In order to begin to "understand" the characteristics of a successful novice teacher, I think that it's important to differentiate between a novice teacher and a "master" teacher. Personally, it's my own belief that there really is no such thing as a "master" teacher, because to me, someone who is a master possesses now flaws whatsoever. Tiger Woods may be the greatest golfer ever to play the game, but he doesn't win every single tournament that he enters. Even when he shoots a great round of golf, he always keeps himself grounded by recognizing that his game had flaws in it and that he has to continually work hard in order to improve.
As teachers, I think that it important to understand that even the most experienced and well-rounded teachers are still novice in their own way. If they have settled in and become satisfied with their instructional methods in the classroom, even if they are successful in their own way, they still aren't "master" teachers. Whether in your first or your 30th year of teaching, we can always continue to grow and become better. Therefore, I feel that these following characteristics best embody a successful novice teacher (no matter what level of experience they may have):
- Eager to learn and grow (in terms of their content knowledge and pedagogical skills)
- Hard-working
- Passionate about learning and teaching
- Patient
- Risk-taking
- Willing to accept failure
- Humble
Clearly there are more characteristics that can be attributed to a successful novice teacher, but I feel these characteristics do a good job of capturing the most important quality of a novice teacher which is the never ending quest to continue to improve upon their craft.
2 comments:
When I was writing my blog, I found I didn't include any of these personality traits that a teacher should have, but everyone else did! Well, let's just say that I go on the assumption that teachers need to have a certain type of personality. I could even go as far as to say that not all excellent teachers have those qualities. Take "patience", for example. (And I'm not just saying this because I have no patience) I think that knowing who to be patient with is more important than just being patient. If I was patient with all of my students, we could take forever doing some task or activity. When one of my struggling students thought that Nelson Mandela was the first black president of the United States yesterday, I didn't lose my patience though. If it was one of my better readers, I would have. Sometimes the kids need to know you are paying attention.
I think that when teachers have been in the classroom for decades, many of them do lose that urge to better themselves or participate in more innovative ways of teaching like their younger couterparts. As we have been working with our other groups creating new teachers curriculum, I actually did think about what would happen to these teachers a few years later when they become comfortable in their teaching styles and methods in the classroom. Maybe there should be a curriculum for "master teachers" as well to keep them fresh?
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