Here is an EXAMPLE of A District
New Teacher Orientation Program



Participants

It is anticipated that approximately sixty (60) licensed staff members will begin their first year of teaching with the Someplace Schools on August 4,1997. Hopefully, these novice teachers and their mentors will participate in the 1997 August Model New Teacher Orientation Project, if funding is acquired.

The Someplace School System is planning to have a three-day program for its beginning teachers, with their mentors attending one full day to engage in activities with the novice teachers to which they are assigned. Participants will be drawn from the entire school district.

If all of the novice teachers and mentors invited to the activities attend, this would represent a total of 240 days being requested: three days each for 60 novice teachers (180 days); and, one day each for 60 mentors (60 days).



Goals and Objectives of Orientation

The overall goal of this orientation is to encourage novice teachers to approach problem-solving of ongoing classroom challenges in the context of their strengths and the requirements of public education.

Specifically, the novice teachers will leave this session able to (1) identify their goals and objectives as they approach their first year of teaching, (2) articulate the New ABC's of Public Education in our state, (3) identify their own classroom organization and management strategies, (4) plan at least one integrated lesson using authentic assessment, (5) specify the requirements for enhancing their teaching effectiveness as it relates to National Board Certification, and (6) identify benefits and professional resources that accrue from their employment with the Someplace Schools.



Activities

Prior to planning the activities, recent participants in the novice teacher process were surveyed in order to gain knowledge of the areas they felt needed stressing in a program of this nature. The results of this survey and opinions of administrators gathered through interviews, along with the requirements of the Model New Teacher Orientation Program, were used to plan the activities. The program in Someplace has been planned for three (3) days, July 29th through 31st. The mentors will participate on July 31st.

Someplace's plan involves the novice teachers in a wide variety of activities during these three days. The main focus of the program will be toward organizational and instructional strategies, parent conferencing, assessment and evaluation, classroom management and student motivation, National Board Certification issues, the new ABCs of Public Education, and integrating the curriculum. A plan has been specifically designed to offer a meaningful schedule of activities centered around these focus areas. A detailed schedule of the planned activities is listed below:

Someplace Schools - Model New Teacher Program

Tuesday, July 29 

novice teachers only

 

 9:00- 9:15 AM Welcome  Superintendent
 9:15-9:30 AM Introductions and Overview of Activities  Director of Personnel
 9:30 -10:00 AM Refreshments and Social Time  
 10:00-10:45 AM Community Orientation  Director of Community Schools
 10:45 - 11:45 AM Education Initiatives in Our State  Director of School Improvement
 11:45 AM -1:00PM Lunch  
 1:00-2:00 PM Behavior Management and Student Motivation  Director of Human Resources Development
 2:00-2:10PM Managing Two Important Things: Your Time and Your Stress Level  Director of Human Resources Development
 2:10 -3:10 PM Break  
 3:10-3:30 PM Daily Wrap-Up  Director of Personnel


 Wednesday July 30



 novice teachers and mentors		  
 8:30-10:15 AM
  • Curriculum and Instructional Issues
    • Familiarizing Yourself with the CBC
    • How to Maximize Student Learning
    • Classroom Organization
    • Effective Evaluation of Students
    • Integrating the Curriculum
The Someplace Schools Curriculum and Instruction Department & Asst. Supt for C & I
 10:15-10:30 AM Break  
 10:30-12:00 Noon Continuation of the Curriculum and Instruction Issues Session  Someplace Schools C&I Department
 12:00-1:00 PM Lunch  
 1:00-3:30 PM Novice teachers and mentors report to their individual schools for site orientations  Coordinator, Principal and Mentors


 Thursday, July 31



 novice teachers only		  
 8:00-8:30 AM Review of Central Office Services  Director of Personnel
 8:30-9:15 AM New Teachers and the Law  Assistant Superintendent
 9:15-10:15 AM Parental Involvement and Effective Parent Conferencing  Assistant Superintendent
 10:15-10:30 AM Break  
 10:30-11:00 AM Staff Development Issues  Director of Human Resources
 11:00-12:00 Noon Someplace School's Observation and Evaluation Process  Director of Personnel
 12:00-1:00 PM Lunch  
 1:00-1:30 PM
Licensure Issues
* Performance-Based Licensure
* National Board Certification
 Director of Personnel
 1:30-2:00 PM Review of Employee Benefits  Director of Personnel
 2:00-2:20 PM Finance Issues - What You Should See On Your Check!  Director of Finance
 2:20-3:00 PM Bloodborne Pathogens and Hazardous Communications  Director of Health Services
 3:00-3:30 PM Question and Answer Session  
 3:30 PM Ice Cream Social and Wrap-Up  




The schedule should help meet the needs of the novice teachers involved because it was planned around ideas given by recent first-year teachers in Someplace. It is also a reflection of the areas of needed staff development that are typically identified by those involved with beginning teachers across the state. Although Someplace Schools has, in the past, planned specific activities for novice teachers, this opportunity will provide a concentrated effort specifically designed to assist the first-year teachers in assessing their initial readiness for their first year in the classroom and to introduce them to new ideas and strategies as they begin to plan for their first students. It will definitely be a positive step for the system, providing a more effective way to guide our young teachers. It will be a greater effort toward a more positive induction to the profession, with the results hopefully being enhanced performance.



Continued Support

The Someplace School System plans to use this orientation as a springboard to initiate two specific programs. First, the system plans to seek funds on an annual basis to continue the same type of program each summer. We concur with the philosophy of the Model New Teacher Program and plan to make every effort to conduct a similar program for first-year teachers at the beginning of each school year.

Secondly, plans are in place to continue to conduct quarterly meetings throughout the year with novice teachers and their mentors, and to use these meetings to focus on similar topics covered in the activities planned for this proposal. In Someplace, separate quarterly meetings are held for three groups; novice teachers, mentors, and novice teacher Coordinators. Continual and constructive guidance throughout the year will only serve to make the beginning teachers' experience more positive and successful. As a result, those students who are taught by these teachers will hopefully have a greater opportunity for improvement.



Evaluation

During the wrap-up session on Thursday, July 31st, the novice teachers involved will have the opportunity to evaluate the activities in two ways. First, a discussion about the positives and negatives of the three-day event will be conducted. Openness will be encouraged, with the novice teachers and the presenters actively engaging in the discussion. Secondly, the novice teachers will have the opportunity to evaluate the program in writing, using a written evaluation form, where they will be encouraged to openly list strengths and weaknesses of the activities as they perceive them, and to make suggestions for future sessions. They will also be encouraged to remain involved in the evaluative process of the program by sending suggestions or ideas at any time.

A post meeting of program presenters will also be conducted the week after the program is completed. At this meeting, those involved will discuss the activities, evaluate the components, and begin to make plans for future orientations and the quarterly sessions.



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