By Vice President Katherine Bishop
As we start a new school year, I think back to my 23 years of teaching and the excitement of getting my room ready, finding out who my students were, and greeting students at my classroom door with the start of school.
For career educators, this has become second nature and it’s now part of our routine. However, I know for our Early Career Educators – especially those who are new to the classroom – this is not routine and they are searching for help.
So, I asked some of our ECEs – If a career educator was going to give you assistance at the beginning of the year, what would be most helpful? Here is a list of their responses:
- Realistic lesson plan formats
- Curriculum and community resources to have in your back pocket
- Managing small groups
- Implementing intentional culture-building activities throughout the year
- Most efficient way for assessing reading levels to set up intervention groups
- Effective ways of self-care
Their list of recommendations is powerful, and I quickly realized that our ECEs are looking to career educators for support and wisdom. It only takes a simply “How are you doing?” or “What can I do to help?” to start the conversation rolling. Please reach out and check in, because Together We’re Stronger.
Early Career Educators can find a home at OEA, too. Teachers with five years or fewer in the classroom are encouraged to be part of NEON – New Educators of Oklahoma Network. We’ll offer opportunities to connect with other ECEs, custo mized professional development and support from an association known as the voice of education for nearly 130 years.
