Resilience in Novice Teaching

           Upon reading Melanie Tait's (2008) article about resilience in novice teaching, I felt apprehension with the amount of work that is yet to come in my future. I found the statement, "teaching is one of the few professions in which beginners have as much responsibility as their experienced colleagues...[t]hey often have more difficult subject combinations and more challenging students" (p. 58) to be very interesting, yet quite daunting. I still have so much to learn with regards to teaching. For example, since novice teachers generally are given more challenging students, how am I going to maintain classroom management and make sure that all of my students are learning? Tait provided key contributors that allow novice teachers to be successful:

1. Resilience: resilience is the ability for an individual to accept, overcome and improve from challenges (Tait, 2008). Resilience will be really important for me when I am teaching. Resilience is important to me as a student, as well. I know that when a new challenge arises I will be able to overcome it, because I have overcome so many other obstacles in my life. 
2. Personal Efficacy: teachers with self-efficacy view difficulties in life as challenges as opposed to threats (Tait, 2008). They are able to be "proactive" (p. 59) when these challenges arise in order to overcome the obstacles. Another important aspect of self-efficacy is to believe in myself, even if no one else does. It is difficult for others to appreciate me, if I do not appreciate myself. Thus, I must have confidence that I was chosen for my job for a particular reason and I can overcome any challenge that arises.
3. Emotional Intelligence: everyday teachers display their vulnerability to their students (Tait, 2008). Therefore, teachers must have emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is defined as "a set of social and personal competencies that assist people in managing their internal states and their interactions with others" (p. 60). Teachers must have these soft-skills to assist their students in multiple areas of the students' lives (academic and non-academic). Teachers must develop a safe environment to allow these soft-skills to be successful.

           One criticism I have for this article is that it mentions these three keys to novice teacher success, however, it does not thoroughly explain how a teacher is able to attain these skills on their own. The article is geared more towards administrators and mentor teachers as opposed to the novice teachers themselves. As an individual soon to be entering the teaching world, it would have been more beneficial to have an article that explains more in-depth what novice teachers can do on their own.

References

Tait, M. (2008). Resilience as a contributor to novice teacher success, commitment, and retention. Teacher Education Quarterly, 57-75.

Professional Development

           Education is a professional faculty, and it is therefore very logical to provide a Professional Development class for the students within the faculty. The main reason Professional Development and Lifelong Learning is a class in the education program is to provide the students with reflective skills and tools that allow for appreciation of the importance of professional development and learning throughout life. Learning and development can occur both in school environments, and in daily life. The main purposes of this class are to allow students to reflect on their learning experiences, how the experiences have shaped them as individuals, and how students can continue to learn from their experiences in the future.
          As an individual I must always strive to develop myself as a professional. On the Alberta Teachers' Association website, templates for Professional Growth Plans are available. I took the time to complete a Professional Growth Plan for my upcoming academic year.

(The Alberta Teachers' Association, 2014)

Due to the fact that I am in the concurrent program of education my professional development goals are closely related to my education. This year I will be very focused on completing my first undergrad. This will allow me to develop my expertise to make me a more successful and professional physical education teacher in the future. 

          At the bottom of my growth plan, there is space to reflect upon my professional development. It is extremely important to reflect on experiences in life as it will make me a more successful teacher and individual. For example, in my specialization I was given the opportunity to participate in teaching a junior high physical education class. I had designed a lesson plan for the class. However, upon my arrival to Connect Charter, I realized that my lesson plan would not work in the size of gym I was given to work with. I quickly changed my lesson plan to an activity that would work. After the completion of the class I took the opportunity to reflect on what I could do better with in the future:

"In the future, when going into a new teaching area, I should develop a plan that does not require a large amount of space. This way, in the event that the space is smaller than anticipated I will still be able to progress forward with my initial plans. Secondly, I need to consider noise levels whilst planning in the future. I was under the impression that the dividing curtain would provide enough sound blocking properties to allow me to use only my voice for directions, such as “Stop”, “Come in”, etc. However, I quickly discovered that my voice was much too quiet to overcome the sound from the other half of the gym. In the future, I must take noise into consideration and potentially use a whistle to help direct my students more effectively."

Through careful reflection and consideration, I feel much more prepared to teach a physical education class the next time an opportunity arises. Through reflection on my teaching, I will be able to develop myself more fully as a professional in society.


                                                                          References

The Alberta Teachers' Association. (2014). Section 3: Develop a professional growth plan. Retrieved from https://www.teachers.ab.ca/For Members/Professional Development/Professional Growth Plans/Section 3/Pages/Section 3-Develop a Professional Growth Plan.aspx

Icebergs and Storms

            Artesian Water was one of the best groups that I have worked with. We worked very well together and created a very strong and well developed lifelong learning metaphor. Our overarching metaphor was: “Learning is a journey through the turbulent ocean of education. Students are the vessels that traverse these waters. This journey is made possible with the help and guidance of their compass, their teachers.”

            We also had a number of sub-metaphors that supported our main metaphor. These included students are captains of their own ships. They are responsible for their self-directed learning. A compass represents teachers; as compasses can lead ships in the right direction, yet they are unable to physically direct the ship. Thus they "guide students on an inner journey toward more truthful ways of seeing and being in the world" (Palmer, 1997, p. 21). The aspect that related most directly to me, as a lifelong learner, is that learning is not always a smooth journey.

Throughout our learning voyage, challenges may arise, either in the form of an iceberg or a storm. When smaller challenges, such as an iceberg arise, our learning journey may be slightly detoured to avoid a nasty collision. An example of an iceberg is stress. Stress can be dealt with by taking extra time to have a study break, nap or quick yoga session. These small detours, though potentially taking more time, are important in gaining more experience to face more difficult challenges in the future.

The more difficult challenges occur in the form of a storm. Storms on the ocean can arise with little to no warning and are virtually unavoidable. These challenges could include such difficulties as a family member passing away. When the storms become too extreme, the student may not be able to see where they are going anymore. In situations such as these, students must rely on their compass (teacher) to get them safely through the storm to continue on in their learning journey.

Although, at the time, icebergs and storms may be extremely difficult, students come off much better after having experienced these struggles. They are able to use their experience in the future when, similar or different, icebergs and storms arise. Students will know that if they persevere through challenges, they will be able to overcome all obstacles.

(BrainRush, 2012)

            I have experienced these icebergs and storms on my learning journey. I, like many students, experience stress very frequently. I also have depression and anxiety, which causes me to experience more stress throughout my daily life. However, through relying on the support of my family, teachers and friends I have come to understand that at times when I am feeling stressed and overwhelmed, it is imperative for me to take a break to exercise, read, take a bath, etc. to clear my mind. This brief break, though taking more time, allows me to handle the stress and be more successful with my assignments after this break.

These stress techniques that I developed early on in my life assisted me when life’s storms crashed upon me. When I was fifteen, my mother passed away from ALS. Although it was expected, I was no more prepared than had it happened unexpectedly. Even though this experience was not one that I enjoyed, it has truly shaped who I am as a person. I have come to realize what is important to me. I also learned how influential teachers could be in times of heartache. At this time I had two teachers that helped me exponentially. It was these teachers that influenced my decision to be a teacher. 
Through my most difficult life challenges I have learnt the most, thus making me appreciate the need for lifelong learning. As a teacher I must use the experiences I have had with my teachers to realize that I can be that positive influence on my future students.
                                                                      
                                                                    References

     BrainRush. (Artist). (2012). Lifelong learning [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/46/f3/ae/46f3ae58922a7d6e4ff3e3ed958fd962.jpg

     Palmer, P. J. (1997). The heart of a teacher: Identity and integrity in teaching. Change, 29(6), 14-21.