From Isolation to Conversation
Supporting New Teachers' Development
Published on 21. February 2002
Book
Paperback/Softback
144 pages
978-0-7914-5336-0 (ISBN)
Description
Provides a model to help new teachers adjust to challenges faced as they begin their classroom careers.
A new teacher's first year in the classroom is often filled with terrifying new challenges and great loneliness. From Isolation to Conversation uses an inquiry-oriented form of professional development known as the New Teacher Group to provide teachers with the opportunity to engage in discussions with their peers about problems they experience in their professional lives. Blending school psychology and teacher education, the book adapts a consultee-centered consultation model consisting of real teachers voicing real problems encountered in classrooms. The authors outline the process, step by step, so the model can be applied in many different kinds of school systems. The result is a problems-based discussion group that will play an integral part in supporting and guiding beginning teachers.
A new teacher's first year in the classroom is often filled with terrifying new challenges and great loneliness. From Isolation to Conversation uses an inquiry-oriented form of professional development known as the New Teacher Group to provide teachers with the opportunity to engage in discussions with their peers about problems they experience in their professional lives. Blending school psychology and teacher education, the book adapts a consultee-centered consultation model consisting of real teachers voicing real problems encountered in classrooms. The authors outline the process, step by step, so the model can be applied in many different kinds of school systems. The result is a problems-based discussion group that will play an integral part in supporting and guiding beginning teachers.
Reviews / Votes
"The section of the book containing the teachers' poignant reflections reveals the degree of isolation new teachers often feel. It serves as a reminder to those who work with new teachers about the trials and triumphs of the first year of teaching. The book provides a model for helping teachers evaluate and work toward solving some of the difficulties they encounter through peer discussion and support." - Childhood Education"...an essential read for district and site administrators who want to retain and encourage teacher effectiveness and growth." - Middle Ground
"The first-year teacher is, as the authors convincingly demonstrate, cast into the 'fire' without any mentorship from more experienced teachers and without administrative decisions that would make the first year one of more than just survival. The idea of first-year teachers serving, in their groups, as 'experts' to other first-year teachers removes the hierarchy of experience and leads to sharing with serious purpose instead of passive reception with hopelessness." - Margaret Zidon, University of North Dakota
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Albany, NY
United States
Target group
College/higher education
US School Grade: College Graduate Student and over
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 227 mm
Width: 150 mm
Thickness: 9 mm
Weight
204 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7914-5336-0 (9780791453360)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Dwight L. Rogers is Associate Professor of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Leslie M. Babinski is Assistant Professor of Education at Bucknell University.
Content
Abstract
Acknowledgments
1. The First Year of Teaching
2. A Different Kind of Professional Development
3. Description of Our New Teacher Groups
4. New Teacher Groups Participants, Guiding Questions, and Research Methods
5. A Community of Learners
6. Gaining a Better Understanding of Oneself as a Teacher and Preparing for the Future
7. Group Features that Encourage Dialogue and Enhance Problem-Solving
8. A Comprehensive Support Program for Beginning Teachers
References
Notes
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
Appendix E
Figure 1
Index
Acknowledgments
1. The First Year of Teaching
2. A Different Kind of Professional Development
3. Description of Our New Teacher Groups
4. New Teacher Groups Participants, Guiding Questions, and Research Methods
5. A Community of Learners
6. Gaining a Better Understanding of Oneself as a Teacher and Preparing for the Future
7. Group Features that Encourage Dialogue and Enhance Problem-Solving
8. A Comprehensive Support Program for Beginning Teachers
References
Notes
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
Appendix E
Figure 1
Index