How We Should Pass the Torch to New Teachers
By Erika Walther, TeachStrong Ambassador
Two summers ago, in August of 2014, I was sitting in the Baltimore City Public Schools New Teacher Institute. The energy in the room was a blend of panic and self-doubt.
Most of the other new teachers in the room had either just completed a four-year university program in teaching or had entered the profession through alternative programs that provided very little training. Few of my peers had ever been the lead teacher in a classroom before. They weren’t confident in their abilities to manage a classroom, much less increase student achievement.
I felt out of place. I entered teaching through an entirely different model that trains teachers in the same manner that doctors, lawyers, and other highly skilled professionals are trained. I spent an entire year with accomplished educators who coached me and provided thorough feedback.
My transition from “resident teacher” to “teacher of record” felt more like a passing of the torch rather than being thrown to the wolves.
For most teachers, my experience is not the norm. But thanks to Urban Teachers and their teaching residency model, I entered my first year as a teacher of record having already experienced more than 1,000 clinical hours in the classroom, having completed the majority of a rigorous master’s degree program in general education and special education, and having taught four different grade levels (one each semester). These opportunities made me a flexible, well-rounded educator, ready to teach students from day one.
Urban Teachers, a nonprofit dedicated to training new teachers for urban schools, employs a model that should be the standard for new educators nationwide. In the program, teachers spend their first year teaching alongside an experienced educator. Most teachers are considered co-teachers (not teachers’ assistants), affording them more autonomy and responsibility in the classroom. Resident teachers are heavily coached and receive real time, actionable feedback from experienced mentors. After the first year, teachers receive the same intensive coaching for the next two years to help them transition from resident teachers to solo teachers of record.
My experience in Urban Teachers allowed me to practice my skills with the guidance and expertise I needed to feel adequately prepared for my first year. I still believe that teaching is a profession that takes years to master, and the greatest educators I know are the ones who are committed to the profession and always seek to improve. But if all new teachers experienced a residency program like Urban Teachers — one that gives rookies the chance to practice essential skills in the classroom — new teachers entering the profession can start on the path to excellence much earlier.
Thankfully, these kinds of models are receiving national attention. Urban Teachers is part of the TeachStrong coalition, a diverse group of more than 60 education organization that wants to make this type of training the national standard for new teachers. A TeachStrong policy proposal released this month outlines the need for residency and induction based supports for teachers entering the profession. We should heed their call for a national standard for teacher preparation based on clinical experiences, especially if we seek to modernize and elevate the teaching profession.
Right now, the model employed by Urban Teachers is an outlier. However, TeachStrong’s policy proposal would make such a model the norm so that the next cohort of first-year teachers are not a collection of panicked, overwhelmed adults, but rather prepared, inspired, and dedicated professional educators ready to jump into the classroom with confidence and skill.
Erika Walther is a Baltimore City teacher, Urban Teacher, and TeachStrong Ambassador.
