How I Survived My First Year By Bill Bigelow

1. How I Survived My First YearBy Bill Bigelow By Meagan Brown

2. What is your outlook on your first year of teaching? What aspects of teaching will you FOCUS on during your first year?

3. Show Them Your Humanity! • Bill Bigelow describes his first year as a teacher by giving advice he was given during his student teaching. “Show the students that you love and respect them; play with them; joke with them; let them see your humanity. Good lesson plans are essential, yes, but ultimately students respond to the teacher as a human being.” • LOVE THIS! Sometimes we get so focused on testing that we forget that kids need to be kids. I think it is important to show them that you respect them and love them because who knows, you may be the only person in their life that shows your students attention. Also, let your students be KIDS. After all, we are all still kids at heart. HAVE FUN! LET LOOSE! Teaching should be about learning, but it should also be FUN!

4. Don’t Be the Lone Ranger • Bill Bigelow explains that he organized a study/support group around several teachers. Some of the teachers were new and some old. They met weekly and divided their time between tracking, discipline, teacher union politics, school funding, etc. and sometimes just to VENT! They also shared ideas for teaching that would be very resourceful. • Remember this in your first year of teaching. This would be great to develop at a school if it was not already in place!

5. Voices From the Classroom QUOTE: “I think new teachers need a combination of the practical and the visionary. For survival purposes it’s important to find people to share your experiences and struggles as you go through them. It’s also important to find someone who can orient you to your school’s strengths, weaknesses, and possibilities.” -Stan Karp

6. Moving Beyond the Textbooks • Bill Bigelow was afraid he would not be given textbooks to teach his students. Move beyond the textbook in your instruction! Think outside the box and use resources around you! • What if you are given a job at a school where they do not provide textbooks? How will you teach your class based on these conditions?

7. Develop a Planning Book • Bill developed a planning book that helped him to keep track of the activities/lessons he would do each week. Then, after the activity he would write down how the activity went and how the class responded to the lesson/activity. During the summer he read his planning book and made changes to lessons or activities that he thought the students did not respond well to. • LOVE,LOVE, LOVE this idea! Figure out what works best in your classroom so you can make changes in the future. Keeping a planning book is a great resource and especially in your first year could come in handy!

8. Voices From the Classroom Quote: • “A teacher I worked with told me, ‘One night at about 7 p.m. I was still working on a curriculum unit for Sarah, Plain and Tall, and I realized that all over the city other teachers were probably also developing lessons for the same book. IT just didn’t make sense.’ And it doesn’t. Establish a community of people who develop curriculum together. The work not only goes faster, but it’s usually better because you have someone to talk through your ideas with.” • Work with your team, call a colleague, and as Professor Ault always says “Beg, Borrow, and Steal.” Most importantly, keep calm and try not to stress!