Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach

... answer any questions students have about class, school, and life.

I find the following are seven things most students want to know on the first day of
school:

1. Am I in the right room?


2. Where am I supposed to sit?


3. What will I be doing this year?


4. How will I be graded?


5. What are the rules in this classroom?


6. Will the teacher treat me as a human being?


7. Who is the teacher as a person?

JOIN THE CONVERSATION—MS. PEARSON’S CLASS

Questions to Consider:

1. Laura liked school and believes that most students also like school. Do you agree? Do
   you think this is related to who students are and their life experiences? Explain.


2. Laura is willing to share a personal anecdote with her students. Do you think this is ad-
   visable? Explain.


3. Laura has few class rules. She believes that “every situation is different” and that stu-
   dents should be “treated individually.” Do you agree? Explain.
   4.Knowing Laura from this essay, if you were a parent, would you want her to teach your
   children? Why?

A New Teacher’s Difficult Journeyby Nichole Williams

Nichole Willams is now a mentor teacher in the Hofstra New Teachers Network and a cooperating
teacher. Despite the problems she faced in her first year of teaching, she decided to earn an ad-
vanced certificate in school administration so that she can try to change her school from within. In
this essay, she says, “I know some people think that I have an advantage being successful with my
students because I am African American. I think it gives me a head start; I admit that. I have an
edge because I can relate more to their lives.... But that is only the beginning.... If you are bor-
ing students to death, if you do not respect them, it does not make a difference if you are Black or
White.”—Alan Singer

The first year of teaching is a mind-numbing experience. Schools of education can give you
all the academic training in the world, but they cannot prepare you for the barrage of paper-
work, discipline issues, and the delicate politics involved in working with parents, adminis-
trators, and veteran colleagues. Added to this, I had the special situation of returning to live
and work in the school district where I was raised.
When I started working in the district, I was excited for many reasons. There was a special
feeling knowing that I could give something back to a community that I had been a part of

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