with Dr. Collins, the professor from the local university who was in charge of placing student teachers at the school. One reason was that Dr. Collins had made a point of developing a clear understanding of the local schools so that she was able to pair pre-service teachers from the university program with teachers and classrooms in those schools. She had demonstrated the ability to help find teachers that fit well at Lincoln, and the majority of her practice teachers had been successful. Hiring teachers who had practice-taught at the school may not be a common occurrence for other school systems, but it was exceptionally useful at Lincoln.
Tip # 1: School leaders, cooperating teachers, and university professors should collaborate to help match pre-service teachers with school cultures. In order to successfully collaborate, school leaders, cooperating teachers, and university professors would cultivate a useful understanding of both the school culture and the pre-service teachers who want to teach in the school. They might then have complex conversations (see “Complex Conversation” in the activities included in this chapter) regarding the fit between pre-service teachers and the school culture. In these conversations, they would welcome and elicit multiple perspectives regarding how novice teachers from the university might adjust to the school culture. These school leaders, cooperating teachers, and university professors might do their best to understand the teacher candidates by using some assessment tools, such as the ones included at the end of this chapter. For example, they may want to know how prospective teachers express caring. By carefully considering each teacher candidate through a collaborative process, they could possibly avoid some costly mismatches. Most importantly, school leaders may seriously consider including teachers in the hiring process. They might form hiring committees that include those with whom the new teachers will be working.
Many schools are not physically near nor do they have close relationships with the colleges and universities that train their teachers. An idea for establishing closer school-university connections for the purposes of collaboration is to find out where the successful teachers received their teaching degrees. Next, school leaders may develop relationships with those schools through face-to-face, telephone, or virtual communications. Physical distance in the twenty-first century does not need to be the huge barrier it has been in the past. Technology can bring us closer together, and schools might take advantage of technology in order to facilitate closer ties with the universities and colleges that train their teachers.
More Chances to Learn About School Cultures
Another aspect of the university-school connection pertains to whether the school system might provide adequate opportunities for teachers to understand school cultures under “practice” situations. In some systems, universities and state departments of public instruction partner to develop additional internships so that novices not only practice teach at one school but also participate as interns in a variety of settings. In other words, they are not limited to practicing their teaching skills in only one setting and for only one time period. During these internships, university professors help pre-service teachers examine and reflect on their experiences in real school settings. Although these internships do not completely simulate a real teaching position, they do help some teachers better understand the kinds of school settings in which they might best fit; hopefully, they will be able to find jobs in those kinds of schools.
A State Teacher Preparation Program
The state in which I conducted my research had a special program for those teacher education students who qualified to participate. Several of the teachers in my study had participated in this program when they were pre-service teachers. They told me that the program provided not only financial assistance but also additional opportunities for internships in a wide variety of schools in the district. By allowing them to have a more comprehensive view of the kinds of schools available in the district, the program helped my research participants make decisions about the kinds of schools in which they might be successful.
Tip #2: School leaders and university leaders can create additional opportunities (beyond practice teaching for one semester) for pre-service teachers to gain experience in various school settings. School leaders could work with university leaders to set up internships for novices so that they have a wide variety of experience in real schools. However, if a formal internship program is not possible, professors in teacher education programs could include as a class requirement that their students set up their own experiences by applying to a school to do one or all of the following:
♦For one day, shadow a teacher who teaches what they intend to teach.
♦Volunteer for a semester to tutor a student in a school of their choice.
♦Adopt a school for a semester.
Additionally, school leaders could welcome these students from teacher education programs to participate in various activities.
Matching Novices with Cooperating Teachers
Some school leaders are able to hire those pre-service teachers who successfully taught at their schools unde...
